subeNot long ago, I received the news that the major watch enthusiast forum
Watchuseek.com was sold. This was big news, and I immediately wanted to speak with Watchuseek founder and admin extraordinaire
Ernie Romers, who in a few weeks, would no longer have any association with his former creation and in some ways his "child." I've always considered Ernie to be "one of the good guys" in the watch industry. I first met him several years ago - probably at Baselworld in Switzerland - and was struck by his humility and gentle nature. This wasn't who many might consider to have fit the role of the person in charge of the largest and most dynamic watch lover community on the internet. Then again, after you think about it, Romers' personality fit the role perfectly. Patient and a natural diplomat, who else would be better suited to managing the complicated issues and personalities that exist not only when sitting between watch brands and consumers, but also between passionate watch lovers who inevitably end up in squabbles that require some type of moderation?
Given my appreciation of Ernie's work as well as the spirited and intelligent community voice on Watchuseek.com, I was of course slightly concerned to hear that Ernie sold the site and would be transferring not only the ownership but also the management of Watchuseek to a new party, and a corporate party on top of that. VerticalScope is a company that I was not previously familiar with, so I wanted to get on the phone with them to hear about who they were, and what their plans for Watchuseek.com would be. It turned out that VerticalScope is based in Canada, and has under its umbrella about 1,200 niche enthusiast forums that cover all types of verticals, including watches.
Other smaller forums like WatchFreeks.com & WatchTalkForums.info were apparently already owned by VerticalScope. Formerly independent, I didn't even realize that those other properties had been sold. Now, the big boy on the block Watchuseek.com would be under the control of VerticalScope.
