Tick, Tick, Tickby
sleekrComment by Falc: Greetings from the Critique Club.
OK lets first review some of the comments given during the challenge marking. Most commentators have mentioned the 3 second exposure and the sweep of the second hand. I agree, I really liked this when I saw it, and marked it highly for just that reason. However, it is true also that this element is not obvious enough, and probably lost a few votes because of this.
Lets move onto the watch itself now. Because you are in close with a macro lens, you need to make sure the object is very clean, any dirt or inperfection shows up here. I think a good clean might have helped, just take a look at the outer bezel, just above the 30, Its not clean and contributes to the overall reduction in sharpness. On the chrome pieces I think I can see reflections of the room too, this can be avoided by using a light tent (see the link here for details of how to construct a very cheap light tent
Light tent article). Of course it might be that the reflections are not the room, in which case I stand corrected.
Moving out the background has some grain, which people have commented on below. A good clean background together with the light tent would help massively here.
Finally the crop/composition. As remarked below the image relies on symmetry, and the crop has just managed to miss this. Its almost but not quite there, which is a shame.
Having said all that, I would like to say I am amazed that it ended up in 77th place, it deserved a much higher position than that, simply for the second hand sweep.
I hope some of the points I raised here will help when you come to some future challenge. If so then its been worthwile taking the time to have a deeper look into your entry.
Good luck with future challenges.
Keith
Message edited by author 2004-06-12 16:13:20. 
Photographer found comment helpful.