Hi y’all and happy May 1,
The Atlas has achieved what you might call “escape velocity” as I’m now writing to you 351 freakin’ subscribers about the 435 freakin’ brands that have been mapped (more than 120 this month).
Traffic is steadily been ticking (pun intended) up and is around 800 folks a day now, most of which are return visitors. If you’re among those daily folks, I’m so happy to be a part of your routine. Yes, even if it’s on the toilet. Even if it’s with a glass of something strong at night.
Even it it’s… both.
Uh, either way: happy you’re here. And now, why you’re here:
Random Watch Discovery Time
Some brands I discovered myself during the past month that are pretty damn cool:
Mu:n: Specializing in bold moonphase dials only (as the name might suggest), this one feels exceptionally French in away even Baltic or Beaubleu don’t.
York & Front Watch Co.: They don’t have a huge lineup, but for some reason I find they did a bang-up job on the nuances in ther Burrard series, which is apparently made in Switzerland. For that price? Kinda tempting, gotta say.
ALATO: This Swedish watchmaker is giving me Lorier-with-a-little attitude vibes. And I like it.
Some other updates, if you’re interested:
✍️ New blog post: We’ve got a new, fun, insightful story in a guest post written by friend-of-the-brand David Ernwine, all about the faith and fevers that come brand loyalty: “Do I really need another watch?”
❤️ We got a call out from Dufrane! Steven Lee is a real one and blasted out a very, very nice plug for the tool in his weekly newsletter (which I also recommend, along with the Waterloo model specifically).
🔎 We’re on the Google! No more of this “I can’t find you on the Google” stuff. You can now find this tool there.
🐝 Utah, famously not a country: Special thanks to Thomas C. from Greensboro who pointed out in a very deftly worded email that the map had the ability to sort by country, and for some reason one of those countries was Utah. That has been fixed. No, I have no idea how it happened. I have no affiliation with the Beehive State.
🦷 Dentist troubles: The site also went down for a few hours in the middle of the month — while I was having my teeth cleaned. Even worse: I had to sit there knowing the site was down while I was having my teeth cleaned. Apologies to the (statistical) 30ish of you who came and were met with a sad-face-of-death screen. The fix wasn’t easy. In fact it was like pulling… well, you know.
Coming up this month
Keep an eye out for a new secret feature I have cooking (it’ll be up around the 21st of the month). I have a feeling y’all are really going to like it. 🙂
Also: to make discovery a bit more fun, a “random brand of the day” option will be available on the homepage by the middle of the month as well.
As for those of you who keep writing asking how you can help: you’re pretty much already doing it. Oh, and spread the word. That could actually help.
Cheers from Austin,
Nick