lutz
135
a somewhat strange list
hello,
"Rolex,PP,JLC mentioned as top-brands,Breguet less frequently...."
that is a VERY strange order I must say.
I will not warm up endless discussions of how many top brands there are and why or why not this or that brand is a legitimate candidate to be called part of the top two,top three,top four,top five.....we really had too much of them within the last years.
Nevertheless,as You put the question in Your post:
JLC is a very fine company with a profound history of great watches,extremely interesting technical solutions,building ebauches for many other companies(e.g.PP,VC,Breguet and others)for decades and this made their state within the top assemblers of fine timepieces a bit difficult,being known as builder of excellent ebauches,while those other brands got the lorels in finishing JLC movements to highest standards.Probably not very fair IMO.The current collectionof JLC contains some masterpieces as well as some extremely ugly watches.(My personal experiances:hardly any problems with JLC watches I owned,but got a bit tired of them after some time,very happy with Atmos,working flawlessly)
PP :Hardly disputable the most prestigious brand on the market,some extremely nice pieces,some masterpieces,many not very prettily designed watches,major use of quartz movements in their ladies watches still is not understandable for me for a brand like Patek,some a bit old fashioned pieces.Finish of their mechanical movements beyond discussion,unfortunately often "victim" of pecuniary speculations and very dull discussions about resale value,kindled also by the company itself.(in general,resale value of their highly complicated pieces is excellent,expensive limited PP editions might increase their value significantly,but basic models sell pretty poorly).(My personal experiance:all my PPs work fine,some minor flaws had to be fixed,which took considerable time,but went wine after all,their sober and clear design makes them my ideal every-day watch,cannot get easily tired of them).
Breguet:undisputedly the most fascinating history of all watch brands,very romantic with its origins in the French revolution,brand of kings,queens,lords,artists,scientists.After the death of Abraham Luis Breguet in who's lifetime Breguet became the most important and famous watch brand in the world his sons and heirs lost much of the brand's glory and Patek became successor of Breguet's state as number one among watches.Many silent decades with different owners followed.That is the reason why You might hear it less frequently quoted as Rolex or Patek,which have a very constant history.Breguet became great again within the last 20 years,constantly trying to regain its due rank among the best watches in the world,however having to struggle against prejudice of a vey strong lobby of PP,VC and AP fans.(My personal experiance:my Breguets are excellent timekeepers,repairs take as annoyingly long as Patek-repais,the "Classiques" and "Tradition-models" are no watches for every day,but a great joy to put on again and again)
Rolex:......I had to look twice that You mentioned Rolex in the same breath with PP,Breguet or JLC.Totally different pair of shoes.Nothing in common with high end pieces of PP,VC,AP,Breguet,Lange,JLC,GO etc.Neither refined,no meticulously finished,nor filled with grand comlications,but solid workhorses,simple,robust and bull-proof.Unfortunately their image as the watch for the "new-rich-braggard" is a sad fact and hardly extinguishable.(No personal experiance,but I bought one for my wife,that works alright,no very good time keeper any more,but a service should solve this problem,another one,also a present for my wife,went wrong two months after purchase but was fixed under warranty and was fine then)
hope this helped a bit as introduction-info,
kind regards,
Lutz
