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What is High End ? - willy - 21-05-2014
This is a very tricky question indeed . Having had a good think about this , i have come to this conclusion .
High End must be the finish of a watch and not dependent on the complication built into the watch .
Philippe Dufour is considered by most watch experts to be the finest watch builder alive today .
His watches are simple time only pieces , hand made and hand finished . He is the nearest thing
to perfection in his field today . So he must be considered and is considered high end .
The mainstream High End brands such as Lange & Sohne - Patek - AP - Vacheron and many others
all strive to make their watches exceptional compared to other brands by the way of their finish . They all make limited
showpiece models with lots of complications , just to show us how clever they are . And of course it is great for marketing .
These models cost an arm and a leg , and are usually only for the very rich . These are the watches that get high prices at
watch auctions and give the brands free publicity .
Then we have High End bread & butter models like the Patek Nautilus or Calatrava etc . The AP royal oak in all its
limited editions and colours . All high end brands have these models . And it is the standard of their cheapest and big selling models
that define a high end brand for me . The case - dial- strap and caliber must be finished to the same standard as their super
complication models . But are they ? I do not have the answer to that . But i do believe that they are proud of what they do
and try to keep their standards exceptionaly high .
Some might say that any watch that costs more than 100,000 kr. must be high end . I say look at Hublot & Panerai
for examples about how branding can fool almost anyone . And last but not least i must mention Rolex in this category . I can hear you
all screaming Rolex are not High End . But you are partly wrong because the cases and bracelets made by Rolex are the equal of anything
made by high end brands . Not many know this but all Patek watch cases were made out of house up until a few years ago . Rolex are
considered to be the best in this field . Now imagine what would happen if they started to polish all their calibers . They would need about
one million extra employés
but they would be high end .Lots of brands are a bit high end in my world . Omega have been making some the best steel watch
bracelets for years . IWC workmanship and quality in their calibers is a byword in the industry . JLC the watchmakers watch . Where would
brands like Patek-AP-VC- IWC be without JLC ? I could name many other brands who have areas where they excell .
Last but not least not all high end brands make great watches all of the time . They make duff models
just like every other brand . But unfortunatly many watch people tend to believe that their favorite brand can do no wrong
Willy