Turned off by Hodinkee lately??!!!

I pretty much just read the James Stacey articles.  

Edit: The atomic clock on their app is nice for setting watches. 

Totally agree about the app clock! Use it all the time 

I found that Sarah Miller to be one of the few tolerable things left, but I skipped her last piece.

Also, I inexplicably am no longer able to comment there. 

agreed on both accounts. Sara's writing is refreshing and I enjoy Nora Taylor as well.

I will browse, but generally skip most articles.

Whatever happened to the rumors that were floating around last year that Hodinkee might ink a deal with Rolex to be their 1st online AD ? 

It'll never happen, at least not with Hodinkee. The current ADs and there are some massive ones, will revolt and they'd risk losing a distribution network. 

I've been turned off by Hodinkee since birth.

And they weren't even around then.

If you assume everyone is trying to sell you something, then you’ll never be disappointed 😂 I don’t mind wading through the marketing to find what interests me - they gotta pay the bills somehow. The best part of the internet is that there are always more sites to choose and read from 🤙

Most watch-focused sites operate in a similar manner. 

Clicks and page views by themselves do not pay the bills. The sites need revenue streams or they simply will not exist. 

True, but from an editorial perspective, it seems to be just blatant advitorial and not very objective journalism. Other sites don't come across as subjective

Just felt mostly uninspired these past few years. 
But so does W&W and Fratello. 
And I’m an avid listener of both their podcasts since the very beginning, especially W&W for so many years now.

Hodinkee just lost their trailblazer mojo long ago, but how could they maintain it for much longer while becoming ever so elitist?

W&W is the most consistent in my view and the one I like to hear the most, it’s ritual every Wednesday.

Fratello has the best columns and for a long while the best interaction but much was lost in the last year.
Still the one I enjoy reading the most but I feel they really didn’t pick up the mantle for community building.

In all fairness, none of them seemed to have done a great job at it, and I can’t see how that was so over looked  while it was so apparent from our side, the enthusiasts, that we wanted  an active role and participate in the dialogue.

Here we are still!

I've been critical of all of them in the past, specifically their podcasts, but to be fair, I don't envy them the balance they have to strike between editorial freedom and keeping the lights on.  

Before there were online shops, it felt like they relied on the largesse of brands to fly them around, give them samples to review, etc.  Even if a journalist thought this was the case, the banner of the site couldn't read "Don't ever ever ever buy anything made by the Swatch group, and here are all the reasons why!".

The Fast Lane car guys are quick to point out that after they were very critical of a Subaru, the brand no longer loans them anything to test.

If the outlet has a financial component, I happily consume the content assuming that the underlying goal is to get me to buy something.  

This makes me think I should join some supporter groups; maybe I'll start with TGN and TBWS.

They lost me a long time ago. Reading their articles felt too much like the style of snotty wine reviews and if you decide to become an online shop at least have the good manner to stop publishing reviews.

Sarah Miller?????

To me she represents all that went wrong with HODINKEE.

Her recent interview of Aurel Bacs was juvenile and totally disrespectful.

Her article on deployant clasps was equally ridiculous.

Lord save us from Sarah Miller and all of her kind.

I feel the same as many have said here, that almoust every high production value medias will try to sell you something, just take everything with that aproach and you will be fine.

I feel Hodinkee still makes good things. They should double down on the talking watches ( with real enthusiasts ) and the watches in wild. I rarely read their articles word to word unless I'm really interested on the topic.

When company gets bigger it's enevatable that they grow out of their roots. Similar thig has had with W&W but I feel they acknowleged it. Zack Weiss said one of their podcasts something along the lines that, the guy ( himself) who started W&W probably wouldn't agree whit what W&W is to day. Made me respect them more, ideals just move aside when thigns grow.

I'm a massive fan of Fratello's writing at the moment. I was talking to RJ recently at WatchPro Salon and he said they are ramping their events next year, including way more SpeedyTuesady, but there is a waitlist for that as demand is so high.

The ADs can't revolt, they need the supply! Even with the recent restriction on sales per client, they are still a guaranteed stream of cash for the ADs. Online sales would do Rolex no good whatsoever. Wathc companies with hot watches can't put many of them through online anyway as the sales staff need them for both relationship maintenance and to earn their commission. 

Wow, I missed more of her stuff than I thought. I'll have to catch up, maybe, but "juvenile and disrespectful" is a breath of fresh air from haughty and fawning.

Plus whatever beat she was on managed to avoid the uniform "why you should buy this great new expensive thing (that we happen to sell)!" format that stinks from the headline down.

So we agree, it is never happening? There is zero chance because of AD relationships, who would simply move on from Rolex if it happened. They do not need the hassle and spend/space requirements. There has been zero large scale online drop based models not taken over by bots and nefarious players.

Have to agree with @LongmoorCopse here, all sites need advertisement to pay the bills. From Fratello to W&W to Teddy B there is paid advertising. I’m know I’m in the minority not hating on Hodinkee, but a lot of these comments have a very “get off my lawn” vibe. There is NOTHING objective about watch reviews. Objective facts are dimensions and pictures only. If you don’t like the author‘s point of view or opinion, then you don’t. But I find it strange to hate on a an entire website simply because. Fratello has puff pieces all the time and so does W&W. They’re all selling something, even if it’s just advertising (as @JHellberg pointed out). 
 

ABTW is one of the few journalistic sites that doesn’t also sell watches. 

I read Fratello for many years and I really like their columnists and editorial vein. It always felt that they wrote more about what was interesting to them than reporting on the news,  that was a byproduct.

However I think they lost an important voice with Rob leaving their editorial team. 

He has a very particular tone that seems overlooked: entertaining.

This is an escape for most us enthusiasts, so lightness of tone and engaging with us the readers was for me a very distinctive way he position himself

Their Talking Watches segment has some excellent videos but more recently the guests have become more obscure. They don’t come out very often but it’s been a while since a good one - Mitch Schwartz was the last video I really enjoyed. 

I used to love the ‘Hey Hodinkee’ videos but alas Jack Forester is now with Watchbox & they seemed to stop the series

I agree with you and that’s objectively the trade off. I get it and I accept it.

I don’t question the general news integrity for their publicity segments, it’s part of the vehicle that deliver the news, and that’s alright.

I’m however consciously critical of their tone. 

I don’t hate any publication, or anyone, but I just don’t relate with Hodinkee’s tone so I stopped reading it.

Too bad, I used to like it.

That’s cool and I’m happy for them, genuinely, that’s the niche they occupy to their own merit. 

But sad to think it could have been so much more with a little push and commitment to their readership.

I think it could happen one day but it would be global and simultaneous for all their major ADs. ADs will not "walk away from Rolex" they can't afford to as Rolex is half the market in some countries (like the UK). It does seem that it is a long way off, but judging by the sudden widespread appearance of available Rolexes (and Tudors) this month maybe the end of the Rolex demand bubble will hasten their planning.