Around 10:40

François states intention to enter pre-owned AP market...sees this as the next big thing in the watch industry.

Early days...but he is looking to provide 2yr warranty for serviced / cerified pre-owned AP watches..

This could be the start of a wider trend in the industry....

 

Hmm, interesting; I think this might spell doom for Omega's vintage lines for collectors if Omega were to follow suit. I'm assuming that any watch given to Omega for such a program would be met with the standard 'LET'S CHANGE EVERYTHING AND MAKE IT SHINY NEW!' treatment and really mess up the charm of the timepiece.

On the other hand, for the newer pieces, I can see the appeal for people buying used goods with the knowledge that if anything were to go wrong, they would benefit from the 2 year warranty rather than buying 2nd hand from eBay, forums or pawn shops etc. and apparently Reddit raffles?

 

But what if the original manufacturers started to offer "museum restorations" where they would work with the owner to determine the exact level of restoration or conservation required? I know some smaller makers offer similar services. While we in the UK are blessed with STS, I could see such a service being inundated with work from the far east, middle east and maybe even the US. The obvious stumbling block would be getting the personnel - even in Switzerland - because such talent can set up on their own relatively easily and name their price. I say this while sitting outside one of my watchmakers' waiting for him to come home, with a wallet full of 20s and a bag full of watches.

 

That would certainly be amenable, however I suspect that there might be issues with recreating certain parts from old movements, as well as bits like bezels, crowns, endlinks and the like. Also, they need to be functionally reliable as well as being cosmetically true.

Though, maybe if there was enough scale, they could be able to produce them. Then inversely, I think, the value of pre-loved watches would climb, offering 'real, actual, genuine' crowns etc as opposed to 'period correct', 'replacement' or 'service' items from the certified pre-owned watches.

Ofcourse, all of this is purely hypothetical....

 

They are not the only ones, it’s already a trend, but this is not about vintage, it’s what @gatorcpa says https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/fashion/watches-resale-maximilian-busser.html

 

Interesting. Could be good for parts availablity.

 

This is what I understood as well. I can also see in the long term a luxury watch brand offering better pricing on your watch during trade-in if you purchased it from a boutique or their online e-commerce site and have kept it serviced via their authorized service centers. This will create additional services revenue throughout the watch lifecycle as well as additional motivation beyond "champagne and events" for you to buy direct from the manufacture's official distribution channel.

I think this is something operationally achievable for AP with their 40K watch annual production volume. François mentions 2-3 yrs time to start an initial preowned certified AP offering. If AP achieve success with this model I can see GP, Piaget, VC and JLC following the same trend.

Note sure Omega or Rolex could (or would want to) pull this off with their annual production of 800K -1 million watches, perhaps only for some of their higher end time pieces.

 

How so?

 

Love the concept. Not sure I'll love the costs...

 

FP Journe already offer something similar but only with discontinued references. Probably not a problem for them since they only produce up to 900 watches a year.

 

Makes sense.seems like a good idea for them. They get a piece of the second hand market. Not many mfgs would find this a good fit.

 

I'm far from an expert on this but I would think that given the advanced capabilities of laser scanning, 3d printing, and rapid prototyping, re-creating "original" parts would not be cost prohibitive. With a suitable original part in hand, how difficult/expensive would it be to re-make various bits?

 

They are not going to resell vintage watches, they are going to sell used discontinued models: basically only things that they still provide service for, meaning they have parts available.

 

Unless the brand manufacturer finds a way to recreate long discontinued and unavailable components to restore vintage pieces to their original specifications, I don't see how they can effectively compete with the plethora of third party dealers who most likely offer better pricing. These third party dealers can also easily authenticate, service, warranty, and possibly source parts at least as well as the manufacturer.

 

https://omegaforums.net/threads/ram...age-watch-collecting.51093/page-5#post-618326

https://www.google.com/search?q=archer+3d+printing+parts+site:omegaforums.net

 

You raise a good point! However, I assume that costs/expense would one be one part of the equation; others being matters such as:

1) What kind of return would one see for all that work? How many pieces would one need to make? It may not be worth their while for just 100 pieces or so. Would the customer be willing to pay the amount for all that labour? Remember, ze Swiss ain't 'economical'!

2) If you go by this thread (https://omegaforums.net/threads/a-list-omega-watch-lines.69531/#post-875007), and see the sheer number of families (not models) Omega has had since roughly 1848 CE, I think you'll agree that it may be a fool's errand to re-create the items required!

Again, all hyptothetical, which is why I think Micampe may have it right.

 

Thanks for those informative links. I now have a better level of understanding about the complexities of watch movements. A good thing;

 

I doubt they are doing vintage. More like certified pre owned.