Hodinkee is the New York-based watch publication and retailer founded by Benjamin Clymer in 2008. The name "Hodinkee" comes from the Czech word for "little watch" ("hodinky" being Czech for "watches"); Clymer's family is Czech-American. The publication started as Clymer's personal blog while he was a Wall Street finance employee; he wrote about watches he and his colleagues bought, posting deep-dive articles on vintage Rolex and Patek Philippe references. The blog grew through 2008-2014 from a side project into the most-read English-language watch publication, and Clymer left finance to make Hodinkee his full-time business.
Hodinkee's editorial format defined the modern watch-publication genre. Multiple series became industry standards:
"Hodinkee did not invent watch journalism, but it invented modern watch journalism on the internet. Reference Points, Talking Watches, the limited editions: that template is the entire genre now."- Watch industry commentary on the Hodinkee era
, Reference Points: deep technical histories of single watch references (e.g. "Reference Points: The Rolex Submariner") that cover production years, dial variants, technical evolution, and collector dynamics in a single 5,000-10,000 word essay.
, Talking Watches: video interviews in which celebrities or notable collectors are filmed discussing their watch collection. Guests have included John Mayer, Aldis Hodge, Steve Wozniak, Anthony Bourdain, Eric Wind, and dozens of A-list collectors. The format became one of the most-watched genres on watch YouTube.
, Inside the Manufacture: long-form factory tours documenting how individual brands actually build their watches, with photo essays from the production lines.
, Hands-On: first-look reviews of new watch releases at major events.
In 2017 Hodinkee expanded into retail, launching the Hodinkee Shop as an online watch retailer authorised by major Swiss brands. The shop sells modern Swiss watches at retail prices alongside Hodinkee-curated vintage and pre-owned watches. Hodinkee-branded limited editions, where Hodinkee partners with a brand to produce a limited-edition variant of an existing reference, became the publication's most distinctive commercial feature; partners have included Omega (Speedmaster), IWC (Big Pilot), Zenith (El Primero), Grand Seiko, and many others. Hodinkee Shop limited editions typically sell out within hours of launch.
In 2021 Hodinkee acquired the insurance company Crown & Caliber (renamed Hodinkee Insurance), and partnered with the Swatch Group authorised dealership Crown & Caliber to expand its pre-owned watch business. Hodinkee's commercial scope grew through the late 2010s and early 2020s into a vertically integrated watch business: editorial content that drives readership, retail that drives revenue, limited editions that drive both, and insurance/service that supports owners. The model influenced how other watch publications (Worn & Wound, Time+Tide, Fratello) think about the relationship between editorial and commerce.
In 2023-2024 Hodinkee underwent significant restructuring. The pre-owned and insurance businesses were sold or scaled back; the editorial team was reduced; Clymer stepped back from CEO duties. The publication continues operating but at smaller commercial scale than its 2018-2022 peak. Despite this, Hodinkee remains the most-cited English-language watch publication in the industry; its archive of "Reference Points" articles, Talking Watches videos, and Inside the Manufacture features remains an industry educational resource that no competing publication has matched in scope.
For collectors, Hodinkee is the baseline reference for English-language modern watch knowledge. The publication's coverage of vintage Rolex, vintage Patek, and modern haute-horlogerie established much of the modern collector vocabulary ("grail watch", "tropical dial", "neo-vintage") that is now standard across collector communities. Hodinkee's 2014-2020 era is widely cited as the moment modern watch collecting became a mainstream cultural pursuit rather than a niche hobby.
