AI in the Watch Industry
- Sam Haizelden
- Feb 6
- 4 min read
Many of you reading this will likely have a better understanding of AI than I do. But I wonder if you have a similar relationship with AI as I do… to quote early noughties Facebook, “It’s complicated”.
As watch enthusiasts, we love tradition and don’t tend to adopt change very well. For a long time, I avoided thinking about AI, let alone using it. Then, one day, I thought I’d ask Chat GPT to help me to write a description for a website listing. I knew that I didn’t want it to write the listing for me, but asked it to do what I initially start with, to research approximately five articles and reviews from my favourite websites. I then wrote a description, using what Chat GPT had found, but adding my own spin on it. What I hadn’t realised, is that I could ask it to draft something “in the style of the other descriptions on the Watch Concierge Services website”. The results were impressive. I still made changes, but it was off to a very productive start. But then I got spooked – what if I use it too often and lose my voice, lose the ability to write about watches, and lose what makes Watch Concierge Services “human”.
I've seen a few a people on Instagram calling out accounts what use AI to write their captions or, as above, dealers using it to write their descriptions. It appears that consumers notice it, and they don't like it. Perhaps one of the most worrying things I saw (but failed to screenshot) was an article shared by journalist Robin Swithinbank, which under the title, said something along the lines of "written using AI and checked by an editor", thus eliminating the need for a writer or journalist at all.
After listening to a few podcasts on AI, I am spooked, but it left me thinking – what does AI in the Watch Industry look like? There’s no doubt that it will affect many areas of the industry, and if it gives with one hand, will it take away with another?
I stumbled across the Instagram account @solarjones9000 a few months ago, which has the bio “Elegant, beautiful, aesthetic watches imagined on paper and AI”. The watches featured are stunning, but not real. Or not yet real? What will happen to watch design, if it can be easily created using AI? At the other end of the scale, my good friend Lee @one.hour.watch would spend one hour each day drawing a watch by hand, from what I understand, were each his own designs. Wouldn’t it be a shame to lose that creativity?
This can be extended to marketing and social media as a whole. Surely there’ll be no need for models, or even photographers, if A.I can create lifestyle photos without any actual “life”.
I was speaking with a friend recently and they tried to assure me that AI won't cause a loss of jobs, but just enable us to work more efficiently. It will increase productivity, therefore increasing output and profitability. I hope there is some truth in that, because without jobs, will anyone still be buying watches?
There has got to be some other benefits to AI. From the side of the buyer, there will be more transparency when it comes to buying a watch. AI in the watch industry will make it easier to compare watches and help the buyer to make informed decisions. Platforms such as Aperture are already scanning auctions for listings and results, highlighting predicted market values. In the future, if not already, AI may even be able to spot counterfeit watches.
Circling back to increased productivity, perhaps AI in the watch industry will mean improvements in the manufacturing of watches, streamlining processes and possibly even bringing down retail prices. Although realistically it will just mean increased profit margins for the brands.
In an age where a smartwatch can tell us everything we need, as watch enthusiasts, we appreciate the handmade. We get excited by hand-engraved balance cocks such as that on the Moritz Grossman, dials created as a result of a mad scientist playing with materials in a workshop (that would be James Thompson creating the Arcanaut Bonehead), or even in a technically advanced country such as Japan, dials inspired by the quiet beauty of nature. And let’s not get started about our love of patina, with each vintage watch taking us back to decades gone by.
We are a community who love to meet-up, to stand around a table of watches, pick them up and try them on and discuss lug-to-lug dimensions. To stand shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow enthusiasts and congratulate each other on their latest NWA, or pass around a lume torch, or get excited by the chime on a minute repeater. There’s nothing artificial about that.
So, while my Chat GPT assistant might offer to help with more aspects of Watch Concierge Services, for now I’ll use it as an advanced form of Google, and keep my cheesy ramblings in my own voice. And ensure the “Concierge” part of WCS stays as human as possible.
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