The Watch Thread - Part 10

Status
Not open for further replies.
pwillie

pwillie

Master Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2000
Messages
4,826
Reaction score
705
Hump day!

cU2m68d.jpg
 
TeenTitan01

TeenTitan01

Supremacy Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2007
Messages
9,804
Reaction score
0
coern said:
if they didn't, then really don't know how to do business. :s22:

in paris, when my wife got her chanel bag, instantly got served champagne and chocolates... singapore seems like don't have this culture. :D
Click to expand...

that's because you're elite mah, dai gor dai coern! elite luxury retail (should) really know how to pamper their valued clients.:)
 
D

DXMachina

Banned
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Messages
6,259
Reaction score
0
fade_white said:
I realise that sometimes it's very hard (a lot of resistance) when winding the watch, then I will start and stop and reset the chronograph and it's smoother. Is there something wrong with my movement? Or something is stuck? The accuracy is quite good though about +2/day.
Click to expand...

The only time I encounter any resistance is when the watch is already almost fully wound up. But maybe because my watch is still fairly new. Now that you mention this, I will monitor and update again.

Donten said:
hey bro, cichlid bro asking about screw down, basically its a cap that gives additional water resistance. most divers you got to unscrew first before you can pull out to adjust to the needles. i believe rolex was the one who came out with it.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, my Steinhart OVM Maxi has the screw down crown as well. The Speedy doesn't though, but then again it's not meant to be known for much water resistance.
 
C

cyrenic

Supremacy Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2016
Messages
7,757
Reaction score
2,530
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-26/saving-the-swiss-watch-industry-again

When Swiss watchmaking executives convened at a Geneva trade show in January, they feared the worst. Smartwatch competitors Apple Inc. and Google would be in full swing while waning Chinese tourism to Europe and Hong Kong was creating a sense of urgency. “We expect 2016 to be a very, very difficult year,” Vincent Perriard, chief executive officer of luxury watchmaker HYT, said at the time.

Those fears are coming true. Exports of Swiss watches have fallen for 11 months straight, as Bloomberg Gadfly noted last week, and the industry is in a state of distress. Cie. Financière Richemont SA, parent company of Cartier, already moved to cut 350 jobs in February and expects no reprieve over the next few months. Swatch Group AG, maker of pricey brands such as Omega, along with cheaper plastic watches sold under its eponymous label, hasn't yet cut jobs, even though results couldn't get much worse. The company recently warned that first-half profit would plummet more than 50 percent.

Much of the pain has to do with factors the watch companies couldn't hope to control—including the strength of the Swiss franc and climbing gold prices—and Swiss watches have proven remarkably sturdy over the years. It's not crazy for watch executives to think they wait out the latest storm.
"The most resilient part of the industry is that you buy a Swiss watch because you want to say, 'I have a Swiss watch,'" said Paul Swinand, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. Even during tough times, it has that image to fall back on. The world is only a few years removed from the boom in Swiss watches in the early 2010s, so there's reason to believe people still want to wear those swag timepieces.

Look back to the 1970s, when the industry nearly collapsed under siege from such Japanese upstarts as Seiko Holdings Corp., which pushed technology as a cheaper, more accurate alternative to Swiss watches. The mechanical watch fell out of favor, sparking a decade-long crisis that saw factories close and thousands of watchmaking jobs disappear. Then came Swatch, a breakthrough, low-cost answer to the onslaught of Japanese competition. Marketers lauded the Swiss reputation for design, even though the small plastic wristwatches were little like their beautifully hand-crafted counterparts. Bright, fun styles brought watches to a younger shopper, and Swatch became a global powerhouse.

Meanwhile, Switzerland's higher-end crew led their own renaissance in which mechanical watches become prestige items, not time-checking essentials. Watches from Rolex SA, Patek Philippe & Co., and Breitling SA became the coveted luxury items we know today, and the industry was reborn.
"The significance of the watch as a means of keeping the time became increasingly negligible," wrote a team of economists at Credit Suisse Group looking back at this revival in 2013. "The Swiss watch industry succeeded in identifying this paradigm shift from an early stage and found new selling points that are aimed more at the symbolic and emotional aspects of the product."

The latest turmoil, much like the threat from Japanese watches in the 1970s, comes from a potent combination of smartwatches and younger consumers with changing tastes. Global shipments of smartwatches surpassed those of Swiss wristwatches in February, according to data from market research firm Strategy Analytics Inc.

Aside from TAG Heuer SA, which released a $1,500 smartwatch last year, Swiss companies have been slow to respond this shift. Only 25 percent of watch executives consider smartwatches a competitive threat, according to a survey last year by Deloitte. There's been no major effort so far to design a way out of the current crisis.

In May, Richemont CEO Richard Lepeu said Swiss watchmakers "should never be arrogant" and rule anything out. "Technology's progressing very fast, and we never know what might happen." For now, however, Lepeu and his counterparts seem confident that they can ride out currency and commodity fluctuations while waiting for the return of spending tourists.
Click to expand...
 
TeenTitan01

TeenTitan01

Supremacy Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2007
Messages
9,804
Reaction score
0
indigo22 said:
this..

2z853sl.jpg


lol i tried to ask for a pouch from them...told them i'm not wearing it immediately...

was expecting those leather pouch like Rolex etc (lol..stupid me)

all i got was this cloth pouch that you put chocolate coins in to give kids -.-
Click to expand...

I thought Seiko QC should be better than that? :(
 
TeenTitan01

TeenTitan01

Supremacy Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2007
Messages
9,804
Reaction score
0
cichlid said:
Hi bros

Any idea how much this Fortis cost?
have been "studying" chronos lately, lol

28563950125_37897c459d_b.jpg
Click to expand...

imho, hardcore chronos have the following movement inside (not in any particular order):


- lemania 5100.
- column wheel omega calibre 321.
- zenith el-primero.
- heuer calibre 11.
- <add your fav here>
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Important Forum Advisory Note
This forum is moderated by volunteer moderators who will react only to members' feedback on posts. Moderators are not employees or representatives of HWZ Forums. Forum members and moderators are responsible for their own posts. Please refer to our Community Guidelines and Standards and Terms and Conditions for more information.
Top