Rate-a-Mate

Rate-a-Mate

We rate watches based on the factors below, with each factor attributing 100 points towards the watch (barring charity). This is at this stage an exhaustive list, but we are open to suggestions. Please bear in mind that the basis of the list is not to degrade any brand, nor give special favours to any either. 

Part of the reason for starting Watch Ya Gonna Do About It was that when we looked at other watch review websites and blogs, they all seemed to take for granted that only the most prestigious, famous, and expensive watch brands are good. But this assumption eliminates one key fact: not everyone has the luxury to afford really expensive or rare watches. 

However, everyone coming to these sites has in common the love for horology. 

To someone with a certain financial constraint, buying a 2000AUD Tag Heuer is the idea of their grail, because for them that’s important. For the same watch enthusiast that same 2000AUD quartz watch will have all the features he/she desires: say hour & minutes hand, date, seconds hand, a chronograph function and limited edition numbered release. It would also be a very price worthy option with all these features in a Swiss Made watch. Thus that watch gets extra points for all six features: 100+100+100+100+100+100=600. Since it’s a quartz watch and we are essentially looking at the watchmaking genius behind these watches, they get a -100. So their rating would be: 600-100=500. 

Now another person with a big budget at hand, wants to buy a simple, classic, elegant watch, say a Patek Philippe Calatrava entry level model. It only has the added functions of seconds hand besides hour & minutes hand. But the material is gold. It’s also a mechanical watch. And is part of the Holy Trinity. Hence the rating would be:100+100+100+100+100=500.

Now the watch industry pundits, the purists, and even the common person would undoubtedly agree that a quartz Tag Heuer is not at the same level as a Patek Philippe watch.

But this is not the point behind our system. True watch collectors will agree that watch snobbery is not what watch collecting is about – it’s the combination of art of watchmaking with what an individual uniquely appreciates that is worth collecting.

Our rating system is essentially levelling the ground. 

Not everyone can afford a Nautilus or wait in the list for a Submariner. But everyone has the right to buy the watch that satisfies their needs and their budget. With this in mind we have launched Watch Ya Gonna Do About It and also why this rating system exists. 

Hope our readers take this in the spirit it’s meant to be in, and not bash a certain watch just because it rates higher than the watch they can afford and think is superior. The system is there to assist people in making up their minds to buy a watch.

As for the genesis of this sections’s name? 

Well, watch lovers will understand, we all form certain bonds with our timepieces. It’s not simply the case of buying and wearing a watch, there is a certain relationship that you establish with a watch over time. You study it, analyse it, criticise it, appreciate it; in a way, it becomes a part of you. 

Hence we call this Rate-a-mate. We could have called it rate a friend, but we are Aussies after all.

So, when a watch rates higher on our rating scale, we are simply asking – can this watch be your next mate? 

Hour, minutes hand +100

Seconds hand +100 

Date +100

Chronograph +100

Any other additional complication +100 ea 

Limited edition +100

Material (other than stainless steel) +100

Quartz or Mechanical – 100 or +100

The Holy Trinity [Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin] +100

Legacy, Timeless design or Unique for that brand –  eg Reverso, Submariner, Tank, Royal Oak, Cellini Moonphase, Code 11.59 +100

Technology Innovativeness eg Jaquet Droz Bird Repeater +100

Material Innovativeness eg Hublot Green Sapphire +100

Value has shown to go up like Rolex, Patek Philippe steel watches +100

If it can feature in our #FusionFriday or #His+Her lists +100

If the water resistance is at-least 100m +100

If the straps can be easily customised +100

If the caseback is imaginative +100

If the bezel stands out  +100

If the power reserve is more than 48 hours +100

If we think is price worthy +100

If it’s meant for a charity +200