No wonder Rolexes are expensive

[UnclePat]

NDA said:

Very interesting UnclePat - thank you for taking the time to post such informative stuff.

What are your thoughts on the Patek Philippe 325 SC movement?

Thanks very much

Sorry, but Patek is a manufacturer that I genuinely have had little cause up until now to read up upon in any depth, so I'm afraid I'm not the man to ask.

[glazbagun]

sparkyhx said:

Zebrs said:

I disagree with both - Rolex are so expensive because people are prepared to pay for tbe brand. That might well be assisted by both mechanical ingenuity and racing sponsorship, but Rolex are not pricing to cover high costs of materials and workmanship, nor are they trying to fund a sponsorship programme.

They are prepared to pay cos of marketing which establishes and maintains the brand. There is nothing special or particularly innovative about Rolex that justifies its prices or pre emminence over other high street brands. It is pure and simple 'brand' and not much more.

There is no real mechanical or design ingenuity, they've been churning out the same watches and movements by the millions for decades. hell, it took them decades to change from hollow bracelet links to solid despite the well known 'stretch' problem.

The only real unique element is the 'recent' use of 904L steel (which as a material is cheaper than 316L). The downside of the more corrosion and scratch resistant 904L is it is much harder to machine upping manufacturing costs, but when you are chucking them out in the volume Rolex does, that addition cost and initial investment in tooling will be minimal for each case produced. The other issue will be additional allergenic risk due to the higher nickel content, although this is minimal.

The price of a Rolex (and to be fair most of the other high street brands) is largely down to marketing and building the brand image along with margins up the supply chain.

While I agree that marketing plays a huge part in the "value" of watches (and cars/everything else for that matter), I'm going to stand up for Rolex and say that, while they market the hell out of everything, their designs are unadventurous and their idea of being creative is changing the colour of a hand, their movements (thinking the 3135, etc here- just great watches to work on) are really top drawer products of a quality that Sellita don't even seem to be attempting to match. Their corporate values really seem to involve quality at every level.

The Swatch group shaking up ETA supply will have an interesting effect on future watches as the boring but sorted and ubuquitous 2892/2824 are restricted, but if you want a safe, quality, boringly reliable watch to buy/hand down to future generations then you can't really do much better than a Rolex sub/oyster.

You can't really be as no-brained buying other brands and getaway with it.

Edited by glazbagun on Saturday 28th October 15:42

[sparkyhx]

glazbagun said:

You can't really be as no-brained buying other brands and getaway with it.

Totally agree, but the question is why?

Why is it no brained, compared to any Omega, or any ETA based watches?

[BlackFlag]

sparkyhx said:

glazbagun said:

You can't really be as no-brained buying other brands and getaway with it.

Totally agree, but the question is why?

Why is it no brained, compared to any Omega, or any ETA based watches?

It's not, but I'd probably be saying the same thing if I spent 8k on a Sub or similar.

[James_B]

BlackFlag said:

It's not, but I'd probably be saying the same thing if I spent 8k on a Sub or similar.

What have you bought then?

[Jayho]

I always actually found it strange when seeing big Rolex banners for advertisement. I get it if they sponsor something which is a timed event, but I always thought most knew what a Rolex was... And if they didn't then it didn't matter to Rolex.
As for them not really changing design etc much throughout the years it just makes me think of the Porsche 911... Subtle changes through the years, but instantly recognisable due to design. Think when you're able to keep clientele without many changes and be instantly recognisable is probably the jackpot for any product.
Think one of the worst PR mistakes they did make however was not offering watches to be used in the Bond movies. Actors used to have to use their own personal watches when filming. Now omega have become the official bond watch they seem to have come leaps and bounds in terms of marketability. Even releasing special bond editions will get them many sales.