Countdown to top posts of 2023: The Best 5

We began last week with the countdown to the top 10 posts of 2023, beginning with 6th to 10th places. Today, at New Year’s Eve, we complete the countdown with the Best 5!

Countdown to top posts of 2023: Part 2 – The Best 5

The top 5 best performing posts for Deployant for 2023 are all listicles bar 1. And interestingly, the exception to the listicle rule is a “New with commentary” article.

No.5 Quiet Luxury: Six watches that perfectly captures class and sophistication, without showing-off

Quiet luxury hits the spot with our readers. Read what you may, but we think the popularity of this article points to the desire to quietly show of without showing off. Minimal branding, maximum quality and class. That’s what this category is all about.

And it is not a surprise that we chose brands like A. Lange & Söhne, Parmigiani Fleurier, Chopard L.U.C, Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe and H. Moser & Cie. We think this is a good mix of household names and those which are only familiar to the cognoscenti. Those who know will know. The rest of the plebeians need not know.

No. 4 Six of our best picks for watches with the ideal “just right” case size

Next comes a list for watches with the ideal case size. In the current climate, the perfect daily watch is defined as 37.77mm in diameter. The perfect weekend watch is 39.28mm. These dimensions are for the gentlemen, and a result of a survey by Mark Cho which ran from 2018 to 2021 collecting some 2,000 data points.

We do admit, our picks for this list is perhaps a bit esoteric. From the Dufour Simplicity, the Asaoka Tourbillon Noir and Credor Eichi II to the Vacheron Constantin 222 and Breguet Classique and Chopard L.U.C.

No.3 New: Grand Seiko SBGA481 “Tokyo Lion”

Then comes the “New with Commentary” piece. The Grand Seiko attracted lots of interest. And no wonder. This is a magnificent watch, embodying all the critical elements of what makes the Grand Seiko a Grand Seiko. And what better than a watch christened as the “Tokyo Lion”, the very emblem of the brand.

It uses the Seiko signature Caliber 9R65  Spring Drive movement in the large sporty presence of the 44.5mm case with a guaranteed depth rating of 200m. Its bold case design conveys the fierceness of a lion as it takes its place on the wrist, and yet its short lugs design makes it more wearable despite its size. The watch boasts the features that matter most in a sports model.

No.2 The Value Propositions: Six great watches below US$5,000, from the recent Watches & Wonders 2023

Value Propositions are also always popular. Who doesn’t want good value for their money. And this list of six watches from this year’s crop at below the magical USD 5k mark makes the cut to be no.2 on the Best Posts list.

The six come from Furlan Mari (we have yet to review one…if Furlan Mari is seeing this, please call and arrange for a review loaner), Louis Erard, Montblanc, Frederique Constant, Oris and Tudor.

No.1 The perfect 6 watch collection – picked by ChatGPT

And this is a year for ChatGPT. It is used everywhere! Even to write articles, though we have NEVER used it to publish anything, except this educational article on using the AI system to select the perfect 6 watch collection. What the system will end up selecting will depend on how the request is written and phrased, and given our scenario, turned out some rather interesting results.

From staples like the Rolex Submariner and Patek Philippe Nautilus to the Omega Speedmaster Professional and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, rounding up the list with a Seiko SKX and a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverrso. No surprises at all. But out of the 6 chosen by ChatGPT, three are near unobtainable.

Concluding thoughts

We conclude with what we began with. We do this countdown list annually, and use it as one of the data points on the feedback from you on what you want to see. Of course, the most direct way to tell us what you would like to read about is to message us, or comment on one of our posts. But also, we can garner some insights into this by how well a post performs by the number of page reads and unique visitors it has gained over the year.

So interestingly, you are telling us that you love listicles, you love our New with Commentary insights, and also you are into some brands and not so much into others. You are also telling us that full length reviews, which take a long time to research and write and require lots of insider knowledge and our own in-house photography is less appealing to you. And if we were fully commercial, chasing clicks and numbers, we will surely turn this site to a collection of lists and newsy articles. We would also have offered for sale, watches with collabs with the brands, but that is another story for another day.

But as we are not fully commercial. And though we do need to be able to finance the site to keep the lights on so to speak, we are not blindly chasing numbers like almost all other websites are. But we see our place in creators of reference and academic materials, and as the custodian of the serious explorations of our passion for horology, we will continue to labour on the long form, comprehensive reviews. And continue to make the extra effort to shoot and process our own photographs.