I think Independents are poised for a big year in 2024 and interest will continue to grow. I'm hopeful the forum will continue to grow and encourage everyone to participate in discussions and post photos. I've been meaning to look at how to better organize galleries, so that's something I'll be working on in the near term. I also want to begin providing some unique content with interviews of some of the watchmakers, behind the scenes looks at their work, and hopefully some online member meetups in the coming months.

More soon.

@OLIGO

Fernando Ronzon

@Tselishchev Andrey

Can from Uhren Manufaktur

Maxim Sushkov

Albert Villa

I'm finalizing my questionnaire for the the watchmakers so I can ensure future efforts continue to meet their needs.

The blogs are a little clunky, but I think they are a good place for posts like this and if there is interest from people in continuing the member review blogs, I can investigate getting it set up so that it will be more user friendly. Unfortunately, that particular work would have to be outsourced to someone who can build a page and I want to ensure there is interest before embarking on that or if we wait to fully implement it later. The other option is to investigate other blog software such as Substack and see if there is a way to create a community environment within that package. I think it would be nice if the blogs were separate, but part of the same "group" so that we can promote them as a whole and generate more interest in all of them as a result. Open to suggestions here. In the meantime, if you have a separate blog, I'm happy to promote that with links on the forum as well as through posts on Social Media when you have new content.

A call for strapmakers. I would like to include a subforum for strapmakers and have a few who have agreed already. But if you know any custom strapmakers that do great work, please let me know and I'll reach out to them.

A couple things I've added - a place to post your daily wrist shots. I'm still working on how to manage images efficiently around the site, especially the staged and/or more professional looking shots. But hopefully some of the members will start posting theirs as well.

I have also started a general chat thread for general info and discussion. Nothing serious, but a good way to have a multi-chat conversation. So feel free to jump in there as well.

That's about it for now. This week at work is busy, but next week I'll get clubs set up for all of the latest watchmakers and shortly thereafter I'll be starting to promote on social media announcing the watchmakers which I think will also generate some more interest in others joining.

One final thing, if you are a member and would like to help grow your account, then feel free to tag @bespokenlounge.watch and @time.texas and I'll add to my stories. I'm going to make a post about this because the more we band together on that, the more reach we'll get and more exposure for the watchmakers.

Cheers!

Chris

In other news, I'm streamlining the Clubs so they are a little less cluttered.

Also, I'm close to reaching out to different brands, supporters, and other enthusiasts to generate some interest in the site. If you have any watchmaker contacts and think they would be interested in being a part of the forum as it grows, please let me know and I'll make sure to reach out to them. There's no real obligation for the watchmakers. I would hope that as the community grows they see a benefit in increased participation over time, including being open to some exclusive content such as Live Q&As, podcasts/clubhouse chats, learning series/behind the scenes, tours of the Atelier, and virtual meetups.

Cheers!

Chris