Ridiculous markup by some brands
Discussion
The straps on one of mine and the wife’s watches both need replacing so was checking out the price of OEM straps on respective websites.
19mm alligator strap for Longines: £200 - Pricey but probably justifiable.
Identical 19mm alligator strap for Omega (both Swatch brands so made in the same factory): £420!
How can they possibly justify that (other than it’s what people will pay I guess)?
Think I will be going aftermarket
19mm alligator strap for Longines: £200 - Pricey but probably justifiable.
Identical 19mm alligator strap for Omega (both Swatch brands so made in the same factory): £420!
How can they possibly justify that (other than it’s what people will pay I guess)?
Think I will be going aftermarket
I bought a new rubber strap for my IWC, it has a unique mechanism to fasten to the case so aftermarket wasn't an option and if I recall it was over £300, that cost didn't include the buckle which I had to transfer from the old strap it replaced. I guess it is a hefty mark up but the way I look at it is the watch, when new was probably in the region of £8-9000 so it's all relative
AnotherHamster said:
The straps on one of mine and the wife s watches both need replacing so was checking out the price of OEM straps on respective websites.
19mm alligator strap for Longines: £200 - Pricey but probably justifiable.
Identical 19mm alligator strap for Omega (both Swatch brands so made in the same factory): £420!
How can they possibly justify that (other than it s what people will pay I guess)?
Think I will be going aftermarket
Like paying more for spark plugs at Porsche than you do at VW?19mm alligator strap for Longines: £200 - Pricey but probably justifiable.
Identical 19mm alligator strap for Omega (both Swatch brands so made in the same factory): £420!
How can they possibly justify that (other than it s what people will pay I guess)?
Think I will be going aftermarket
But the fact they come out of the same factory doesn't necessarily mean they are of the same quality. Lots of factories of all sorts of things manufacture similar looking items of slightly different quality.
But you will probably find something as good for less here, if you are happy not to have the Omega stamp on it. https://www.watchobsession.co.uk/
gregs656 said:
I don t think it follows that because they re both Swatch brands they come from the same factory.
We have the watches with the original straps they came with: They are clearly the same: Same size, shape, colour, leather, stitching, buckle material & design (apart from the logo) etc. This does suggest that at least for this design, they are common across the 2 brands. As others have said: I think it’s a combination of pricing them relative to their respective brand positioning and the different levels of investment in branding and marketing.
It would be interesting to see what the gross margin is on a strap. A quick look on the Swatch Group investor site says their H1 2025 numbers were 2.2% margin on 3bn CHF of revenue which doesn’t sound that impressive but clearly hides a lot of detail: Don’t know if anyone on PH has any insider knowledge on the economics of the Swiss watch industry?
Anyway, as also suggested: Going aftermarket makes a lot of sense in this case
A very quick Internet trawl suggests the following (happy to be proven wrong - and I picked Porsche randomly as another aspirational brand)...
Porsche marketing spend in 2024 as %age of revenue = $3bn / 40bn = 7.5%
Swatch group ratio = CHF1.2bn l / 5.3bn = 22.6%.
Fair to assume the Swatch marketing spend is skewed towards Omega, maybe? Hence the price of being a Jimmy Bond wannabee (just joking
)
Porsche marketing spend in 2024 as %age of revenue = $3bn / 40bn = 7.5%
Swatch group ratio = CHF1.2bn l / 5.3bn = 22.6%.
Fair to assume the Swatch marketing spend is skewed towards Omega, maybe? Hence the price of being a Jimmy Bond wannabee (just joking
)It's all emperor's new clothes. Luxury watches are only worth a lot because the manufactures have convinced us they are.
In house movement that we won't sell the parts to independent watch repairers? That's an extra £1000.
Limited edition colour dial. + £500.
Brand name first used 200 years ago that has no relation to the current factory? + £2000
Primitive tech that keeps poor time and needs a £800 service every few years? + £1500
In house movement that we won't sell the parts to independent watch repairers? That's an extra £1000.
Limited edition colour dial. + £500.
Brand name first used 200 years ago that has no relation to the current factory? + £2000
Primitive tech that keeps poor time and needs a £800 service every few years? + £1500
AlexC1981 said:
It's all emperor's new clothes. Luxury watches are only worth a lot because the manufactures have convinced us they are.
In house movement that we won't sell the parts to independent watch repairers? That's an extra £1000.
Limited edition colour dial. + £500.
Brand name first used 200 years ago that has no relation to the current factory? + £2000
Primitive tech that keeps poor time and needs a £800 service every few years? + £1500
Indeed and not to mention tie ins with a certain film franchise!In house movement that we won't sell the parts to independent watch repairers? That's an extra £1000.
Limited edition colour dial. + £500.
Brand name first used 200 years ago that has no relation to the current factory? + £2000
Primitive tech that keeps poor time and needs a £800 service every few years? + £1500
A young lady I worked with had a very nice gold Rolex with a black letter strap with a 9ct gold buckle, the strap had seen better days and she had a quote of £400 (this is probably 10\12yrs ago) for a genuine replacement. A lot of money she said to me but the buckle is gold so she went ahead with the replacement and left the watch with the shop.
When she collected the watch the old strap was given back to her, the buckle had been removed and fitted to the new strap
When she collected the watch the old strap was given back to her, the buckle had been removed and fitted to the new strap
L1OFF said:
A young lady I worked with had a very nice gold Rolex with a black letter strap with a 9ct gold buckle, the strap had seen better days and she had a quote of £400 (this is probably 10\12yrs ago) for a genuine replacement. A lot of money she said to me but the buckle is gold so she went ahead with the replacement and left the watch with the shop.
When she collected the watch the old strap was given back to her, the buckle had been removed and fitted to the new strap
Of course. What was she expecting? A new strap and new 9k gold Rolex buckle for £400?When she collected the watch the old strap was given back to her, the buckle had been removed and fitted to the new strap
Since buying my Bell & Ross Blacktrack limited edition watch, I've been unable to wear it in any comfort due to the strap being too small ... I could just about get it round my wrist but it would hurt after a short period of time.
Several calls were made to try and get a larger strap but they didn't make this one with an enlarged strap but could sell me a very similar strap from another limited edition run watch in XL size. £150 all in which I thought was reasonable value.
It looks great, I prefer it to the original strap.
Several calls were made to try and get a larger strap but they didn't make this one with an enlarged strap but could sell me a very similar strap from another limited edition run watch in XL size. £150 all in which I thought was reasonable value.
It looks great, I prefer it to the original strap.
Furbo said:
Like paying more for spark plugs at Porsche than you do at VW?
But the fact they come out of the same factory doesn't necessarily mean they are of the same quality. Lots of factories of all sorts of things manufacture similar looking items of slightly different quality.
While what you are saying is SOMETIMES true, often the parts you get are made to one quality standard.But the fact they come out of the same factory doesn't necessarily mean they are of the same quality. Lots of factories of all sorts of things manufacture similar looking items of slightly different quality.
I knew somebody who worked at a VAG group Central parts warehouse.
Parts that were interchangeable & identical between Skoda, Seat, VW & Audi would be in a bag/box with a part no.
If something like a set of wheel nuts was the same on all four brands then it didn't matter if an Audi or Skoda dealer wanted the same part - if an Audi dealer ordered those wheel nuts for a car they would fit , then that's what they got .
And the same box of wheel nuts would go to a Skoda dealer if they wanted them.
Apparently the only difference was price
(highest Audi, lowest Skoda)
and priority - the Audi dealer would get priority if there was a shortage.
As Porsche & Bugatti are also connected to VAG, I wouldn't be shocked if there are at least a handful of parts on these that you could get from a Skoda.
I think companies like Mercedes , Bosch etc, like to perpetuate this story of different quality standards, and although I believe it does exist sometimes , I don't think it happens as often as they say.
D9 said:
Furbo said:
Like paying more for spark plugs at Porsche than you do at VW?
But the fact they come out of the same factory doesn't necessarily mean they are of the same quality. Lots of factories of all sorts of things manufacture similar looking items of slightly different quality.
While what you are saying is SOMETIMES true, often the parts you get are made to one quality standard.But the fact they come out of the same factory doesn't necessarily mean they are of the same quality. Lots of factories of all sorts of things manufacture similar looking items of slightly different quality.
I knew somebody who worked at a VAG group Central parts warehouse.
Parts that were interchangeable & identical between Skoda, Seat, VW & Audi would be in a bag/box with a part no.
If something like a set of wheel nuts was the same on all four brands then it didn't matter if an Audi or Skoda dealer wanted the same part - if an Audi dealer ordered those wheel nuts for a car they would fit , then that's what they got .
And the same box of wheel nuts would go to a Skoda dealer if they wanted them.
Apparently the only difference was price
(highest Audi, lowest Skoda)
and priority - the Audi dealer would get priority if there was a shortage.
As Porsche & Bugatti are also connected to VAG, I wouldn't be shocked if there are at least a handful of parts on these that you could get from a Skoda.
I think companies like Mercedes , Bosch etc, like to perpetuate this story of different quality standards, and although I believe it does exist sometimes , I don't think it happens as often as they say.
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