Timeless watch channel

The watch youtubers are an interesting bunch. The hobby/interest seems to be still quite niche a thing. Compare it to motoring channels. Are there any watch youtube channels with a million subs? I think watchfinder is about the biggest with 700k. Teddy Balds..(can't be arsed googling) is around 400K I think. Jenni Elle around 200k. Hodinkee, the watch outlet which drove much of the increasing popularity in the last decade is around 300k. Other than a certain Northern Irish dealership that grew subs suspiciously quickly... most watch channels are slow burners, with the strange exception of watchmaking channels which get consistently get large viewing numbers and have grown quickly in the last two years or so. I suspect they are a draw for the generally interested/find it relaxing to watch types rather than the "here's my latest Patek unboxing" types. Instagram seems like a better fit than youtube for the here's my latest wrist shot stuff, though I'm not on it so can't really comment.

Timeless/Oisin is 50k IIRC? And fair enough. He grew it organically rather than engaging Chinese sub/thanks farms. His stuff is not in my wheelhouse interest wise(vintage stuff on the Tube is more niche than clog carving), but I did watch him and found him grand and got some insight into the current new watch market. The Venetian backdrop, his videography and good production values helped. The scary level of schoolboy twattery with the French dollybird put me off him. That and the bombastic ads for overpriced fashion watches that would fail on kickstarter. The last one in particular had me click the unsubscribe button. If you're selling tat and use actual footage of men and women dying to do it you're a Grade A twat[Ref.No. 8008. In white gold] IMHO. The bit where he reckoned he was on deaths door after catching the Woo flu(after manhugging other coked up eejits at a watch fair unvaccinated) and getting over it in three days... tbh Attention whore sprang to mind.

From what I've gathered reading his comments most seem to be from the US, where bombast and aspirational gets more clicks. Either young guys thinking he's living the dream or middle aged guys hoping he was. Nico gets the young crowd because he says fcuk a lot and rattles out telephone number 'values' and 'expert' opinions on watches you'd often think twice about if you got them in a funfair lucky bag in shouty reaction vids(which tbh reinforced my existing prejudical image of ardent Rolex fans). Jenni Elle gets the "ah she's cute" crowd. Watchfinder and Teddy Thingie are broader in appeal I suppose. Slick dealer stuff.

But as has been said before, the subject doesn't lend itself too well to Youtube, or not for long as the current trends are narrow(they always are, just the names change). If you post a Rolex/PP/AP vid you're going to get the clicks, anything else and you're not. To sustain interest you need more and again to be fair to Oisin he has tried to do that with the drink and cigars, travelog, his backstory and wider subjects on livestreams. It's also a more solitary hobby. In the car world it's more 'social' where you usually have a two or more guys helping rebuild or customise a whatever, going to big meets etc and the trends are much wider and still get clicks. Yes you have the supercar flexers who only know how to sign a loan agreement and mash the loud pedal in a straight line(Richard Mille buyers), but you also have the deeper more informative Jay Leno's Garage/Late Brake show type channels, or the Mightcarmods lads rebuilding five grand Japanese K cars, with extra turbos, who have over three and a half million subs.

I would say and Ap or VC be grand as a daily wearer for 99 percent of people. Probably a little more delicate than a sports Rolex. But as long as you are semi sensible.

True enough, though I've noticed down the years people can vary with how hard they are on a watch and it doesn't seem to equate that much with the job or pastimes they do. With some friends of mine any watch will look beaten up after a year of wear, others could be passed off as NOS. I'd reckon half of my mechanicals have no shock protection and are as waterproof as a teabag, but they haven't aged any more in my care. On the other hand an ex of mine who was so delicate looking a stiff breeze would be a worry could kill a watch in double quick time. i was replacing the quartz movement in her small "ladies watch" for the second time and as a loaner gave her my Stocker and Yale US army issued field watch. Three days in and it had stopped and the crown fell off. 😮😂

The other thing about dress versus tool watches is how they wear the wear so to speak. A roughed up old Sub can look like a well worn fave pair of quality denim and cool with it, a roughed up Patek, unless it has a passed down from grandfather type story just tends to look roughed up.