I will NOT Pay to Play

Now I REALLY want to buy a watch from you. Unfortunately not easy to do so from Europe but next time I visit the States I’ll make sure I get one.

The watch review space has ruined the hobby for me. It breeds nitpickers and makes the community a bunch of whinging losers

I believe the majority of watch enthusiasts know this goes on and take most reviews with a grain of salt. We can probably all make a list of the top shills out there. Dont beat yourself up over it. That said, it would be nice to know the reviewers asking you for cash for a review. I realize you dont want to burn any bridges, but maybe that's one way to start.

I think the problem is the misunderstanding of the difference between a review and advertisement. Of course advertising a product is not an independent review. 🕐⚙️🍸

I use the reviews to learn about watches and make my decision to buy. The more I learn about the industry and the media and marketing part of it the more I have come to distrust content creators in the space. I try to watch reviews from people who have bought the watches they are reviewing and watch makers who care about the art and are independent. I respect you for your stance. I think you shouldnt bend to the pressure. That may be what sets you apart. I am sure some brands have come in and paid content creators and succeeded likewise aome have come and paid reviewers and failed. Ultimately the quality of the watch will speak.

Marc you set the benchmark for so much in the watch industry. You stick to what is right for you and your company. Integrity is non negotiable and you have it buddy. Great work as always.

Sorry but your watches aren’t very interesting compared to most microbrands.

Stick to your guns! You are in the right and you are making great watches (from all the independent people I view!) When I can afford one I'd 100% buy one of your watches, keep the faith as you are doing the right thing :)

As a watch enthusiast i view lot of utube videos. Some real good, others meh. Tend to watch ones on things i would buy, or have interest it. Your channel is a good one Mark. Thanks for the thoughts on honesty in the discussion. Before i buy a watch i always check multiple reviews. Kind of assume there may be some bias. Like to see honestly .....plus, and minus on a watch
Thanks again

Too many reviewers posting reviews for watches they've never worn, don't even posess or have never seen in the wild! They post a review reading off the specs while b rolling pics and videos found online. Why? Hoping a brand will like and sponsor them. Stick your your guns. Otherwise you're just embracing the broken system.

I personally wouldn't trust any review where the reviewer has in some way received monetary gain from the manufacturer, producers of the product

Always be true to yourself!!

Thanks for bringing this topic to the forefront!

This is so true and some not all are proud to say "they were not paid but they sent me this high $$$$$ thing free to review" WTH that means the same thing YOU WERE PAID

Agree on all points. We appreciate your honesty!

Thanks Marc. I appreciate what you do and I bought a watch from you because I wanted you to make some money from the benefits I got from you.
I live in a small city and don’t have an opportunity to try on watches I consider watching. I watch videos mostly to see the watch and to a lesser extent hear what the reviewer says. I acknowledge they influence me but I know they are biased and I know how the game is played. I expect most collectors know what’s going on but some novice buyers don’t. In the end, they probably get a decent watch.

There's a lot that can be said on this topic. However, in summary I am OK if a watch reviewer borrows or even is gifted a watch for review as long as they fully disclose that at the some point in the review. I am bright enough to understand that perhaps the reviewer may not be totally harsh with what may be negative aspects about the watch. But if that is not disclosed than it's more than likely akin to a paid advertisement and that should be disclosed too. What I find amusing is when a watch reviewer likes to say that their reviews are totally independent when that same watch reviewer is borrowing, designing and essentially selling watches himself. Better just to disclose the situation and leave it at that. Mark, you kind of hit the nail on the head when said most of you are here to make money. And there is nothing wrong with that. Disclosure, transparency and honesty is the key.

Keep up they way you are it'll pay off. Thx for the honesty

It’s marketing. If a payment or allowing the reviewer to keep a watch is not predicated by a positive review then do it. If you feel like it’s necessary maybe give the reviewer a choice. Regardless of whether the review is positive or negative, give them a statement that has to appear at the beginning of the video (legibly) for 15 seconds if they want to keep the watch or if the don’t want to run the disclaimer… just send the watch back.

I think keep doing what you are doing. Your morals should never be for sale. Morals are who make up not just the person but it also is portrayed onto the business you run. I think how you currently do it with the smaller channels by helping someone out with a pre-paid label to ship the watch back is the right way as you get a true and fair review in my opinion. Maybe in those situations provide a custom discount code to purchase that watch, but I wouldn’t provide a free watch to have sold off afterwards. I hope my opinion helps.

Hi Mark, I agree with you that any watch maker can make the decision to send a free watch or as a gift or with a return label. I will always follow that my judgement of the watch is genuine otherwise I can't live myself. Advertising is a different story. I'm a little guy who does it for fun so no one is sending me a Rolex. Mark I look forward to some day meeting you.

I stopped following ALL watch channels a few years back after it became clear they were all on the take. This also resulted in me not buying any more watches. Funny how that happened. I guess it was a nice sort of purge. So many fake people on those channels and never spending any time or money on them was a huge side-effect of my purge. I'm happier over all. btw, I bought my first real watch, a Seiko skx013 from LIW and it is still one of my favorites. I'll probably clear my cookies and history after I post this so I don't get those paid watch reviewers coming up on my feed again :)

Watches? Just think how Washington works.

Long post warning!
I would like to relate my experience with “reviewers” from the perspective of a microbrand owner (Justiniani Watches). I will refer to two aspects: advertising and legitimacy. Regarding advertising, this is one of the most complicated and difficult areas, as it is extremely expensive, and coupled with the current changes in the way advertising is done, it has become necessary to resort to them. As a brand owner, what you are looking for is a channel with a large number of viewers, in order to take advantage of your audience and reach more people. However, this has led to many of them becoming “image funnels”, as well as charging, either by ordering the watch or directly asking for money for the video, which from the start generates pressure for those of us who create the watch, since sometimes there are few prototypes, in addition to the fact that they are usually unique pieces in case the project does not turn out to be successful. I have personally encountered reviewers who are empathetic and don’t ask for anything in return, just the opportunity to review the watch and thus have “fresh” content for their channel. Still, on the other hand, there are others who ask for ridiculous amounts of money as payment, or who, without having more than a thousand or two thousand views per video, already ask for the watch as a “donation”, when in reality, the views they generate do not even transform 1% into sales. Hence, their contribution in views-sales is almost zero. On the other hand, there are other reviewers who have a large audience, more than 100 thousand subscribers, and who behave like true divas. They hardly ever answer, and if they do, they ask for at least $500 in case you are not willing to give them the watch. I personally had a problem with one of them, as I sent him the watch well in advance of my campaign launch and he kept it for over a month, without making any video or post. When I asked him why, he told me he was busy, so I asked for the watch back, which not only cost me money, but also valuable time for my campaign. In another case, another reviewer who already had my watch, as soon as he realized he had to return it, decided not to do the “review” and send me the watch back, which again cost me time and money.
As for legitimacy, as an academic, I wonder what credentials the “reviewers” have to do the reviews, because beyond a hobby or liking for watches, what 99% of them do is talk about the features of the watches, and I think that many people go to them not for the quality of the review, but just for the opportunity to see the watch in more detail. For example, there is a very well-known reviewer in the industry who is also the owner of a microbrand, so how could we expect his reviews to be objective? I think people should take better advantage of the opportunity that microbrands offer to meet and establish communication with the brand owners, seek them out and ask them directly about the watch, ask for photos or videos, etc., and not give in to the need to rely on “middlemen” who judge the watches in exchange for the pieces or money. Finally, considering that my campaign is active now, I always answer, if they ask me for photos I send them, videos, whatever is needed, I think that is the only way the audience can get an idea of the love and effort put into each watch offered. Of course, I don’t want to say that reviewers don’t have an important role, but I think that this has gotten out of hand.

Don’t ever compromise ur integrity to be a part of the crowd.

Knife reviewers r even worse than the watch reviewers imo. It’s sad honestly. It makes it to where I can’t trust any channels it’s just sad really sad.

The sriracha on the shelf! haha

Love your channel with so many stellar watches! For me the AMZWATCH’ watch is my favorite. Keep the videos coming. Thanks.

Justamente ese es el doble rasero de algunas marcas. Increíble que Marc exponga tanta incoherencia con orgullo

Man, this makes me want to review my Islanders and I don't even make videos. You are top notch in every respect, highest quality products & customer service.
Stick to your guns, maybe sell some branded merch like hats & t-shirts with lumed logos, & keep kicking a$$!

Pay to play is a marketing cost in reality !

I can understand your arguments, but in my case. I'm leaving in Switzerland if i want buy your watch you made how i can know if it's good or not.
I only have one source that presents it to me and it's you. I have to trust 100% ?. Given the price of the watch I don't think it's profitable for me or for you if I have to return the watch because I don't like it at the end.
I like to see lots of different opinions on an object, precisely to limit disappointment at the end.
In short, I respect your point of view but for me it's a meh.

I follow a couple channels that literally post a review of an Alli watch(or micro) every day. So many reviews they all blend together, and I wonder what’s the point. Thoughts?

IMHO, nothing is free. There is always a cost. A cost for doing something and a cost for not doing something. Only you can determine if the price is right for you.

Love the video Marc! ❤

You’re an inspiration and one of the reasons I actually started my channel.

But I have a solution to this problem for watch-channels:

Stop calling everything a review!

A review is done on something that you’ve owned and worn for a while. Only then can you form a comprehensive opinion on a product, enough to share it with people. Only after wearing a product for real. That’s when you can say something positive, maybe something negative or something that you’d want to see improve, and actually give people advice on buying or not buying the product.

Today, EVERYTHING is labelled “review”. Even though it might be the first time the content creator is holding the watch in his/her hand, or unboxing it, it’s still a REVIEW! 🤷‍♂️

And if we just stop calling everything a review, we might not have this pressure of saying only positive stuff about a watch so that we don’t ruin the relationship with the company and so that we can keep getting watches that we turn into content.

I have a small channel. Started it to give something back to the community that I’ve taken so much from over the years (in the shape of free content).

On my channel I am very clear that I only review watches that are my own and that I’ve actually had some experience of wearing for a while. Only then can I give some advice on the watch’s pros and cons. To buy or pass.

But I also do a lot of collaborations. I’m always up front with people if the video is sponsored and I’m also always upfront with if I get to keep the watch or not.

In my first impressions/unboxing videos a clearly state that’s those are not reviews! They’re basically just showing people the watch, declaring the specifications and it’s just a showcase of the watch.

And that takes away the problem. I don’t have to say anything negative of the watch, just show it to my audience. People are usually just happy to see the watches in a video instead of edited photos on a website. And the company is happy to have their watch featured in videos as free promotions.

On the rare occasions that I get to keep a watch, I always follow up that video with a full review, with pros and cons, and also some kind of comparison further along the line.

With that said, would love to feature a Islander on the channel some day 😜

Love what you do, love the content, love your watches, have a great one ❤️

Mark, you and your brand's reputation precedes you, in all the best ways. Not only from watch enthusiasts and customers, but also from many content creators and even other brands. Your recent videos with Teddy and even the review of San Martins demonstrate this. I understand the need to grow a business, but no matter what you decide is right for you, LIW will always have a faithful following.

Don't sell out if you're creating an alternative "reviews market" to what exists now. More on that below.
But, if you consider yourself part of the market with the "big players" - then sell out, send out those watches for free, do what everybody else seems to be doing in order to get reviews.

What I mean by "alternative reviews market" is some sort of pool of unnamed watch producers, sponsoring watch journalists so they can keep on doing their thing, without having to sell themselves out for a review.
I imagine the videos of such reviewers having an ad for the "Watch Manufacturers for Independent Chronometry Journalism" or WMFICJ (which is the aforementioned organization of anonymous watch producers), encouraging other manufacturers to join the movement, as well as people, who want a great watch for small cash, to throw a buck or two into this movement.

I started reviewing all of the watches i own or have owned. I do it as a video log of watches I loved enough to buy. And for that I only have 271 followers. Do it for the people that genuinely love this hobby and the people within it. The hype market is finally dying down and the true enthusiast market is back. IF IT AINT BROKE BABY!!! lol love ya mark!!

Good for you Marc! Stand your ground! Honesty in social media is rare these days, especially in watch media. However, I will add that the end consumer of the content and of the watches need to realize that this is all business trying to get our hard-earned money. Watch companies are in business to make money, plain and simple. So the ordinary viewer shouldn’t be no naïve to think that some of these other reviewers aren’t being paid. Kudos!

Stick to your ethics. Your reviews on Island Watch are good enough for me. I look forward to my future purchase.

Any reviewer who expects compensation or an in kind contribution cannot be trusted. I think you’re doing the right thing. I know it may be a knock on your revenue, but you’re doing the right thing.

This has always bugged me too but then I landed on a definition between being an amateur enthusiast and a professional journalist (who BTW get sent free stuff all the time). An enthusiast does not have (old school) journalistic training so through no fault of their own often has a harder time differentiating between taking a form of payment that isn't cash for a review compromises the impartiality of the review. Often they seem to sincerely believe the old chestnut that because they're disclosing they get to keep the watch then ethically that's all fine. Journalists (used to be) trained that any gratuity is a form of payment that compromises impartiality. And there's the difference - a matter of ethics. Personally though the ones that really get my goat are those that are obviously shilling but don't declare. I'd rather enthusiasts keep declaring regardless so then I can make my own call and enjoy/take what I want from the review while (trying) not to be overly influenced. Many Intsa photographers I follow do declare 'paid partnership' on posts even if the watch is simply borrowed. Just declare what's happening and we can make up our own minds. "Buy the reviewer" (just not literally). Meanwhile Marc, stick to what you ethically feel is right. Sleeping soundly is the better lifestyle choice.

I watch your channel religiously. We actually met at the windup nyc last year, where we discussed some watches I'd purchased, one of them being my flighty. I happened upon one of your videos on a German made mesh that fits the Flight Master, I bought it and up until today it sat in a draw. I like my watches more than a little tooly. The watch on that mesh is amazing. An honest recommendation, a very satisfying result. Your faith in your catalog shines through. Thanks.

This is a very difficult subject . I’ve been making shows for 4 years now. It’s affected work life, family life and I’ve dedicated a lot of hours and days making content . I don’t begrudge anyone taking either a fee or receiving a watch as a gift in exchange for a review as long as the integrity of the review remains true to the reviewer. That the review is totally the opinion of them and the show has not needed to have been vetted before publishing. I only review watches I like, watches I’ve either bought, borrowed or contacted the brands to build a relationship with . I’m proud of the reputation I’ve built , the channel I’ve built, the community I’ve built and a pathway to see one day!!!! Hanging up the tennis racket and going into a more full time reviewer role. Transparency is the key Marc at the end of the day .