Methodology

Where the specs come from

Where it can, Horowell reads a watch’s specifications from the brand’s own product page for that reference. Some references were read from other sources, and the word beside each figure says so. When a reference page was read from the brand’s site, its sources line at the bottom says so and names the site.

How a page is read

A language model reads the product page and records the figures it states: case size, thickness, movement, power reserve, water resistance and the rest. A figure the page does not state is left blank, not guessed.

The sentence at the top of each reference page is built only from the figures Horowell has recorded for that reference, whichever of the sources below they came from. A part of it whose figure is unknown is left out.

When the brand’s page carries its own one-line description of the watch, Horowell quotes it word for word under “From the manufacturer”, credited to the brand.

How figures are corroborated

Brands often leave out case measurements such as lug to lug and thickness. When the brand does not publish one of these, or the year a reference was introduced, Horowell searches other pages for it. It prints a case measurement only when two independent pages agree on the same figure for the same reference, and an introduced year only when three do. A figure a person at Horowell settles instead reads Entered by Horowell.

Beside every figure is a word saying where it came from. Manufacturer: from the brand’s own product page. Corroborated: the same figure found on two or more independent pages. Entered by Horowell: chosen by a person at Horowell. Unverified: from another source, not yet checked.

When the brand’s figure and a corroborated figure disagree, both are printed, each with its own word.

What a person checks

A reference whose sources line says it was reviewed by Horowell has been checked by a person at Horowell.

When the search finds a figure but cannot settle it, a person at Horowell decides, and the figure they choose reads Entered by Horowell. A watch someone adds that is new to the catalog appears in the Watch Finder only once it has been checked.

How brand text is written

The facts and the short introduction on each brand’s page are drafted by a language model from the brand’s own site, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Every sentence in a draft has to be tied to a quoted passage from one of those sources.

A second pass checks each sentence against its source and removes any it cannot support. The text is then published without a person reading each page first, so the brand page prints its sources and the date they were checked. Counts of references and lines on that page are computed from Horowell’s own records, not drafted.

Reporting an error

If a figure, a date or a sentence is wrong, email hello@horowell.com with the page’s address, what you believe is right and, if you have one, a source.