Some of you readers/followers who have been with us for a while would know that we have recently gone through a bit of a refresh after a period of hiatus. I could not think of a very witty title for the article, so bear with me. But the content is what really matters right? Well I am here to disappoint, and tell you that this article is just going to be me rambling about our journey so far and how we came to be.
When we first started this, we really did not expect ourselves to take Generalist so seriously. Well I guess serious is a bit of a strong word here because it is all relative, but we do treat this as our baby of a sort and do spend quite a fair bit of time on this passion project of ours. To us, this project encompasses things that we really love fundamentally: value, history, design, and a thirst for knowledge.
Getting Generalist to this level in of itself has been quite a bit of work, and we had to learn to do many things ourselves (and after all, that is half the fun). At that point, I had never even built or designed a website before, photography was never a forte, I had not pieced together a coherent article after graduating from university... and the list goes on. But one thing I have always been good at is just grabbing the bull by the horns, and doing it until I get it (never mind the bruises you get along the way, you gotta have some skin in the game!). You feel a bit like an ape typing away on a typewriter at first, but the feeling of "getting it" is really second to none.
Today's Generalist is a result of multiple rounds of discussions and iterations, and finding a practical combination that works for the team. The website for instance went through multiple rounds of tweaking in order to make it as easy and modular as possible to maintain. This allowed us to spend our time more meaningfully on things that matter to us such as looking for more cool things or just reading or writing about random things. We are just a small team of collectors, and to run our project smoothly and most importantly, spend our time meaningfully, we had to make some compromises along the way.
We have also decided to change the way we approach Generalist, in terms of the pieces that we select and talk about. Our tastes have always leaned more towards the "classic" side of the spectrum, and we foresee ourselves continuing to focus on pieces that follow that definition. But classic need not be boring, and it is a mission of ours to keep hunting pieces with a a bit of a nuance in that regard. Most importantly, we want to focus on pieces that we want to passionately talk about. Talking about a run of the mill Rolex Submariner is not going to give us as much joy as talking about for example, Antoine Preziuso, an independent watchmaker based in Geneva who has created so many interesting hidden gems throughout his watchmaking career. In an era where watches are obsolete, watches are not just items that tell the time anymore. They tell a story, not just about themselves, but the creators as well as the person wearing them.
With a big collecting community emerging on social media and many mega watch influencers out there, the watch market is vastly different from what it was a decade ago. On one hand, knowledge is easily accessible and as the unknown becomes the known, we are seeing a greater variety of watches being unearthed in the market. The neo-vintage watch trend is probably the best example of that, with collectors finally seeing value that was neglected for years. This unfortunately has not been without its problems, and we have also seen watch collecting relegated to clout chasing in some aspects. People always just want the watches that the "cool" crowd have and flock like sheep to whatever is the hottest new thing in town. At the end of the day, collecting should be a palette for the individual to express his own taste and showcase his individuality, and this is what we always want to emphasize through Generalist. You won't find value if you're looking where everyone is looking, so dare to be a bit different sometimes.
Till next time. Ta.