Horological Meandering

Thanks for your reply.

Of course if the smartwatches are to be successful, it will be because of the features, the overall design, the execution etc that the manufacturers bestow upon them, including the 'stock' or built-in watchface/interface designs.

No-one is going to have a hit with a badly-designed, poorly-functioning and ill-constructed smartwatch...no matter how easy it is to put an image of a Rolex dial on it.  Most of the models already on the market are duds, and that's why there has been so much buzz around the rather lovely Moto 360 smartwatch, and of course for the Apple watch.  (I've got a friend with one made by another company; and, well, she can keep it - to describe it as 'clunky' would be putting it nicely.)  The dial design will probably be a much lower priority for consumers than battery life, or wearability, or how the overall gadget looks, etc.

Anyway, t turns out illegal geek activity isn't necessary to get a different dial onto one's smartwatch.  I did a quick Google search - typed in something like 'put your own face on Android smartwatch' - and up popped a zillion links to sites explaining how to download simple-to-use applications that will load a watchface file onto your Android watch, with links to a number of sites where people post watch faces that they've made.  I'm sure it's not difficult at all for someone computer- and design-literate to design one's own, either.  

Many of the face designs available - probably many shared for free, on a multitude of sites - are likely to be legit, not rip-offs of established companies' designs, logos or trademarks.  But I reckon it's equally likely (though I haven't checked) that there will also be a number of home-made dials ripping off the companies we know and love. 

After all, I would doubt that Google and Apple developed their projects saying "OK, here's an idea - we'll make these smart watch things, and the reason people will buy them is that they can get Rolex watchdials onto them for a fraction of the price of the real thing!"  That said, it's not in Google's interest to restrict the uploading of faces onto watches; after all, most of the faces that are designed by third parties, be they designers who want to sell them or unpaid amateurs, will not harm anyone's commercial interests.  And the various sites that host all the individual files would have great difficulty in policing the large number of faces that they host, particularly if they're just linking to files held on other servers.  It would be like playing a game of whack-a-mole...just as impossible as taking down illegally-ripped music or movies from the many servers on which they can, unfortunately, be found around the world.

This is why I think it would be pretty difficult, practically speaking, for the major players to do much about all this.  Yes, they should serve takedown notices to the major, commercial and legit websites as and when necessary, to ensure that Rolex/Cartier etc faces don't become entirely mainstream.  But I'm equally positive that just as I could find an illegal downloading site for almost any movie or TV show I want with a few minutes' searching, so it will be for fake watchfaces.  Is this morally or legal right?  No.  Does it stop many (generally honest, upstanding, intelligent and decent) people from illegally streaming their favourite TV shows?  No again.

So the upshot of this overly-long post is:  it seems to me the thing for the industry to do, at the same time as pursuing takedown notices etc., is to commercialize the digital faces themselves.  They would need to work with Google/Apple to create mechanisms for installing copy-protected files onto the watches; this shouldn't be impossible.  Then they could set up official shops on their websites, put the faces on the iTunes Watchface Store*, the PuristSShop**, etc, so the 15-year-old who doesn't have the financial resources can buy a Submariner, spending $10 for an official, copy-protected image of the watch.  Build his loyalty to the brand...and in another decade he'll be more likely to be walking out from the local authorized dealer with the real thing on his wrist.

Best

E.

* I don't think this exists yet, so you heard it here first, folks.  Hi Tim Cook!  Hi Jony Ive!  Just hire me as Head Watch Geek, throw me a bunch of stock options, and I'll move to Cupertino faster than a whirling foudroyante second hand.

** Likewise - TM, I'm open to offers.  ;-)