DESIGN vs. SPECS. what's more important?

Design but specs matter too…like with cars  for example… the new subaru wrx has pretty good specs but design wise it fell short…

it has to attract first… like looking for a partner you def. Get that first physical attraction and if the specs fall short Like he/she is psycho then 🤷‍♂️

The round glasses and black turtleneck mark me as a "design".

Both.

Sorry, I can't help it I'm a nonconformist...

Great analogies!  I thought of the delorean first 😉

Both is the most nonconformist answer 😉

Design, but as @Ichibunz said specs matter as well. 

I don't care how pretty a watch is if it has poor build quality and specs. 

I need to be nonconformist and say both as well. I would never buy a watch whose design didn't appeal to me simply because it had awesome specs, but at the same time, I wouldn't buy a watch whose design made me wet by pants, but where the specs were terrible, such as accuracy measured in +/- minutes per day. 

I recently placed an order for a Studio Underd0g Desert Sky during their recent order window. At $600 USD for an ST19 movement, there is no way that I would done so had the design not been so compelling. I was willing to accept a mediocre (but acceptable) movement based on the fact that I thought the design justified the price. 

It's hard to choose one over the other. With specs, it's more of a case of a basic requirement rather than chasing after the "best"specs in any category. With watches being fashion/emotional/personal items, the design aspect is also super important.

I would say design over specs, if you are allowed to set a basic requirement for specs....

For me, specs are the "table stakes", but good design is the deciding factor.

Actually wait, I bought a Moonswatch so I'm 100% in the design camp 😂

Most of the time I wouldn’t get the watch if I had to compromise 

Absolutely design over specs for me. I can live with a manual wind over an automatic (vice versa) if I like the design/aesthetics. To me, the specs don’t mean much if I don’t like the face. That said, I do have an Apple Watch purely for the specs and the function(s) i’s capable of. I may have sounded contradictory, but you get the point… right? 😬

They go together. Overall, my initial appeal is the design. It’s what draws me in. I think watchmaking is art. The design has to be solid, and the specs back everything up. 

Design has to be there, specs help seal the deal. 

It's got to look good first, then specs help make the decision. 

Price is also a factor 😉 

Design 100% unless you are counting reasonable price as a spec 😜. I would consider some Hublots (great design, poor specs) but they are very overpriced.

I would like to have both! But if I had to choose 1 over the other it would have to be Design. I don't usually wear a watch for more than a day anyway as I'd like to rotate through the whole collection. So I guess if you only get to wear a watch like once a week or so the specs wouldn't matter much (accuracy/WR/PR). 😂

I would be even more nonconformist and say that specs are the part of design. Because if the watch is designed to have i.e. 300m WR it would look accordingly. Poorly designed watch would have more flaws as well. 

Design first.

BUT! There's lots of good design out there, so how do you choose? That's where specs help rank :)

Inherently, we fickle people with our fickle minds look with salivation at book covers only…not what’s inside.

It was like buying the E.T. game for the Atari 2600 for all the ‘design’. Many of us know what happened then in 1983. Specs should rule.

The Bunny Boot is the warmest boot in the world because of its specs…though its design makes you look like a damn fool while wearing them. Still…give me design any day…even though my ex-wife laughed all the way to the bank after our divorce because of that stance.

This reminds me of a bit of exasperation I had a while back with all these various watchmakers coming out with NH35-based pieces. They’re all over Kickstarter and everywhere you turn, there’s another NH35/36-based watch. It was getting to be annoying.

I decided I wasn’t going to buy even one more piece with that movement. What was the point? 

Then I came across Nodus watches, specifically the Sector series. Now I own two of them.

The lesson there to myself was that the movement, while the heart of the watch, is only one component. Nodus tunes their watches in 4 positions and includes that data with the watch. Moreover, I love what they bring to the table; the sector dials are handsome, their choice of colors is spot-on, and the finishing exceeds what many other makers are delivering at the price point.

So yeah, to answer the original question, for me, specs are no longer the deciding factor. I’ll buy an NH35/36 watch if the design appeals to me, especially if, like Nodus, the maker puts a little TLC into tuning the piece before sale. 

It's great reading all the comments on this thread Max. Really great discussion.

I admit I was being a bit snarky with the cereal and milk image, but the point I was making was sometimes it's hard to think of one without the other. Although, as collectors and enthusiasts we often do.

If I said what's inside matters most, then I'd be a hypocrite for the watch I wore today...

The Swiss quartz movement in this watch is so unimportant that Maurice Lacroix does not even bother to state what movement is in there - nor have any of the reviews of the watch indicated any further insight. And let's face it the watch is made from upcycled plastic bottles retrieved from the ocean - hardly something precious in terms of materials.

On the other hand, when I wear this watch...it's almost all about the movement and that this watch was made by hand by a master watchmaker over the period of months...even though the dial and design are gorgeous from a vintage inspired perspective and it's made from precious metals...in this case proprietary Lime Gold...

So I guess I fall into the camp that agrees that both are important.

Now if you said, when you spend a significant amount of money on a watch which is more important the inside or the outside...that would be a very different question to answer. That would be easy for me...lots of $$$ = better have an amazing movement, amazing finishing and grand complications. None of that Jacob & Co, Hublot, Richard Mille, etc. garbage for me.

Sooo wait,  I should or shouldn't wear my Bunny Boots on the Runway?

Ahhh…touché. 

I’ve never asked a sales rep to take an ugly watch out of the case for me to look at.  I’ve never purchased a watch that I didn’t feel fit me comfortably.

The actual specs only have to be in line with the price on a watch that looks and feels good. 

For me, it's both the specs and the design. A well-design watch with a monstrous spec sheet is a winning combo, in my opinion.

Specs are the fundamental starting point 

but design is everything 

thousands of watches out there with great specs on paper, but the watch turns out looking like a chimps tea party on the wrist.

Sorry but anyone voting specs is lying to themselves harder than us saying we don't have a problem lol.

The most memorable anything is due to the design. Most people unenthusiastic about certain topics will probably draw similar icons - a Macintosh, a BMW 7 series, Chuck Taylors, etc. Sure, they've stood the test of time spec wise, but they definitely got the jump on their competition from their design. 

One more thought....

Love enters through the eye, and leaves through the eye.

Im not saying both, but....

It depends.

For a long time, I collected the same (minimum) specd dive watches and the design was the only real deciding factor, all the same WR, movement, material, just varying designs.

Then I got more interested in specs and that was what was driving decisions like spring drive, a mechanical chrono, fascination with GMTs.... and my tastes ran practical (versatile.....aka boring), but it's what I liked.

My last two purchases are a complete split: The berries and cream Studio Underd0g, which I accept the movement as being nicely designed but specs are trash, the dial and feeling its aesthetic evoked when I saw it, I didn't even hesitate.

Then came the Horage Supersede K2 GMT, the specs literally describe my perfect watch, 39mm, <10mm thin, true gmt with hidden 3 hander function. dive bezel, toolless micro-adjust clasp, fitted rubber strap and bracelet options...the dial, its nice and I like it, but its the specs that drew me in....

so yeah

both.....

Design but price dictates specs. I won’t touch a watch above a certain price threshold unless it meets minimum standards in specs. Above 500 USD? Gotta have sapphire, that’s a nonnegotiable. Around 300 USD? At least it’s got to have an automatic movement. So on and so forth.