“Which watch is better — my Apple Watch Ultra or my pal Blake’s Garmin Quatix 6?”
It’s a trick question.
Blake is an avid kayaker. He needs a watch that can track his paddles on rivers, lakes and ocean inlets. His Garmin delivers exactly that.
My Ultra can’t match the Quatix’s maritime features. But I don’t love how the Garmin looks on my wrist.
Silly? Probably.
I prefer the Ultra’s features and build. It does everything I need, plus it matches my aesthetic preferences.
This gets at something fundamental about products: Your best choice isn’t necessarily the “best” product. It’s the one that:
- Serves your specific needs
- Fits your use case
- Matches your style
- Works with your ecosystem
- Feels right to you
Some examples:
- A professional diver needs different features than a gym enthusiast
- A trail runner requires different capabilities than a marathoner
- A sailing navigator wants different functions than a casual swimmer
And sometimes the right answer is no watch at all. Or a pocket watch. Or a simple Timex.
You do you. With whatever watch does you.
The watch industry understands this deeply:
- Rolex for luxury and status
- G-Shock for durability
- Fossil for fashion
- Garmin for sports
- Apple for connectivity
- Casio for reliability
Each brand knows exactly who they’re serving and why.
For product makers, there’s a mighty lesson here: Excellence is NOT universal.
It’s contextual.
Your goal can’t be to be the best at everything. It’s to be exactly right for your specific buyers.
What are you wearing on your wrist right now? And more importantly – why?
Laurier
P.S. My Ultra just reminded me I’m due for some exercise. Blake’s Quatix probably just told him about the tide tables.
We’re both getting exactly what we need.