Jacques Marie Mage - Wolves, Obnoxious Acetate and The American Dream

[MickeyPunch]

I've had the Leonard in honey on order since early summer. It was supposed to release in September, then October, and as of two days ago it switched to December. Not sure what's going on over there. The Yellowstone collection usually drops at the end of August as well.

I read elsewhere (Reddit) that the same thing happened to one guy who was waiting on the indigo Walkers, they keep pushing the release date. It’s now scheduled for April.

 

[Prometheus195]

Once I read an article that convinced me that glass lenses are inferior in pretty much every regard, they’re heavier, more expensive to produce, more prone to scratching and cracking, and with more chromatic aberration.

But it’s common that people equate heavier and more expensive with better. Like when my parents bought a new car in the nineties and my mum was adamant that it felt less safe than the previous one from the eighties because the door felt much lighter (because it was), when in reality the new one was much safer. And I must say, I have real horn glasses where there’s an actual advantage, they’re much lighter (on the flip side they’re more brittle) and actually that makes them feel cheaper than the thick acetate ones. I guess we’ve seen too many things in our lifetime go from using e.g. metals to plastic and get shittier in the process, so we’re conditioned to this.

So it’s mostly a marketing gimmick. Or maybe it’s like watches, where a cheap quartz one, let alone one that syncs up to atomic clocks via radio, are more accurate than many (most?) mechanical ones, people know this obviosly but that doesn’t reduce the appeal of mechanical watches for them.

My understanding is that glass offers slightly better optical quality (less distortion) and better scratch resistance, although it is more likely to shatter if it gets hit with something. Also, glass is heavier, but the frames themselves look less bulky than most of JMM's acetate offerings, so it might balance out. It looks like I have a long wait to see for myself though

 

[ejj]

Once I read an article that convinced me that glass lenses are inferior in pretty much every regard, they’re heavier, more expensive to produce, more prone to scratching and cracking, and with more chromatic aberration.

But it’s common that people equate heavier and more expensive with better. Like when my parents bought a new car in the nineties and my mum was adamant that it felt less safe than the previous one from the eighties because the door felt much lighter (because it was), when in reality the new one was much safer. And I must say, I have real horn glasses where there’s an actual advantage, they’re much lighter (on the flip side they’re more brittle) and actually that makes them feel cheaper than the thick acetate ones. I guess we’ve seen too many things in our lifetime go from using e.g. metals to plastic and get shittier in the process, so we’re conditioned to this.

So it’s mostly a marketing gimmick. Or maybe it’s like watches, where a cheap quartz one, let alone one that syncs up to atomic clocks via radio, are more accurate than many (most?) mechanical ones, people know this obviosly but that doesn’t reduce the appeal of mechanical watches for them.

I’ve had glass lenses before—they were heavy. Dunno what the attraction is.

Watch-related—JMM is definitely tapping in to the same vibe as a mechanical watch. People don’t rely on their watches these days—they use their phones.

Is LASIK the equivalent of a Smartphone? Zunni Optical the equivalent of cheap digital off Amazon? And JMM hoping to be Rolex? (Widely recognized and kind of available?)

What other frame companies have a real resale market?

 

[Thin White Duke]

Once I read an article that convinced me that glass lenses are inferior in pretty much every regard, they’re heavier, more expensive to produce, more prone to scratching and cracking, and with more chromatic aberration.

But it’s common that people equate heavier and more expensive with better. Like when my parents bought a new car in the nineties and my mum was adamant that it felt less safe than the previous one from the eighties because the door felt much lighter (because it was), when in reality the new one was much safer. And I must say, I have real horn glasses where there’s an actual advantage, they’re much lighter (on the flip side they’re more brittle) and actually that makes them feel cheaper than the thick acetate ones. I guess we’ve seen too many things in our lifetime go from using e.g. metals to plastic and get shittier in the process, so we’re conditioned to this.

So it’s mostly a marketing gimmick. Or maybe it’s like watches, where a cheap quartz one, let alone one that syncs up to atomic clocks via radio, are more accurate than many (most?) mechanical ones, people know this obviosly but that doesn’t reduce the appeal of mechanical watches for them.

I don’t claim huge expertise here but my understanding from chatting with various SAs and others in the eyewear game is that glass is the most distortion-free material for lenses but the polycarb (?) is catching up. Glass is a sorta ‘base’ material ie can’t be manipulated much while poly can evolve with advancements in compound structure etc which is how it’s catching up while glass is just ‘there’.
What you say is true that glass is more susceptible to cracking and scratching. I had some glass lenses created with a blue tint. There’s aren’t many that can do this, had to be done by Zeiss in Europe and once made have to pass the ball drop test which if they fail have to go back and start all over again.

I used to think glass was far and away the best and aimed to get most of my shades in glass - during my ‘gateway drug’ RayBan period despite the decline in RB quality at least the RBs I owned still all had glass lenses. I’m unsure why JMM went with CR39 - are they better than glass? Or just a cheaper option? Do we get sucked in to the tasty frames and then turn a blind eye (sorry) to lower quality lenses? They still put glass in the more expensive LFs. There are doubtless pros and cons for each material but I’d be curious as to what drives JMM’s decision to go with one over another.

 

[Thin White Duke]

I read elsewhere (Reddit) that the same thing happened to one guy who was waiting on the indigo Walkers, they keep pushing the release date. It’s now scheduled for April.

Maybe Archibald is handling JMMs distribution now?😁

(SF inside joke there ^ 😁)

 

[45bur]

I ama waiting for my Fellini's in noir. First was June, then August, Sept, the Oct. Now they aren't on the site so ???? who knows