While neither party has confirmed the specific terms of the deal, it's understood that Watches of Switzerland’s acquisition of Hodinkee will include a website, magazine, brand partnerships division, and insurance business.
Reporting by JCK Online has confirmed that the watch blog won’t be taking its current CEO, Jeffery Fowler, or secondhand website Crown & Caliber with it. Ben Clymer, who founded the company in 2008, will return as CEO.
Crown & Caliber was purchased by Hodinkee in 2021 and has now been sold to European Watch Company. Oliver R Müller of Revolution questioned what the acquisition means for the future of watch media.
"This acquisition underscores a broader trend in the watch world: the convergence of media and retail," he writes.
"Traditionally, watch blogs operated independently, serving as impartial commentators on the industry, while retailers focused solely on sales. But in recent years, we’ve seen a growing number of media platforms being absorbed by players outside the media industry or doing what Hodinkee has tried to do by diversifying their business model outside of content creation."
He continued: "This phenomenon raises critical questions about editorial independence and the future of watch journalism."
Others have drawn attention to the disparity in size between the two companies - with Hodinkee reportedly employing around 35 people today, compared with nearly 3,000 for Watches of Switzerland.
As a result, Rob Corder of WATCHPRO suggested that this new acquisition will amount to little more than a ‘rounding error’ to Watches of Switzerland.
“Despite Hodinkee reportedly welcoming 22 million readers per year to its site, I do not think it will add much to the performance of Watches of Switzerland, which has one of the most sophisticated customer acquisition and relationship management systems on the planet,” he writes.
“In a perfect world, Hodinkee will be left to run at arm’s length from Watches of Switzerland because I see no upside to the retailer if it tries to leverage its investment (in time, if not money in the acquisition) by trying to make it an integral part of its retail business.”
Corder added: “There is only the potential for downside at Hodinkee if it is pushed into becoming a cheerleader for its owner, which will only damage its reputation for editorial independence.”
Rapaport News reporter Joshua Freedman provided extensive background to the sale, suggesting that Watches of Switzerland was primarily motivated by the editorial platform's influence over the US market.
Hodinkee will remain an independent media organisation headquartered in New York City under the Watches of Switzerland ‘umbrella’.
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