I've no particular axe to grind here, but this company puzzles me more than any other in Richemont's portfolio.

They make some decent watches for sure - provided you like endless variations on the flieger theme or the rather dreary Portugieser, Ingenieur, &c.

New in-house movements have slowly crept-in, albeit only because of the ETA supply crisis, and even now their "cheaper" watches employ Sellita movements which - however-wrongly - are freely sneered-at when used by companies with less brand cachet.

Occasional spasms of "haute horlogerie" gush-forth from them, but most of what they offer is hyper-conservative, unchallenging to mass-produce, and yet inexplicably very expensive.

You also have to factor-in the high costs and horror stories associated with Richemont's parts availability, repair and servicing of in-house movements.

And it's really the high prices that bemuse me. If you consider the fliegers for which they're best-known, there's plenty of other companies offering near-identical watches, some of them even share IWC's proud tradition of supplying Nazi Germany with quality wristwatches to help them accurately bomb the rest of Europe - and apart from Lange & Sohne, all of them are significantly cheaper.

An IWC in-house movement Big Pilot 3-hander is £8,000 on a bracelet! Sure the Pellaton winder is an interesting curiosity, but for what is otherwise much the same watch Stowa will charge you £800! Go to someone like Dekla and you can add a scratchproof case, extensive customisation etc, and have change from £600, and they're by no means the cheapest option...

Is this just a triumph of marketing a la Rolex, or is there something I'm missing?