Esharp
1469
Of course...
...you're right. I was just having a little moan about it...I wish this business were more 'pure', less, well, a business; but the rules governing luxury goods today are about volume and marketing, and the myth of the dedicated artisan who is in it for the love of it - actually, there are undoubtedly many of these individuals in the watch industry, but they often seem to be employed by Big Bad MBA types who could as easily be selling perfume or handbags. (OK, now I've alienated all the readers here who have MBAs!)
I certainly don't have anything like the levels of insight that many of the regulars here have, the moderators and the lucky folks who go to Basel and SIHH and the like, and I'm sure that there's much of which I'm not aware. Nonetheless, I find myself increasingly drawn to the independents and those few-and-far-between companies that somehow feel 'honest' rather than coming across as marketing machines that happen to make and sell watches. Marketing through celebrities does seem to work, and plastering billboards and fashion magazines and sponsoring sporting events etc. all seem to work as well, from the standpoint of increasing sales; but that doesn't mean I have to like any of it!
I don't want to be a 'fan' of one 'brand' over the other; I just don't define myself that way - I know, it's terribly un-21st century of me. In fact, I don't want to think about 'brand' at all - I want to think about 'watchmakers', for the watches they make, not for a brand positioning statement conjured up by marketing professionals. And every time I pass one of the zillions of outdoor advertising hoardings promoting watch brand X here in Hong Kong, I can't help but think "Ah, there's another reason that their watches cost what they do" - which is to say, it has increasingly less to do with the cost of production and more to do with the cost of promotion.
It would be very interesting, in fact, to know how much the cost of all the marketing efforts add to the average watch made by the companies we obsess over here, and to see how that has changed over time...
Celebrities Show Off Their Bulgari Octos!
Even celebrities can't resist the unbridled sophistication of the Bulgari Octo Watch. Two leading cinematic stars, Jeremy Renner and Aaron Eckhart were spotted with theirs in public, proving that whether you are rough and edgy or clean-cut and polished th...
Sadly this makes me want one less...
I know this works in the industry, but... so cheesy.
I'm with Mostel
I'm sorry to chime in negatively, but this stuff really gets my goat. I get exposed to a lot of 'ooh look at some actor' (or other random sleb) wearing Product X, and in 99% of the cases it is just more cynical PR idiocy. I've seen it from the inside - an...
Well, I cannot help ...
... but agree with you. However, this is business, this is advertising. We accept this kind of celebrities advertising with cars, with lipsticks, hair styling foam, food, and so on. Why are we so critical when it comes to watches? We have to accept that i...
Of course...
...you're right. I was just having a little moan about it...I wish this business were more 'pure', less, well, a business; but the rules governing luxury goods today are about volume and marketing, and the myth of the dedicated artisan who is in it for th...
We have to take into account that r&d is some kind of marketing, too ...
Be it in the watch industry, or the car industry, the scheme is always the same: the highly complicated or advanced conversation pieces are used to advertise a manufacturer's capability and prestige. People then buy the more inexpensive entrance pieces, w...
