About

Max Jacob Koekkoek

The Weight of Things is written by Max Jacob Koekkoek. I trained as a watchmaker at the Vakschool Schoonhoven in the Netherlands, and I study economics at Penn State through its World Campus. This publication sits where the two meet: what things are made of, and why they cost what they cost.

The bench taught me to respect what a material will and will not do. Economics asks a different question: who decides what it is worth, and on what evidence. Each essay follows one material, a metal, a fibre, a weave, from the ground to the hand, and keeps those two questions honest with each other.

Everything here is sourced, nothing is sponsored, and corrections are made openly. The rule I hold to is simple: do not falsify reality. If you know something I should, write to me.

Trained

Watchmaking, Vakschool Schoonhoven · WOSTEP chronograph course

Studying

Economics, Penn State World Campus

Languages

English, Spanish, Dutch, French; learning Chinese

Work

Helica Cosmica (2025), a pendant uniting all six platinum-group metals