Any thoughts on Brick Watch Company?

[knyshcollection]

Has anyone heard of this new Watch company started by Dave Portnoy of Barstool?
https://brickwatchcompany.com/

[TheVTCGuy]

I don’t know anything about the company or the watch, but checked out the website. They are reasonably attractive, and the power reserve of 30+ hours in interesting, but priced at $2,500 ish. IMHO, if you are looking for a less expensive automatic watch a Grand Seiko or Tudor is a better piece.

[OverGeared]

I have a very strong negative opinion of Dave Portnoy, so when I heard he funded a watch company, I tried to just ignore it. I figured it would be some MVMT-level cash grab, so it was best to just not pay attention. Of course, it's recently come out that they're more than just a cash grab. They're a ridiculous cash grab: sub-$1k watches being sold for $2500. And now that he's being called out on it, Portnoy's responding the only way he knows how: by pounding on the table and yelling like hell (to borrow a phrase.)

https://timeandtidewatches.com/barst...-doubles-down/

In summary, Dave Portnoy: bad person hawking overpriced merchandise because he thinks his fans are all suckers.

[EEpro]

They are terrible. The movement looks just like a Tag Fauxer I bought off a guys ankle in Central Park.

[GST15]

Overpriced junk IMHO

[Star Ferry]

I could have launched this entire business for him with less than 12 hours of work

[shaunylw]

The price is so far off the mark. It’s not a great looking watch but the cost is wild.


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[DJH1977]

Hideous, but probably enough people who don't know better will buy it. The cursive slogan is especially tasteless to me. If you haven't seen the case back, have a look. Toilet seat.

[PhilLynott]

He had no idea the competition in that price segment and also may have overlooked that the vast majority of his followers are not spending $2k+ on a watch in general so his crazy influence doesn't help a ton. If he wanted to enter the watch market as mentioned above he needed to go the MVMT route he could have sold thousands and thousands of "$125 use discount code blahblah for $30 off and free shipping" type stuff his followers woulda swarmed that.

He also doesn't know a thing about watches so was a little arrogant on his part. I'm a fan of his in general though.

[hothothaven]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

I don’t know anything about the company or the watch, but checked out the website. They are reasonably attractive, and the power reserve of 30+ hours in interesting, but priced at $2,500 ish. IMHO, if you are looking for a less expensive automatic watch a Grand Seiko or Tudor is a better piece.

Agree 100% Oris is another great choice of you are looking to spend that much, and you get a lot of watch value from them.

[bullies]

Apparently it's nothing more than making a dial from these "custom" watch makers:

https://www.americanwatch.com/contact-quick-start/

Search Brick's warranty address. It's the same as AWC's...
https://brickwatchcompany.com/pages/warranty

[Knappo 1307]

Originally Posted by OverGeared

I have a very strong negative opinion of Dave Portnoy, so when I heard he funded a watch company, I tried to just ignore it. I figured it would be some MVMT-level cash grab, so it was best to just not pay attention. Of course, it's recently come out that they're more than just a cash grab. They're a ridiculous cash grab: sub-$1k watches being sold for $2500. And now that he's being called out on it, Portnoy's responding the only way he knows how: by pounding on the table and yelling like hell (to borrow a phrase.)

https://timeandtidewatches.com/barst...-doubles-down/

In summary, Dave Portnoy: bad person hawking overpriced merchandise because he thinks his fans are all suckers.

Sorry, had to look this guy up. Never heard of him....

[PBJ1925]

Aesthetically looks fine. I simply wouldn't pay those prices, there's some many other viable brands I.E. Oris, Longines, in this price segment.

[martinoflion]

I honestly don’t care about the watch or the price. What’s annoying is the fact that he went on to tell everyone that their opinions are stupid but he has no experience with watches and also the watch enthusiasts are not his target which ultimately means he’s out to get his dumb followers for money.

[AAVDB]

I never heard about this guy. Untill my IG was full of post's and video's about a guy trying to sell a 40 dollar chinese watch voor 2,5k :X

[OverGeared]

Originally Posted by martinoflion

he went on to tell everyone that their opinions are stupid but he has no experience with watches and also the watch enthusiasts are not his target which ultimately means he’s out to get his dumb followers for money.

That's the Dave Portnoy way of doing business: shout as loud as you can (and get your fans to scream as well) until any opposition gets tired of it all and moves on. (also part of the Dave Portnoy Way: horribly misogynist workplace conditions and behavior, and vehement anti-labor management practices.)

What's nice to see in this situation is how few of his usually rabid followers are coming to his defense this time. Normally anyone who criticizes (or even questions) Portnoy's actions gets bombared on social media by literally thousands of his fans, sometimes to the point of people needing police protection. This time, however... crickets. I guess the cost of their loyalty is somewhere less than $2400.

[djnick]

Luxury Bazaar bought one and are going to do a tear down on it. Don't think anyone is going to be surprised by the results

[OverGeared]

I'll have to keep an eye out for that, thanks.

In the meantime, here's a nicely made video on the subject of their overall quality and direct comparisons in both the same orice range as well as what watches with the same movement usually cost:
https://youtu.be/jejADG4c_ys

[Moondoggy]

Lunacy.

[FloydRedford]

Hideous watches imho

[RW16610]

To each their own, but I'm certainly having a hard time understanding this. For $3,300 CAD I wouldn't be considering this. However, if it makes someone happy, more power to them.

[Max7857]

Just checked out their website. Pretty crappy policies for such an overpriced watch. No refunds only store credit if you dont like it, warranty only applies to original purchaser, watch will be repaired or replaced at their discretion, and must included check or money order for $20 when sending watch in for warranty repairs to cover return shipping.

Guessing that the Brick watch company will quietly disappear in the not too distant future.

[Old Expat Beast]

I'm picking up a strong 1990s Timex, Alba, Pulsar, Lorus vibe. Surprised they're not offering a two-tone model with gold plate and romans.

[HogwldFLTR]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

I'm picking up a strong 1990s Timex, Alba, Pulsar, Lorus vibe. Surprised they're not offering a two-tone model with gold plate and romans.

I was just going to say it looks like a Timex from years ago.

[OverGeared]

https://youtu.be/_gZXEESzSt0

This is a difficult video to watch. You have to get to 10m40s for the breakdown of the watches' value (spoiler alert: it's about $500 for the automatic; they don't even bother with the quartz.) Before that is a lot of talk from Portnoy trying to explain why he decided to sell watches in the first place. Honestly he sounds even dumber than usual, but it doesn't matter because the guy in green on the left can barely contain his glee at being blessed by the presence of Dave Portnoy. He sometimes barely lets Portnoy finish his sentences before agreeing wholeheartedly with him and slamming the "keyboard warriors" for having the audacity to tell Portnoy that he sucks at watchmaking.

To his credit, Scharf (in the middle) keeps mostly quiet, and later he tactfully admonishes Portnoy for both making a poor product and for not doing his research (or at least hiring someone to do the research) into the watch business before moving forward. And that's really the heart and soul of people's rejection of these things. They're astronomically bad value for the cost. Regardless of the intent behind them, they're rip-offs. That judgement isn't snobbery; it's damned near objective reality.

At worst, Portnoy is a scammer who holds his fans in contempt. But even at best, he made a series of terrible business decisions and failed to spend any time or money (of his own or others') on the slightest due diligence. If he'd gone to some guys like these two years ago, he might've ended up selling a watch that his fans (and even some non-fans) would've been proud to buy and wear.

[djnick]

What a soft ball review which was essentially just a collab video. And their price breakdown was totally off they priced it at retail cost of goods and not a bulk order which would likely drop the price in half. A guy who knows
nothing about watches selling to his audience who knows nothing about watches what a great business model

[T3rmina1]

It appears to be absolute crap

[2loaded]

Overpriced. I'd go with a Shinola first, and that says a lot.
Just not my style, Selita or not.

[OverGeared]

Originally Posted by 2loaded

Overpriced. I'd go with a Shinola first, and that says a lot.

I'm not a big fan of Shinola's designs either, but kudos to them for telling Portnoy to get lost when he offered to be a brand ambassador for them.