Watchmakers have already tried to solve this several times, and little gets accomplished. It's really not up to watchmakers to solve this, as we are so small in numbers and influence that we aren't listened to even when we have made waves in the courts or with governments.

Unless consumers get behind some action to stop this, it won't matter one bit what watchmakers do.

As I mentioned, the average watch buyer likely has no clue about this issue, and even many enthusiasts don't know or don't care. When parts accounts were taken away from watchmakers in Australia, "Save the Time" was launched, PR campaigns were under way, petitions were signed, and I think the end result was that nothing was accomplished. The web site doesn't even appear to exist anymore.

The mainstream watch media is far too afraid of this issue, because if they start publishing articles on this in major magazines or web sites, criticizing the watch companies, they will loose access to industry for interviews, watches for testing, etc.

Consumers have the dollars, and hold all the power.

Cheers, Al

 

I agree. When I mentioned watchmakers, I was thinking in my head that they would have to do something extreme, but the more I thought about what I said, the more I realized there is nothing they can do. Ultimately, consumers would have to push for change.

But if some of the people I know are any indication, the watch companies know exactly how much they can push. My friends are casual watch buyers, meaning they just buy because it looks good, and they heard the name is good. They dont care or think about maintenance, they probably treat their watch like their cars, it's something to show off. I even had one friend argue, why would he even think about bringing his watch anywhere else besides the watch company for service or anything.

The more I think about it, the more I really feel for the independent watchmakers. I honestly dont know what will happen. As a hobbyist, it will get even more expensive, or being push to deal with just really old vintage watches...

 

The ad revenue for magazines is obvious, so I didn't mention it. In fact I have no expectation that magazines like Watchtime for example would ever take up this issue, so in this regard they are pretty much irrelevant. Like a lot of automotive "journalism" they are in many ways really just paid advertisers for the brands.

For blogs, a place where this issue could actually get some traction, the issue is more related to the access to watches and people holding them back. In either case the companies have the leverage.

Consumers absolutely have the power. Both through voting with their wallets, and also being the primary entity that would lobby the government, or take legal action. It would need a well organized and concerted effort, but being the largest possible group affected by these restrictions, they are the only group that could bring this forward and make change. The reality is no one in government in the US (where this would have the best chance of being resolved) is terribly concerned about a group of relatively wealthy individuals who can't get their expensive watches fixed at the place of their choice, especially when they aren't really complaining.

Class action suits have already been fought over this (Fleury v. Cartier), and settled, and the consumer class is the only one that received financial compensation. Unfortunately the people representing the watchmaker class agreed to a settlement that basically did not change anything - I think 9 parts accounts were granted as a result of the settlement, which allowed the companies to place extremely onerous requirements on those applying for an account.

I actually think the EU is the place where this has the best chances of being resolved.

Cheers, Al

 

I think our "disagreement" is mostly semantics. Certainly if it can happen "in theory" then they must have the power. I completely agree that it will never happen, but it's not because they don't have the power. It's there, but consumers have to choose to use it.

I have seen several discussions on parts restrictions come up on various forums, and the feeling that what these companies are doing is "wrong" is certainly not universal, even among collectors and enthusiasts. I have seen people make completely ridiculous arguments on this - one person said over and over that the only reason independent watchmakers are upset is that they want to be able to buy parts and mark them up more than the companies do. Uh yeah that's right. Forget that without parts I can't even start to make living at this, and yes it's all about the mark up. Oy!

Cheers, Al

 

Just an update...

I am hearing through a watchmaker's group I am a member of that this new policy is world wide for all material wholesale suppliers, so one other has confirmed this restriction will apply to them (Ernst Westphal in Germany).

He actually mentioned that Otto Frei has confirmed this also. Not exactly first hand information, so take it cautiously, but this has far reaching implications.

Buy up the stock you need while you can guys!

 

Uh oh...............

 

WOW just wow I also read that they are re-evaluating Swatch training for watchmakers. Thanks for the update Al, there will be a buying frenzy now......

edit: My assumption, big assumption, is that this will probably lead to cancellation of Omega parts accounts?

edit 2: No idea what happened here, mess up the entire message. I cleaned it up to make sense.

 

I can't help thinking of Hayek sitting there, stroking a white cat. Perhaps one of you Photoshop experts will indulge me.

 

This is really stunning news. While 99% of the watch buyers out there won't care, anyone interested in vintage pieces or supporting independent watchmakers is going to take it in the rear. I imagine as word spreads a lot of people are going to start buying anything they can get their hands on. There will likely be a skyrocketing gray market on the horizon.

This really sucks.

 

To recap: Swatch Group say they will stop supplying spare parts for their brands to watchmakers and material houses outside their own company as from December 2015.

This implies that Omega account watchmakers, such as our good friend Archer, and his non-account colleagues, will only be able to facilitate repairs that do not require parts (more or less and aside from generic OEM substitutes). This would therefore require owners of vintage watches needing parts to return them to official Swatch repair facilities, which is very bad news for watchmakers and enthusiasts alike, for reasons I believe have been previously well noted on this Forum.

My own friendly watchmaker services around 30 Swatch Group products (a conservative minimum) a week. If we then assume that there are another 40 watchmakers spread through the UK doing something like this volume, that means that there would be some 1 200 watches sent to Omega from the UK alone. A week! By the way, do we multiply this by 5 for the USA?

Anyway, let’s then say that there are 20 countries worldwide similarly affected, and let’s assume a much lower average, say 1,000/country/annum. These numbers are just wild guesses, but in the absence of concrete ones, let’s play with them for now, for the root question at the bottom of this dialogue is…

Can Swatch Group really manage to service 20 000 watches a year? Could they even service 2 000 more than they currently do?

 

As Archer said earlier "No evidence of that....yet...", but I would assume they would tighten this supply, too. Perhaps the question to ask is 'Why wouldn't they?" There's little economic return to them to supply watchmakers; it's easier and more profitable to supply material houses, who then sell on to the trade, so why suffer individual watchmakers? Hard to know exactly what their strategy is, as nothing about it makes compelling sense.

 

But how can you anticipate what you'll need, each movement has suffered unique stresses (some have congenital faults, of course...) and so how could you begin to guess at how many reversing wheels to keep around, f'r instance?

 

You do get to know what piece(s) get replaced most often. Set bridges on the 60's automatics seem to be sort of common replacements - not every movement, but I've had enough to know that's one part to stock up on.