#lorier — Public Fediverse posts

For Whom The Bell Tolls

Lorier, that New York microbrand famous for doubling down on acrylic crystal not so long ago, has recently announced (and sold out of) a refresh of their 4 most popular models; The Hydra, Falcon, Astra & Hyperion. The kicker? Every single one was announced with a sapphire crystal in place of the acrylic they were previously known for being staunchly in favor of.

But why? Why reverse course so completely & suddenly on what felt to me like such a large part of the brand’s core identity? Based on info scattered around the web (not on their own site? seriously?1), there are a few reasons.

First of all, the worst kept secret in watchdom, Lorier was acquired earlier in the year by ‘Worn & Wound’. Yes, the watch publication that is now attempting a very similar thing as Hodinkee did by trying to be a watch retailer and watch content publisher.2 Anytime a brand or company ends up acquiring another, the purchasing entity usually wants to get busy making back the money they put out to buy their new toy. The best way to do that in this case would be to sell a buttload of watches. Based on the overwhelming “feedback” online, the next releases from Lorier after the acquisition almost HAD to be sapphire. Makes sense, right?

Well… yes. But what if… the founders of Lorier, Lauren & Lorenzo Ortega, were always planning on eventually moving to sapphire crystals before the Hodin… er… I mean Worn & Wound acquisition? I do have it on good authority that the plan was to eventually move to sapphire crystals eventually.

If that is actually true -and I have no reason to believe it’s not- Lorier saying they preferred acrylic crystals was just a ploy to sell watches, not their actual belief. This just highlights to me that business is business and sometimes people will do or say whatever is necessary to sell their product. And never take what a brand or company says at face value. Ever.

Maybe I’m not aware of the complete story and am a little off base. It’s possible, maybe even likely. However, as an owner of their Falcon Series III with an acrylic crystal and a belief that sapphire isn’t all it’s cracked up to be3, I do feel betrayed and I’m entitled to my feelings and beliefs.

Either way this happened, I’m over buying any more Lorier watches new. If I do ever pick up an Astra like I was considering, it will be a pre-W&W version.

What about you? Where do you land on this situation?

1. C’mon folks, no reason you shouldn’t have these announcements on your own sites/blogs/channels so you can direct people to the already written & produced copy and not have to type & re-type the answers to questions over & over & over on a bunch of different forums; with the possibility of straying off message the more you are re-typing the message. Additionally, there’s less temptation to reply to us chuds who take exception with whichever decision happens to have been made. All questions we might have about your announcement could be answered by the announcement. ↩︎
2. Hopefully, it won’t blow up in their faces like it did with Hodinkee. However, I can’t imagine how it’s not going to end badly. ↩︎
3. ba dum tss! ↩︎

A Change in the Winds?

This past week, I took a Thursday-Sunday road trip and I brought a total of three watches with me; the baby Alpinist, the Blood Moon (my night watch) and my Falcon.

It was the week for the Alpinist to be on wrist, but when I travel, I like to have at least one option depending on the situation and wardrobe I pack. I packed a couple of shirts (both black with red & white features) that either the Blood Moon or the Falcon wouldn’t clash with, but it turns out that I never took the Alpinist off for the whole trip, even for bed.

I never even wore the two shirts I planned on wearing that would have clashed with the Alpinist. I actually wore a t-shirt I don’t usually wear in public and a road trip themed shirt made specifically for this trip in order to keep the Alpinist on wrist all week.

Does this mean I don’t like my Falcon any more? I don’t think so (I will be participating in @Aurelian’s #1wc with the Falcon), but it does open the door to the question, right? Maybe I just figured I was going to get a lot of wrist time for the Falcon soon, I typically always wear the Blood Moon to sleep and just didn’t want to shirk on wrist time for the Alpinist and it’s as simple as that?

Whatever it means regarding the Falcon, I know what it means for the Alpinist; it’s not leaving the collection. After I won it as a door prize at a meetup, I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep it because I wasn’t even looking to add a new watch to the collection. In fact, I’m trying to downsize it to 10 watches & this complicates that. The heart wants what the heart wants though, I suppose.

Do you have a watch that entered your collection unexpectedly and earned its way into a permanent spot?

I cannot help but swoon for Lorier's marketing imagery.

#watches #lorier

Lorier is a tiny watch company out of New York and so when I first came across (and swooned over) the Zephyr it was sold out. Recently they had a new production batch and I'm so thrilled I was able to get one.

It's so good. It's so small and light, so nice to look at, so damn classy. That they can manage all this with a decent Miyota movement, sapphire crystal, and two straps for $500 is incredible.

https://www.lorierwatches.com/products/zephyr
#watches #lorier

Con los vídeos en #ARTE pasa como con la vida en general: van volando. Uno de mis conciertos más escuchados en #ARTEConcert pasó a la sección "Últimos días" hace poco. He pasado muchas horas cocinando con Paquito y Sandro #Lorier Gypsy Trio en Nancy Jazz Pulsations como banda sonora y pienso escucharles al menos unas horas más hasta el 6 de octubre.

#música #music #jazz #manouche

https://www.arte.tv/es/videos/111285-003-A/paquito-sandro-lorier-gypsy-trio/