Jack Forster moves from Hodinkee to Watchbox

Just remember they have investors like Michael Jordan etc with a valuation of $1B with $300M in revenue.. compared to Hodinkee. 

I’m a big fan of Jack. I’d consider this a quite a blow to Hodinkee. 

Quite a few folks have left in the last couple years (Stephan, Cara, Jason, and now Jack). Who next? James? Cole? 

Both Tim and Jack have incredible knowledge, so I hope to see more brand focus but with Jack now too.

As for Hodinkee, what's the reason for the exodus? 

WOW... i am not sure what to think about this but i'm looking forward to seeing him on Watchbox :) 

That definitely help make the decision easier…

This is like Michael Jordan or Tom Brady, at the height of their abilities moving to another team.

It's very intriguing to wonder why. Is this just a better offer or is he fleeing a sinking ship? 

I was a little surprised to see that this morning too. Glad for Jack, I really enjoy his articles and overall personality in general. 

I agree with @Nate_Designer in that this is a big blow for 'Dink. He points out other personalities who have left and I just wonder what internal political dynamic there has led to the exodus. I don't know him but Jack doesn't seem to be the type solely with financial motivations. 

“Hey Hodinkee”…why did Jack leave? 😉

was wondering why it's been a while since one of those came out.

So long "Hey Hodinkee", welcome What's Up WatchBox.

(Jack if you're reading we can brainstorm 😂)

More like "Bye Hodikee". He was the one really likeable charater over there IMO. 

My heart can't go on...

I disagree. James Stacey is great. Met him at Windup last month. same with Jason Heaton who I also got the pleasure of meeting. Genuinely nice dudes. Others seem cool too, from afar, like Cole. 

I like Jack and he and I have always gotten along (though I wouldn't call us close), and I truly hope he finds something interesting to do with himself at WatchBox. My feeling is that he's at his best when he's challenged and I hope the people at WatchBox are able to do that adequately. 

At Hodinkee, I'd say he had editorial freedom to tackle subjects that were interesting to him and us enthusiast, without needing to take consideration of any "will this help us sell watches" KPIs. At WatchBox, a service that exists solely to move product, I suspect that may be a different story. (Make the comparison to modern Hodinkee all you want, I'd still content there was more editorial freedom to net new readers and retain long time readers.) That said, I don't pay much attention to grey market derived content as it's just inherently not as interesting to me personally. 

That's what I fear for Jack, I want him making content that, at a foundational level, is driven by enthusiasm and passion. If he's able to do that at WatchBox, great, but people like me (there are probably dozens of us?) aren't likely to see it, as that's just not the kind of place I go to consume watch content. I also don't go to AutoTrader to read automotive content. 

I of course wish him all the best and I hope he's happy there. As for the broader implications of what's going on at Hodinkee, I'll keep those thoughts to myself, but I still consider many people there friends, and when they succeed, we all succeed. 

I love Jack so I will be consuming his content on Watchbox. I will miss his "Hey Hodinkee" segments though.

I think it will work out great! Honestly it can only enrich the type of content that can be created by the team. They do value different opinions and styles here. I mean look at me, I'm a Tech YouTuber with 236K subscribers who expected to do that full-time last year, only to fall down the rabbit hole of watches and then find this amazing company that was excited to have my different skill set and have me join the team. I think your concern is a bit misplaced. Shouldn't people be more worried about what this means for Hodinkee's dwindling editorial staff versus the fact that we just added this amazing new member to our team? 😉

Without doubt this is a huge blow to Hodinkee. Many people have commented that their site has been going downhill in recent years but I haven’t felt the same way. For Forster to have left his position as the leader and figurehead to join a direct competitor seemingly in the dead of night with not a mention anywhere on Hodinkee implies something is very wrong there and / or WatchBox made and offer he “could not refuse“. If Hodinkee is a sinking ship, then the captain just dove off the side and climbed onto a new luxury yacht heading in the other direction... 

I’m a little surprised he didnt have some sort of non-compete clause in his contract. To wake up and see Tim interviewing Jack yesterday morning welcoming him aboard was a shock to a lot of people, myself included. I think it would have been a lot classier on both of their parts if they had at least acknowledged his 5 years leading Hodinkee and thanked his former colleagues.

Regardless, I am happy for you Frankie and I’m sure he will contribute greatly to your team at Watchbox. I’ll be very interested to see how you employ his talents and knowledge. 

I must admit that I am quite surprised, as the erudite, soft spoken style of Jack is, in my opinion, a better fit for Hodinkee than with the sales machine that is The Watchbox. But I'm sure Jack made the right decision for himself.

With Ben Clymer busy playing golf with fellow millionaires, Eric Wind selling watches to millionaires, Joe Thompson on retirement and now Jack Forster jumping ships, one can say the Hodinkee of yore is gone.

Will the two cool guys, James and Cole, be enough to prevent the whole 'Dink operation from becoming ever more bland and boring ? 

Based on its growing fanbase, I could see TGN becoming a bigger thing, with more content, more merch, more GTGs and Cole would fit in just right. Just me saying...

Love Jack Forster. I’m quite shocked at the moment. I could picture him at a Wind Vintage type of setup, but I’m struggling to see him at Watchbox. 

I'm struggling as well... But as mentioned above, I think the strategy will be to pull over Forster-fans to read / view his content, stay on the site longer, and (eventually) buy a watch or 7.  I have never purchased from Watchbox, nor other Greys since Instagram / COVID helped drive prices skyward, but maybe when things (hopefully) come down to earth, I will again.

Hodinkee was very helpful to me when I was first learning about mechanical watches circa 2009/2010. I don't want to hate on them too much. I don't care so much for the increasingly in-your-face / shop this story approach, but they are trying to be a business and please investors. I hope Watchbox can balance great Forster content with their main reason for existing - to sell watches. We shall see...

With insightful wellwritten comments like these? Go figure 🤭

Do you mean mine - or his? 🤔

😂

Jack is a Jedi Master, he sits on the council.

Until he was drawn to the Dark Side? 😮

Who is the true Dark Side?

Sort of related question... The Hodinkee masthead used to list a number of staff. Now, the number of folks / photos there has been greatly reduced. Did they lose a bunch of people, or did they change the criteria of who gets their picture on the site?

People leave companies all the time - Hodinkee has been a major force in the watch industry for a while - it doesn't surprise me to see people leave to take on more responsibility at other places. This happens in every industry - If your company isn't producing major talent and getting them poached you are doing something wrong - because they should be so successful that other companies give them amazing offers to leave. 

I think there's a bit going on here:

1. Hodinkee has been letting older, more experienced (and more expensive) staff go for a while - just another one here.  Read the bio's of their new staff all ealy-mid 30's with no real prior writing experience.  Get them to write about rolex and you get clicks regardless.

2. Hodinkee is getting more and more 'lifestyle' and younger - where Jack isn't really comfortable.  He's looked increasingly awkward as they've tried to make him 'fun'.

3. Watchbox as a content creator has stalled.  They've made it obvious this is important to them (bringing on TGV to shake stuff up in the past) this is a play to shake things up anew.

4. For Jack this makes total sense - he gets to be him, doesn't have to play performing bear, gets to play with more incredible watches and (Im guessing) gets paid ok.  Sounds like a win.

Hi Pete and thanks for commenting. Very much enjoy your videos and your viewpoint on watches and the industry. Do you think WatchBoz is going to sell more watches by hiring Jack? Why do they feel they need to become content creators to sell (even) more wariches? Doesn’t Tim do more than enough to review/sell every new watch coming in the door and raise awareness of WatchBox through his live chats? I guess we’re going to have to see what they do with him in the next months to see how he’s going to add to the equation. 

I realize I’m not Pete…

Watch box will draw Jack fans and make new ones who dig his content. This will give a reason for more return visits to the site - even when you’re not looking to buy a watch right away. So, getting old/new visitors to return more frequently and linger longer = more sales opportunities.