We had a good year this 2018. And remain thankful for the support of all you readers. We averaged 1.2 million page views each month, with peaks in January and March due to the SIHH/Geneva shows and Baselworld. Here are our top posts of the year.
We served an average of about 400,000 unique visitors about 1 TB of data each month. Our @Deployant IG account grew close to 30,000 organic followers. The most viewed page on our site is none other than the landing page, with about 10x more page views than any one individual page over the year. Without more ado, here are our top 10 for 2018:
1. Throwback Sundays: Six Excellent Diver’s Watches That Are Not Rolex Submariners, from Our Archives
Dive watches which are not Rolex Submariners take the top spot as our most read post. Both subjects of dive watches and Rolex bring this to the top. Dive watches feature in 3, and Rolex posts feature in 4 of the top 10.
The article lists Seiko, Tudor, Omega, Blancpain, Sinn and Jaeger-LeCoultre as alternatives.
2. New Release: Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II “Root Beer”
Its Rolex again at the no2 spot. with the ultra popular GMT-Master II “Root Beer”. The surprise to us is that this article is on the Press Release and not the full review which we featured, with full hands on here.
Perhaps the timeliness of the post, right on the Day 1 of Baselworld was the reason.
3. Throwback Sundays: Six Watch Recommendations as Alternatives to the Rolex Deepsea Seadweller (DSSD), from Our Archives
Another Rolex alternative article, following one week after No1 above. Also with dive watches. Perhaps the scarcity of Rolex sports models may be the reason why articles on alternatives are popular.
This time, the list was Seiko, Sinn, Omega, IWC, Panerai and Audemars Piguet.
4. Throwback Sunday: Six Japanese watches worth their salt
Another Throwback article at no 4 position. This tells us that you guys love lists. We will endeavour to put up more in 2019.
And this list showcases Japan as the third leg of the industry giants, with Switzerland and Germany being the other two. The list comprise of Seiko, Grand Seiko (in 2018, they became a separate standalone brand), Casio, Credor and Citizen.
5. Throwback Sunday: Six highly desirable, modestly priced watches which you may not be able to buy
No 5 is another list. This one, hype watches for the hypebeast.
This list comprised of the usual Rolex suspects – Daytona and Pepsi, the ever elusive Patek Philippe 5711, shown in the 40th Anniversary Platinum edition in the pic, the Omega SpeedyTuesday Ultraman, the Tudor Black Bay Bucherer Edition (and as an extension perhaps, the Harrods Edition), and the Citizen Chronomaster (which is currently available only in Japan).
The Black Market
We also took the opportunity in that article to explore the dark and shady world of the grey market. One of our close associates suggested that calling them grey market is being too nice, and recommended the term “Black Market”. We agree that black market is perhaps appropriate, as these resellers almost alway employ under-table tactics to obtain the desirable watches. And deprive real collectors from being able to buy at retail.
6.
Seiko Limited Edition 2018 “The Black Series”
A press release and a Seiko takes no 6. The Black Series was published in December 30, 2017, but remain managed to still stay in top 10 for 2018.
It is another nod for diver watches, and for the less exotic watches.
7. Hands-on review of the Seiko Green MM300: the SBDX021 / SLA019 introduced during Baselworld 2018
Position 7 is also taken by a Seiko. This is the hands-on review of theSLA019, and another nod for diver watches.
The attraction of a modestly priced (Euro3500) diving watch and the appeal of the green dial in a watch with an illustrious history is appealing.
8. Review: Sexy, Sleek, Over-Engineered – Casio G-Shock GMW-B5000
The trend for the popularity of Japanese watches continue with no 8 in our most popular list. And this goes to the reissue of the first Casio G-Shock ever, but in a revised all steel construction.
And another modestly priced watch. This one at S$799.
9. Spot the Watch: Royal Wedding of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle
No 9 spot is occupied by our popular Spot the Watch series. And the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle takes the spotlight.
Watches spotted on this Royal Wedding included a Seiko quartz, a Parmigiani Toric Chronograph, an AP Royal Oak, several Rolexes, a Cartier Roadster, and a Montblanc.
10. Spot the Watch: The Everyday Watch – Patek and Rolex on Singapore Public Transport (link fixed)
Another Spot the Watch takes position 10. And this one is out of the norm of this genre of spotting watches on celebrities. The spotlight is turned to the commuters in the Singapore public transport system.
Proving once again that Singapore is a luxury watch haven. Watches spotted included the Patek Phillippe 5711/1a seen in the photograph above, but also the Aquanaut, a Everose Rolex Daytona, an IWC chronograph and an Omega Seamaster.
Concluding thoughts
The list is perhaps illustrative for us. Our take away is as follows:
- lists
- Japanese watches
- diver watches
- less exotic watches. Though as a collector community, the owners and writers of Deployant tend to gravitate towards the high end pieces and more exotic mechanical watches like tourbillons and repeaters, it appears that readers prefer more affordable (indeed there is leeway for debate as to what is affordable).
Once again, we remain humbled by the results of the popular posts of the year, and will work hard to be relevant and provide you with good reads and insights. But we will also not forget to continue to focus and document exotic watches, often the more expensive and rare. Big shout out and many thanks to all our readers and supporters for 2018, and we look forward to a great 2019.
2 Comments
Thank you for the interesting articles this year.
Thank you for your support!