No offence to any OF members (and I'm pretty sure no one will take offence) but when I saw this advert online I said to myself, "Who would ever take this watch seriously?" From a "list" price of $995.00 down to $79.89 with free shipping? Really?

Years ago I went to a driver's ed event (rally school in the frozen New Hampshire woods, wow, was that ever fun) and I won the grand door prize, which was an incredibly complicated Invicta chrono. At the time I had no idea what an Invicta was. Opening the box I immediately grasped the facts that an Invicta was the shoddiest, blingiest, coarsest PoS I'd ever seen. At breakfast the next morning I gave it to a fellow at the breakfast table. His eyes lit up, then, after closer inspection, it seemed that his upper lip involuntarily twitched.

So, I wonder, what is the target market for these watches?

 

There are always people who feel that they got over $900 off !!

 

People who like cheap bling on perceived heavy discount?

 

At that price I think I'll buy two!

 

Yep.

 

I don’t have to spend too much time in thinking about the answer as one target sits across my office...

 

There are those who think that anyone who pays more than $40-$50 for a watch is absolutely crazy. My FIL knows I have a Rolex and every time he sees me he reminds me that his $20 watch from Walmart tells the same time as my Rolex.

 

Haters gonna hate on Invicta.

You tell me, what would you prefer? Hands down Invicta wins.

 

NEITHER!

 

I'd prefer this -

 

The fact that this company still exists (and is not bankrupt) to be able to churn out turd after turd after turd implies the correct answer is : A LOT OF PEOPLE.

 

They got that QVC thing going now as well. I was looking at the guide on the tube one night a while back and it noted a special watch sale, of course I clicked to see what’s up and sure enough all invictas. I’ve seen some people wearing them in stores etc usually you can tell from quite a distance it’s an Invicta as it looks like they are wearing a small amazon box on their wrist but I have seen a couple that actually looked ok. One of my few public watch conversations was with a guy in front of me at a grocery store I asked him what kind of watch he had as it looked decent but I had an obstructed view. Sure enough it was an Invicta and the guy went on to tell me about the 20 invictas he had. He highly recommended them to me. Very nice guy, that’s his thing who am I to judge.

I do find it funny when I see people selling them online for the msrp prices. I guess you gotta give the company some credit they do have a following and they are good at marketing I have no clue how profitable the company is but they got themselves in many of the chain department stores. About a year before JCpenny filed for bankruptcy I noticed they had stopped selling seiko and citizen and their entire watch section was invictas. Gave me a bad feeling back then.

 

You know your watch brand has made it when cruises are themed on your brand...

 

I’ve wondered about the viability of the business also. That watch, at $79.89, can’t be making much of a profit for Invicta. Just look at the thing (if you care to,) and imagine the number of screws that go into making it. How something so mechanically complex can be sold for the price (shipping included!) is beyond me.

 

Invicta was a brand a hundred years ago. I’ve always wondered if this was the same company but a lack of watches over the years implies that it’s not.

 

Not sure if it's the same company (it kept going) but I suspect it's like many brands - a revival of the name by someone else.

The modern Invicta takes a lot of crap and it deserves it, but there was a time when they did make some decent watches. I recall years ago they made a submariner looking watch that has a good ETA movement inside, and was a pretty good value.

Not that I follow the brand so they might still make something that doesn't look like it was designed by a 4 year old...

 

What did Hodinkee say about their 6k 'travel clock' (I still laugh at this)? Let me copy-paste their words :



Begs the question of the 'actual value' of most watches...

 

Don't take them in the sea....!

 

True, and further, some people are just irrational about it.

I once went to a party, and was wearing a used two-tone Datejust. I think I paid $1400 for it. The host says to me, “Whoa, look at Mr. Fancy Pants with his Rolex!” Meanwhile, sitting in his driveway was a $60,000 boat on a trailer. I guess if you smell like fish, you can’t be extravagant...