Omega can still make a beautiful classic watch.
I recently picked up this lightly worn Tresor. Until I saw it, I had no idea that it existed. 18k gold, enamel dial, no date, and a jump hour for use when traveling. I confess to being surprised that Omega still made a watch like this, although it's been discontinued.
I am so much into vintage, that the modern stuff seems irrelevant.
I return to this thread from time to time to consider the topic question.
It is not only Omega.
This morning I perused the following factory websites.
Omega
Rolex
IWC
Zenith
Vacheron Constantin
Patek Phillippe
Many of the watches exhibited are pure artistry with exquisite styling. The marketing blurb though is hyped and vacuous and the prices seem uniformly bloated. That is the only way I can find to describe it. The sameness of it all pervaded, running like a thread through all the sites. After some time spent (wasted?) reading in each site I felt almost slimy with the wretched excess.
The Forum here has a cozy, fun, hobbyist feel about it that is wholly absent in each of the sites. One does not relate to the models shown wearing the watches and I would be frightened if I could relate to the advertising blurb. Just how the product will lend relevance to one's life is is intentionally left unclear.
Over the years I have been in the boutiques of most of the brands and somehow didn't come away with the slimy feeling that a visit to the websites elicited.
Well, marketing does what marketing does. In order to justify their positions and salaries, the marketing team in each company has to do at least "something". So, they chase trends in design and verbiage.
Currently this translates into enormous images of watches in some sort of "setting" (in the case of Zenith, it looks like a workbench, Omega showing the video game watch within an animation, Rolex the same) and what little text there is has to be searched for. This is because:
A. The vast majority of website visits are done on a phone (small screen).
B. Most people buy on "image" / how something looks / they think will make them look, not on quality (same for wine, people buy the label).
For Omega, they seem to be split between people who are younger and play video games (007 First Light Speedmaster) and people who think the watches used 60+ years ago in space / the moon landings are still "cool" (I would venture that these people are older). It is, I think, a confusing brand for many people.
If you are looking for intrinsic value, luxury watches are not that. They are jewellery.
Today I got a new product email about the Seamster First Light edition. How excited should I be about a watch dressed up with logos based on a video game derived from a deteriorating film franchise built around a fictional character?
Next step a Wallace and Gromit Grand Day Out speed master to celebrate their trip to the moon is search of cheese?
The Omega brand continues it's spiral downwards.
Today I got a new product email about the Seamster First Light edition. How excited should I be about a watch dressed up with logos based on a video game derived from a deteriorating film franchise built around a fictional character?
Next step a Wallace and Gromit Grand Day Out speed master to celebrate their trip to the moon is search of cheese?
The Omega brand continues it's spiral downwards.
Today I got a new product email about the Seamster First Light edition. How excited should I be about a watch dressed up with logos based on a video game derived from a deteriorating film franchise built around a fictional character?
Next step a Wallace and Gromit Grand Day Out speed master to celebrate their trip to the moon is search of cheese?
The Omega brand continues it's spiral downwards.
Well, marketing does what marketing does. In order to justify their positions and salaries, the marketing team in each company has to do at least "something". So, they chase trends in design and verbiage.
Currently this translates into enormous images of watches in some sort of "setting" (in the case of Zenith, it looks like a workbench, Omega showing the video game watch within an animation, Rolex the same) and what little text there is has to be searched for. This is because:
A. The vast majority of website visits are done on a phone (small screen).
B. Most people buy on "image" / how something looks / they think will make them look, not on quality (same for wine, people buy the label).
For Omega, they seem to be split between people who are younger and play video games (007 First Light Speedmaster) and people who think the watches used 60+ years ago in space / the moon landings are still "cool" (I would venture that these people are older). It is, I think, a confusing brand for many people.
If you are looking for intrinsic value, luxury watches are not that. They are jewellery.
