Last Chance: Make a Donation to Charity, Win a Seiko SPB 187!
Original post:
Disclaimer: This is a long tangent but I'll bring it back, I promise.
Sometimes I wonder what we're doing here. The watch news is replete with scandal these days (and has been since I started collecting watches over a decade ago). A small selection of the past couple of years.
Anthony Farrer was arrested a couple of weeks ago
Only Watch postponed its glitzy auction to 2024 after Audemar Piguet pulled out, following allegations that the donations (ostensibly to support medical research into Duchenne Muscular Dystophy) where actually funneled into a biotech company owned by Luc Pettavino, the organizer.
Omega bought an auctioneer verified super fake at the Phillips Auction.
Super influencer Horology House was caught selling Rolex super fakes at genuine prices.
And the list goes on. I get that it's a nasty world out there but scandal seems to haunt this hobby.
But what really infuriates me is how casually some with public platforms are willing to brush over things like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8lnlb5b5Io
I don't generally mind the Theo and Harris guys, but this video really rubbed me the wrong way. There's frankly no real need to watch the entire thing, but there is a moment at around 28:44 where Christian Zeron goes through the rhetorical loops of trying to ethically justify why Luc Pettavino (the organizer of Only Watch) could raise all this money under the guise of medical charity and then proceed to invest it into a startup that he owned 49% of.
This is an actual quote.
There is a nuanced situation in which I as a person involved in the charity and the company also get rich. There is definitely a way that can happen legitimately. Maybe its through buying stock independently, I don't have a problem with that at all.
And so on. The monologue has all the confidence of a man in his mid twenties who has tasted some professional success, but whose worldliness clearly doesn't extend to understanding what a conflict of interest is.
That this is even a question to him (or anyone) is absurd. The fact that it wasn't disclosed makes it clear as day that Luc Pettavino is completely aware that he's doing something unethical. The claim that they can account for 70% of the donations in their financial statements is laughable.
And it honestly makes me sad to share the hobby with folks like this. Like, is this what the end state of watch collecting is for all of us? That we all turn out to be unethical jerks who don't mind lying, cheating, and stealing to line our pockets? Or worse, tolerating others who do it?
If that's the end state of our hobby, I'd rather not play at all.
...
...
...
And yet.
Twenty three of you just donated nearly $1000 to an internet stranger's raffle to causes as varied as food banks, mental health, pet adoption, and urgent medical services in war torn areas of the world.
Twenty three of you looked outside yourselves, found the world wanting, and decided to help.
Hell, since I've been running these charitable auctions and raffles, we've raised nearly $10,000 for worthy causes around the world (and @Mr.Dee.Bater probably has raised triple that amount).
And so while I am ashamed to share the watch hoarding affliction with people who would take advantage of other's generosity to enrich themselves, I am deeply honored to share this hobby with each and every one of you.
Together we can do amazingthings!
At any rate, please let me know if I happened to leave you out of this listing....and if you saved my old post but haven't donated yet there's still time! @Tinfoiled14 and @TimeJunkie , I'm looking at you!
Raffle ends 12pm PT tomorrow!
By day, investor and father. By night, Seiko nut. #justgooutsideandtouchgrass
I knew there was a reason why I never have paid any attention to or watched videos by T&H🤣🤣😂
I knew there was a reason why I never have paid any attention to or watched videos by T&H🤣🤣😂
You're not missing much.
Agree with all the points here. Only Watch has turned out to be a huge fraud, eluded to many times in the past by ABTW. Too bad garbage fraud stuff like this garners all of the clicks and not the incredible giving of places and people like WC.
Agree with all the points here. Only Watch has turned out to be a huge fraud, eluded to many times in the past by ABTW. Too bad garbage fraud stuff like this garners all of the clicks and not the incredible giving of places and people like WC.
💯
It pains me how right you are. We're not the only ones either. Love him or hate him, Brodinkee does his "Real Men Wear Pink" fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. I don't remember a whisper about it this year.
There are good people here, great people even. It's a shame scandal sells more than trying to stem the inevitable entropy of the world.
Kudos for how you run these as well by having donations go directly to each charity and posting the receipt as proof. It works for something smaller scale like WC.
Good luck everyone 🍀
I can take T&H in small doses but that kind of argument justifying unethical behavior is something I cannot abide.
Kudos for how you run these as well by having donations go directly to each charity and posting the receipt as proof. It works for something smaller scale like WC.
Good luck everyone 🍀
It definitely doesn't scale at all but it works really well here. I think I prefer this method to the way I used to do it (where I sold the watch to someone and then made the donation myself with a match).
There'sm a lot more individual agency this way and I like it that way!
I can take T&H in small doses but that kind of argument justifying unethical behavior is something I cannot abide.
I'm mostly in the same camp as you. I may be overreacting but this felt pretty grubby as a take.
I’m in it to win it!! 🥳🤫
It's Giving Tuesday. Whatever you didn't spend on Black Friday and Cyber Monday should go to charity 😂
Anyways, great post as usual. I didn't watch the video you mentioned but it seems like Christian, in particular, is talking out of both sides of his mouth.
I did end up watching their video on The Timepiece Gentleman cause I thought they were going to go crazy on him and how he damaged the reputation of the community. However I was left feeling that Christian was defending Anthony Farrer (the man) but not what he did. Christian made it sound like The Timepiece Gentleman accidentally fell into a life of crime and couldn't get himself out and that he was as much as victim as he was the perpetrator. That doesn't feel right to me at all. It sounded like he knew what he was doing and he was doing it for a long time so to plead ignorance is disingenuous.
That being said, I'm going to be taking a break from watching them for a while. I vote with my dollars and views so I choose not to watch them anymore.
I’m in it to win it!! 🥳🤫
It's Giving Tuesday. Whatever you didn't spend on Black Friday and Cyber Monday should go to charity 😂
Anyways, great post as usual. I didn't watch the video you mentioned but it seems like Christian, in particular, is talking out of both sides of his mouth.
I did end up watching their video on The Timepiece Gentleman cause I thought they were going to go crazy on him and how he damaged the reputation of the community. However I was left feeling that Christian was defending Anthony Farrer (the man) but not what he did. Christian made it sound like The Timepiece Gentleman accidentally fell into a life of crime and couldn't get himself out and that he was as much as victim as he was the perpetrator. That doesn't feel right to me at all. It sounded like he knew what he was doing and he was doing it for a long time so to plead ignorance is disingenuous.
That being said, I'm going to be taking a break from watching them for a while. I vote with my dollars and views so I choose not to watch them anymore.
I'm all for second chances for folks but that video also felt super odd. Like, TPG felt like a scam from 1000 miles away but I wonder how much folks like T&H ended up contributing to the extent of the problem. Like I know a couple of guys who bought things from TPG based on the fact that Farrer happened to be on some bigger YouTube channels (which just blows my freaking mind).
Perhaps it's time to deprioritize them in ha algorithm.
Love you too, brother. Don't fret the ultra rich and the wannabes. They're cursed in their head because they see watches as something they make money with whereas we proper enthusiast see watches as something to enjoy and cherish.
Ok, enough rambling, I need to continue my beauty sleep. Night all. ZzzzZzZz.. 😴
Love you too, brother. Don't fret the ultra rich and the wannabes. They're cursed in their head because they see watches as something they make money with whereas we proper enthusiast see watches as something to enjoy and cherish.
Ok, enough rambling, I need to continue my beauty sleep. Night all. ZzzzZzZz.. 😴
Amen.
I knew there was a reason why I never have paid any attention to or watched videos by T&H🤣🤣😂
More than the content, it’s the mousy moustache that really riles me… 😆
More than the content, it’s the mousy moustache that really riles me… 😆
Those are so they look older than high school 😂
Wow 🤯!
Shocked to read all these stories of grift and iffy justification. (T&H have always rubbed me the wrong way)
I’m clearly way too trusting 🙄. Really sad to hear.
But you and Brian are so the opposite of this stuff and are why my default position continues to be belief in the good of others. 👏👏👏
Kudos on your successful charity drive my friend! 🤝
Wow 🤯!
Shocked to read all these stories of grift and iffy justification. (T&H have always rubbed me the wrong way)
I’m clearly way too trusting 🙄. Really sad to hear.
But you and Brian are so the opposite of this stuff and are why my default position continues to be belief in the good of others. 👏👏👏
Kudos on your successful charity drive my friend! 🤝
It's just icky. It makes me sound like an old man but where are the moral standards these days? I suppose I shouldn't look to YouTubers for that.
This is just me pushing against the entropy of the world (with a bit of help from my friends)!
LFG.
It's just icky. It makes me sound like an old man but where are the moral standards these days? I suppose I shouldn't look to YouTubers for that.
This is just me pushing against the entropy of the world (with a bit of help from my friends)!
LFG.
Bit more anti entropy. Today giving Tuesday so please add another $70 dollars on your total charity gifts. Oceanic, safe cycling, and environmental causes this time