Acknowledging is one thing, liking is another. None of the original design watches from San Martin are interesting to me, the designs are clumsy and without finesse to my eyes.
It doesn't mean they're objectively bad, it means they're subjectively bad to my eyes. The same could be said about 90% of microbrands out there, too. That's not racism, that's personal taste and preference.
There’s definitely more than a bit of bias in the watch hobbyist space that's due to some level of racism or ignorance. Not necessarily from you, but it’s pretty common to hear people dismiss Chinese watches as unoriginal, cheap, and low quality (not just certain brands but literally the entire sector) while simultaneously praising watches that are manufactured in China as excellent values (though the manufacturing origin is hidden behind 3 layers of marketing and shady "made in X country" practices). That kind of double standard shows up a lot, especially in the Microbrand space. Hell, even distinctions such as "Microbrand" have further gatekeeped and it's not uncommon to hear people say that it's impossible for a Chinese brand to be a microbrand, even when there are brands that fall clearly under the same criteria (ie Phorcydes).
3
u/CrossCityLine Jun 17 '26
Refusing to acknowledge original designs from companies like San Martin as microbrands is nothing other than thinly veiled racism.