Hierarchy of watch brands

[jshell]

Trexthedinosaur said:

Breitling - Bentley

[diluculophile]

For those who have insanely expensive tastes, have a look at this chaps work:

https://www.rwsmithwatches.com

His mentor was George Daniels, who died in 2011. Said to be the finest watchmaker in history.

Hand made in the Isle of Man.

You'll need about £100,000 if you want one...

Open dial for me.

Edited by diluculophile on Thursday 16th March 12:24

[diluculophile]

greghm said:

I would say:
Aston Martin Lagonda
Dethomaso Pantera

Lagonda is a good call

DeLorean?

[judas]

jshell said:

Trexthedinosaur said:

Breitling - Bentley

Both Breitling and Bentley would beg to differ: http://www.breitlingforbentley.com/en/

[Amizade]

The earlier Bremont comment made me laugh (I have one)....

Not sure I would agree that Vacheron = Pagani... I was thinking of getting one, but they all look a bit bland... apart from the weird random stuff (penguins on watch face, etc)

For me, Pagani = Richard Mille, but possibly not as a you could buy almost buy a Pagani for the price of:




It looks like a Swatch - but is Sapphire Crystal ffs

Edited by Amizade on Thursday 16th March 12:35

[Zod]

This is obviously just a bit of fun, but in true PH style, it's just a list of people's prejudices.

One thing has to be clear though; Jaeger = Aston Martin



No, I don't own one.

[jshell]

judas said:

jshell said:

Trexthedinosaur said:

Breitling - Bentley

Both Breitling and Bentley would beg to differ: http://www.breitlingforbentley.com/en/

They can beg all they want... A 'marriage of convenience' springs to mind.

[bertie]

I just noticed on the home page that this, my thread, made TOTD!!

[Baddie]

greghm said:

I believe the concept of watch brands that use ETA or other movements from other companies should be associated with car brands that do the same. For example may be Volkswagen with its brands such as Audi or Lamborghini and share some engines.

Swatch:
Prestige and Luxury Range:
Breguet,
Harry Winston,
Blancpain,
Glashütte Original,
Jaquet Droz,
Léon Hatot,
Omega.
High Range:
Longines,
Rado,
Union Glashütte.
Middle Range:
Tissot,
Balmain,
Certina,
Mido,
Hamilton;

And the same could be done with Richmont group with A Lange & Sohn at the top.

This ^^

When Swiss watch-making was threatened by upcoming rivals they amalgamated component manufacturers, consolidated around the mainspring - this was the hardest bit to make. Eventually a majority of movements were made by ETA. Anyone who wanted to establish a new brand needed to spend a significant portion of say, £1000 retail price on marketing the brand, while buying in a movement for £100. Relatively recently monopoly issues have encouraged makers to produce their own movements, but the "heritage and engineering" in a lot of prestige watches is more BS than in cars.

Richard Milne seems bespoke and engineering led - Pagani analogy good.

Having had a Breitling that cost a fortune to service (£250 for a battery powered watch??) that then broke (my brother's Breitling automatic also broke and cost four figures to fix), and unable to consider buying a genuinely engineered watch, I'd buy a Citizen Marine Commando, highly functional with sapphire crystal, water resistant to 300 m, powered by light for 8 years.

[judas]

jshell said:

judas said:

jshell said:

Trexthedinosaur said:

Breitling - Bentley

Both Breitling and Bentley would beg to differ: http://www.breitlingforbentley.com/en/

They can beg all they want... A 'marriage of convenience' springs to mind.

Have to say that when I had the Turbo R I never felt any sudden urge to buy a Breitbling

[jshell]

judas said:

jshell said:

judas said:

jshell said:

Trexthedinosaur said:

Breitling - Bentley

Both Breitling and Bentley would beg to differ: http://www.breitlingforbentley.com/en/

They can beg all they want... A 'marriage of convenience' springs to mind.

Have to say that when I had the Turbo R I never felt any sudden urge to buy a Breitbling

[Ken Figenus]

Its an absolute racket! I have a Breitling which broke inside and outside and I got a comedy price to fix it. Real comedy! Its has an ETA quartz movement - much like the one in a £50 Casio... They wanted £400 to fix the clasp alone; with the kind help of a PH'er we fixed it for a pound - ONE pound. They are yodelling all the way to the bank and more fool us! I'll never spend more than £400 on a watch anymore - well not unless I get MY wrist in GQ wearing it. Thats where the money goes.

Edited by Ken Figenus on Friday 17th March 17:25

[Big Performance]

What about the DOXA range ?

http://www.doxa300t.com/prosea/prosea.htm


Or VanD'Hall

http://montre24.com/brand/VandHall/VandHallwatch/

[tertius]

Big Performance said:

What about the DOXA range ?

http://www.doxa300t.com/prosea/prosea.htm

Hillman

Big Performance said:

Or VanD'Hall

http://montre24.com/brand/VandHall/VandHallwatch/

Robin Hood

[Wills2]

Ken Figenus said:

Its an absolute racket! I have a Breitling which broke inside and outside and I got a comedy price to fix it. Real comedy! Its has an ETA quartz movement - much like the one in a £50 Casio... They wanted £400 to fix the clasp alone; with the kind help of a PH'er we fixed it for a pound - ONE pound. They are yodelling all the way to the bank and more fool us! I'll never spend more than £400 on a watch anymore - well not unless I get MY wrist in GQ wearing it. Thats where the money goes.

Edited by Ken Figenus on Friday 17th March 17:25

Yes and no, my experience is a 12 year old speedmaster that hasn't been serviced ever and runs fine, a Rolex GMT that was used and abused including getting thrown 20ft across a changing room on to a tiled floor with enough force to dent the solid case side and again continued to work fine, all the other 4 watches I've owned from Cartier and Omega are also robust.

Yes they're not cheap brands but they are well engineered in my experience.

[TheAngryDog]

bigkeeko said:

Michael Kors - TATA
Guess - TATA
Bering - TATA
DKNY - TATA
Thomas Sabo - TATA
ICE watches - TATA
Hugo Boss - TATA
Armani - TATA
Timberland - TATA
SEKSY - TATA
Next Watches - TATA
Accurist - TATA
Fossil - TATA
Diesel - TATA
Lacoste - TATA
Ollech & Wajs - GMC

I know someone who has several of these in his collection and is very proud of what he has.

I like Tag Heuer watches and I don't really care what others think of them when I am wearing mine.

[Ken Figenus]

Wills2 said:

Yes and no, my experience is a 12 year old speedmaster that hasn't been serviced ever and runs fine, a Rolex GMT that was used and abused including getting thrown 20ft across a changing room on to a tiled floor with enough force to dent the solid case side and again continued to work fine, all the other 4 watches I've owned from Cartier and Omega are also robust.

Yes they're not cheap brands but they are well engineered in my experience.

Fair point - the quartz Breitling feel a metre when its clasp pin broke. Hit tiles and died...

[CDP]

greghm said:

CDP said:

What about this?

Vector !

Good call, I'd wondered about Delorean.

[greghm]

Wasn't the Vector the first car made in serie to reach 400 kph?

[Big Raff]

Zod said:

This is obviously just a bit of fun, but in true PH style, it's just a list of people's prejudices.

One thing has to be clear though; Jaeger = Aston Martin

No, I don't own one.

I have often thought JLC = Maserati, stylish, good looking, historical and a complete disaster when coming to depreciation. Though as an owner of a JLC (Grande Reverso) I would more than happily take your view