British Watch Brands
Discussion
I've been looking at a few British brands lately, and they seem very expensive compared to other brands. The ones that comes to mind are Fears, Vertex, and Bremont.
Other brands such as Stowa produce some great watches with std movements for about £1K, but the brands above all seem to be playing in that £2K-£3K mark, which seems excessive to me. Like into Tudor territory.
Thoughts on why they are so expensive?
P.S. I was looking at Vertex, and really love the M100, but don't think I could justify £2.1K for one. I love the design and the dial finishing, but it's still just a Sellita movement at the end of the day.
Other brands such as Stowa produce some great watches with std movements for about £1K, but the brands above all seem to be playing in that £2K-£3K mark, which seems excessive to me. Like into Tudor territory.
Thoughts on why they are so expensive?
P.S. I was looking at Vertex, and really love the M100, but don't think I could justify £2.1K for one. I love the design and the dial finishing, but it's still just a Sellita movement at the end of the day.
Production costs I think Bob. I have a Vertex M100a and I dealt with Don Cochrane the founder and he explained the costs involved for micro brands trying to do it properly i.e. not just buy in pre-cased Chinese mass produced stuff and rebadge it like many do with a different crown, hands, dial and bezel. He said the Peli case they come with is £100 alone.
Love mine but I did wince at £2500 although they did throw in a bracelet which is ordinarily £300. I reckon on balance it's expensive yes compared to others in a similar price point but I love the cache that comes with it and it's history. Maybe I'm a sucker for that.
For a crude comparison (and this is crude) I'd say it sits next to a modern Oris fit and finish-wise, top grade movement and a beautiful dial / box crystal it really is nicer than the photos suggest.
I know what you mean though it does seem pricey with everything else that comes in that vast price band.
Worth noting with this particular watch is the M100 was a very limited release sold only to select people (that one was a manual wind whereas the M100a is the Sellita auto public release). If you can bag the original they'll likely fetch strong money if you're lucky enough to find one.
Love mine but I did wince at £2500 although they did throw in a bracelet which is ordinarily £300. I reckon on balance it's expensive yes compared to others in a similar price point but I love the cache that comes with it and it's history. Maybe I'm a sucker for that.
For a crude comparison (and this is crude) I'd say it sits next to a modern Oris fit and finish-wise, top grade movement and a beautiful dial / box crystal it really is nicer than the photos suggest.
I know what you mean though it does seem pricey with everything else that comes in that vast price band.
Worth noting with this particular watch is the M100 was a very limited release sold only to select people (that one was a manual wind whereas the M100a is the Sellita auto public release). If you can bag the original they'll likely fetch strong money if you're lucky enough to find one.
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 8th February 07:01
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 8th February 07:06
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 8th February 07:06
Bob_Defly said:
I've been looking at a few British brands lately, and they seem very expensive compared to other brands. The ones that comes to mind are Fears, Vertex, and Bremont.
Other brands such as Stowa produce some great watches with std movements for about £1K, but the brands above all seem to be playing in that £2K-£3K mark, which seems excessive to me. Like into Tudor territory.
Thoughts on why they are so expensive?
P.S. I was looking at Vertex, and really love the M100, but don't think I could justify £2.1K for one. I love the design and the dial finishing, but it's still just a Sellita movement at the end of the day.
There's a lot more British brands than I knew about until I had a look at this listOther brands such as Stowa produce some great watches with std movements for about £1K, but the brands above all seem to be playing in that £2K-£3K mark, which seems excessive to me. Like into Tudor territory.
Thoughts on why they are so expensive?
P.S. I was looking at Vertex, and really love the M100, but don't think I could justify £2.1K for one. I love the design and the dial finishing, but it's still just a Sellita movement at the end of the day.
Bob_Defly said:
judas said:
ae111sr said:
There's a lot more British brands than I knew about until I had a look at this list
Thanks for posting that list - most enlightening!Storm, lol.
Miss read the OP so edited.
Farer https://farer.com/collections/all-watches are worth looking at.
Farer https://farer.com/collections/all-watches are worth looking at.
Edited by nikaiyo2 on Thursday 8th February 20:51
CWC, decent, non pretensions timepieces, with prices to match > https://www.cwcwatch.com/
vixen1700 said:
Wearing my (now discontinued) Marloe Coniston Steel today:
Quite an underrated little company IMHO.
Picture taken on a sunny day, unlike today
I have 2. One is exactly the same as yours and the other the new Solent GMT with the blue black face. Has a real IWC look to it. Quite an underrated little company IMHO.
Picture taken on a sunny day, unlike today
Great daily watches, especially the Solent..
A lot of watch for the price and the guys are really friendly to deal with..
Castrol for a knave said:
vixen1700 said:
Wearing my (now discontinued) Marloe Coniston Steel today:
Quite an underrated little company IMHO.
Picture taken on a sunny day, unlike today
I have 2. One is exactly the same as yours and the other the new Solent GMT with the blue black face. Has a real IWC look to it. Quite an underrated little company IMHO.
Picture taken on a sunny day, unlike today
Great daily watches, especially the Solent..
A lot of watch for the price and the guys are really friendly to deal with..
Regbuser said:
CWC, decent, non pretensions timepieces, with prices to match > https://www.cwcwatch.com/
I like the G10, but I'm confused by the pricing. You can buy them labeled as 'The regimental shop' and apart from having different strap and looking a bit naff, there isn't much difference but they are over £150 cheaper than a CWC branded G10. I've knocked up a quick comparison below. Anyone able to shed any light on this?
Pebbles167 said:
Regbuser said:
CWC, decent, non pretensions timepieces, with prices to match > https://www.cwcwatch.com/
I like the G10, but I'm confused by the pricing. You can buy them labeled as 'The regimental shop' and apart from having different strap and looking a bit naff, there isn't much difference but they are over £150 cheaper than a CWC branded G10. I've knocked up a quick comparison below. Anyone able to shed any light on this?
Hoofy said:
"Naff" because they're using the regimental colours? Maybe it's discounted for active service personnel.
That wasn't my intent, nothing wrong with Regimental colours, although it's not for me. I more meant "Naff" because they say "regimental shop" on them instead of CWC. Just seems a bit tacky in a gift shop sortnof way.I think they are available in any Garrison PRI shop, but also available for anyone to just buy online. I suspect that there must be some cost cutting measure in there but who knows.
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