Hitting the nail there. It is also dangerous to assume that Omega knows what they are doing strategically. After all economic crises happen, wars happen, the Roman Empire collapsed and people fuck up regularly. People, even clever people doesn’t always have it right. We have every right to question, if this evolution of Omega pricing and branding wise will lead to anything good for the company.

Regarding the 1 percent generally speaking. They can get away with only so much before there is a sudden tipping point and then... revolution. We could grap our pitchforks and march off towards Omega HQ

 

I want a new vintage looking bracelet for the original moonwatch, well tapering with a slim adjustable clasp.

 

on a Speedmaster chronograph ...

 

What do you mean "was"? The GM is still available you know and still great. In fact, after my near fatal brush with a VC Overseas at 20 Grand I decided to switch back from my Railmaster to the Globemaster to check if I could imagine parting with it (and all the others) to fund a VC. One week later and I am quite sure that GM has the more fascinating dial and better overall value proposition. But I get your point about not allowing the GM to evolve a little without too many distractions. It's sort of odd really because the effort to evolve the family (e.g. add a GMT) wouldn't be that great, compared to creating completely new models from the ground up.

So long as they bring out cool pieces from time to time the duds don't matter much (to me). At the moment I'm happy enough with my Globemaster and Railmaster. In fact it's tough to imagine what Omega could bring out that would wow me after these two; perhaps a re-issue 168.022 up-sized to 38mm with date at 6 o'clock and a sparkle dial? Now that should be a breeze for Omega if they work off the new 8800 calibre.



Make some new end links and they could even re-use the ‘57 Trilogy bracelet.
And while we are at it, given Omega's love of limited editions, they could release it in White Gold and Platinum.

 

Bingo, thinner and maybe a little smaller in diameter. I'd like to see them with a dive/chrono no larger than 39 and a dress @ no larger than 37mm. Until then I will just keep buying vintage.

 

I wish future limited editions were handled as follows:
1. Introduce the design, features and price point at some pre-announced time (could be Basel, or some other point)
2. After introduction, give 2 full weeks for people around the world to sign up online, with a requisite up-front 50% deposit by credit card (non-refundable, but could be transferred to ‘in-store’ credit at time of pick-up if buyer changes their mind - this would be part 1 to dissuade people from signing up only to flip it later)
3. Everyone who signs up and pays the 50% down gets the watch. The LE number will correspond to the final number who sign up. This would be part 2 to guarantee people don’t sign up to flip.
4. Ensure the manufacturing process is proven prior to introduction so that everyone can be guaranteed to receive their watch within 6 months of ordering.
5. Only do 1 LE per year, to increase interest and keep it somewhat special.
6. Everyone goes through their nearest OB or AD to pick up and pay the final 50%. Anyone who changes their mind would have a chance to get the initial 50% down payment as in-store credit. The deposit would ensure only serious buyers signed up (to keep numbers down), the exchange for credit would allow some flexibility of backing out while keeping the profit within Omega retail chain.
7. Control supply of replacement dial / key components carefully so that modifications cannot be made later (as I was easily able to do with my 35th Anniv dial and hands mod).

I think the above would benefit everyone:
- watch enthusiasts would know there is one chance a year to sign up for an LE, this lets them somewhat budget and plan for it. Everyone can get in on it, so the silly monkey-business of time zones and flippers is controlled
- Omega knows exact total demand for the LE, sells all of them at retail without flooding the market, and also without missing out on maximum volume
- AD’s and OB’s still get to be the final sales point for the watch, or the concerted ‘in-store’ credit. As a result, I think AD’s and OB’s would also have an incentive to reach out to their good customers and help entice them to get in on each annual LE

 

Sorry you are right poor choice of past tense in my post..the GM is still great! Your GMT design for the GM would have been a superb evolution. A grey slate dial variation (standard dial or GMT) would have been on my shopping list.

I cannot see you letting go of your beloved Christine (RM 60th LE)

 

They are a multinational corporation that keeps their bottom line of first and foremost importance. If preserving their history positively changes their bottom line long term, they do it. If throwing away the history and deserting all current customers to attract more customers, that would help them sell more watches both now and in the future, they would do it. If LEs make them money, they will keep making them, as many different ones as the market can handle. Right now, selling pieces with historical connections seems to be working.

 

So if 20,000 sign up it will dilute the LE appeal

This also gives flippers to get all their friends and family to sign up, dealers will easily order 10 and pay the 50%
And on flippers, never going to stop them just look how many watches are sold on this forum let alone all forums and EBay

A Dutch blogger released a watch during the day in the Nederlands, no monkey business

Always going to be time zones, hey I have to watch the Super bowl at 4am live on a Monday morning when it's played Sunday lunch time

 

Mission possible for Omega, just reduce 1,5 millimeters the PO´s, then…just then the Sub C will finally been beaten. Not my case as I own both and still prefer the PO, but would do it for many.

 

I agree they are a profit maximizing corporation, and I think it's a good thing for us consumers.

My suggestion of limiting the # of LE's is intended to help them maximize profits. In every market with a supply/demand curve, the supplier has a choice to go after higher qty at lower prices or lower qty at higher prices. In order to have a successful LE, Omega theoretically needs to set a price that gets them the desired profit level, and then determine the ideal number of units so that every unit sells and preferably a good number of buyers are left without one.
- If they do it right, any units that are flipped sell at a slightly higher price, which drives more desirability from others, and leaves the collectors of the unit happy that their watch has appreciated in value.
- if they do it wrong by having too many units, they will have a hard time selling all of the units at the set price. This will lead to prices coming down if anything, which reduces desirability and leaves collectors feeling their watch has depreciated.
- if they do it wrong by having far too few units, they will easily sell all the units at their retail set price, but they will miss out on lots of additional revenue/profits from remaining demand units they didn't sell. Collectors who get a piece benefit, and it might indirectly drive future desire (as Snoopy did for ST maybe...) but it doesn't help Omega in the short-run.

I would make the argument that when you step aside from what happens within 1 LE, you could look at the entire portfolio of LE's that Omega chooses to bring to market as having a similar macro-relationship. Omega wants to do enough LE's to satisfy the demand, but not so many that demand drops off and they end up with unsold units.

I don't know if 1 LE per year is the magic number, but I don't think it's an unreasonable number.

My suggestion to have people sign-up would solve the problem of Omega having to 'guess' and 'model' the assumed demand.

By making people commit lots of cold-hard-cash would prevent casual speculators from signing up.

All aspects of my proposal were meant as a solution to help Omega ultimately achieve their end-goal, of maximizing profit.

 

It will dilute the appeal of people who want it purely for profit, sure. But for people who like the watch for what it is, no.

In 'game-theory', if Omega stuck to this method for a few years, there might be 20,000 the first time, but they'd see the value crash after the first one, and it would prevent future similar events. After a few repeated 'games', I think a decent level would be reached subject to the actual appeal of each watch and general economic conditions at the time.

Again, if they stuck to their guns, this would quickly stop when people realized there was no big gain to be expected in prices. I suspect if Omega communicated it well, then everyone would understand it would be the case from the get-go and the impact would be minimized as a result. If you look at it from Omega's perspective, they missed the mark greatly with some LE's because they didn't sell out and were a big flop. With others they missed the mark and demand was much hotter than they anticipated. In both cases, they're hurt by not maximizing their own profits. If they followed somewhat my method, they'd have confirmed orders and know what the demand was.

... that's the price you pay for having Santa visit you first every Christmas...

 

I love Genesis so much. Oh I love them so much.

 

I'm more of a Leviticus man myself...

 

Value crash is good for who

Multinationals maximising profits is good for who

The flipper element is over hyped and over thought by many. it happens in all industries look at the first fruits for the season, you want the most for what you have. Go to any cattle yard and see beef sold three times by the time it makes it on a truck
And why is it in another thread stocks are bought and sold to make money and that's OK
If 200 out of 2000 flip (meh) ....most bought for the watch.

Some here make coin on watches and others collect. It will always be the way.....

Same as the stock market some flip for profit others keep for the long term and some loose their shirt. It will always be the way......

 

I'd ask too much.
In my opinion Omega is really (like really-really) far away from where they were before the quartz crisis.
I'd like them to stop sourcing everything from others (cases, straps, movements, literally everything); even if it is from ETA (with the same owner). Try to create something within your own walls.
I know this won't happen, but until then, they can only imagine being considered a high tier brand.
And stop selling through grey market just to produce the numbers. (This won't happen either).

 

But they’re not a high tier brand... they’re in the middle.

Bear in mind that very few brands make everything in house... Seiko might actually be the only one.

This whole industry is smoke and mirrors... don’t believe the hype.

 

Ye, but there is a huge difference in creating 90 % of everything or 0 %.

 

If you are suggesting Omega doesn't make it's own products to a large degree, what exactly are you basing this on?

 

Was Omega making their own cases and straps before the crisis? Also, Lemania was making their chronograph movements for many years before, during and after the crisis.