Horological Meandering

For some reason, I was asking myself, what would a $600.00 dollar watch look like? What would it be? Would it be a quartz, an auto, etc? $600.00 I imagined a glorified quartz or something. What new watch would cost such an amount and why? Follow me here. ... 

... it MAY, I repeat, MAY, depend on one's net worth, bank account, salary, bonus, cash available and allocated to watches. I have two watches that is really nice for occasions when I do physical labor, walking or running in the hot/humid weather with cam... 

nonsense priced watches are everyday headscratcher....established brands have nonsense priced lines,popular models that are so advertised that their price makes no sense at all. I found myself wondering ,after the last several price increases,what is the ... 

I agree my friend and the watch industry works hard (some even harder!) to make it worse. Discussed the same topic with AD´s and manager´s from highend brands, recently, and those with a vision see the problem as well. Some of them have serious trouble to... 

I fed enough my watch cravings..I think its time to stop and regroup for me...I am so happy with what I have achived but will take quite a while to justify another purchase.....there is only one more watch that is in my heart(you know the one)and it is fr... 

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Here are some vintage watches you can easily get, in good condition, for $600: many Omegas; many Eternas, including Eternamatics and Kon Tikis; Longines (with Longines movements); Universal Polerouters; various supercompressor diving watches; etc. These a... 

But ot be serious, you're right, there are more than only one solution in the Vintage world, even if, in the cases you mentionned, I would rather see them in the 1000 USD level... Best, Nicolas.

Once you can start looking at vintage IWCs, you really wonder why you should look at many of the modern "alternatives."

that I meant new watches--because I suppose this is a question about Prices, fixed prices, or list prices, making no sense--and for me, the 600 number was a head scratcher... what watch, new watch, would cost this much and why? I know there are many watch... 

Not 600 USD, but a super attractive price on the Longines Legend Diver, whose retail price is already a bargain, by the way.... There are a very few exceptions,n like this LLD, but in general I agree with you, prices are insanely high on new watches... Be... 

can never understand why I paid "so much" for a Seiko, a Grand one no less. For that matter , any of my watches. But she gladly accepts any watch I'd buy her For me, its a matter of percieved value, jus like the way I find all Apple products on the expens... 

As long as you don´t tell her senctences like: Darling, the present I bought for you was a bargain. I got it for a very low price ... ;-)

Whether you buy a simple 3 hand watch from Patek or JLC or Seiko, they all give you the same information, i.e. Hours and minutes and seconds. There is really no difference between them. If you think in terms of chronometric qualities, perhaps the Patek ma... 

Aren´t we here because of passion, love ...?! From my point of view you can (still) find great value in each price range, but you have to do your homework. Even the brands with lots of price increases and some "novelties" with crazy price tags have "relia... 

No doubt about it. My question was more theoretical, I suppose... What price--in an instant--makes you reject the watch? And why? Which model is undeserving of a certain price tag, period? I thought this might lead to some amusing irrationality, for insta... 

see rational in the irrational, isn't it just an excuse? Just like "justification" is the exercise of making something unjust just, I think we should just admit that irrational is irrational. Nothing wrong with that. However, overall, I am very interested... 

Just kidding... That first paragraph made me laugh out loud. Thanks for your reply.

my newest one is the Airnautic earlybird. i bought it used, but its new price was about $750. its a homage to a long deceased O&W earlybird, its heavy steel with screwed links in the bracelet, it has an eta calibre inside it which is so accurate that it t...  

I should have stated that I was referring to list prices of a new watch... however... if in fact there are great new watches out there with a 600.00 price tag... it was still my personal no man's land... it was hard for me to imagine the 'place' of that p... 

it makes perfect sense Mostel, but as Moc pointed out, you've opened a Pandora's box best G...  

At some point - and cash available / income is the major contributor - all of us have a range at which we would have to say "no way does that make sense for my wrist at that price". For me, PP has helped clarify that with their 2011 novelties and price in...  

My question was supposed to go 'beyond' available funds, and ask... which price --all at once--disqualifies a watch? And why? But I see why one's income would, of course, play the biggest role here, and perceived value, etc. But maybe this is a harder que... 

Yes, I was thinking about it more from the resources point of view. When I spent about USD 1,500 for my first mechanical, I thought that was a lot more than any watch really should cost! Of course, my thinking has changed a bit since then... But my Magret...  

Unlike in other industries, whereby to lower costs, they either migrate the production to a lower cost location/country or out source some manufacturing to lower cost producers. Here in the watch world, collectors will not allow the Swiss Made tag to be d... 

Very good Horo about the Patek plane... I will never see a Patek advert in the same light again and will always smile when I see one. I am still wondering why the price of gold is the blame by a lot of producers... especially those who generate sales from... 

Swiss watchmakers are domiciled in CHF and buy gold in USD....so I can never understand that argument. Gold price up, CHF up....er....???? I also know for a fact that Richemont hedges their gold purchases, so another lousy excuse, but at least they are no... 

I agree entirely. On the other hand, I think we do expect the Sterns to live at the highest level... like Kings almost, or perhaps literally like Kings... But that really is not what I was hoping to comment about.... If you take a look at my reply to Meiw... 

I have a visual monetary target in mind.....we can talk about value, both absolute and relative. Perceived and real. But at the end of the day, money talks, and laws of economics takes over....limited resources, unlimited wants, classic economic conundrum... 

...I think I see where you're coming from. Here's an angle on the headscratcher $600 watch: Take a workhorse Seiko 200m Diver. Very solid case with some polished and brushed surfaces, nothing special, but nothing to get excited over, pumped out by the 100... 

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A +/-10 sec/year 9F Grand Quartz....?...  

a Tissot T-Touch, for example. And cost around 1K!

Spent too much time thinking about Seiko divers and price points, that I forgot about the likes of those....good example of a glorified quartz.

your heart must always listen to your head? . Don't you think you should just buy what you can afford and what you like? I have watches from China and Kari, and I love them both. I also have a 'glorified quartz' in the form of Citizen Campanola, and I lik... 

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..at least for me, i go by, if you know a Brand really puts in the effort and technological know-how, finishing, new materials, creativity, originality, an idea or emotional appeal of what their watches stand for, whether they have stood the time or has h... 

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