The future of watch making

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Cheers Willy - I agree with a lot of what you write. But I must admit I had to read your post 2-3 times to get a proper feel for what you were saying......... this, not in a small amount, due to your usual style of writing. 

I actually imported the text into my usual text program on my computer and sorted it - and this is how it came out........ quite a bit more legibile ! 

(03-01-2021, 01:50 PM)willy Skrev: Just like to give my 5 cents on the future of watch making as i see it.

I do not think we will see any great changes in the years to come. I cannot see another Quartz revolution like the one that nearly wiped out the mechanical watch industry some years ago. 

The industry is much more controlled today, and it is much harder for new brands to break into the areas controlled by the established and well known brands.

If there could be a threat, then it could come from smart watches that have the ability to update forever.

I think micro brands will continue to thrive, and take a market share from the established brands. But i do not think they will have any lasting value, or be worth collecting for the future.

I think that the servicing of many new watches will involve just replacing the calibers and polishing the case. This is cost efficient, and i think vital to the future of mechanical watches.

Lets face it who wants to wait 6 months to get your watch back from a service. And with the millions of new watch buyers coming in the future, it will be impossible to get the amount of watchmakers to service them that will be needed.

Of course high end watches, will continue as usual to use specialist watchmakers, and make people pay for the privilege of owning them  

I can see a bright future for brands making watches to order for people who want something that is individual for them.

I hope for the future that brands will begin to use their efforts to make watches more scratch resistant, with longer power reserves and longer service intervals. I think many brands are standing still in this respect.

I would like to see brands like JLC who once were at the forefront of mechanical watch making, start to remember their heritage and get back to what they once did best. Innovate and make progress.

What do you think will come in the future of watches?

Now, I can only speak for myself - but I do see people getting tired and annoyed of the major brands holding back the most popular models from their authorised dealerships and thereby throwing customers into the arms of grey-market dealers paying in some cases twice as much as the RSP !! Rolex is notorious for this.

If they met the demand of their customers, by supplying the nessecary amount of the desired sports models fx. they would sell more watches, earn more money and keep their customers loyal on a long term basis.

For my part, I refuse to pay 2-3 times the RSP for a watch that is costly enough in the first place - and then, when it is time to service them, have to accept arrogantly high service costs, disregard for personal preferences of not having case polished or not replacing original hands and/or dials, and as the icing on the cake, having to accept ridiculous service periods of + 6 months etc.

All this makes me feel, that I as a customer am being taken for a ride, and having to overpay for it at the same time 

Hence, my new found love of reasonably priced (read = cheap) watches, that I can wear and love, and eventually will not shed a tear for, when they go in the bin or will be serviced with a movement swap by the local watchmaker.