Why subscribe?
Bye bye Instagram
Over the last couple of years I have become increasingly frustrated with the direction that Instagram is headed in, and from January 1st 2024, I will no longer be posting new “full” content to my watchdxb Instagram account (Instagram will serve purely as a teaser feed for the content that is published here).
A little over two years ago I started a Substack devoted entirely to vintage Grand Seiko, which - if you are interested - you can check out here:
. That 'stack has been a resounding success and how has in excess of 2,500 subscribers, with about 10% of those choosing to benefit from paid subscriptions.So, it’s time to see how the content that in the past I have shared on my Instagram feed will fare here. To my mind, the biggest benefit that Substack brings to the table is that there are no algorithms here. If you subscribe, you get to see the content. It really is as simple as that.
Hello Substack
Whereas on Instagram when I publish something it ends up being seen by as few as 10% of my “followers”, here on Substack the percentage of subscribers who open an email or notification is consistently at around 50% for posts that all subscribers get to view, and around 80% for posts that are intended for those with paid subscriptions.
The content that I intend to publish here will broadly fall into four categories -
Watch videos (and where the video features a watch that is not a Grand Seiko, in most instances the watch will be offered for sale - I have far too many watches just sat in cupboards that deserve more loving homes);
Archived high resolution photographs of watches. Whilst I very rarely these days take still images of watches (my “studio” - such as it is - isn’t really set up for still photography any more), I have a vast number of photographs taken over the years of some rather wonderful watches. These images will be made freely available to download for personal use;
The occasional article on non-vintage Grand Seiko related horological content;
And finally, from time to time, musings on watch related matters no doubt including, but not limited to, auction and dealer shenanigans.
Stay up-to-date
Whilst I don’t have a fixed schedule for creating and sharing content, I will certainly be publishing multiple times a week here, but I will limit the emails and app notifications to just one per week as I don’t want to spam your inboxes (I believe that in the app you are able to set notifications for every time I publish some content should you so wish, but that’s entirely under your control).
Free, paid, and founding member subscriptions
Whilst there are paid and founding membership tiers set up, unlike over on
, all content will be available to all subscribers. The paid subscriptions are purely for those who would like to express their appreciation for the content by contributing to my beer fund. The paid subscription has been set at the lowest permitted level1 on the Substack platform.I would have ideally like to have set it at $1 a month, but sadly that wasn’t possible!
