This is really vexing me - it’s a nice watch (apart from the gritpaper dial), and the price is probably fair for the quality - but the brand placement is fucking insanity.
Thing is, Citizen owns Campanola, Ateliers deMonaco, Arnold & Son, Angelus and Frédérique Constant (among many others) - all more-or-less high end, and all of which brands they completely fail to promote.
So why the fuck spend silly-Yen on an expensive high-end Citizen that no-one wants outside their home market, and whose value will plummet the minute the warranty card is stamped? Why not spend the money promoting the high-end brands they already own that most people barely know fucking exist?
The Japanese do my fucking head in - same nonsense spending squillions dragging Grand Seiko up to the big-boy tier against a tide of opinion that associates the word “Seiko” with the cheap’n’cheerful quartz fodder that nearly ended Swiss watch-making: all that swimming against the tide promoting a forgotten 1960 sub-brand instead of just putting the effort into getting Credor more widely-known!
Series8. Yeah, thanks for the thought and effort in that.
And as sodders says, why put Citizen on the front. Frederique Constant’s shopping mall chic would have been a step up. But even then £6k is too much to be taken seriously.
Ahh I see. I love the Brutalism of that casework and bracelet. But at that price everyone has the luxury of being a brand snob, even if its the inverse snobbery of a brand most haven’t heard of like Sinn etc. The in the know, know. And that’s a luxury in itself.
They will sell them in Japan to the die hard butters. Force a few on stores here who do well with them, then they will be sold half price still with stickers on in 6 years time.
Sometimes, a bit of brand snobbery makes sense - and £5K gets you a brief run on the Rolex hamster-wheel, or something actually-nice from IWC, Omega, Grand Seiko, &c, where you won’t haemorrhage cash to the same extent.
Humorously the reverse nearly killed Rolex off. Hans Wilsdorf at one point wanted a sell a watch at every price point from top to bottom. Just some of his failed brands; Omigra (see what he did there), Marconi, Unicorn, Wilsdorf & Davis and Stockwell & Co, Rolco, Oyster watch company and Tudor.
Nearly finished him off as people associated Rolex with the cheap sub brands with cheap non Rolex movements more than the fancy stuff.
Just something about them that doesn’t usually appeal to me. I think it was after I read up about the company, I don’t know. It’s probably me. Mate has one of their GMT watches and it’s nice.
