Why are high end watches so expensive?

[gerard]

Why while some Rolex are still great, they take the P re prices. Especially now they have a case making plant in China.

I thought the Swiss had cracked down on parts being made overseas?
It used to be that watches were assembled in Switzerland to qualify for the "Swiss Made" but I understood that recently this got changed so that the majority of parts had to be made in Switzerland in order to qualify.
I always suspected the bracelets to be made in China.

[Andy Schuhren]

Interesting, Many watches have over inflated prices just to put them in the luxury market, and in many cases it works, Many people when looking for a well made watch will bypass the cheaper prices as they assume that a well made watch has to be expensive, that the more it costs the better it is. And in many cases that it not the case

[Dapper]

Interesting, Many watches have over inflated prices just to put them in the luxury market, and in many cases it works, Many people when looking for a well made watch will bypass the cheaper prices as they assume that a well made watch has to be expensive, that the more it costs the better it is. And in many cases that it not the case

Absolutely :) Terms like 'high end', 'low end', 'entry level', 'luxury' etc. are purely marketing terms used to encourage consumer acquisitiveness.
You're meant to feel just a little bit inferior if you only have something labelled 'low end, entry level' - what you really should aspire to is 'high end, luxury' which is much better and, of course, costs more :D

These terms should not be part of the WIS vocabulary :twisted:

[thusspoke]

Of course popularity does not automatically mean something is not top notch..and ETA movements are in a wide range of watch because its difficult to design something better at reasonable price point. Its best just like what you like and buy on that basis..

[bogie]

I must admit I dont like paying "just for a name", but I admire engineering and design in watches. To that end one of my fave manufactures has been Zenith. I think the only make 15-20K units per year vs near 1 million units at the peak sales of some other "high -end" brands ...so a bit more exclusive before you get started

And a watch thats pretty much 100% hand made in one place - not bought in mucked around re-hash of some mass produced in the millions movement (like you get in a lot of high-end brands)

so I dont mind paying £3K for a steel Zenith with a proper movement, versus £3K of "premium brand" with a £50 ETA in it ....

snippet from some Zenith brochure :

"El Primero on the move. Here is a creation of quite extraordinary complexity: the first self-winding chronograph calibre with an oscillating weight rotating on a centrally positioned ball bearing, and with all the parts and complications perfectly integrated. It was in March 1969 that it made its première appearance, after more than five years of design and preliminary work. The handsomely scaled calibre has thirteen diameter lines, i.e. 30 mm for a slim 6.50 mm thickness, or 7.55 mm for the instantaneous changeover triple date version. The movement has a column wheel and classical reset hammers and to this day is still the finest on the market. It is also the most accurate of all movements. The glucydur balance wheel combined with a flat spiral spring made from top quality non-magnetic self-compensating Anachron oscillates at a rate of 36 000 vibrations per hour, to produce chronometer measurements accurate to one-tenth of a second.
The movement is not affected by any sudden changes or magnetic fields, and has the best long-term timing ratio in its category. The movement is comprised of 354 parts, and in the most complicated version 277 of these are different parts. There are 41 screws, plus 31 jewels; over fifty different points have to be oiled using ten different grades of lubricant (including four dry lubricants for the high-performance escapement) for the simple version, and another 38 points for the main plate of the triple date mechanism.
This truly wondrous movement requires a total of nine months work, involves between five and fifty separate operations per part, some fifty milling procedures at different points on the dial side and 77 milling procedures on the bridges side. More than eighteen different metals are used to make one movement, combined with the devotion of more than twenty specialist watchmakers dedicated to their daily work."

[walkerwek1958]

Because idiots like us will pay the prices? :bom:

Mark.

+1..... :D :D :D