Swatch Group Watch Brands: Omega Luxury?

Taddyangle · Jun 5, 2015

Image above from Swatch Group web site.

I periodically browse the Swatch web site, and when viewing yesterday I see that Swatch has now classified Omega as a "Prestige and Luxury" brand. About 6 months back, this was not the case; I believe it was in the high range. Certainly they were not in the same category as Breguet, Harry Winston or Blancpain. Perhaps lumping "Prestige and Luxury" and then adding Omega is the answer?

I have been watching Omega increase the value of the brand over the last several years. I really love that Omega has so many watches that I really like, but I was also very much attracted to the price points and these two things together are why I continued to buy Omega.

Yes, I do feel that Omega is stepping up it game and putting out some higher end product. And with that comes an increase in the cost. I have no issue with the direction they are going, but this change is pushing me to look at other brands where I feel I get more value (ie why I bought the Fifty Fathoms).

I was wondering if others feel the same way?

gatorcpa · Jun 5, 2015

I think the reclassification is more about the retail outlets for Omega than for anything else. There will always be a reasonably priced manual wind Moonwatch and steel version of other basic watches. It is my understanding that all others will be transitioned over to the Co-Axial escapement movements, with the inherent increase in pricing.

Swatch has several high end boutiques called Tourbillion in the US. Not sure if they have done this in other countries. Tourbillion sells only from the Prestige and Luxury range you see above. Omega is the low end in this place.

It's all about marketing, and I will accept that Swatch knows a lot more about this subject than I do.
gatorcpa

lenny · Jun 5, 2015

It's funny that a number of the so called prestige brands were never considered to be high end in their original form.

gatorcpa · Jun 5, 2015

lenny
It's funny that a number of the so called prestige brands were never considered to be high end in their original form.

True, but you could add to that list:

LeCoultre
Girard Perregaux
Ulysse Nardin

And many more.

All were mid-ranged brands in the 1950's that became high-end in the last 10 to 20 years.
gatorcpa

lenny · Jun 5, 2015

Didn't know about JLC. What was considered high end back then?

gatorcpa · Jun 5, 2015

lenny
Didn't know about JLC. What was considered high end back then?

Not JLC, but LeCoultre. That was JLC in USA. Had US made cases and JLC movements, which were very well regarded, but were considered mid-range.

Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Vacheron & Constantin were pretty much accepted as high end 60 years ago. Not much have changed with those three.
gatorcpa

Time Exposure · Jun 5, 2015

gatorcpa
Not JLC, but LeCoultre. That was JLC in USA. Had US made cases and JLC movements, which were very well regarded, but were considered mid-range.

Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Vacheron & Constantin were pretty much accepted as high end 60 years ago. Not much have changed with those three.
gatorcpa

I might add IWC, but then everyone has an opinion...!
I always thought of IWC (in the day) as the "bridge" between the Trinity and the next group of high quality watchmakers (think LeCoultre, Longines, Omega, Universal, Zenith, Movado, and dare I say Rolex?)

repoman · Jun 5, 2015

I browsed the internet wayback machine, that page on the swatch site used to just list the brands, with no differentiation. The last snapshot they have is Mar 15, 2015, and there is no differentiation there either, so this must have been in the last 3-4 months.

Jones in LA · Jun 5, 2015

I see a parallel with what's been done with the Omega brand, to what's been done with the Audi (automotive) brand. Twenty years ago, I don't think Omega was competing head-to-head with Rolex, nor was Audi competing head-to-head with Mercedes Benz. In other words, twenty years ago Omega and Audi were both good brands that made decent products, but not on par with Rolex and Mercedes Benz with respect to prestige of the brand or the affluence of their target market. Today, Rolex and Omega are battling for the same market, the same way that Mercedes Benz and Audi are battling for the same market. Nevertheless, resale values of the Mercedes and Rolex brands continue to hold an edge over the Audi and Omega brands. [Where does BMW fit in, you ask? Maybe BMW's watch parallel is Breitling.] Of course there are Bentley and Rolls Royce, as there are Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. But with respect to what's been done marketing-wise over the last 20 years, Mercedes Benz vs. Audi looks a lot to me like Rolex vs. Omega. [By the way, I do not own a Mercedes Benz or a Rolex, but I do own an Audi and several Omegas 😉 ]

gatorcpa · Jun 5, 2015

Jones in LA
I see a parallel with what's been done with the Omega brand, to what's been done with the Audi (automotive) brand. Twenty years ago, I don't think Omega was competing head-to-head with Rolex, nor was Audi competing head-to-head with Mercedes Benz. In other words, twenty years ago Omega and Audi were both good brands that made decent products, but not on par with Rolex and Mercedes Benz with respect to prestige of the brand or the affluence of their target market.

That's a pretty good analysis, as Volkswagen owns all or part of many brands from Skoda to Bugatti. I would put Audi as the top of their middle group or lower of the high end group, just like Omega is to Swatch Group.

If only their dealers were so arrogant. I'd be driving an Audi, instead of a BMW. They drove me right outta there with their attitude.
gatorcpa

Event horizon · Jun 5, 2015

Ooh err Mercedes are strictly low end now renault makes their smaller vehicles and their reputation has suffered in the last ten to fifteen years. Audi is just a rebadged VW or Seat or even Skoda. It's just badge engineering so I group all those manufacturers as one.
Now I'm not the biggest Bmw fan but at least they have stuck to their rwd guns and their quality control is better than merc and VW group.
I can see the analogy but I would hope that omega have better quality control than VW and merc because I work in the car industry and they haven't impressed me for years.

Jones in LA · Jun 5, 2015

@Event horizon -- good to hear perspective directly from the car biz. I've always worried a bit about Audi's quality track record, and Omega's gold-plated phase is pretty embarrassing [though Rolex did it, too], but it does seem to me [someone who is expert neither in cars or watches] that both brands are on a positive, upward trajectory.

Archer · Jun 6, 2015

gatorcpa
If only their dealers were so arrogant. I'd be driving an Audi, instead of a BMW. They drove me right outta there with their attitude.
gatorcpa

I had a similar experience with an Audi dealer, and we are on our 7th and 8th BMW's right now...

redpcar · Jun 6, 2015

I had a similar experience with a BMW dealer in Dallas in the mid '90s. I owned a 5 series. Went back to buy another and noted that I was also looking at a Volvo turbo. He bowed up and spoke to me like I was an idiot then gave me the "Ultimate Driving Machine" speech. Never owned a BMW since.

micampe · Jun 6, 2015

I found it interesting, when I moved to the U.S., how the views on the BMW and Mercedes brands (just brand perception, not the products) are exactly opposite compared to Europe (or Italy at least).

Stewart H · Jun 6, 2015

Archer
I had a similar experience with an Audi dealer, and we are on our 7th and 8th BMW's right now...

Don't get me started on Audi. The last brand new car I bought was an Audi and I ended up using the dealership manager's cars more than he did for 18 months. I pity whoever bought those cars as ex-demonstrators. Audi's attitude was the reason I vowed never to buy another new car again.

Event horizon · Jun 6, 2015

Ok fellas stop with the car comparisons the only car company you would want to compare Omega with is Honda. Not very prestigious but very very reliable..
I'm going out on a limb here and I'm going to say Omega is as good as Omega or even better!
Vw, Audi or Merc could leave you at the side of the road broken down and failing in its basic function (to get you to your desired destination)
At least my omega will tell me the time even if it's a little slow or even a little fast but it still serves its basic function with a lot less servicing than a car.
Anyway back to the true origins of the thread and yes Omega is a luxury brand because they are a hell of a lot dearer than say Seiko or Casio that make damn fine watches with the same level of accuracy.
Who's going to run with the Casio/ seiko tangent then?

TNTwatch · Jun 6, 2015

Taddyangle

Image above from Swatch Group web site.

I periodically browse the Swatch web site, and when viewing yesterday I see that Swatch has now classified Omega as a "Prestige and Luxury" brand. About 6 months back, this was not the case; I believe it was in the high range. Certainly they were not in the same category as Breguet, Harry Winston or Blancpain. Perhaps lumping "Prestige and Luxury" and then adding Omega is the answer?

Luxury was below Prestige previously and the last 3 in the first group including Omega were in Luxury.

Archer · Jun 7, 2015

TNTwatch
Luxury was below Prestige previously and the last 3 in the first group including Omega were in Luxury.

Exactly.

MSNWatch · Jun 7, 2015

My experience with Audi has been quite different - have owned 7 audis since 1996 when I purchased the first iteration of the A4 and they have been reliable cars for me with 3 of them hitting 100,000 miles plus. I currently own 2 of them and they have been similarly reliable. The dealership hassles I have minimized - use online shopping with a no haggle bottom line price, refuse all their add on things (I only prepay for the servicing which saves me some money) and know exactly which model and features I like.

Swatch Group Watch Brands: Omega Luxury?

Taddyangle

gatorcpa

lenny

gatorcpa

lenny

gatorcpa

Time Exposure

repoman

Jones in LA

gatorcpa

Event horizon

Jones in LA

Archer

redpcar

micampe

Stewart H

Event horizon

TNTwatch

Archer

MSNWatch

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