It's amazing how the Swiss watch industry has created this lore about vertical integration. Delco Remy, who made things like alternators for GM, was in the town where I grew up, and they were owned by GM. I never thought to brag about the in-house alternator in my crappy Chevy Cavalier when I was 16 years old. It was actually one of the first things that I had to replace in the car. 馃憤
It's amazing how the Swiss watch industry has created this lore about vertical integration. Delco Remy, who made things like alternators for GM, was in the town where I grew up, and they were owned by GM. I never thought to brag about the in-house alternator in my crappy Chevy Cavalier when I was 16 years old. It was actually one of the first things that I had to replace in the car. 馃憤
I just rebuilt them as I was quite poor. The parts house had a kit (bearing, brushes etc) for less than $5. 30 minutes with the wrenches and the alternator was charging again. The good old days..........馃檮
I think the electrics were designed by Clint Eastwood. When I had a TVR, each time I turned the key in the ignition, I had to ask myself, "Are you feeling lucky?" Sometimes it would even start.
P PatrickJI realise this topic may be a bit controversial and is also subjective. I do not want to sound negative, rather I look for improvement.
When will Omega produce or are they on track to produce a totally in house movement? Of course prices will rise as Rolex have in house movements and high prices. Of course Rolex are more evolutionary than revolutionary and tend to have less product lines and greater model longevity. There was an article I read recently where the current head of Omega product development admitted, that Omega are moving towards having in house manufactured movements. However, it would be dangerous to call the 8500 totally an in house movement as it is assembled and part designed by Omega. There is of course input from other manufacturers such as ETA and Niranox.
It saddens me that IWC, JLC and Rolex are in house, why are Omega different? I remember as a kid my uncle showing me his Omega, then I was hooked. In 2004 I purchased a Seamaster unfortunately selling it a few years later, now I have a vintage Seamaster and a Geneve. One of the reasons I love vintage is that they all had Omega in house movements, from a time when virtually all Swiss watch companies had this benefit.
