Thoughts on the biggest watch release of the year and arguably in recent memory? (Objective fact given the consumer interest being through the roof)
I wanted to get one. Oh well maybe if they're released on the internet in significant numbers. As for the price, is it expensive, too expensive maybe? Yes. 250€ for a plastic watch with a quarz movement is a joke, I can get good mechanical watches with steel bracelets for that money.
But it got the iconic design. I would still want one. It might sound aloof but a 250€ plastic watch is a great thing for these moments where you don't want to worry about it too much. I would wear this riding my mountain bike. A chronograph is just like an app on the phone nowadays, and chronos are great. Useful.
That said, I also own the Casio F-91W that was just posted, I think it costs 10$. I put on a Nato strap and if you want the best sports watch for the money, this is it right there.
I never liked Omega much, especially because they make so many special models of the Speedmaster that it's really hard to track what's going on. Some sell for insane money, and man I would want a Snoopy, but honestly it's hard for the to equate price to the beauty of the watch, because they also make some great models that are not that expensive. Compare that to the Rolex model policy where changes are rare and you can immediately idenfity the model.
So from that perspective, I don't think it tarnishes the Omega/Speedmaster brand because there's so many of them already out there anyway.
If anything it's good advertising and it will get some people to wanna own the real thing someday.
On a sidenote. Watch prices have gone so crazy, I'm out. I'm glad I got my watches when they were not so expensive. I remember when you could get a new Speedmaster new for like 3.3k, now they are more like 6k. Heck I remember submariners for 3k. The prices have more than doubled in the last couple of years. It's ridiculous.
I wonder how long this can continue and I know others who started earlier wondered this before me. In any case, these were always luxury items with a questionable value proposition. But if you say you collect. You have to own a Speedmaster. You have to own a Submariner. It used to be you could buy one of these for 1 or 2 months wages. You just look at this graph.
Cheapest for a 114060 on Chrono24 is 16k. Annual median earnings was $56,287 in 2020. So now we're down to 3.5 submariners for a years income. That is just insane. If you wonder why a 250€ plastic quarz watch got this much attentation, that is why.
)
