Can luxury watch brands get any more desperate than this? Are we seeing the end of the watch market as we know it?! -------------
So there's a saying that says, “Imitation is the best form of flattery,” and right now in the watch business, it's safe to say that steel cases with blue dials is the leader to follow.
So there's no secret that Gerald Genta designed two of the most iconic watches in the industry, the Nautilus and the Royal Oak.
As a matter of fact, this Diver that I have, the 42mm, still has the DNA of Gerald Genta's design.
Now, there's no denying that there's been great success with both the Nautilus and the Royal Oak in the last 30 years. I mean, not even counting the last 3-year craze and uprise there's been with those two models. That being said, I feel like in the business, there's been a bit form of desperation, like I like to call it, because there's been a couple of brands that just could not contain themselves. Perhaps maybe they're suffering from lack of creativity or just feel that maybe they could corner a little bit of that look with a fraction of the cost.
Now, I wanna go ahead and say that in no way do those other brands bother me or do I hate them? As a matter of fact I think each of them have at least one model that I feel that I personally like.
I just think it's a bit of a, I don't know, just kind of like a low hanging fruit, cheap shot. In the business, to blatantly rip off the styling and overall idea or can we just say maybe the blueprint.
So the victims of this copying have been the Royal Oak in steel line and also the Nautilus, mostly the 5711.
Now, one of the first examples that I like to give of this blatant styling or like I like to call them, Royal Oak and Nautilus tributes, is...let's start first with the Piaget Polo.
I mean, is it just me or the bezel is a step away from being an Aquanaut?
Just kind of like, let's give a little bit of that Nautilus pedigree, but by using the Aquanaut sublimely in there. I mean, look, it's not that it's a bad watch. It's just that just because these two brands are having luck right now with the steel and blue dial, should everybody follow in formation? I mean, yes the Datejust 41 and the Datejust II with blue dial had a great success, but I didn't see everybody rip them right off the back.
Now, don't get me wrong, that Polo is not a bad looking piece. It just feels kind of cheesy and corny to follow suit and like almost say, send out a blue dial, steel now. We have to try to corner the market.
So don't get me wrong, man. I'm not saying it's an ugly watch if anybody out there has it. It's just kind of cheesy, you know? Which leads me to the next one, Bell & Ross. They come out with the BR05, which pretty much almost says, let's almost blatantly rip off the Nautilus bracelet and put on our instrument panel style gauge as the head of the watch.
Again, look, I don't think it looks terribly bad either. I just think it's kind of comical right now with how everyone's just trying to jump on the bandwagon.
There's two more that I saw with the same look. Let's go over a couple more.
Chopard. Chopard came out with the Alpine Eagle watch. Again, trying to rip off the same look, satin with a little bit of polish here and there. Let's put a little screw over here by the bezel, this and that, blue dial and it's hot and ready, like Little Ceasars. Again, I hope they sell a billion of them, because again, I don't hate any of these brands.
At the end of the day, I'm a watch lover overall. I just...just seems a little comical to me.
Another interesting one which also caught my attention is the Maurice Lacroix Aikon or Akon, or I don't know what they're gonna call it, but I guess that one was very low handing fruit for some of the guys that are trying to start. Don't wanna break the bank and want that steel look with the blue dial.
Now I'm gonna go over the last two examples that I feel are a bit more stronger and more attempts to kind of dominate that angle in the market.
Next we got the Girard Perregaux Laureato. Another example of the straight styling and trying do these tribute models. Again, a tribute to the Royal Oak, that's the way I would see it.
But perhaps maybe the most disappointing of all for me was the Lange & Sohne Odysseus or Odyssus or whatever you wanna call it.
You see, I can expect this more from these more commercial brands out there, where they have a lot of product to push, but a brand like Lange and Sohne, I just didn't see that coming.
They'll probably deny it and say that that's not what they were trying to do, but I mean...
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