Reply With QuoteThe Swiss £3K bit limits the possibilities somewhat.
I probably wouldn't truth be told.
Maybe an LE Tudor GMT with a different colourway?
We've seen COMEX, Tiffany, Dominos, Chinooks, Seakings, SAS, Montoya, T2 and a million other LE's from (Omega) various brands. Some officially issued and some where a batch has simply been engraved with manufacturers blessings.
What would you spend your hard-earned on if it was a stabel Swiss manufacturer, defined limited numbers and cost around £3k?
Perhaps a nationality related piece with a country flag on the face and engraved on the back? A tz-uk watch? Football team, nah! Coat of arms? Space-X? A diving related company other than COMEX on a dive watch? Military aviation relation on a GMT? Do Omega have a monopoly on the 50th Anniversary of the moon landings?
This is just a little market research for an idea, so any weird and wonderful thinking would be gratefully received!
The Swiss £3K bit limits the possibilities somewhat.
I probably wouldn't truth be told.
Maybe an LE Tudor GMT with a different colourway?
Dunno if they'll ever do a Coke, and certainly not Limited numbers...Originally Posted by Dave O'Sullivan
I think the Tudor tie-ups with Harrods and Bucherer have been great; some inferred that Tudor sold-out doing this but it really couldn’t be any further from the truth. They hit a home run as they say on the RTF!
Good question... I think LEs are a hard line to tread, but I also think they are sometimes unfairly bashed.
Omega commemorating important space events they were present at is more than fine by me, as was their recognition of the watch community with the Speedy Tuesday. The endless Bond editions however... not for me.
An example of a limited edition I would absolutely love (only 25 made alas) is the Mad Men JLC Reverso. To keep things brief it is 'more than a TV show' to me, and given that the main character wore a Reverso for a season or two (Draper was clearly a tasteful man: Memovox, Reverso, Explorer 1016, Seamaster) and that the show played a significant part in the revival of the 60s aesthetic, I think it had been 'earned'.
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/in...a-thin-tribute
Perhaps that's what I would look for in an LE? An organic origin rather than just slapping two names together for some quick cash.
Last edited by Dark Side of The Loon; 21st May 2018 at 20:26.
A little over £3k - but I plumped for this...
limited run of 500
z
I noticed Carl F Bucherer popped up as the time travel device in Deadpool 2 , and they were also pretty central in Atomic Blonde .
So a film related tie in from them but budget may be an issue here .
Unless the watch has some feature that makes it desirable, the whole limited edition thing just doesn’t work for me. Omega’s offerings, including the Speedy Tuesday, are absolutely dire in my eyes.
Producing a certain model for a limited period ( Rolex style) is slightly more claasy, but producing a ‘ limited edition’ watch is usually nothing more than a tacky marketing ploy.
They will always have their fans.........after all, 500 flies on a pile of shit can’t all be wrong, can they?
Paul
50th Anniversary of 2001 so a Hal watch like this but for £3k
Does a stable German brand with a generic Swiss movement count? It was way under your budget, maybe £700 or so (and worth every penny). I honestly despise the LE sales scheme, I would rather the manufacturer make some watches and if they sell well, make some more of them.
Last edited by Saxon007; 21st May 2018 at 22:58.
Again a little over budget but my latest incoming was an IWC F A Jones Portugeiser.
Trying it on the wrist properly for the first time this evening and rather liking it.
3000 pieces doesn't seem so limited to me and had no bearing on me choosing it. I just liked the simple look of it.
Also present in John Wick, there's an opportunity.
If you don't mind "limited because it was expensive and ground-breaking to make, rather than a marketing exercise", then the "world's most accurate wristwatch" pops up from time to time around your budget:
(this one is mine, but there is one on SC, no connection to seller)
Unlikely to release another one of these anytime soon, unlike some other Omega LEs. Info here http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...=1#post4680241
This IWC 3227-12 is firmly in the marketing exercise zone (but I'm not hateful of this concept, it adds something to what can otherwise be a common watch)...
Only 200 of these. In-house movement. One of the nicest watches I owned. Info http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...enieur-3227-12
Not Swiss, but much cheaper:
Sinn 556 for Japanese shop Isetan, limited to 50. Info http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...inn-556-Isetan
For new watches, if you can stray from the Swiss, I like the limited Grand Seikos that pop up from time to time in Japan. They often have unique and interesting dials rather than just some certificate and a number etched on the caseback. For Swiss, the Breitling Avenger II GMT with mother of pearl dial (Japan limited edition) is quite nice...
Info https://www.breitling.co.jp/products..._gmt_blue_mop/
Loved the last blue dial 103 LE and got one used but I have put my money where my mouth is again and bought the latest blue dial Sinn 103 that’s again LE so for me it seems to be Sinn?!?
Also a bit like cars you have to be a regular customer or jump through hoops in order to get a look in, so for me I would always stick with the less mainstream brands. The top mainstream brands like Rolex, Omega and Breitling have thousands of people jumping over themselves to be the first to own one so for me that makes it a little tainted ?!?
Chris
£3k to spend on a LE and I'd be all over this
http://www.seiko.co.uk/collections/m...9#.WwN5xq17G1s
I rather like 'the Speedmaster LE that isn't an LE' and it helps that I'm a Hergé fan.
In that vein, I'd love to see a tasteful and subtle Hitchhiker's Guide tie-in (a small white mouse rather than 'Don't Panic' emblazoned across the dial), a Speedy 'I never could get the hang of Thursdays' if you like.
Bit harsh.
Not really, the attraction to most of the 'LE ' watches is the fact that they're produced in a limited quantity, it's nothing to do with the aesthetic appeal of the watch.
I`ve had a couple of the limited edition 007 Seamaster Pros on the bench and they really are a joke, change a couple of details to get a certain type of buyer to swoon over them.
I have a couple of bimetal Omegas (a SMP and a Speedmaster) that are rarer than some of the limited editions by virtue of the fact that they weren't produced or sold in large numbers, particularly in the UK. On the basis of exclusivity they're rarer than several of the LE watches. I like them because I like them, simple as that. I also own several vintage watches that would be very difficult to source in the condition mine are in.
Contrived rarity, created by the manufacturer, isn`t for me, I find it a bit sad hence my comments.
Paul
If I’m reading the OP correctly, this is asking for ideas for potential limited editions, as opposed to being a ’which LE watch should I buy for £3k’ thread.
I agree with a previous post that Grand Seiko do some of the best LEs, either interesting dials commemorating their own anniversaries, or reasonably faithful re-issues of their beautiful vintage models. Here the limited runs do actually make these quite expensive watches more tempting. It seems that the best kind of LE is just a good design made in limited numbers, rather than something with a spurious tie in.
As for watches such as Olympic or Bond special editions from Omega, I’ve never yet been interested. The Speedmaster Pro works as it’s genuinely the moon watch, as opposed to having some spurious link up added. There’s also something too backward looking about commemorating something. You might get caught up in Olympic fever during the London games, but it feels that the memory and the watch would get steadily less interesting as time passed. Meanwhile pop culture references such as Bond only seem to drag down the seriousness of high end watch, even if you like Bond in isolation. It’s genuinely hard to do this well.
I agree with you completely.
Rather than buying LE I would buy better watch that isn't LE, I doubt there is any LE worth owning in that sector perhaps the only LE that did well was Oris Carl Brashear...
I don't have a live pic at hand - but I'll put forward the Ming 17.01. If it fits your style (and I'm actually going to say for the OP likely not!) it ticks a lot of boxes. Swiss Made, proper limited to 150 of each colour (total of 300) and strong residuals since the launch last summer, so I doubt it'll fizzle away completely. And if the brand really takes off in the coming years, then who knows where the original values go....
I'm not a fan of LEs. I like the Omega X33. If I had been on the team that got the Solar Impulse into the air, then I might have a change of mind, and buy the LE, but as I have absolutely no connection then I can't see the point. Watch marketing budgets are wasted on me, no-one is going to mistake me for James Bond, and I don't think that his watch will give me any super powers either. A plain X33 would be fine though.
I am not a watch collector, so that makes me a bit of an oddity around here. One on and one spare is enough for me. I only come here for the erudition and the Bear Pit.
50th Anniversary of 2001 so a Hal watch like this but for £3k
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A little bit more than the budget but worth it my opinion.
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“Don’t look back, you’re not heading that way.”
Some good points there and I can’t argue. However, I still love the Tudor Harrods and Bucherer versions but I suppose they’re not really LE watches anyway?👍
Last edited by WHL1882; 22nd May 2018 at 23:35.
I’ve only ever bought one LE... surprise surprise it was an Omega!
The Seamaster 300 Spectre, I’ve never been a fan of 007 really but I did like that watch a lot. I ended up selling after approx 12 months to help pay for a new kitchen.
Not everyone’s cup but of tea but one of the few I wished I had kept.
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Bremont Wright Flyer. Love it so far....
Apparently a special edition as opposed to the limited edition moniker...
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Isn't the idea to come up with new LE possibilities that might be of WIS interest?
If that is the case, I'd suggest Omega overcome their much-admired reluctance to raid their back catalogue and issue special editions, and have another run of these:
Same case and bracelet but maybe a modern high-accuracy quartz, well finished, retaining the independently adjustable hour hand and a new but still exotic dial.
It was the smartest, most original watch of its time. Its clothes are currently being borrowed and cheapened by a myriad of dull smart watches. A re-issue would reclaim the design for Omega and WIS alike.
Would love to see a resurgence in high-end, luxury quartz... a struggle in terms of the market, though.If that is the case, I'd suggest Omega overcome their much-admired reluctance to raid their back catalogue and issue special editions, and have another run of these:
By using external sources, a smartwatch is always going to be highly accurate even with mundane engineering, and the value and art of a mechanical movement quite easy to sell given the inherently impressive engineering behind even a run-of-the-mill ETA...
A luxury quartz takes a bit more explaining and appreciation. Might have been different had Rolex released the next generation of OysterQuartzes. They put all the effort into developing it, then just didn’t sell them.
http://www.oysterquartz.net/the_oysterquartz_pc.htm
I wonder if it would have been quieter... I could never have an OysterQuartz after wearing a friend’s for a day and being driven mad by the ticking. I must have sensitive ears?
I really like panda dial chronographs and for that reason I would like a speedy Tuesday. The issue for me though it is not worth any more than a standard Speedy pro so for that reason I will never own one.
I also like the Tudor Harrods but I'm not sure if that counts as a limited edition.
Now that is an LE I would buy.
I’ve always hoped to see more, but in the age of the smart watch it seems ever less likely. Instead the high accuracy quartz is more likely to be a wonderful technological dead end, like the f300 tuning fork movement, the pinnacle of technology from a forgotten era. In the end the smart watch is vastly more sophisticated than a quartz movement regualted by a temperature sensor, no matter how well engineered or presented. It’s a pity, as I love the GS 9F range, and the Swiss are almost joining in again with a couple of options, but it’s a more uphill struggle than ever for luxury quartz.
All this does however make a stylish high end quartz a good call for a LE for watch fanatics. Though frankly they’re a pretty niche interest even among that group.
Trouble with doing a HEQ LE is that you would presumably have to borrow someone else's movement... given that you wouldn't be able to amortise R&D + other costs with a long production run... who does HEQ in Switzerland now anyway? Bulova and Longines? I suppose Longines = ETA, so that already is a number of companies who could do so.
Wish Grand Seiko would improve their clasps - then I could see a 9F one day. Preferably an updated anti-magnetic one in the shape of the Milgauss 1019 inspired SBGX093.
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