I have featured an advertisement for watches once before on this blog, but that was ages ago. Before X, 1 before corona, hell, before the Carlsen–Caruana match! Our subject for today, Patek Philippe, is one of the most famous of the Swiss manufacturers of luxury watches. It is such an established name that they apparently don’t feel the need any more to actually show their product in their advertisement. Instead, they just show a very normal scene of a father and son playing chess in some park on a cold day.
They apparently also don’t feel the need to hire a competent graphic designer, because the text is outlined horribly and the font becoming smaller takes attention away from the most salient bit, which comes right at the end. I’m extrapolating here, but I bet they don’t feel the need to consult someone who plays chess either.
We get a very good view of the board. The only slight trouble is that, because they put the captured pieces next to the board, it is not immediately obvious which pieces are on the board and which are off the board. I think this is how it was: 2
Well, that’s a horror and a half. It’s bad enough that black has two dark-squared bishops. But both sides being in check simultaneously is the death knell of realism.
I seriously can’t watch this any more. I have to clock out.
Realism: 0/5 At least it’s an original type of illegality, though. I don’t recall seeing a position before on this blog where both players were in check.3
Probable winner: I really couldn’t say, since they’re clearly not using the standard rules of chess. If they’re playing the primitive way where you win by taking the king, whoever’s turn it is will be victorious.
1. [I’m not even sure it was W already.] ↩
2. [I don’t actually own this diagram editor, I merely link to it for the next generation.] ↩
3. [That doesn’t mean there isn’t one, though. I’m looking forward to getting an e-mail from a reader with a better memory or a lot of time.] ↩