Today, we thought it was time to give you all a peek behind the curtain, so to speak. Weâve all heard â and read â about how the watch media is filled with some not-so-desirable practices. Weâve written about it in the past, but itâs time to revisit things again. Think of this as our guiding principles, both to inform you (our readers) and give a fair shake to the brands and products we cover.
No Pay for Play â EVER
First and foremost, we will never take payment for an article. Yes, weâre happy to have folks advertise here, but we have a sales team that is totally separate from editorial. While I see the same ads on the the site that you do, I have no stake in what weâre advertising, nor are we beholden to giving any sort of favorable press just because a brand put some money down on the barrel. For the brands reading this article, if you want to advertise with us, you can reach out to our sales team but that is as much guidance as I can give on that process. I donât know our rates, I donât know whoâs scheduled, or anything of that nature. The advertising keeps our site up and running, but other than that, it doesnât impact myself, or any of our editorial team.
No Sponsored Posts â EVER




Speaking of our editorial team â weâre the ones who write the articles you read here. Following on to the point above, that means weâre not going to be accepting any sponsored articles. Weâre the writers here â not some random folks out there on the web â and weâll create our own content. This content will be unique to our site, and will carry our own thoughts and opinions, and draw on our experiences in categories weâre covering. That means that someone thinking they can buy their way into publishing something on our site is a slap in the face, and discounts the sweat equity that John has put into building this site since 2004, and what the rest of us have helped to build on top of. Sidebar â if you feel you have a viewpoint you want to contribute, we DO accept reader reviews; just reach out to us
New Product Release Articles




So, what do we of the editorial staff actually do, then, you ask? Well, first and foremost, weâre covering the things that we find interesting, and that are (hopefully) interesting to you. That generally takes one of two forms. The first is just a general article about a new release (be it a watch, menswear, or something else). You can picture these as the coverage that comes off of press releases and new announcements (which weâll see a flood of with BaselWorld around the corner). These are not true reviews, as weâre basing them off of the photos and tech specs, but given our experience, we can form an educated guess around what weâre seeing. If youâre a brand that wants us to cover something in this form, weâll need a few things from you:
- Photos â these should be at least 1200 px wide, as many as youâve got; weâll figure out what makes sense for our writeup
- Pricing and release date â with out these two pieces of info, itâs hard to know if what weâre talking about is vapor or reality.
- Tech specs and background â these should be part of any well-crafted press release, and form the foundation of our article
- Availability to answer questions â we donât always have questions, but if thereâs a point we need clarity on, weâll want someone we can talk to about it.
Once youâve got that together, just reach out to our editorial team and get the ball rolling.
Hands-on Reviews


The other main type of article that we create here are the hands-on reviews. As mentioned in the section above, this is not /always/ required for us to form an opinion, but it is the best way for us to get an accurate impression of the watch (or whatever it may be). Weâve all run into issues where weâre seen some really impressive photos online or in a magazine, and then when we see it in person, weâre underwhelmed. Or, conversely, weâve had scenarios where we are turned off by the press photos, and when the watch comes in, weâre actually pleasantly surprised. Sometimes, you really need to see a product in-person to catch the details (or the shortcomings) of a thing. So, thatâs why we like to do hands-on reviews.
If youâre a brand looking to have a hands-on review done, itâs a simple process:
- First off, reach out the editorial team and weâll talk with you about whether or not your product is a fit for our site and coverage
- If it looks like a good fit, weâll request that a loaner (see the next point) is sent to us.
- Once weâve spent time with the product and done our photography, weâll write things up
- NOTE: As a brand, you will never have the ability to see our copy before itâs published. If there are errors, we will correct them, but we will not present copy in order for it to be âApprovedâ or otherwise censored.
- At that point, weâll send the product back to you â either via a return label you included in the original shipment, or via one you email to us
That last bullet is key, as itâs another differentiator for our site â we NEVER expect to keep anything weâre reviewing. Any writer that goes into an review with the expectation of keeping a watch is basically being paid, albeit in trade, for their opinion. That, of course, can influence the review. Sure, there are plenty of watches that weâd all have loved to keep, but thatâs not how we work. If we like the watch, thatâll come out in our review. And then the loaner we had in will go back to the brand, and head on to itâs next stop in the review circuit. If, at the end of the review, you (the brand) decide it does not need to be returned, weâll more often than not simply add it in to our pool of reader giveaway prizes.
Wrapping it all up
So that is â in a nutshell â how we handle articles and reviews here at WWR. For the brands out there looking for coverage or reviews, please read the above. For our readers, you can take this as our commitment to you that our articles will keep their independence from whatever our sales team may be doing. We want to keep bringing you our own unique take on the watch world, and this is the code weâll do it by. From all of us here, thank you for supporting us and our mission of unbiased reviews.
I miss the podcast. John, Victor and yourself were fun to listen to!
But thatâs nitpicking. You guys are the best on the web in this arena. Thanks for doing what you do, and not selling out.
Doing great guys â keep it going! Iâm with Matt, if time permits bring back the podcast!
Sounds great! Keep up the good job guys! I come here several times a day every day đ