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There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

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Re: There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

#61

Post by starbeast »

dang wrote: post #47
csours wrote: post #6

TANSTAAFL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_ain%27t_no_such_thing_as... Also, people will pay more for a good story. --- > "25. Maybe this explains what’s so galling to people about the Folsom & Co. not-really-scam: It simply lays bare the categorical deception at the heart of all branding and retail. The different watch values are, in the strictest sense, speech acts: the watch is $29.99 because someone said it’s…

Please don't take HN threads on generic ideological tangents. They lead to generic ideological flamewars—just what we don't need here.

How is that a generic ideological tangent, given the article?

Re: There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

#62

Post by AnimalMuppet »

claudiawerner wrote: post #57
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... capitalism is a class society So? What came before capitalism? Feudalism. That was a class society at least as much as capitalism is.

That was what I was trying to say; capitalism isn't distinguished by the fact of contradictions, it is distinguished by a new set of contradictions.

A new set because, while class isn't new, the specifics of the class structure are?

BTW: Why "contradiction"? It looks like Marx chose that word in order to make the fall of capitalism look inevitable - it has contradictions, so it must be self-inconsistent, so it must fall, right? But it looks to me that what Marx is describing is just the differences that occur in any society. In what way are they truly contradictions (in the normal sense of the word)?

Re: There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

#63

Post by chaostheory »

> J. Crew now uses the brand for a line of high-end women’s clothing. Its marketing draws heavily on the age of the original Madewell, and J. Crew is fond of including “since 1937” under the logo. This is part of a larger effort to portray the Madewell brand in retrospect as a venerable, solid company known for craftsmanship and quality.

This is a really old strategy for getting credibility. Some scholars believe that Sun Tzu's Art of War is really much younger than what is claimed in the book. They believe that Sun Tzu focused on the book's supposed age and history, in order to give it more credibility.

Re: There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

#64

Post by owenversteeg »

boldslogan wrote: post #36
owenversteeg wrote: post #31

I love this! I commented on this article about my own experience starting a "watch business" when it was originally posted about a year ago and it seemed to get a decent amount of votes and attention so I figure I'll re-post it below: [original w/comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15158422 ] ----- So a few years back I started a watch company in a similar way. I think I was actually one of the first to do…

It would be cool to hear your quick thoughts on the DW watch brand. I saw another post talking about the quality being not so good.

DW is a totally different thing from these companies. I'd guess that DW's watches cost them each maybe $10 or so and selling for $80-200, vs. these watches costing $2-3 and "selling" for $10. They're not dropshipped, use different manufacturers than these companies and are generally upfront about the price (although you can get DW watches for far less than MSRP.)

DW's watches are naturally higher quality as well, although in my opinion this isn't worth the price tag. You can get Chinese "copies" of DW watches for $10-20 or so that are nearly identical. I wouldn't exactly recommend them, but to be honest I don't think the quality would be that bad, and they do generally look nice. That said, I think that even if you're not willing to go the Aliexpress route you can find an attractive alternative for maybe half the price.

Watch snobs (I am one) would never wear a DW watch, but most people aren't watch snobs. If you want watch snob opinions, you can check out the great /r/watches (caution, you may get drawn to mechanical watches from the beautiful photos... an expensive hobby to have)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Watches/comments/7jw3l1/daniel_well...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Watches/comments/8n40p8/question_da...

Re: There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

#65

Post by redial »

timr wrote: post #34
WalterBright wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Participants are assumed to share equal information. That is not a requirement for efficiency. Unknowns are factored into the price as "risk". For example, if I am selling you my car, I know its condition a lot better than you do. But, the more you are suspicious about its condition, the less you are willing to pay for it. If you're a crackerjack programmer, my interview process is inexact, so I'm going to discount…

"That is not a requirement for efficiency. Unknowns are factored into the price as "risk"." If someone is lying to you and you have no way of knowing it, there's no way to price the risk. Dishonesty can never be eliminated (that's software engineer pedantry) but it's always a drag on efficiency. People who don't trust each other don't engage in trade. "Risk is a perfectly normal characteristic of efficient markets, p…

> People who don't trust each other don't engage in trade.

Yes, that is why banks don't require any collateral for anything, after all if you are doing trade you are trustworthy right?

Re: There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

#66

Post by JetSpiegel »

pvarangot wrote: post #10

Dropshipping from China has a bad reputation but it can be done correctly and ethically. You can say you manufacture and ship from your partners in China, and you can pay for modifications, better QA like with stickers and number engraving and traceability, tracking in the shipment... even for some certified ISO processes. Not defending what this fake stuff brands are doing, and they not only exist for watches but al…

> Dropshipping (...) can be done correctly and ethically

"Ethical dropshipping" is the new baroque simplicity.

Re: There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

#67

Post by halbritt »

rmason wrote: post #46

Why is it that each generation needs to relearn that there is no free anything? In my grandfathers day it was a free lunch. Today a free watch and tomorrow a free light saber perhaps?

TANSTAAFL - from Heinlein

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_ain%27t_no_such_thing_as...

Re: There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

#68

Post by csours »

dang wrote: post #47
csours wrote: post #6

TANSTAAFL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_ain%27t_no_such_thing_as... Also, people will pay more for a good story. --- > "25. Maybe this explains what’s so galling to people about the Folsom & Co. not-really-scam: It simply lays bare the categorical deception at the heart of all branding and retail. The different watch values are, in the strictest sense, speech acts: the watch is $29.99 because someone said it’s…

Please don't take HN threads on generic ideological tangents. They lead to generic ideological flamewars—just what we don't need here.

Apologies. I stand by my point of it being a difference in degree, but I did state it too broadly.

Re: There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

#69

Post by dang »

starbeast wrote: post #61
dang wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't take HN threads on generic ideological tangents. They lead to generic ideological flamewars—just what we don't need here.

How is that a generic ideological tangent, given the article?

When people start arguing generically about capitalism, socialism, communism, etc., that's the kind of tangent I'm talking about. Such internet forum discussions are extremely repetitive, which makes them off topic here. Plus they're flammable, plus they get dumber the longer they go on.

Re: There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

#70

Post by starbeast »

dang wrote: post #69
starbeast wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that a generic ideological tangent, given the article?

When people start arguing generically about capitalism, socialism, communism, etc., that's the kind of tangent I'm talking about. Such internet forum discussions are extremely repetitive, which makes them off topic here. Plus they're flammable, plus they get dumber the longer they go on.

But the article itself is a critique of modern capitalism in general. Yes it was using watches to make the point, but it wasn't about watches.

Right from the outset this is made clear. The watch being talked about hasn't been donated to a museum of watches, it has been donated to a museum of capitalism. Even the title was chosen to make it entirely explicit where they were going with the article.

To then say that people shouldn't comment generically about capitalism regarding an article that is explicitly about capitalism, would seem a stretch too far in trying to keep this place neat and tidy.

I felt it was a bit like if everyone were to be restricted to discussing pencil manufacture, should Leonard Read's 'I, Pencil' be the topic of discussion. Yes, the text describes making pencils, but it isn't about pencils.

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