THE JOURNAL

Are There Really Secrets to Buying Watches?

News centrePublished 2014-04-04

Some say that when buying a watch, one should pay attention to the absolute brand differences across price brackets: “10Spend ten thousand onPPdon't buy a gold Rolex,5Spend ten thousand onGPdon't buy Cartier,2Spend ten thousand onOMEGArather than Rado,6buy a Maurice Lacroix instead of a Longines for a thousand,3and buy a Tissot instead of a Titoni for a thousand, taking into account the absolute brand difference at the same price point. ” What do you think of this summary?I think it makes complete nonsense.

Leaving aside individual preferences for different brands, the same price point also involves many factors such as specific designs, materials, functions, and after-sales service.10For ten thousand you could choose a two-tone Rolex, or if you prefer, buy a Breitling7750and nobody would object. Although Breitling is a tier below Rolex, at the same price point its functions are more powerful than those of Rolex. And suppose you bought a10ten-thousandPPwatch, the materials certainly wouldn't be as good as a Rolex. Which one is better? I'm afraid it cannot be judged solely by price and brand positioning. In the world of fine watches, brand value sometimes even exceeds the utility value of the watch itself. Considering only the absolute brand difference in price leads straight into a dead end of blindly pursuing brand value. Moreover, and more importantly, even without a high brand positioning, every watch has its own strengths. Rolex's Oyster Perpetual, Omega's Co-Axial, Rado's ceramic materials, and so on, are leading technologies across the entire watchmaking world. If your pursuit is such individuality, why bother about some absolute brand difference?