Horological Meandering

aelred
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I'd like to propose an analogy: Julia Child.

Julia Child took "fancy French cooking" and made it accessible to everyone by demystifying it, showing how with a bit of effort everybody could eat well and enjoy better food.
Swatch, with Sistem51, has brought the idea of a 90 hour power reserve automatic watch with a lower number of parts, produced inexpensively, to the common person. In essence, they've finished what Hamilton (I think, correct me if I'm misstating history) started with the standardization of watch making back in the day. In other words, bringing a "bit better" horology to the masses.
Now, with the collaborations with Blancpain and Audemars Piguet (Omega is Quartz) they are showing that just maybe the "average Joe" can have a bit of flair and a taste of design as well. I remember watching one of the final episodes of Anthony Bourdain where he and Eric Ripert were interviewing some of the Young Turk chefs in Paris and a major theme was the democratization of fine eating. Over and over the young chefs questions why fine eating should be reserved for the wealthy when with the simple removal of the fancy service, everyone could enjoy the cuisine.
I'd propose a basic thesis that we are seeing something similar here. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's all purely a money play. But maybe, just maybe, we're seeing a small sharing of good taste and quality to the masses. I don't necessarily believe it cheapens the real thing. You can like Opera AND Rock.
Then again, the lead singer of Iron Maiden has a PhD.