Just Because: HODINKEE Editors On The Watch That Was The Biggest Pain To Shoot

If you're a watch editor or photographer, one of the obvious perks of the job (aside from realizing that you are going to end up with an incredibly large collection of brand baseball caps) is that you get to see an enormous number of watches in person. It often means that you also have to take some pictures, and that can test your skills and patience considerably – especially if you're just starting out. There are any number of tricks of the trade that you can apply which can make life easier (James Stacey's How-To on the subject is a great place to start if you're looking for simple tips that can make a huge difference in your results), but even with a lot of experience, and a decent amount of technical knowledge, some watches definitely feel like they're fighting you every step of the way. And even experience doesn't necessarily protect you from making some howlers once in a while. However, figuring out how to work through the sometimes considerable challenges of shooting some of the shiniest, most reflective objects ever made is also part of the fun. Here are five watches that made us up our game. David Aujero, Video Producer: The Rolex Deepsea Special I can't look at the Talking Watches With Reza Al Rashidian article and not have a little bit of PTSD – mainly, at thinking about shooting the Rolex Deep Sea Special. The goal of shooting a watch is to have the face be unobstructed by unwanted reflections, in order to reveal that watch's character. For the Deep Sea Special, seeing the vintage dial from every angle – in an uncontrolled environment – is pretty much impossible. It was truly a marvel to have been around – for its cat's eye crystal, oversized crown, and its mystique; photographing it, however, was a nightmare. Seeing how light refracts in the crystal to create all the nuances to the dial was a visual pleasure I wanted to showcase, but time wasn't on my side. With a full spread of Reza's Rolex subs waiting for me on the table, I knew that perfectly capturing the rare diver would get the best of me that day. Jack Forster, Editor-in-Chief: The Armin Strom Masterpiece 1 Dual Time Resonance GMT Regrets, I've had a few. Watches are uniquely difficult to photograph, thanks to their small size, brightly polished surfaces, and reflective dials (there have been times when I wonder if brands aren't charged by the microgram for AR coating). The Armin Strom Masterpiece 1 Dual Time GMT was a challenge for all those reasons, but it was also an opportunity for me to make an unusual goof: I photographed the watch upside down. Not content to make the mistake, I also failed to catch it and ran the story with, exclusively, pictures of an upside down watch. The only comfort was that nobody at HODINKEE noticed either – it was not until a sharp eyed reader pointed it out in the comments that I was alerted. By then, I was in a cab headed to a meeting and had to make a panic stricken call to HQ to see who was around to unpublish the story. Not my finest hour. Armin Strom was kind enough to tell me that clients occasionally put the watch on upside down by mistake as well...but you'd have thought I'd notice that both the brand logo and the XII weren't where they were supposed to be. Greyson Korhonen, Producer/Manager, Creative Video: The H. Moser Venturer Small Seconds Purity Time and again, the qualities of a particular watch that collectors find unique and refreshing are the same qualities photographer's find exasperating and irksome. Case in point: The H Moser. Venturer Small Seconds Purity . The brand is known for bold, boundary pushing designs, and the Venturer is no exception – the wide open fumé dial and dramatically domed crystal certainly make it stand out. You know what else stands out? The photographer, the camera, and just about everything nearby, because this watch is so reflective . The metallic dial and the curvature of the crystal seem to draw and reflect light such that, to quote Stephen in the article, "It's essentially like wearing a small mirror on your wrist." But I'm not too bitter. It's still a slick watch. Just don't ask me to shoot it again Danny Milton, Editor: The NOMOS Lambda Black Dial The words "glossy black dial" have taken on new meaning ever since I have been more involved in the watch photography side of things. Mind you, I am coming at this from the perspective of the wrist model – my wife Kasia took the photos – but the NOMOS Lambda collection from last year – specifically the black dial variant – proved to be the most challenging photo shoot I can recall. My arm is still sore from holding position while my wife looked for the perfect angle to avoid the reflections. That angle turned out not to exist. The watch dial is large and entirely black. When you couple that with the fact that the dial text and markers – while white – are extremely thin, it makes for a challenge to really capture everything. This is to say nothing of how the watch looks in the metal (I happened to have really liked it), but boy was it difficult to photograph – so I was told. James Stacey, Senior Writer/Producer, TGN: Omega Seamaster 300 While my mind instantly jumped to Grand Seiko as creating some of the hardest watches to photograph, the reality is that nothing has pushed me harder than this trio of precious metal Omega Seamaster 300s . In fact, if I hadn't been at the NYC office for the shoot, I likely would have scrapped the entire post. I spent a solid two hours trying to use my normal method to get enough light into the image for the Seamaster's deeply recessed dial, but not so much that the myriad polished surfaces looked like the lens flares in a Daft Punk video. Then I gave up and asked Aram – part of our amazingly talented Shop photography team – if I could use some of his kit. While the photos don't at all reflect my usual spread of angles, with much more light and a massive diffuser to help balance the dial against the mirror-polished finishing, I was able to properly light these shiny shadowy little devils, and I think the photos came out okay. Pretty watches for sure, but also...pretty tough to shoot.Shooting the shiny can leave you reflecting on your career choices. Reflecting. Is this thing on?