Quote:
Originally Posted by eric@helix
Great post.
I saw this vid a couple of nights ago and just about died laughing at this numpty. This is NSFW for language. Get a load of this guy.
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Well, I didn't watch the video, but looking at the title, I'd have to say that broadly speaking, I agree. When given the choice between a watch priced (MSRP) ~$2500 and one priced ~$1500 (give or take 15%), I'd pick the less expensive one nine of ten times.
When someone says they specifically want a given Tag, Breitling, or most other watches of that ilk, I generally won't any more bother trying on a forum to convince them that they should look a few rungs lower in price instead. All that gets me is a lot of "back and forth" and it's just not worth it to me to deal with that.
I already shared my thinking about Tag specifically:
I don't really have a different opinion about Breitling.
Are Tags and Breitlings nice watches? Yes, they are. That's not ever been in doubt as far as I'm concerned. Could one get effectively the same thing for less money? Absolutely. That's less true today than it was when I made the first post cited above, but it's still true.
I should at this point note that my idea of "stepping up their game" can happen in multiple ways:
- Offering more at the lower price points of say the basic Aquaracer models while keeping the price at ~$1500 or so.
- Offering something that one can only get from the given maker at higher price points.
Omega plays in the middle tier, but one can get their co-axial escapement movement and/or a Gerald Genta original design for a mid-tier price. There's no other place else one can go to to get that, so that makes those Omega's a good thing to buy.
Hamilton tiptoe around the bottom of the middle tier also. But their Valjoux-based H-21 and H-31 movements are solid, but more importantly they offer something over the movements on which they are based: increased accuracy and a larger power reserve. Those two features aren't the most Earth shattering things one will find, but it's something, and something tangible. And that is more than what Tag have historically done with the movements they received from third party suppliers.
"Historically done" is the key. Tag and Breitling are upping their game, and that makes their non-entry level products better buys. Their entry level wares haven't ever been the issue; they've always been good buys. But most folks don't hop onto forums asking about entry level watches. I don't know why that is; I just know that it is. Everyone seems to want to spend more and feel better for having done so.
The truth of the matter is that with just about every watch company out there, the best buy is their entry level watch. Almost without exception these days, the entry level watch has everything the pricier ones have, except the higher price tag. With Rolex, the Air King had exactly the same movement inside that the Submariner No Date, Explorer I and Oyster Perpetual had. It was a few millimeters smaller, and half the price of a Sub/Explorer. Now you tell me, are a few millimeters on the case and bracelet, worth $4K to you to get an Explorer or Sub?
Yet that's what everyone wants to buy. Fine by me. It makes getting a good price on the Air King or Oyster Perpetual easier. Now that the Air King has been discontinued, it's destined to become a collector's item and within a few years will start to rise in price on the pre-owned market. It won't be long before, like every other discontinued Rolex, it sells for more than it did new. That while the price of a new Sub drops the instant one leaves the store in which it was bought.
Getting back to Tag and other mid-tier watches....The thing in my mind is that even as Tag, Breitling and their ilk are indeed stepping up their game, they haven't done so across their lines. The low end Aquaracer is still a better buy, but at least now the 1887 and 1969 are at least somewhat unique to Tag.
The 1887 still uses an oscillating pinon clutch rather than a vertical clutch as the 1969 does, so as a chronograph it's just less accurate re: its stopwatch functionality. That's really a shame for Tag made their name on chronographs; therefore, in my mind, their top models should be fully first rate pieces. So though the 1887 is pretty, it's not really a better machine than a great many other chrono movements that appear in watches costing far less.
Aesthetically, Tag are finally taking a somewhat bolder stance with their designs and not merely mimicking and minorly tweaking the styling found from other makers. (For years the Aquaracer was Tag's take on a Rolex Sub. Their Link models were essentially Tag's take on Bertolucci's bracelet design.) That's a good thing, IMO. It means there is at least a reason to want a Tag, a reason other than that it's a more affordable way to get nice watch at a price below Rolex, Bertolucci, or someone else's. In short, Tag are finally offering watches that one cannot go anywhere else and get something similar unless one buys a Tag-inspired/homage watch.
Are there Tags that make sense to buy? Sure there are. The Monaco is one of them. It's a design that entirely unique to Tag. It doesn't even matter what's inside; it's singularly a Tag watch. Tag's Mikro-series of watches are also ones I'd buy.
Would I choose an 1889? No, I wouldn't. I would either buy a less pricey one that has the same compromises the 1887 does, or I'd save a bit longer and get one having the 1969 inside.
With regard to the choices offered in this thread, I'd buy buy a Ball rather than the Tag, and the Ball I'd buy would have tritium tube lume on it. Why? Because tritium tube lume rocks!! It always works and doesn't need charging. But more importantly, several of Ball's watches that have it are styles of watch that aren't anywhere else offered with tritium tube lume. You just plain won't see another dress watch that has that lume on it. And quite frankly, tritium lume is handy as hell in the dark; if one spends a lot of time doing things in the dark -- clubbing, driving, working, etc. -- it's super nice to be able to see the markers and hands on one's watch. I love my tritium tube watch. I love that when I wake in the middle of the night and glance at it to see the time, I can tell what time it is.
If one just wants to, there're even a Ball for BMW watches. (I think they are a bit pricey as go Ball watches but if one wants the BMW novelty, have at it. I can see myself buying one, but then I'm 56 and have pretty well decided that a BMW will always be my daily driver car, so I won't find it weird to drive, say a Mercedes, and wear a roundel bearing watch.)
All the best.