What did they mean by this?
Well, watches proabably bare the most variance in price over any other accessory in a mans wardrobe. You can easily pay anywhere between $150 and $15,000 for a respectable watch for your wrist.
The question that I most often get asked in this situation is: What makes these things so bloody expensive????
The thing that differentiates a good watch from a great watch is the movement. Imagine the analogy of a sports car (another passion of mine) and the difference in price that you pay for an MX5 (proported as one of the greatest true sports cars of all time) as converse to a Ferarri Enzo (The beast with the name). The difference is the purity of the product.
Image Source: Super Car Trends - www.supercartrends.com
The Ferarri Enzo basically a Formula 1 race car with a passenger seat. The development of this car was done on the track and refined over decades to provide it's driver with the highest level of high speed capability known to mankind.
The MX5 was a marketing exercise gone horribly right. Mazda brought back the front engine, rear wheel drive convertible and made it look nice and simple. No one else has touched it and probably no-one ever will. The MGB of today, the MX5 is cheap and cheerful and gives you great value for money.
Image Source: www.edmunds.com
Now lets bring this analogy full circle and have a look at watches.
The Fararri Enzo of the watch world, in my opinion, is the Tag Monaco V4 Belt Drive. The ultimate consumation of style, capability and years of racing experience, the Tag Heuer Monaco V4 Belt Drive is on the technological edge, without compromising on style.
Image Source: Dvorak - www.dvorak.org
This watch is still in the development stage and is proclaimed to be the first belt drive wach on the market. It is reported to be accurate to 1/1000th of a second and will probably be priced in the area of US$7k.
Tag has been making watches for over 150 years and, like Ferarri, has honed it's technologies based on racing and the modern man. Always being at the forefront of the watch-making society, Tag Heuer has produced the "Enzo" of watches in the Monaco V4.
So, what about the MX5? Who takes that place?
The MX5 award would go to the Seiko Flight Chronograph:
Image Source: Kaboodle - www.kaboodle.com
This is a Japanese made watch with chronograph movement - not as "tinny" as a quartz watch - however it displays the typical level of technology that you would expect from the Samurai of the watch world. It is stylish and looks nice and big on the wrist (I know this because I am wearing one) and you can theoretically fly and land a plane with the technology herein. This watch retails for about US$800.
So there are a couple of quetions here:
1. What is the Rolls Royce of watches?
2. Why is there such a vast difference in price?
The answer to these questions will be done in order.
The Rolls Royce of Watches is, no doubt, the Patek Philippe Mens Grand Complications . This watch encompasses great style, quality of movement and retails for around US$25k. This is the essense of a great watch; reliable, beautiful, quality movement and often a talking point amongst men and women alike. If you have one of these on your wrist, people will notice it.
Image Source: Patek Philippe - www.patek.com
The thing that varies the price in these watches more or less comes down to the movement. Watch brands pride themselves on developing a movement - the mechanics inside the watch - that is more accurate, needs less winding, and conveys the quality that the brand wants to associate with itself.
There are a variety of movements on the market - the cheapest of which would be quartz movement. This uses a chrystal that vibrates at a rate of almost exactly once per second when electricity (hence the need for a battery) is passed through it. This is the cornerstone of about 90% of watches on the market today. In most quartz watches, you will find the movement has been provided my Citizen or Seiko.
The Belt Drive - mentioned above - uses a new movement developed by Tag Heuer, using new technologies developed through involvement in racing and the need to keep perfect time. Watches went digital for a little while, however, thankfully, that has essentially passed and we are balancing beauty with accuracy. The Tag Heuer is an example of this.
Patek Philippe - Mens Grand Complications: REAL MOVEMENT
The Patek Philippe uses a manual wind movement. As the name implies, these movements are wound by turning the crown. The tensioned mainspring drives the wheels inside the watch as it gradually relaxes. Whether ultra thin, cut-away “skeleton”, simple or complicated, the manually wound movement is greatly appreciated by aficionados of traditional watchmaking (Coutesy www.patek.com).
These watches are timeless and will rarely need to be taken to the watch maker for any reason other than to reverse the effects of your activities over the years that you have worn this beauty on your arm.
Patek Philippe produced an ultra-complicated (with 24 functions) pocket-watch for Henry Graves, Jr., who entered into a friendly horological competition with James Ward Packard, which resulted in the production of the watch sold to Mr. Graves in 1933. After his death, the watch was auctioned at Sotheby's in December 1999 for USD$11,000,000, at that time the most expensive timepiece ever sold. On April 10, 2008, 2003 "Ref. 5002P Sky Moon Tourbillon" platinum Patek Philippe tourbillon wristwatch made the world record as the most expensive modern wristwatch sold at Hongkong Sotheby's for HK$11.75 million ($1.49 million). It erased the previous record of Vacheron Constantin Tour de l'Ile sold at Antiquorum for $1.4 million in Geneva in 2005.(ref: Wikipedia.com)
So I hope that this has given you some more insight into the world of watches. I love them. I love the beauty, the precision and the variety out there.
Leave some comments if you want more information.
Cheers
Mark
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