Am I the only one being a little uneasy about an Omega branded watch being a throwaway design? Because I fear that they are designed from the ground up as not serviceable... like most swatch models, no surprise here. At 260eur it feels very costly, compared to a 260eur Seiko 5 3-hander auto, full steel, 10 bar WR, fully serviceable. Less fun but real substance.

Would they be "real" watches (at least having the possibility of getting a crystal replacement, pusher repair or WR periodical check) I would be getting one as they are indeed fun. But a throwaway design, I just ... can't. Too much plastic crap in this world.

 

This. This. And this. Thanks, James.

 

That’s not what you said, though.

You said:

I get that for whatever reason you are fixated on the automobile industry, but there is a flotilla of obvious reasons automobile companies aren’t doing co-branded “collaboration” vehicles from scratch, whether across or within a corporate family.

The comparison collaborations of more relevance here are in the luxury apparel segment where (unlike autos) high-low collaborations such as this are the norm (as are even competitor-collaborations). Watches are in the apparel segment, not the vehicle segment.

So back to the comparison within an actually analogous product segment: there are few (any?) luxury apparel conglomerates that contain under the same umbrella both (1) the brand range and (2) the conceptual brand fit necessary for an inter-conglomerate high-low collaboration.

Look under Richmont’s or LVMH’s umbrellas and it’s hard to identify the analogous high-low like Omega-Swatch, and even harder to imagine a collaboration that could make any sense.

Huh?

I was speaking of “Swatch Group” - the luxury conglomerate parent corporation of both Swatch (Watch) and Omega.

I think your quip indirectly gets at the glitch here. You keep treating as the only relevant thing to be whether two brands sell the same commodity (i.e., a “vehicle,” or a “watch”). Viewed as a commodity a wrist watch is a thing that tells time. So in your view, it seems, since Swatch and Omega are selling the same commodity, they are in a shared segment. Lingerie and undies.

I didn’t quite catch what segment/industry you are in, but it seems increasingly likely it is not luxury product and branding. Because luxury brands don’t actually sell commodities they sell branding and - let’s call it to be generous - experiences.

Note that for a long time now nobody actually needs (1) a wrist watch to tell time, or (2) multiple watches to tell multiple times, or (3) much less a $100,000 watch to tell the time.

Just the same, if someone “needs” a pair of shoes, it need not be a limited edition Nike, and damn sure doesn’t need to be this, for $700 (Balenciaga X Crocs):




You’re nominally correct in an irrelevant way that both swatch and Omega produce watches, but the nature of their businesses - what they’re actually selling and to whom and for what reasons - may as well be lingerie and cheese.

If I’m in the desert naked and afraid, I need shoes the commodity.

If I’m instead in a shopping mall with new shoes on and 10 pairs at home, I don’t need shoes the commodity. What makes me stand in a line for 2 days to buy the Balenciaga X Crocs pump has nothing to do with the commodity.

Similarly, what makes me walk into a Swatch (watch) boutique vs an Omega boutique - as it turns out - also has effectively nothing to do with needing to know the time.

 

Now that is the most logical argument I have heard here yet. Not one of “devaluing” the company- but a direct question on the value of a watch that potentially may be considered disposable. This is the question that should be asked. Can it be serviced, and if not- why should I pay $260 for that.

 

I should add that my comparison is also fairly market specific; in Denmark the automobile market is different from most others due to no national car production and very high taxation that increases exponentially - a Porsche Macan GTS starts at $250,000 here. This was why I used VW/Audi and Skoda/VW as examples as they are more similar in pricing. Porsche inhabits a completely different sphere of the mark

I used to work for Volvo Trucks and in Denmark (and most of western Europe) there are almost exclusively European trucks. There is a distinct hierachy between these with Volvo and Scania being the two most prestigious and expensive. When I worked in Australia for half a year, suddenly there was US trucks and Asian ones as well and now all the European trucks were lumped together - it was recognised that there was a bit of a difference between a Volvo and an Iveco, but they were both basically "a Euro truck".

It is certainly true that car preferences to some are personal and idiosyncratic (I for one would never set my foot in a VAG dealership) and it is always possible to find outliers. My neighbour is a VW enthusiast, but for the last year he has driven a Tesla. First time I have lived here he's owned the same car more than three months!

 

This is the perfect gift for family and friends who look with a combination of wist and distain at the watches on your wrist, but for whom you would never spend the thousands for a real watch as a gift because they would never appreciate it like you.

 

Now there's a million dollar avatar sub-heading.

 

I'm not an expert of 70s or later Omegas, I mostly know about earlier models. But I repair watches for a living, and I don't know of any Omega reference that you can't open, change the glass or a gasket, etc.

Worth fixing or not 50 years later, that is another debate entirely. I was talking about unfixable by design.

 

This will be interesting to hear as the first ones roll into @Archer considering he is an authorized Swatchgroup service provider.

 

I have it on pretty good authority Al looks nothing like Peter Griffin.

 

That’s the customer dropping it off

“ I need to have my Speedmaster serviced, I’ll leave it in a brown paper bag on your porch”

 

Showed my wife all these queues happening on IG in front of Swatch stores. She asked what it's all about. She opened Swatch IG and her first impression was "OMG these are so cute I want them all."

 

Meet Hugh, the Manatee...

 

My wife has let it be known she would like the Venus model, thank you very much. She already wears my 1990s Speedy reduced on occasion.

 

Only Swatch store in Vegas that has an allocation, already has 40 people in the queue (as of Friday night 6:35pm for a store opening at 8:00am Saturday). Only 1 watch per person now. Going to be a zoo. I'm going to pass, I value my sleep way way too much for this.

 

Not going to argue if that is really how you see it. But these are not Omega watches. I find the assertion that they are quite puzzling.

Omega will not sell them. Omega will not service them. Omega will not provide parts for them.

It would be pretty odd for Omega to have a collaboration with Swatch, and not advertise it on their web site. It provides a click through to the Swatch site. What are they supposed to do, form a collaboration and then just ignore it, like it never happened? That seems like a strange expectation...

 

Breaking news from Hong Kong: due to violations of restrictions on gatherings to prevent spread of COVID, the launch of the MoonSwatch has been cancelled in at least two locations (Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay). Apparently some of the groups lining up got into a fight and someone called the police.

 

From the front lines:

 

The comment section on Reddit pretty much echoes this thread, but with more Uranus jokes. I'm not a chrono guy and only just now getting into Omega on a serious level. To me, after only seeing photos of the things, the price point is off for something that looks 3D-printed. Hopefully I'm wrong and it feels better than it looks in the photos; they look fun and I'd be happy to get one, though maybe not at $250.