Sometimes it seems kind of funny to me that people will buy a mechanical luxury watch that will never tell time as well as a $40 Timex.
Sometimes it seems kind of funny to me that people will buy a mechanical luxury watch that will never tell time as well as a $40 Timex. There's the argument that the luxury watch will last longer, and that may be true, but a person could literally buy a brand new Timex (or Casio or other budget level brand) every time the one they have broke for the rest of their lives and still be ahead of the game.
A guy I know wears a Timex Weekender on a nylon olive drab strap. It's a cheap, totally utilitarian watch, but for some reason it always catches my eye - to me it just looks kind of cool It's a $40 watch. He'll wear it until it dies, and no doubt he'll get something very similar to replace it.
Totally get your point and I don’t disagree. A $10 Casio or Timex will “out-tell” the time of even the most expensive hand made Swiss tourbillion movement, often upward of $250K+.
Back before battery powered quartz movements exploded onto the scene in the 80’s, mechanical watches were the only game in town, and the prices reflected that. Quartz watches can be made for pennies on the dollar when compared to even the lowest grade mechanical watch. It was a major disruptor to an otherwise healthy industry of watchmaking and is well known as the “quartz crisis”.
Many luxury Swiss watch brands, panicking at the sudden drop off of demand, followed suite and began making quartz watches, while still trying to retain a “luxury” price point. It was a massive failure and killed off many well known brands.
Rolex, on the other hand, did what no one had the guts to do and RAISED their prices during this time, and also stood firmly and didn’t invest in quartz powered watches. This, along with some very clever marketing, helped to elevate Rolex to the brand it is today. Effectively taking what was known as a high grade tool-watch and making it a luxury commodity.
It took many rebrands and a number of large buy ups by conglomerates (Swatch group and Richemont, for example) to save the Swiss watch industry.
The likes of Breguet, Omega, Longines, Hamilton, Tissot, etc, owe their current existence to the Swatch Group swooping in at the eleventh hour to keep the lights on.
The Swiss watch industry has since largely recovered into what I believe is now another golden age of watchmaking.
A solid global economy and the pre Covid economy in the US helped drive demand for high end watches at levels not seen since before the quartz crisis. Even “post Covid” demand seems to still be very high.
Also, it’s important to note that other countries have much stronger demand for high end watches VS the US. Japan is one example.
Anyway... ramble over.
Point is... I have no problem with anyone who wears a cheap watch merely as a tool to tell time. Citizen Ecodrive line is a great example of a quality quartz watch, as is the Bulova Accutron series.
But there is a wonderful world of watchmaking out there, with watches that are true heirlooms and something that can be worn with pride.
I can tell a lot about a person by the watch they wear. And no, this doesn’t mean if you wear a cheap watch I look down on you. I have equal respect for someone wearing a Seiko 5 Auto as I do an IWC Pilot, or Tudor Black Bay.
The only people I judge are the ones wearing Invictas, Michael Khors or Shinolas...
Rolex did make the OysterQuartz. Why the Shinola hate? I know nothing about them.
The first watch I ever wanted was a Timex Expedition. I bought one with my "payout" check when I left basic training. Second one I wanted was a Seiko Orange Monster. I never did buy one of those.
Sometimes it seems kind of funny to me that people will buy a mechanical luxury watch that will never tell time as well as a $40 Timex. There's the argument that the luxury watch will last longer, and that may be true, but a person could literally buy a brand new Timex (or Casio or other budget level brand) every time the one they have broke for the rest of their lives and still be ahead of the game.
A guy I know wears a Timex Weekender on a nylon olive drab strap. It's a cheap, totally utilitarian watch, but for some reason it always catches my eye - to me it just looks kind of cool It's a $40 watch. He'll wear it until it dies, and no doubt he'll get something very similar to replace it.
Lol @ My Rolex needs a battery.I am aware of the Oysterquartz, although my understanding was that it was short lived.
Shinola, to me, is ultimately how they approach their brand.
For a while they said “made in USA”, when in reality they use very basic ETA and Selitta movements that can be found in watches for less than half of what they charge (IE, Tissot, Hamilton).
When they were called out, they backpedaled hard and said that incomplete Swiss movements were sent to them and assembled in the US, which is total BS.
They basically use shoddy marketing tricks to create a false brand image that is inauthentic and a total rip for the price.
I’m sure they’ve spent tons trying to clean up this reputation, but it’s stuck with me.
For roughly $1000, you can and should do much better than Shinola. A bunch of Kickstarter Wall Street type bro’s making stupid money on uninformed but well intentioned consumers.
They’ve also recently doubled down on quartz, presumably to help boost profits after the likely realization that their target market (non watch people) care less about quality and more about the perceived quality of something based on its cost alone. Like my buddy who bought a Rolex then told me he was pissed because it needed a new battery after only a week of owning it.... my response? “What do you think you spent $8000 on?”
I wanted to touch on a couple of parts from your post without quoting the whole thing again.The Swiss watch industry has since largely recovered into what I believe is now another golden age of watchmaking.
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But there is a wonderful world of watchmaking out there, with watches that are true heirlooms and something that can be worn with pride.
I can tell a lot about a person by the watch they wear. And no, this doesn’t mean if you wear a cheap watch I look down on you. I have equal respect for someone wearing a Seiko 5 Auto as I do an IWC Pilot, or Tudor Black Bay.
The only people I judge are the ones wearing Invictas, Michael Khors or Shinolas...
https://glockwatches.com/
Cool collector's piece, but for $400 I'm going to have to pass.
After the 3,500 piece initial run, they should dump the titanium, make it completely polymer like a g-shock or swatch and sell them for $30
Diggin’ my new strap. One of my Marathons is the order of the day. Hows everyone doing. Been a few since i’ve darkened the doorstep around here.
Diggin’ my new strap. One of my Marathons is the order of the day. Hows everyone doing. Been a few since i’ve darkened the doorstep around here.
Here is the newest to my collection. Definitely not an investment piece or an automatic, but, just a cool concept watch. I have a few other older models from this company dating back to the late 90's. When not wearing a Yes I usually wear one of the various G Shock Solar's since I'm lazy and hate charging or changing a watch battery.