WatchTime

WatchTime
Editor Joe Thompson (since 2005)
Categories Horology
Frequency Bi-monthly
Publisher Dominik Grau (since 2011)
First issue October, 1999
Company Ebner Publishing International, Inc.
Country USA
Language English
Website watchtime.com

History

WatchTime was founded in New York City in 1999 by the Ebner Publishing Group of Ulm, Germany.[1] Ebner is a diversified publishing company and Europe's leading publishers of consumer wristwatch magazines. The company is 200 years old and is owned by the Ebner family of Ulm. Ebner publishes four consumer wristwatch magazines and over 80 magazines and online journals in categories including computers, music, film, video editing, fashion, firefighters, first responders, with a total circulation exceeding 7 million. Since its founding, WatchTime has grown to become America's top watch magazine according to Barnes & Noble sales numbers and MRI research data.[1] As of January 2015, based on Google Analytics and Comscore, it had more than 90,000 newsletter subscribers as well as 500,000 monthly website visitors and, according to the Ebner Group, served more than 10,000 readers with its iOS/Android/Nook/Kindle tablet magazine. The overall audience growth according to Google Analytics was more than 900% since 2012, with mobile being the fastest-growing channel at a rate of 1,300% from December 2011 to December 2014. WatchTime's staff frequently appear on radio shows, as TV show guests and are quoted as watch journalists by several magazines and newspapers. WatchTime has international editions, like WatchTime India (magazine) and WatchTime Brasil (web portal) as well as local editions in the Middle East. In January 2015 the company launched a 24-hour social media newsdesk focused on engaging with the more than 200,000 watchtime.com social media fans across all channels. The newsdesk has staff in North America and Asia, they constantly update all of watchtime.com's social media presences with the latest watch news.

Style

WatchTime's mission is to be the leading authority on watches, watch culture, and the watch industry, and to inform and entertain watch collectors and enthusiasts with products across a variety of platforms, including print and online media, and live events. WatchTime covers all aspects of fine timepieces: the watches themselves; the companies and countries that manufacture them; and the community of watch lovers who design, manufacture, wear and appreciate them.[1] WatchTime publishes wristwatch tests conducted by experts who assign numeric scores to timepieces, allowing readers to judge the relative merits of the watches. WatchTime also declines to offer the magazine's cover for sale to sponsors. WatchTime is published bi-monthly by a staff of American and European watch journalists and experts, complemented by prominent lifestyle feature writers. Each issue offers a mix of informative and in-depth articles for the American watch aficionado, covering a range of topics, including:

  • reviews of specific watches;
  • objective watch tests;
  • in-depth reports on watch technology, design and history;
  • watch company profiles;
  • provocative interviews with prominent watch people including celebrities, athletes, collectors, and watch industry power players;
  • interesting and offbeat items from around the watch world, and more.[1]

WatchTime Live Events

Each year, WatchTime teams up with noted watch collector Jeff Kingston to present a series of live shows in major U.S. cities recapping the new models introduced at the watch world's two major Swiss trade shows, Baselworld BaselWorld and the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie or SIHH.[2] The "Inside Basel and Geneva" shows include photos and video of the new timepieces plus interviews with top executives from leading watch brands. Many watch collectors travel from across the country and abroad to visit the yearly shows. In 2015 WatchTime will also host a large-scale timepiece exhibition in New York. The event replicates the format of watch shows like Munichtime or Viennatime in Europe, with a projected audience of 1,000+ collectors.

Awards

In 2008 WatchTime earned a Silver "Eddie" award form Folio Magazine for its March 2008 issue in the Consumer/Enthusiast category [2], and in 2002 WatchTime earned a Gold Eddie.[3] In 2013, WatchTime was honored with the SmartCEO Future 50 Award for an outstanding growth rate over the period of 2010 to 2013. In the same year, WatchTime was a top 10 finalist of the Mequoda Rocket Award; according to Mequoda, WatchTime's website was one of the platforms with the highest growth rate of all products that Mequoda has tracked and analyzed from 2012 to 2013. In 2013 and 2014 WatchTime won a combined total of seven Digital Magazine Award nominations, it is the world's only luxury watch magazine with more than three such nominations. In 2014 the company also won an Apex Award of Excellence in electronic media, and it again was a finalist at the annual Mequoda Rocket Awards for outstanding audience growth.

Notable Contributors

WatchTime's contributors include wristwatch writers and experts including Joe Thompson, Norma Buchanan, Mark Bernardo, Christian Pfeiffer-Belli, Gisbert Brunner, Lucian Trueb, Rüdiger Bucher, Alexander Linz, Martina Richter, Jens Koch, and Mike Disher. With WatchTime's support Alexander Linz has become one of the world's leading bloggers with his platform Watch Insider, supported by WatchTime and the Ebner Group.

WatchTime Books and DVDs

  • Buyer's Guide. WatchTime offered an annual buyer's guide with information about more than 1000 watches from over 150 watch brands, published until 2013 and since retired. Watches were divided into 12 price categories from under $500 to over $50,000. For each watch, the guide included a picture plus all of the basic information, including the list price. The guide was updated each year to include the latest models. The Buyer's Guide has been discontinued as of January 2013, WatchTime now publishes shopping guides on its tablet editions and other yearbooks instead of the Guide.
  • The World of Watches by Lucien F. Trueb (now discontinued). This comprehensive encyclopedia included more than 440 pages and over 330 illustrations. The book profiled hundreds of watch companies from Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Italy and the United States. It presented brand histories along with top models and collections. Also included was a Who's Who of watch-movement manufacturing, along with an overview of 500 years of watch history and technology.
  • Inside Basel and Geneva DVD. This DVD presented an extended version of the Jeff Kingston/WatchTime Inside Basel and Geneva presentation, detailing the new watches unveiled by more than 40 brands at the annual Baselworld and SIHH wristwatch trade shows. The 4 hour-plus DVD included interviews with leading brand executives.[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "About WatchTime"
  2. ↑ SIHH
  3. ↑ Editor's Letter: WatchTime wins Editorial Excellence Award, January 2003
  4. ↑ Inside Basel Geneva

Further reading


External links