I really like the watch components piece of the banner, and, most importantly, I love the content so I will check it out no matter what you do layout wise. I found the "background" to the banner slightly disconcerting. It looked like brunette hair and if the watch components image takes a while to load it feels like I am on the Clairol herbal essence site (hair and gold-jewelry-ish image components). Anyway, bit fan no matter what, I like the onwards and upwards efforts to improve the site!

I really like the watch components piece of the banner, and, most importantly, I love the content so I will check it out no matter what you do layout wise. I found the "background" to the banner slightly disconcerting. It looked like brunette hair and if the watch components image takes a while to load it feels like I am on the Clairol herbal essence site (hair and gold-jewelry-ish image components). Anyway, bit fan no matter what, I like the onwards and upwards efforts to improve the site!

I don't like this new design.
It is kind of kitchy andruns muc more slower than the previous version.
And that is too bad because it was my favourite blog and I used to read it every day.

I applaud the effort, but it misses the mark a bit. As a professional web designer, I am concerned about the page weight (load times are quite slow due to gratuitous graphics). Additionally, the fixed page width is a bit too large... not everyone runs their browser in full screen mode, some of us multi task. If I were one of your advertisers, I might be concerned that my ad would end up off the page. Or, worse yet, the navigation is off the page. Have you considered mobile devices?

Content is great by the way... remember what google teaches... clean and simple is best.

I applaud the effort, but it misses the mark a bit. As a professional web designer, I am concerned about the page weight (load times are quite slow due to gratuitous graphics). Additionally, the fixed page width is a bit too large... not everyone runs their browser in full screen mode, some of us multi task. If I were one of your advertisers, I might be concerned that my ad would end up off the page. Or, worse yet, the navigation is off the page. Have you considered mobile devices? Content is great by the way... remember what google teaches... clean and simple is best.

I still see the Smoky The Bear ad, I'm being serious. I see some more room for improvement, but maybe you will too. I bet you'll make some changes over the next week or two. I guess we will see.

I have to kindly reject $100 an hour advice for watches, I don't really buy too many watches. Maybe once is a while, but it is wasteful to buy and collect more watches than I need. And I was just kidding around about $100 an hour, the company I work for actually charges per project.

I still see the Smoky The Bear ad, I'm being serious. I see some more room for improvement, but maybe you will too. I bet you'll make some changes over the next week or two. I guess we will see. I have to kindly reject $100 an hour advice for watches, I don't really buy too many watches. Maybe once is a while, but it is wasteful to buy and collect more watches than I need. And I was just kidding around about $100 an hour, the company I work for actually charges per project.

I'm a specialist in web design implementation, for "print quality" publishers and there are some things that could be further optimized with this new layout. The graphic is awesome and the code seems clean, however, there are actually quite a few changes that could be implemented to optimize your layout.

It's not just about being busy or minimalist, it is more about usability. You can go for whatever type of look you want, but either look should take usability into consideration.

I'll give you one tip for free, anything more is $100/hr.

The big horizontal ad at the top of the site, directly underneath the title is currently displaying a Smoky The Bear campaign. That is actually a free Google (Public Service Announcement) PSA. You might want to replace that with something that is more related to the user's interests.

I wish I could further help you with your site updates, but unfortunately you would have to come up with a very expensive watch to afford our service. As I said above, we work with "print quality" sites.

I'm a specialist in web design implementation, for "print quality" publishers and there are some things that could be further optimized with this new layout. The graphic is awesome and the code seems clean, however, there are actually quite a few changes that could be implemented to optimize your layout. It's not just about being busy or minimalist, it is more about usability. You can go for whatever type of look you want, but either look should take usability into consideration. I'll give you one tip for free, anything more is $100/hr. The big horizontal ad at the top of the site, directly underneath the title is currently displaying a Smoky The Bear campaign. That is actually a free Google (Public Service Announcement) PSA. You might want to replace that with something that is more related to the user's interests. I wish I could further help you with your site updates, but unfortunately you would have to come up with a very expensive watch to afford our service. As I said above, we work with "print quality" sites.

I was the code warrior on this site, and I want to thank Ariel for the opportunity to work on his non-minimalist-in-your-face watch temple of joyness. Thank you for taking a stand with your site and leaving IE6 in the dust - it's time we evolved beyond IE6 technology. I'm pleased to have done the site, and look forward to honing it to be the best darn mountain of watch worship on the Internet :-)

I was the code warrior on this site, and I want to thank Ariel for the opportunity to work on his non-minimalist-in-your-face watch temple of joyness. Thank you for taking a stand with your site and leaving IE6 in the dust - it's time we evolved beyond IE6 technology. I'm pleased to have done the site, and look forward to honing it to be the best darn mountain of watch worship on the Internet :-)

Nice work Ariel. The new lay out looks brilliant!

While I appreciate the attempt to provide a fresh look, i see it as a reskinning on the same layout. I really enjoy the writing of the blog but sadly feel that the design falls short of the sophistication that many of the watches themselves reflect. The site above the fold isnt' for the user it's for the advertisers and I think your design suffers for that.

The redesign looks horrible on my work computer, but then I'm forced to use IE 6 only. I'll have to check it out from home on a respectable 21st century setup.

I think it looks great. I checked in today and was floored by the new look. Looking forward to exploring more. Thanks guys (as if there wasn't enough on this site to keep us interested).

I think it looks great. I checked in today and was floored by the new look. Looking forward to exploring more. Thanks guys (as if there wasn't enough on this site to keep us interested).

I think, it's better than previous version, but I'd prefer something more clean and better layout. I'm using IE8 at work (1280x1024 resolution) and article title is in bottom 1/3 of the screen (possible, due to messed up ad banners).

Also, having only 2 articles per page seems weird. I thought, there was more in the old design. I'm sure you thought it through (SEO, page views, ad impressions, etc.) but it's not very user-friendly. Personally, I like the style that a lot of blogs utilize -- put first couple of paragraphs of articles on main page and then have "read more" link.

But, then again, it's just my two cents and you certainly know better what works for your audience :)

I think, it's better than previous version, but I'd prefer something more clean and better layout. I'm using IE8 at work (1280x1024 resolution) and article title is in bottom 1/3 of the screen (possible, due to messed up ad banners). Also, having only 2 articles per page seems weird. I thought, there was more in the old design. I'm sure you thought it through (SEO, page views, ad impressions, etc.) but it's not very user-friendly. Personally, I like the style that a lot of blogs utilize -- put first couple of paragraphs of articles on main page and then have "read more" link. But, then again, it's just my two cents and you certainly know better what works for your audience :)

Looking great keep on...

Love the new design, especially the top part with all the watch components. Good job!!

Love the new design, especially the top part with all the watch components. Good job!!

Love the details in the backgrounds. Also like the decreased scrolling by having two columns with the different brands. Kudos and keep up the good work!

Well Done, I especially like the Bell & Ross clock. It will be fun exploring the site.

As part of the design team (graphics), I'm very pleased with the way the code team brought it all to fruition. Congratulations on getting it up and running so smoothly on day-one. I keep IE6 available on a test machine. Wow - it's horrible on IE6 and almost unusable. I pity those who are stuck there due to corporate reasons.

As part of the design team (graphics), I'm very pleased with the way the code team brought it all to fruition. Congratulations on getting it up and running so smoothly on day-one. I keep IE6 available on a test machine. Wow - it's horrible on IE6 and almost unusable. I pity those who are stuck there due to corporate reasons.

WOW! looks freaking amazing! kudos for the golden banners here and there. Congrats Ariel!

I'm not a huge fan of the design to be honest. Although I do understand the concept of the design, I really prefer a more minimalistic, pratical design. There is just too much of everything everywhere.

Oh well, I guess that's why I follow all sites in a reader...

I'm not a huge fan of the design to be honest. Although I do understand the concept of the design, I really prefer a more minimalistic, pratical design. There is just too much of everything everywhere. Oh well, I guess that's why I follow all sites in a reader...

splash of parts in the banner are not the best choice in my opinion, but dark colors are pretty cool

Looks great! Love the splash of parts in the banner - very well done.