City AM Article- "Time is money: Why are watches so expensive?"

[luckyal]

I saw this today in City AM & thought, imho, it was an interesting article & didn't contain some of the usual nonsense you get on this subject....

http://www.cityam.com/1417634170/tim...1204%20-%20CMU

[Johnosul]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing!

[Bloobird]

A very interesting read. And good to learn what Roger Smith's daily wearer is too ;-)

[andybaird22]

A good article- bit different for a change

[sinster]

Definitely worth a ponder...

[halfscrew]

Thank you. I enjoyed the read.

[Tony-GB]

Thanks for that.

[Mitch Buchannon]

Thanks, it's a good read.

[MB2]

Good article and interesting to see some balance and acknowledgement of where some of the profits are going.

Yes marketing still absorbs a lot of funds and yes there is a lot of profit but I for one am (possibly naively) hopeful the in house "movement" (pun intended) will lead to new materials and innovation that has slowed as ETA became the popular solution.

Also good to see Rolex acknowledged for what it does well which also shows having a good business plan and sticking to it does often work out over many years.

- - - Updated - - -

Good article and interesting to see some balance and acknowledgement of where some of the profits are going.

Yes marketing still absorbs a lot of funds and yes there is a lot of profit but I for one am (possibly naively) hopeful the in house "movement" (pun intended) will lead to new materials and innovation that has slowed as ETA became the popular solution.

Also good to see Rolex acknowledged for what it does well which also shows having a good business plan and sticking to it does often work out over many years.

[L8_M8]

Thanks for posting :)

[anoetic]

A good read, thanks for posting

[aldfort]

Interesting read.

[Topcat30093]

Definitely an interesting read.

Thanks for posting the link

[flyerboy]

Thanks for that, interesting article.

[ralphy]

I'm cautiously confident that the demise of ETA movements will prove to have been a good spur to the industry, albeit with some casualties in the shorter term.

A refreshingly balanced article and another thanks to the OP for bringing it to our attention.

R

[lawman_nl]

"It’s only when you really delve into the world of highend timepieces that you realise how insanely complex – and shudderingly expensive – they are to produce. Decades of innovation, tweaking, improving and evolving have gone into the hundreds of components, silently spinning beneath the caseback, most of which the average watch buyer doesn’t even know exist. Never again will you have to ponder how fine watches justify their astronomical price tags. In fact, they’re something of a bargain."



That was a nice read.

[luckyal]

"It’s only when you really delve into the world of highend timepieces that you realise how insanely complex – and shudderingly expensive – they are to produce. Decades of innovation, tweaking, improving and evolving have gone into the hundreds of components, silently spinning beneath the caseback, most of which the average watch buyer doesn’t even know exist. Never again will you have to ponder how fine watches justify their astronomical price tags. In fact, they’re something of a bargain."



That was a nice read.

That sums it up, in amongst all the stuff that gets written about Veblen etc & extraordinary profiteering by some, it struck me as a good reminder of what certain people (WIS or not, occasionally guilty as charged myself) all too easily take for granted.

[Jdh1]

Good article, but what's this watch "around the £3,500 mark" that the bloke from Rolex is talking about?

[RickS]

Good article, but what's this watch "around the £3,500 mark" that the bloke from Rolex is talking about?

Air Kings and Oyster Perpetuals start off at around that price.

[ballin]

It made me feel a bit better about spending so much (relatively) on my watches, so thanks!

[matt109]

very informative, thanks

[snowley]

Really interesting read, especially from City AM

[PhilipK]

Very interesting perspective.

One question, though. If Rolex's movements are "easy to service", why does it cost £450? :-)

[PJ S]

I'm cautiously confident that the demise of ETA movements will prove to have been a good spur to the industry, albeit with some casualties in the shorter term.

A refreshingly balanced article and another thanks to the OP for bringing it to our attention.

Redone from his 2011 QP article – http://www.qpmagazine.com/issues/49/...ase-movements/

[ralphy]

Very interesting perspective.

One question, though. If Rolex's movements are "easy to service", why does it cost £450? :-)

Cost of the replacement parts is going to be a factor.

R

[ralphy]

Redone from his 2011 QP article – http://www.qpmagazine.com/issues/49/...ase-movements/

Thank you.

R

[gray]

Apart rechurning the "each watch takes a year to produce" nonsense it was an interesting read