"Underrated" doesn't exist

This post is underrated.

There are remarkable watches that aren't supported by tremendous marketing budgets and paid influencers. Consequently, they get less attention than the person saying "under-rated" believes they should.

I tend to get annoyed with over-rated watches much more often than hearing about under-rated ones.

But wouldn't that correct itself? I see obscure Japanese microbrands sell out quickly. I'm also quite sure that I've never seen an ad for Sinn. (Maybe they spend their marketing dollars elsewhere.) You have brands like Long Island that have grown out of a YouTube channel and an online watch store. These brands were maybe temporarily underrated until the watch buying public found out.

Underrated is simply a gentler and less crass way to say that these are commercial flops that won't sell without divine intervention (which is pretty rare or so I've been told).

Yeah, it makes me think of MVMT, a company with very good timing, that for some reason was able to make the story of "college drop-outs" turned entrepreneur stick, despite the obvious inconsistencies.

That doesn't happen very often.

This is indeed a misuse of the word. The proper word is usually overlooked or underappreciated.

However, I must state that the market is often wrong.

I would agree that the market is often wrong when talking about "investment grade" watches. Probably less so for entry-level watches that are more of a commodity.

But I would still be curious what would make a good watch be overlooked or underappreciated in the long term.

I start from the premise that no brand owned by Rolex, Swatch, Richemont, Citizen, Seiko, or LVMH can be underrated. They are merely not marketed at you. That leaves, what, five percent or less of the market? Do any successful microbrands seem underrated?

Underrated is not a thing.

I think some of you are conflating market value with watch community value. Watches can easily be underrated in the watch community, even if they perform well on the market.

Citizen and Tag Heuer watches are often under-rated by the community group think, but both brands sell very well.

Conversely, one could easily argue that Hamilton, Oris, etc., are over-rated by the community in relation to their market value.

George Bamford when speaking about the original IWC Ingeneur "it was underated at the time". 2 seconds later comes the clarification that it took bloody ages to sell out.

I believe the two are correlated, meaning that the community group think is not all that far removed from a commercial success or the perceived value of a watch. While there are a few collectors who focus on unpopular watches, many seem to favor watches that are also commercially successful, or at least from a known brand. We can of course debate why that is the case.

P.S.: I wouldn't consider Hamilton or Oris commercial failures by any means.

Over-rated isn't a synonym of failure. It's simply that they are praised in the watch community far more than their market share would indicate they deserve. If we assume that market share is the primary value by which we determine if something is over or under rated.

The opposite is true of Tag and Citizen(largest watch brand by sales numbers I believe), where the community rates the brands fairly low, but the muggles gobble them up.

If we look at specific models I think the SKX is the perfect example of a watch that has "legendary" status in the watch community, but got it's status because ADs couldn't sell it at RRP, so it flooded the grey market.

All this to say, under-rated and over-rated are subjective descriptors, and should always be taken with a pound of salt.

Over-rated is a term I would apply to something, anything, that promises far more than it actually delivers. Something that is poorly produced but cleverly marketed to create a hype. I'll let you all be the judge of what, if anything, in the watch world meets that criteria.

Tudor Ranger is an example of underrated for me. Most people seem to judge (or rate) it based on looking at it on pictures and decide it's boring. I tried one on and was very surprised to find that despite the negativity, it is a cracking watch on the wrist. I was very tempted to get one, where as beforehand I was in the meh camp, based on what I'd seen and heard.

What I find fascinating is when something / someone is both under-rated AND over-rated!!!

Under-rated...

Over-rated...

I'm with you on this comment, a little while ago I picked up an Exciton 2 no date on ebay for silly money, I had not heard of the kick starter campaign or J&G watches,

When it arrived I was pretty blown away by the quality it's brilliant!, it lead me to Gary's "I like watches" on youtube, I have since searched the couple of posts on here WC with owners posting pics of theirs...and the few comments I see are not that great,

Yes underrated is fine with me!

Buy what you like & can afford. If you are buying a watch because other people say it’s good then shame on you for not doing your own homework properly

Agreed. And you could include Daniel Wellington or Rolex in that basket 😂.

Great topic! Love all the weigh in on the topic. I prefer Overbuilt and Underbuilt for watches. This applies to the engineering and manufacturing of a piece and the brand marketing. Overbuilt Example: Grand Seiko Spring Drive technology. You pay alot but let's face it there are watches for hundreds of thousands of dollars that aren't as accurate, have a lower grade fit and finish and garbage specs. Underbuilt Example: How bout the Beloved Royal Oak, pretty much the whole AP, Patek and RM lineup. Tons of money, far less accurate than the Grand Seiko and dainty little watches you wouldn't dare drip a bead of sweat on versus taking a swim in your indoor infinity pool circa 2000 as you can with just about any GS model. Marketing is the same way. Overbuilt Example: Of course Rolex and their Cadre of false legends aka Everest and the English Channel. Underbuilt Example: how about Sinnn or Oris. Ball Watch company and Marathon come to mind. By the way, the durability of all brands mentioned under Marketing in my post greatly surpass AP, Patek and RM. All the brands mentioned are tough as nails compared to the three Underbuilt players. So these brands kill it on both fronts.

Whew! Who would think anyone would toss Rolex into a thread on underrated watch brands? Yet, I'd take a Datejust (if there was one available for sale) as a daily wear over a dainty AP any day. I know the likes of Jay Z, Puffy, and even R Kelly until he was required to stop wearing flex watches, are all into flex overhyped watches. They have someone to open doors for them, do their laundry etc. Their hands don't get dirty and neither will their APs . The Datejust is underrated compared to the AP but overbuilt for use.

You don't have to look at watches in the sub $500 range to stamp underrated on. IMO most watches get this tag when compared to something overhyped and priced in any segment. Value is another term that could wiggles somewhere in this convo. Is the gray market datejust a better value than the AP based on price, build quality , resale equity and durability? I dunno . I'd like to have both watches and a shit ton of underrated cool watches in my collection

I don't like the word over-rated and under-rated wrt specific watches, as there is no generally accepted rating for these. One could apply this to complications (in a wide sense), and talk about whether, say, the GMT function is over- or underated. Or watch types, like dive watches, etc. But there are over-looked (and over-hyped) brands. This is subjective though, relative to what you value in a watch. I have little trust in the market (or even more aggressive marketing) correcting that, partly because my tastes and preferences are not mainstream enough.

Underrated (adjective): When someone loves something, but hasn't seen 20 people praising it in the past 48hrs. They will then refer to that thing for the next month or two - at least - as 'underrated'.

Agreed. And the parameter used to make the comparison is often fairly arbitrary. May it be that a brand is older, that some specs are the same as the ones of a more expensive watch, or that the watch was worn by a famous person. All this may or may not matter to another buyer.

Underrated is so overrated.

How would you measure "correct"?

I think we're admitting here that over-rated or under-rated is completely subjective.

Me? I wish I could go one day without seeing another video about a BlackBay. I find them wildly over-rated. I find the coverage nauseating. But there are others reading this who are thinking right now, "Who is this asshole?"

I wish I more regularly stumbled upon videos about watches I've never heard of that I find interesting, but to your point, this is unlikely.

And it's unlikely because we each have our own opinions about over-rated and under-rated, and by definition we're going to see more hype about the watches we think are over-rated and we're going to see less hype about the watches we believe are under-rated.

And if you're a Tudor BlackBay fan, right now you probably think, "Hell yes! I love that watch and I can find videos about it any time I please. It's normally-rated."

I thought that underrating was really underrated.

Lots of good points said already and sometimes we're getting into semantics, but I'll give my two cents via examples. I think it boils down to who are you asking this question. The 'watch market' or enthusiasts/collectors.

GS 5-10y ago was under-rated/under-appreciated/under-valued in my book. Amazing finishing, great movements, etc. Now, I think the general watch public values it appropriately and GS is raising their prices without mass upheaval. Not under-rated anymore.

Lange would be my other example. Even 5+y ago, Lange grey market prices were below RRP/MSRP. Some people appreciated them for what they are and we equated them as part (or superior to!) of the holy trinity, but the general watch public didn't. Now, that gap is closing and I think they are getting the wider attention they deserve.

Anordain maybe an example of being under-rated when they first started, but now geeze their enamel dialed watches have years-lomg queues!

PS - you know when you keep looking or saying a word it becomes meaningless and looks misspelled? Underrated looks weird to me now.

Good enuf!

Also the MoonSwatch, IMO. I watched your latest video and I feel your pain! I believe 100% that sales people at an AD would treat me with the same disdain, so I will never even attempt to enter one.

Agreed on the MoonSwatch haha! And thanks for your kind words. It takes a little bit of the sting away when I can turn it into a video. But I do hope you get all the watches that you desire, AD or No!

Unless you're talking about something that is actually rated (ie Vostok Amphibias are under-rated at 200 meters water resistance when they can survive much more) then "under-rated" is just someone's opinion and is no more or less valid than any other opinion.