Too many local watch forums?

[pegasi]

I have been pondering over writing about this subject and finally decided that the members of this forum are mature enough to talk about such a topic.

Apart from this forum, there are at least 5 or 6 other watch forums which I know of that are run locally. While each of them might have different themes or styles and focus on slightly different areas, there are many commonalities: almost all have a market/trading place, facilitate discussions that cover all brands as well as non-watch topics, and run on vBulletin platform. Add to that the Facebook watch sites and personal watch blogs. And then there are also sub forum within the other types of forums (such as the gadget/car/photography forum) that talk about watches. While some of these watch forums/platforms have members from other countries, they are largely dependent on local participation.

This is phenomenal. I cannot think of another hobby that is similar to this. It explains one thing - Singaporeans are watch loving people (or should I say Singapore men? )

Does the local watch community need so many forums? Time will tell. As it is now, I can see a disparity between the more popular and the less popular. I hope my feeling of part of the local watch community being divided by who they know or like, is wrong. As an individual watch lover, I find it difficult to participate regularly in more than one forum, in term of time afforded and contributions (quite meaningless to me to share the same thing in few similar forums) . Nonetheless, I sincerely wish all forums find their own position and successful, and achieve what we say in Chinese: 百花齐放 (a direct translation: hundreds of flowers blossoming)

[hwaa]

the sub forum in the gadget/IT forum is very active and not so much abt trading/selling. more of sharing and discussing.

[pegasi]

the sub forum in the gadget/IT forum is very active and not so much abt trading/selling. more of sharing and discussing.

You are right. The commonalities I was talking about refer to the few watch forums like this one.

[hwaa]

i guess there was a split which resulted some old birds here who left and created a grp of their own..

like u say.. just focus on a couple active ones shld be sufficient. cos i guess more or less the dealers, the people across various forums i see is like the same few... :x

[pegasi]

i guess there was a split which resulted some old birds here who left and created a grp of their own..

I knew this particular topic may pop up but didn't expect so soon. It is definitely not the intention of this thread of mine to dwell into that. I don't think it will lead to anything positive so let's not go there. Thank you

[GarytheSnail]

Patrick believes that the forum community is reaching a matured stage of it's life cycle as a whole, as many move on towards the new era of social media. Patrick has spoken to some of his watch dealer friends in the market, but at the present moment in Singapore watch market, forums are still one of the most attractive ways to advertise at a lower cost (than TV/print ads) and hitting directly at the target audience.

The one selling point about forums is that it allows users to engage with each other. Talk with like minded people, but Patrick does agree that the market is reaching it's limit and unsure if it can sustain so many forums with the current pool of users. As you know, the users are usually the same people among the forums.

Patrick hopes someone that will come out with a breakthrough and fresh new ideas!

Regards,
An old friend

[pegasi]

Patrick believes that the forum community is reaching a matured stage of it's life cycle as a whole, as many move on towards the new era of social media. Patrick has spoken to some of his watch dealer friends in the market, but at the present moment in Singapore watch market, forums are still one of the most attractive ways to advertise at a lower cost (than TV/print ads) and hitting directly at the target audience.

The one selling point about forums is that it allows users to engage with each other. Talk with like minded people, but Patrick does agree that the market is reaching it's limit and unsure if it can sustain so many forums with the current pool of users. As you know, the users are usually the same people among the forums.

Patrick hopes someone that will come out with a breakthrough and fresh new ideas!

Regards,
An old friend

Thank you Patrick. I really appreciate that you take the discussion and share your view in a very objective way.

Take care, my friend.

[triton]

maybe i stretch abit further on to other areas such as parenting, there are at least several local forum that discuss about similar issues. maybe there are a larger group of people which can support the forum.

another is car forum. these forums are likely brand based. then there is the sub categories of ICE, modification etc

Apart from this forum, there are at least 5 or 6 other watch forums which I know of that are run locally.
This is phenomenal. I cannot think of another hobby that is similar to this. It explains one thing - Singaporeans are watch loving people (or should I say Singapore men? )

[Jason kwek]

Most of it are the same

[pegasi]

maybe i stretch abit further on to other areas such as parenting, there are at least several local forum that discuss about similar issues. maybe there are a larger group of people which can support the forum.

another is car forum. these forums are likely brand based. then there is the sub categories of ICE, modification etc

You just mentioned two very interesting types of forums and touch on a very important point - product differentiation.

Parenting I know of only two - Kiasu Parents and the Motherhood forums (ya I know I shouldn't be in either of these). These two parenting forums have very clear theme (education and motherhood) with vastly different contents. They may attract the same or different users, but the same users will have different experience with the two different forums.

In the case of cars, brands and technical stuff are good differentiating factors, but unfortunately for watches there aren't that many brands like Rolex that have a big enough local fan base, bearing in mind also that there are already some very established overseas brand based forums such as the P forum and the Japanese watch forum.

Nevertheless, to have significant differentiation is still the key for the many local watch forums to co-exist actively imo. Why should I hop around different forums if I could do and experience very much the same thing in one?

[Motomarc]

While there may be quite a number of forums, I feel that it is alright. I'm only active on 2 forums and visit some blogs but I'm pretty sure I didn't even know there were 5-6 local watch forums like pegasi mentioned. I guess we will "shop" around till we settle on one or two to stay active in. Sometimes some forums grow too big and result in splinters and spin-offs but that's ok too... More variety means more to choose from. Better than if there was only ONE single forum. A monopoly is boring lah.

My pet peeve is when people sell the same watch on different forums and use different nicks. It's still ok if the ads are exactly the same but sometimes it's not and I end up PMing the same person twice on different forums for the same watch... Oh well...

[digital]

I wasn't even aware that there were 5 or 6 watch forums. I only know 2 or 3....hmmm...time to google some more and find out?

[Ray_Watches]

The only local forum I know of is this one and *** and I will visit to compare prices or shop for watches/ straps. For posting and sharing of pictures, Instagram seems to be much better. For horology discussion or lurking, international watch forums are much better. Just my opinion.

[pegasi]

While there may be quite a number of forums, I feel that it is alright. I'm only active on 2 forums and visit some blogs but I'm pretty sure I didn't even know there were 5-6 local watch forums like pegasi mentioned. I guess we will "shop" around till we settle on one or two to stay active in. Sometimes some forums grow too big and result in splinters and spin-offs but that's ok too... More variety means more to choose from. Better than if there was only ONE single forum. A monopoly is boring lah.

I agree that more variety is better than just one. The thing is, there are many watch forums currently but not that many variety, imo.

[pegasi]

The only local forum I know of is this one and *** and I will visit to compare prices or shop for watches/ straps. For posting and sharing of pictures, Instagram seems to be much better. For horology discussion or lurking, international watch forums are much better. Just my opinion.

I share your opinion about international watch forums are much better for horology discussion, or even the more general watch topics. Why is that so when so many people here are "into watches"? Surely we can do better than discussing if you wear your watch on the left or right hand, or if you like to wear it loose or tight? Perhaps we could be proud about being the most well informed about prices and discounts and resale values and where to find the best deals...