What do you want from Omega?

I just want cal.321 in a Speedmaster again, limited, with sapphire caseback

Smaller watch boxes.

A 70% discount card for members of Omega Forum...

redeemable only for onlne purchases direct from Omega

Absolutely, focus rather than coming out wth a zillion things hoping a few will stick.

Duh! 😀

The main problem for me is that they never really give new product lines a chance to stick around, gain visibility and traction. The SS Globemaster was a great product...looks left behind after 2016. The 2014 precious metal hand-wound Tresor had everything to be a desired top range Omega dress watch...now it has to share marketing website space with a female quartz Piaget homage "Tresor".

Based on today's Seamaster Olympic LEs, it looks like we are going to be flooded with Seamster Edizonie Venezia inspired cases this year...adding another product line and more confusion to the Globemaster, AT and Deville three-hand watch space.🙄

With such a broad range of products and availability across the board Omega will never close down on Rolex image. And its a complete mess between cases, calibers etc. They need consistency and such is available currently only in Moonwatch line if you ask my opinion. I strongly support sizing down cases. PO line for example is way too oversized. With current sizes PO is out of proportion for many people, as above-shared opinions say.

Realistic understanding of how the world works.

I say this, after some thought, but the big Swiss traditional players seem to have decided that the world doesn't "need" watches, and so now watches are a luxury.

This is not the case.

Ask Seiko. Or Casio. Or even Swatch... they seem to get it - watches should be fun, functional, and affordable.

People still need to tell the time.

The quartz crisis gets bandied about a lot, but could it just be that the watches being produced became irrelevant?

Sure, quartz was more accurate, for much less (eventually), but the Swiss were making some absolute shit.

I mentioned this in the olympic thread, but the 1968 Geneve Chronostop was priced at £49.50, to make it accessible to the mass market, in todays money that's about £900.

The new watch at 5000chf shows how out of touch Omega are with, not their audience, but potential customers, the huge, global audience of the Olympics. I don't expect a £900 watch... I'd like to see some comprehension of how the world is outside of the bubble... because that's where the money is... and we all know these watches will end up in the grey market for 3500chf or less.

Price stuff at what it's worth... and stop fυcking over your loyal base, and putting off your potential customers.

Having had this conversation with Raynald, I know my views are not those of Omega, but then since when did the 1% understand the 99%?

Before the year 2020 Omega will still have the opportunity to bring out "historically correct" neo-vintage Speedmaster chronographs for the half-a-century Apollo 11 commemoration... just as they did during Baselworld 2017 to celebrate 60 years Speedmaster
Just in time before the application of the ISO 764 standard in modern 21st century wristwatches, not only relying on a protective container inside the watchcase but on the use of selected non-ferrous materials in the modern movements themselves...
😉

My impression of the brand was always that of a precision machine that represents civilization in uncivilized places and be unfazed by any abuse or punishment an adventure might beat out.

Of course that’s the image given by product placement in movies I grew up with. That said, I would like to see Omega continue to incorporate advanced materials, and do whatever it takes to get on SpaceX’s BFR!

Omega has clearly communicated that they are only interested in +US$5K paying customers, and to be frank they really have no choice but to mark a line in the sand as to how low their pricing will go before they clash with sister brand Longines.

I have no issue with their watches costing +US$5K, but I do think that they need to provide more watch & service for the money invested by retail customers...perhaps extend warranty to 10yrs or include initial services free of charge (not covering improper use of course)?

As mentioned in other posts, Oris, Baume et Mercier, Nomos, Longines are all providing more bang for the buck below US$5K and Tudor, Heuer, Montblanc and Zenith and a perhaps revived Kern inspired Breitling will also offer more value at the US$5K range. The 2017 Black Bay chronograph from a pure tech spec POV (not discussing the design here), clearly offers much more value than a Railmaster non-LE or Omega Olympic Seamaster, at the US$5K range.

At the top end, Omega precious metal dress watches are ridiculously over priced, especially when compared to a 37mm Lage Saxonia Thin costing US$14K retail.

Although all my watch collection has been purchased (so far) at retail pricing (no accessible grey market in Rio), I fully agree that current Omega grey market prices reflect the true price point of their watches:
A PM Tresor at US$9K would be a good retail buy as would a Speedmaster Metas Moonphase at US$7K. If my local OB had a DSOTM at US$7.5K retail, I would have purchased one ages ago...I just feel a complete fool purchasing that watch at US$12K retail for something that I am only going to wear occasionally, when the grey market cost is 35% lower than retail.

The simple fact is if Omega sold at retail the same watch they sell today, at 30% discount (perhaps leveraging online sales to reduce sales cost), they could still maintain entry level pricing above US$4K and shift a significant larger amount of watches, perhaps even overtaking Rolex as market leader in revenue.

Surely Omega's cost of continuous, indeed excessive product development and +150SKUs launches per year could be better "invested" in providing more watch & service at a given price point?

Maybe a 38mm bombay case, no date with the case thickness of the older aqua terra, and less limited editions probably

This is the kicker - there's not enough value at the prices they ask, to justify the prices they ask. As a result dealers shift stock into the grey market, where you see the true value of these watches.

I worked in the software/IT industry for a long time... and this is not an uncommon turn of events... Wacom (graphics tablets) used to give the channel 40%, they took it away because the channel then gave away 35% to end users, and tried to sell direct, the company nearly went bankrupt, they dropped the prices by 35%, all is now good.

If you price things reasonably from the start, people won't go looking for big discounts... so if Omega want's to make everything $5k plus... fine... but as you say, there needs to be value in that offering... and currently, it's not there.

A glass of Bollinger is not equal to a 35% discount 😁

I would like to have the option of customising my watch within model type.

I think any speedy with a sapphire crystal or a metas movement should be doable in the 21st century, and I would love to be able to fit a 43.5 mm planet ocean Ti with a bezel, dial and hands that have a splash of sedna about them.

I think if you are paying 7k+ then you should have options.

Omega really need to get their value proposition sorted out...look at some recent launches at SIHH 2018. Strong competitors both at entry-level and higher level Omega price points

VC Fifty Six SS at US$11.700...would you prefer this SS VC or a PM Omega Tresor at US$13.8K retail?


SS Cartier Drive extra-flat US$5.600..or a Ralimaster non-LE or a Seamaster Olympic Watch?


SS Cartier Drive moonphase US$7.850..or a SS Globemaster?


*All photos from ABTW SIHH 2018 coverage

Based solely on looks I would go for the Omega options all day long.
I imagine that few non watch enthusiasts have heard of VC while Cartier is probably more well known. With this in mind I think that when a non ethusiast buys an expensive watch they probably want their peers to know that they have an expensive watch through brand recognition, without having to say they spent X amount on it. Rolex/Omega/Brietling/Tag Heuer are well known to a larger proportion of society than VC or PP; and less expensive, so I think they are popular choices for a lot of people in this bracket.

When it comes to bang for buck, you are absolutely right, compared to the examples you sited, it does seem that Omega are trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of buyers based on a perception of however "luxurious" Omega is. However, no matter what we think about it all, the customer will decide by where they choose to spend their money and the brands will adjust their buisness strategies accordingly.