An entrepreneurial success by all accounts, Ben Clymer’s watch blog HODINKEE not only boasts of 500,000 avid readers every month, but has amassed $3.6 million USD in seed money as well as having influenced a resurgence in vintage watch collecting. Here, MR PORTER talks to Clymer on the watch that started it all, as well as the struggles of leaving a stable but soulless job to pursue his passion. This is interspersed with Clymer taking us in a ride in his vintage Porsche from his West Village home to the HODINKEE offices in SoHo, where he talks about the stories behind his favorite timepieces. Read a short excerpt below and click here for the full editorial piece.
In a short space of time, HODINKEE has grown to become the most respected online resource within what remains a very traditional watch industry. “We’ve been successful because we write about things that are often perceived as pretentious and slightly obnoxious, and ridiculously expensive and overpriced, in a way that explains them to normal people so that they can understand and appreciate them,” says Mr Clymer. The site is credited with helping to spark and sustain a vintage watch craze, which has seen prices for investment pieces soar in the past decade. “I believe that within five years many of the world’s elite art collectors will also turn to mechanical watches,” he predicts. “The market is there.”
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