$10,000 watches are hot

I guess all expensive watches are made in Europe, mostly
Switzerland.

The curious thing is to have a time piece covered with diamonds,
the face of the watch having only 4 marks, for noon, 3, 6 and 9.

It is obvious that $10,000 watches are for conspicuous display
not time.

The sociology of being rich changes from generation to generation.
In the 1930s, conspicuous consumption was out, the old rich of
New England learned to drive around is rusty old cars. It was
the time of "what rich? me?" "no way".

If you wish to see evidence of the rich in Paris, you should
wander around and look into the display windows of the jewelers
on the Place Vendome. The prices are never shown (poor taste)
and in fact the truly (old) rich never concern themselves with price.

I think it was J. P. Morgan who was having a party abaord his yatch.

A guest said

"I am thinking about buying a yatch like this myself. How much
did it cost"?

J. P. looked at him and said "If you are asking about the price then
you can't afford it".

Well a lot of people can afford a $10,000 watch, many fewer can
afford a $10,000,000 yatch.

Frankly, if I need a $10,000 appear watch, there are plenty of fake
ones sold at the "thieves' markets in Paris". I don`t need one,
my Casio does alright for the moment.

Earl

*****




Deluxe watches are hot

Tracie Rozhon/NYT
Wednesday, January 7, 2004

$10,000-plus models are hit gift of season
*
Luxury watches are back, especially if they are encrusted with diamonds or
endorsed by celebrities, living or dead.

This holiday season, some consumers parted with more than $10,000 for a
timepiece, and they were joined by plenty for whom a $1,000 watch was the
gift to give.

While the luxury watch business - from jeweled timepieces by Tiffany and
Harry Winston to sports models by Tag Heuer and Breitling - had been
struggling, pollsters, retailers and watchmakers say this was the Christmas
that marked the return of the buyer who wants more than just something to
tell the time.

"Jewelry, especially fancy, high-priced watches, rose 35 percent over last
Christmas," said Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, which
polls both shoppers and retailers. "For corporate executives, CEO's and Wall
Streeters, the watch is now as much a status symbol as the car they drive.
It was the big gift they gave themselves this Christmas."

At Saks Fifth Avenue, $1,000-plus watches by Michele, a four-year-old watch
company, sold out - and did well throughout the country; buyers were
attracted to the diamonds that circle the watch, the brightly colored
starfish skin and alligator bands and, of course, the low price (relative to
the Cartier and Tiffany diamond-encrusted watches, that is).

Leading U.S. watch dealers said in interviews that consumers would want more
watches with diamonds on the outside as well as more technically advanced
sports watches like Tiger Woods's Link Calibre 36 by Tag Heuer, which sells
for a cool $5,000 - and is sometimes sold out - and the Emergency watch by
Breitling, complete with a beacon to summon rescuers. Buyers must sign a
waiver absolving the manufacturer of responsibility if the beacon is set off
accidentally and the Coast Guard turns out en masse.

Consumers are also requesting more "entry level" watches, which dealers say
run from $295 to $600. And the more "complications" - industry slang for
elaborate functions like the emergency beacon - the better.

The watch industry is gearing up to give customers what they want.

Companies like Tag Heuer and Harry Winston are expanding both up and down
the income scale. Tag Heuer is working with Woods to develop a new golfing
watch (90 percent of golfers do not wear watches, Tag Heuer says) and has
reintroduced the Monaco, the watch worn by Steve McQueen when he raced cars
at Le Mans, which retails for as much as $12,000. Ten days before Christmas,
it also introduced a line of less expensive watches called Formula One, with
red, blue and black dials, for $600 to $800.

Harry Winston now sells what a spokeswoman called "classic, everyday
watches" for $6,000 to $11,000; for Winston, that is moderate. But Winston
has not deserted its billionaires: It will introduce the Opus IV at the
Basel Watch Fair in April. The price? Around $200,000. Not to be outdone,
Louis Vuitton, which started making watches two years ago, on Feb. 10 is
introducing a model for roughly the same price.

Rolex, often called the Rolls Royce of watches, has not made its reputation
on new models - its traditional ones often have waiting lists. But a few
months ago, even Rolex introduced a new limited edition: instead of black
around the bezel, a ring of green. And Cartier came out with a new watch for
the holidays: the $3,450 Roadster for women.

Watch retailers are definitely in good spirits.

"We had a very strong holiday," said Andrew Block, vice president for
marketing at Tourneau, one of the biggest watch dealers in the United
States.

"I can't give you the numbers," he said, "but the increase was well above
what the analysts were projecting: 3 percent to 5 percent. With some brands,
the increase over last year was in the double digits."

Louis Fortunoff, an executive vice president at Fortunoff, the
half-billion-dollar jewelry company, said the fourth quarter had been
"driven by men's sports watches: Breitling, Tag Heuer and Omega." On the
ladies' side, Fortunoff said, Baume Mercier and Movado were the winners.

But Raymond Weil, another status brand, is still struggling, Fortunoff said:
"They didn't come up with any new styles, and what they had they didn't ship
well; they weren't at the top of their game."

For Fortunoff, it is still a little too early to say the whole luxury watch
business has turned the corner. "One quarter does not a turnaround make," he
said. "But certainly there are signs of improvement, and more excitement."

The experts, including company executives, wonder if there are already too
many expensive brands, with more, like Burberry and Ferragamo, joining the
crowd. "There's a lot of new entrants," said Daniel LaLonde, president of
LVMH's watch and jewelry division in the United States. "The barriers are
not difficult. If you have cash, you can develop a brand name and put some
diamonds on it."

The dealers agree. "From Anne Klein to Zippo, the market is flooded with
watch brands," Block said. "The competition is to get into the marketplace.
I can't carry them all. I don't have unlimited space."

This year promises to be, if anything, more turbulent than 2003, with
virtually every fancy watch company, every fashion designer, vowing to sell
watch divisions that do not make enough money.

In late December, LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company, said it
would sell Ebel, which it bought in 1999, for $47.3 million after a
hard-fought campaign to bring this Swiss company, whose watches sell for
$1,500 to $10,000, back to profitability. The buyer? Movado, based in
Paramus, New Jersey, whose signature black-faced watch is embedded with a
diamond.

"Ebel was a good brand with lots of name recognition, but like many brands
that started to falter, Ebel had lost its DNA," Block of Tourneau said.

"Ebel was a strong women's watch, but they started to get away from that -
this year's big launch was a men's watch."

Tag Heuer boasts double-digit sales growth in North America over the past
two years, and the LVMH jewelry and watch group saw its operating loss
shrink in the first six months of 2003, and its executives point to a
turnaround: In the third quarter, earnings at the watch and jewelry segment
of LVMH rose 8 percent from a year earlier, and executives predict the
momentum will continue into 2004.

CKG Zenith and Chaumet, also owned by LVMH, are being repositioned, with
Chaumet going back to selling more jewelry and Zenith returning to its
expensive, hand-crafted roots.

"The whole watch business has been very challenging for the past three
years," LaLonde of LVMH said. "If you look at the expensive Swiss watch
business, the sector has been in a decline."

In the past three years, to increase sales, Tag Heuer reduced the number of
styles it offered, to 150 from more than 900, to foster a sense of rarity.

That is something Rolex has been able to do. Another sought-after watch is
the Panerai, an Italian naval watch with trendy, oversized cases, selling
for an average of $4,000. Panerai is owned by Financière Richemont, the
world's third-largest luxury conglomerate, whose brands include Cartier, Van
Cleef Arpels, Piaget and Jaeger-LeCoultre.

While women's watches are often fashion brands, a watch may be a man's only
piece of jewelry. And increasingly, men are fascinated by the craftsmanship;
Patek Phillippe, whose watches sell for $10,000 and up, do not come
encrusted with diamonds.

"Men wear their watch every day, and it's always there, full of the status
of the brand," Block said. "When you go into a restaurant and the maître d'
sees it, maybe he'll give you a better table. He can't see the Porsche
parked outside. He only sees the watch."

The New York Times

Copyright © 2002 The International Herald Tribune

*

Earl Evleth wrote in
:

I guess all expensive watches are made in Europe, mostly
Switzerland.

The curious thing is to have a time piece covered with diamonds,
the face of the watch having only 4 marks, for noon, 3, 6 and 9.

It is obvious that $10,000 watches are for conspicuous display
not time.


I had a guy try to trade me for some art. He had a diamond studded
Phillipe Patek (sp?) that he never wore and had to kep in a safe. It may
have been worth a lot, but it sure wasn't much of a watch. (hard to
carry that safe around.)

On 7/01/04 14:26, in article
7, "jcoulter"
wrote:

Earl Evleth wrote in
:

I guess all expensive watches are made in Europe, mostly
Switzerland.

The curious thing is to have a time piece covered with diamonds,
the face of the watch having only 4 marks, for noon, 3, 6 and 9.

It is obvious that $10,000 watches are for conspicuous display
not time.


I had a guy try to trade me for some art. He had a diamond studded
Phillipe Patek (sp?) that he never wore and had to kep in a safe. It may
have been worth a lot, but it sure wasn't much of a watch. (hard to
carry that safe around.)


Well if you Google it you get things like

****

C9862. Patek Philippe "Moonphase;" Day/Date/Month; Automatic Winding with
Date, Ref. 5036/1R-001. 18k Pink Gold round style case with exposition back
to view movement with Gold Winding Rotor (36mm dia.). 18k Pink Gold Patek
Philippe bracelet with deployant clasp. Silvered Dial. New with Box and
Papers. Retail Price $30,850.00. ----$22,950.00


****

So even discounted this one runs $23,000! Other versions are cheaper,
below $10,000

See http://www.tic-tock.com/PatekPhilipp...ntemporary.htm

But you are right. It is like expensive jewelry, kept in the safe
except for rate exits into the real world.

Earl

Earl Evleth wrote:

I guess all expensive watches are made in Europe, mostly
Switzerland.

The curious thing is to have a time piece covered with diamonds,
the face of the watch having only 4 marks, for noon, 3, 6 and 9.

It is obvious that $10,000 watches are for conspicuous display
not time.

Perhaps if you can afford $10,000 for a not very functional watch, you
don't NEED to care what time it is?

On 7/01/04 16:56, in article ,
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:

Perhaps if you can afford $10,000 for a not very functional watch, you
don't NEED to care what time it is?


Ah ha, but time is money. Without the money you can`t by the watch
which then you can be used to organize your time to make money.

Earl