Hi folks, how's it going?
Love the look of a few of these.
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/watches/article/omega-swatch-speedmaster-collab-2022/amp
Its a slippery slope, next we will have lads milking the cows wearing reverso's.
“Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
Master the art of karate
Lo, we shall rise up
And then we'll make the bugger's eyes water
Bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream”
Be careful, sheep may not be all they appear…
I saw someone earlier in the thread sniffing at Casio
That was probably me Bread. ☺️ I was much more sniffing at the so called "watch experts"(bugger all of them are. Nearly all newbie wideboy horse traders) talking about Casio as "god tier" to cynically make them seem more grounded and living in the real world by namechecking a "cheap" brand aimed at those in the 30-40 years old bracket. Before the watches for fun and profit hype took off the same BS on a smaller scale was going on years ago about brands like Seiko and Vostok, and Swatch too.
Casio were and are the mainstream quartz watch. The G-Shock concept was one of the big innovations in watches of the last century and in the 80's and 90's Casio was king and as you note even today are still in the minds of those under 30.
In fairness, if the Damasko is for general farm work, and the PP is for feeding cattle, surely this would fit in the watch box for sheep?
Unless Sweedmaster catches on as a nickname, in which case it’s strictly tillage…
As opposed to what brands? The luxury watch market is 95% based on rich sheep who just want a status symbol on their wrists.
I personally think that this was a very savvy move from the swatch group. The amount of PR this has generated will get thousands of young people who probably never thought about Omega watches before looking into the brand. Outside of the dedicated watch enthusiasts the vast majority of the younger generations never give watches a second thought beyond Rolex (which they'll probably never own in the current market) and smartwatches.
It's also very refreshing to see a brand releasing something that's desirable and honestly very nice without it being a limited edition that will only be available to a select few.
I saw someone earlier in the thread sniffing at Casio but honestly that's probably the main brand other than Rolex that any person under 30 knows anything about. If I was them I'd be releasing a few premium versions inspired by the F91/A158 as these have actual street cred and I could see a metal a158 in silver or gold doing very well for around €100
I'd find it difficult to believe it sells at that price
It's a watch for sheep.
I think the Pluto one looks best. What i am really interested is this bioceramic material. Quality ceramic is hard wearing as F and appears unchanged years later. I wonder will the plastic edition hold the surface and most importantly the color over years or fade like plastic.
Getting a ceramic finish without ceramic costs, and imagine what artisan watchmakers could do with it
Tpg channel ——>
Well that's wiped me out 😉
I really like Uranus.
10x? You'd be lucky 😂
Ridiculous though yeah
Its gone exactly as I thought....hype model with potential profits at a low entry price and no wait list. People are greedy fckurs nobody give enough of a crap about the watch enough to wait two days outdoors for one....people do however care about making money. This is not FOMO, or watch hype, this is flippers all out in the open at one time. 20 or so well timed car bombs could solve the watch market madness in one fell swoop.
It will settle as quickly as it started. These watches can be manufactured in jig time give it a couple of months and you will get any one you want at retail.
Anyone pays 10x retail for one should be shot in the dick.
You'd need to have a bioceramic head to pay 4500 dollars for one of these
Looking at demand now I can see being more than a few months. It still took nearly a year for the Casioak to be readily available at RRP and that was no where near as hyped as the MoonSwatch. Depends really how long before they sell it online and how quickly Swatch can meet the demand. I'd say there's a good chance it will be through the Swatch website only too, might never be available through 3rd party retailers. I'll buy one when I get a chance but won't pay more than RRP for one. Hopefully might be abroad at some stage in the next few months to try get one instore.
There will be 100s for sale by end of day and if anyone is stupid enough to pay 10x for one then…
Omega and swatch and the general public can suck my ball bag
A lot of people getting excited for the Moonswatch, looks like this is very popular move by Omega/Swatch.
I don't fully understand the 2 day queuing?
Humans are a social animal and the herd instinct is strong and particularly so if something seen as new, socially valuable or "rare" comes along. Herd panic kicks in. Look how many people were stockpiling bogroll of all things at the start of the pandemic. Herd panic and marketing tries to push that button. Apple for example are absolute masters at it. The above stuff is pretty much a given at every Apple store worldwide when a new slightly different from the last iphone is released, and those people are willing to pay far more than 250 quid, and for something that goes out of date within a year or two until he next iDopamine fix comes out. At least the Swatchomega will likely last much much longer.
Swatch have a huge back catalogue across their brands of "iconic" models to release in day glo placcy. Longines Legend Diver in ocean green, Hour Angle in pink and what not. And after the initial hype the real watches could well get a boost. the "Oh wow I have the Swatch version of that, yours is real!" factor.
This surely will affect speedmaster pro 2nd hand sales market to some degree, I can't see how it won't. A lot will depend on early reviews on quality etc I suppose.
These aren't limited and not numbered and will be produced on large enough scale. I don't fully understand the 2 day queuing? Just sit tight a few months and buy one when readily available.
Personally I'd buy one, for that sort of money I'd pass it off to my son if I wasn't mad on it.
I asked someone to swing by the Swatch boutique in Edinburgh - queues around the block..
Well to be fair Tudor don't have to shout the Rolex connection, it's now a near given in the minds and pockets of buyers. It's common enough to hear stuff like "if you really want a Sub, then buy a Sub, don't buy a Tudor version as it won't satisfy". The Black Bay has changed that to a large degree and is an end piece in of itself(I personally prefer them to the Subs).
Plus outside the world of watch collectors things like parts, inhouse and all that stuff has little enough weight to it. The brand is all. Stick a Ferarri badge on any old tat and it'll sell. 😁 And I would agree with you that for collectors who would be eyeing up a Speedmaster this could take some wind out of those sales(ouch). The extent of that long term I'm not so sure of. The hype of these, the queues outside shops and the backlash from the real Omega people are very of the now.
OK now this is me going off piste here: Maybe Swatch have decided to back out of the mid tier as luxury segment competition? With let's face it Rolex. That market is at best described as "volatile" and it's more it's getting. These Swatchomegas have a much wider appeal and are a safer punt financially for the company. They're going to kick the sub 500 quid market in the nads, the "Casio is god tier"* bollocks will take a big hit, even Seikos at that price point will look a bit flaccid, it'll be a big deal in the fashion watch market where Swatch have been sliding since their peak and are young and hip enough to get a fair number of the Apple watch crowd too, and more women(though the size could hurt there, as the actress said to the bishop).
The other thing is Swatch owns Omega and Swatch, they see what's selling and what's bringing in the bacon in profits. A loss in one branch could well be taken up by a gain in the other. Longines another Swatch brand gets half its profits in Asia from the sale of women's watches, mostly quartz. Something that wouldn't even be on our radar in the watch collector world, but it swells their pockets in a big way.
*they never were. G-Shock and 80's calculator watches is your lot.
Just seen this posted on TZ
It worked for Tudor and Rolex then for the simple reason that the Tudor watch was a Rolex complete with Rolex branding on some parts .The moonswatch isn’t an omega or have anything omega in it apart from design , brand and associated history.How many omega parts do you reckon make it up?Would you say it’s tooled by Omega or swatch?
Tudor survived because it was a high quality tool product at an affordable price but eventually the cheaper Rolex stigma was what had it pulled from the US market in the early 00’s.Tudor of today competes on its own two feet and I’ve yet too see modern Tudor marketing shouting it’s Rolex relationship.
“They're younger and more gender friendly too.”
That’s probably the key point.I get that these aren’t being released for the season watch collector but if I didn’t already have a moonwatch in my collection I wouldn’t be buying one for €5k when the swatch is available.The Apollo 8 was on my next watch list but there’s no way I’ll be getting it now .If brand and history help justify the price of a luxury watch it seems ridiculous to add that brand and history to a cheap watch .
I get the idea of a cheap and stylish Swatch moonwatch with a support Omega branding. I'd say its going to be a commercial success and I can't say they look terrible.
Personally I have never been too excited about the Speedmaster and I will pass on this hype but I don't think its a bad idea. I can see how someone might like them quite a bit.
Also been quite a nice bit of Speedmaster product placement in the 'Adam Project' movie to coincide with this. Well played one might say.
The Saturn? That's very much the runt of the litter for me.
It worked for Rolex and Tudor. Tudor were the much cheaper "it's a Rolex y'know" brand. Still are if we disregard the huge price increases in both and mid tier luxury watches in general. Depends how it's marketed. In the very early days Rolex was the "luxury" brand with a few other cheaper option brands below it. They did see as you note the cheaper stuff wasn't being elevated and the flagship brand was being harmed, so they cut it down to just one cheapy and Tudor was the one that survived.
In the US the Wittnauer connection with Longines worked kinda similarly. Wittnauer got the leg up from the much higher band recognition of Longines in that market, as did VC and JLC.
Even today on ebay or vintage dealers "this Wittnauer is really a Longines(it nearly always isn't)" increases values of that brand. Today of course VC and JLC are far more luxury brands than Longines and to see them as a division of Longines reads odd, but in the US market back then they couldn't get arrested without that existing brand recognition and even then had to create the LeCoultre brand for the local market.
So it can also depend on brand recognition. And what we define as low level. It's easy to forget that the watch market isn't just middle aged golfists comparing mickey sizes in the club. Swatch have huge recognition as a brand. They're younger and more gender friendly too. And they've had and exploited the "limited edition" marketing trick for decades. Even before the internet there were tiny run Swatch models that were changing hands way above retail because of rarity and demand. They're one of the big reasons we're even talking about mechanical Swiss watches today. The worldwide smash hit of the cheap placcy quartz fashion watches built up the funds and re-emergence of "Swiss Watches" as a thing after the Digital Crisis nearly did them in. Outside of the watch nutter world Swatch would have way more brand recognition than say an outfit like Audemars Piguet and for far longer. Hell within the watch nutter world a goodly chunk of people only heard of AP in the last couple of years, but they would have heard of Swatch.
TL;DR? IMHO this mashup will do no harm to either and will be more of a positive for both. And mucho money will be generated for the parent company.
I think so also. Don’t see it benefiting Omega as such either but I did read something some where about the collab helping to “frame” omega as the luxury brand.
I've a Speedmaster Pro, I started the thread and I'm the guy that said a mate was going to Madrid next week.
Genuinely just like the look of them, have had a few Swatches down the years, Sistem 51 sitting there.
Just see them as attractive beaters, some of the colour schemes are gorgeous.
It’s not possible to do both though . If it boosts swatch brand recognition by associating them with Omega , it also associates omega with swatch and as swatch has lower brand status than omega it reduces their brand level. It’s not possible to take a low level brand and a high level brand , mix them together and both of them come out at a higher brand level. Marketing doesn’t work that way.
Agreed on the Saturn, best looking of the bunch but a long shot. Maybe in a couple of months of so.
I think they look great, but I'll not be jumping on the hype train. Some of the colours look really interesting. Saturn looks great, I like Pluto too. I reckon you'd need to see these in person to get a better idea.
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