Reply With QuotePlease yourself.Originally Posted by Jammt79
Time, as they say, will tell.
Brendan
You imply Brendan that more people will become watchmakers if Cousins wins and presumably less if they lose. I disagree with that point.
I’m not sure people understand that Swatch supply spare parts to anybody. I’ve looked into it as you suggest, However, trained watchmaker and correct tools to do the job. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
Rolex & Richemont have been doing this for 20 years or so.
In all of these posts I am yet to hear from a watchmaker who has the accreditation and is hurt in their ability to make a living as a watchmaker because of this decision to stop supplying Cousins in the UK. This is what the post is about. For me 70k could have been far better spent on watchmaker education or better still by the guild to support those independents who don’t meet the required level but want spare parts.
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Please yourself.
Time, as they say, will tell.
Brendan
The important thing is not to worry and certainly avoid projecting any negativity onto the forum. Just smile and keep on promoting and spending.
At the first hint your watch might be about to misbehave, just go buy another.
Honestly, I can only ponder the motives of those who seek to downplay the significance of this for the unwary.
Omega symbol’s a letter of the Greek alphabet, if someone chooses to put that on a generic watch part I don’t see a problem provided we’re all aware it’s a generic part.
The quality issue troubles me, but some of the ‘ genuine’ Omega replacement case parts aren’t as good as the originals because they’re being produced cheaply......I’ll give you 3 guesses where.
Paul
That isn’t how trademark law works. Assuming it was, how would we know, at the point of second-hand resale, whether the item was generic, real, or just a fake?
Trademarks must have some distinctive character. You cannot trademark the alphabet unless your character has some very distinctive stylised design.
Is the Omega 'Greek' character very stylised in any way? Even if it is, there is nothing to stop someone putting a none stylised Greek character on their product.
Mitch
I could envisage a scenario where more Omega movement parts are produced by generics; these don’t carry any trademarks and provided they’re not packed in fake Omega packaging I don’t see a problem, this already happens with some parts.
Crowns and acrylic crystals are a different matter; folks want to see the Omega symbol on these and at the moment a range of generic crystals gave been prduced to meet this need......unfortunately the quality was poor in my view. Thesedays I fit Sternkreuz acrylic glasses, I won’t pay £30+ for a genuine Omega item that’s virtually identical apart from having the tiny symbol in the centre! That goes for my own watches too.
Generic crowns to fit many Omega models are readily available and the quality’s fine, but so far no-one’s producing them with the Omega symbol. Unlike the glasses, I like to see the correct style of crown with the Omega symbol but it’s getting harder (and dearer) to do this.
If generic Omega signed crowns become available I’d be happy to use them provided the quality was good. I would always make an owner aware that the part was non-genuine.
The prices of genuine Omega parts on ebay, usually new-okd stock, continue to rise. I have concerns that scond-hand parts could start turning up in fake original packaging and I’m wary of what I buy thesedays.
If the big wholesalers such as Cousins in the UK and Ofrei in the States, plus others, acted together it may be feasible to start getting generic parts produced, thus undermining Swatch Group’s position. If Cousins’ legal action fails, as I fear it will, this will be the fallback option, so why not start going down that path now?
Paul
Surely your customer pays and you fit what they want?
Selling items like crowns with an Omega logo that wernt made by Omega would be illegal , no decent supplier would stock them .
Trademarks only apply within a narrow scope. It's not a question of a trademark on the omega symbol in general, but the omega symbol on a watch part. It is distinctive in that context. It's not something that just gets added to watches by random chance, because it looks cool in a totally abstract way or because it has some functional reason for being there. Everyone knows perfectly well what it is and why it's there.
Some interesting reading on past trademark cases:
https://lizerbramlaw.com/2012/10/30/...s-a-trademark/
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