What Are You Looking for in an Automatic Watch?

Jonny writes:

The most sophisticated automatic movement isn't as accurate as your $30 quartz watch. But that's not what upscale watches are about. As you say, its the quality of materials, craftsmanship, etc, as well as--in more expensive watches--the tradition that you're buying into.

I've posted that there's a law of diminishing returns with regards to value and quality, not unlike Zeno's arrow - where the increase in price is relative to an inverse in quality. In other words, the more you spend, the less you're "getting" for your money.

I see there being two general domains of watch value - the tangible and intangible. The former includes build quality, finish, aesthetic design* - things that you can perceive with your senses. On the other side is the name brand, the reputation, legacy, etc. In between the two is the movement; it is "intangible" in that you can't see it, but it is "tangible" in that it is physical (I suppose there is a third category, which would have to do with precious materials like diamonds and gold).

I feel that somewhere after $2-3,000, the intangible qualities take over. A $3K Omega Seamaster is about as fine a watch as you can buy in terms of tangible qualities. I personally feel that the $4K Seiko Marinemaster SBDB001 is the pinnacle of automatic watches; it has a Spring Drive movement, which is considered the best in the world, and is a work of immense beauty and craftsmanship (see note*).

The Swiss brands - like Rolex and Breitling and Hublot - are all somewhat artificially inflated in cost due to intangible characteristics. In the business world, a Rolex means you have arrived, you have "made it." The Hublot is what you wear when you're on vacation in the French Riviera. Whether or not these intangible qualities are "real" is beside the point - it is really subjective. In other words, do YOU care about what "Rolex" means? That's the value there.

*A brief note on design. Some would think that this has nothing to do with watch quality. But consider this: If you are Seiko and you have a host of watch designers, whether in-house or freelance, who do you pay the most to? And which designs become expensive watches and which cheaper watches? Why not put the case design of the SBDB001 on a $300 watch?

Its like art or music. The best musicians play in the big philharmonic orchestras. With art its a bit tricky, because the art that makes money isn't always the best art. With watch design--as with art--we enter the tricky territory of aesthetics. What is beautiful? What makes an iconic, classic design? Why is the Rolex Submariner the most copied watch in the world?

Its subjective to some degree, but so is the taste of wine. That said, there is also a real value to more expensive wines - and it has to do with subtlety and complexity and the way the parts combine into a whole that is, in finer and finer wines, always more than the sum of its parts.

Comments

[Angelo]

A note about Rolex: Some of the more expensive Rolex models include gold and diamonds----so you're paying for intrinsic value in addition to the reputation for luxury and fine Swiss watchmaking. You're also buying strong resale value----they hold a very high percentage of their value, much more so than many non-swiss luxury watches do. In a generation to come----your child who inherits your Rolex and who doesn't wear watches----will be able to sell it for a tidy sum. The same can't be said of all expensive watches---fads/trends that come and go.

[Bill]

The cynic in me wonders whether the intangibles would be there if you didn't know the watch cost $5000. If you took a pretty good watch, an Orient for example, and relabeled it as a Rolex, and relabeled a Rolex as a Seiko, I have to suspect that a thousand watch geeks would line up to tell you in detail how the Faulex had wonderful intangible qualities that the mislabeled real Rolex didn't. "It's a pretty good watch," they'd say, "but it just doesn't have that air of quality this 'Rolex' does."

[jonnybardo]

That may be true, Bill. I think I read somewhere that a bunch of wine critiques couldn't tell the difference between red and white in a blind taste test, which seems crazy to me, although it might be because I always drink white chilled and red at room temperature. But the point is: so much is a figment of the mind, what Jeff likes to call a chimera.

[Gary]

Speaking of Rolex, here's an interesting article about how they make watches.

http://www.ablogtowatch.com/10-things-know-rolex-makes-watches/