[tony20009]

Originally Posted by mb135is

I have nothing to add other than to say I enjoy reading your posts on watches. Just got into caring about watches and am going down the very prescribed route of tag, victorinox, hamilton and longines.

Well, then. Welcome to your new addiction. It's a hoot of fun on so many levels. It's fun to just wear lots of different looking watches. It's fun to share what you know about your watch or other watches with friends, family, or even strangers (in the right setting). And it's just as much fun when you are buying a nifty $100 knock about piece as it is to steel yourself and take the big multi-thousand dollar plunge and buy something that is a seminal work of the watchmaker's art.

If you've read much of what I've had to say here, you know what I think of Tag, even being the owner of a couple mid-level Tag watches. I have absolutely nothing against them at all. They just strike me as so much the default choice of so many folks getting their feet wet with watches. I guess that's as it should be because that's exactly how tag has positioned themselves, so I most certainly cannot fault the success of their business strategy/tactics. But that's just what I feel about Tag's stuff in a very broad sense, and to take just that much of my statement and try to apply it all of Tag would be unfair to oneself and to Tag. I don't think that's a good thing either.

So here's my case regarding Tag.

1. They do make good, solid, fairly well designed watches.
2. Their watches can be relied upon to work
3. Despite their recommended biennial servicing frequency, one can easily go a good deal longer without concern, particularly if the watch isn't one's daily wear one for most of the two years. (That's more or less true for just about any mechanical watch as the servicing interval is a function of how long the maker thinks the lubricants inside the watch will survive. For certain very important pieces I wouldn't ignore the advice, but otherwise, I send my more "normal folk" watches in when it's plain to me that they are losing/gaining time at silly rates.)
4. When they need servicing, it's not hard to find a place that can take care of it for you and it's not hard to send the piece off to Tag yourself. Also, they print on their website the prices you'll pay for most servicing activities. The lack of being surprised is also a good thing.
5. Tag has plenty of "story" behind the brand.
6. They are on par with most other brands -- even those somewhat higher and those somewhat lower on the scale -- as far as time keeping goes. They'll gain or lose a few seconds every day.
7. Tag make a few watches that quite noteworthy. Most aren't, but then unless you are talking about a very rarefied segment of the watch market, that's the case for pretty much all other brands too.
8. Tag have a ton of styles. It's hard for the average person not to be able to find one that appeals and almost none that Tag offer are polarizing aesthetically. By the same token, few Tags are going to just make your mouth water and fill you with unbridled passion for their looks.
9. In terms of brand recognition, Tag could well be the Rolex of the mid-range brands.

So all that sounds just great, and it is. But here's the rub and why most of the time I can't get behind Tag. Of the points above, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 can be said about every single watch on the planet that has an ETA, Sellita, Miyota or Sea-gull movement inside it, and that's to say nothing of the fancier movement makers. Some of those ETA movements are actually more significant to watchmaking, such as the ETA 7750 which played a key role in bringing the Swiss mechanical watch industry back from the edge of extinction. More often, though, ETA's movements are simply recognized as solid workhorse movements that just keep going, and going and going.

As for Tag making well designed watches, well there are tons of companies that do that much. There are tons that don't, but then I wouldn't suggest buying one those either. LOL And as for "story," well every brand and every watch has a story. At least the one's that are in the Tag space do.

When it comes to Tag having a ton of styles, they almost have to. People like to make car to watch analogies. In the sense of watch styles, Rolex is like Porsche. They mostly make one style -- Oyster -- and then dress it up or dress it down a little bit here and there. They've made exactly that style for nearly a century. They offer a couple other looks, but when one thinks Rolex, one has the Oyster in mind. Just as in the car world, there aren't many brands that can exist doing very little to alter the look of it's cars in the way Porsche does, the same is true in the watch world. As a result, pretty much everyone else has multiple styles to offer.

When one considers all the styles available from all the other folks who make a watch to which a Tag is equal on the basis of construction and engineering, that Tag offers so many styles of its own isn't that meaningful. Moreover, that so many of Tag's styles resemble one another points out that mostly all those styles exist for one reason only: to gain market share and do so with bland enough models so that once Tag has gained market (sales) dominance in its market space, that the consumers feel less obliged to express their individuality by opting for something more aesthetically unique. It's just easier to play it safe than to really think about what moves one's heart. And playing it safe is a much faster road to "satisfaction" because one doesn't have to invest the effort to look for that watch that one finds irresistibly beautiful.

Don't get me wrong, there are certainly folks who like blander watch designs, just as there are folks who prefer bland food, or grilled chicken and steamed veggies, to seasoning, spices and racks of lamb and grilled butternut squash brushed with rosemary infused oil as it cooked.

Lastly, I come to the point of brand recognition. It's a good thing in that it can lend one a sense of comfort when buying it. That's appropriate for the watch buying masses much the same way an Honda is. For budding watch enthusiasts, however, it's a curse because it makes it so much easier to overlook many an excellent alternative and because it suggests a plethora of comparisons of unequals, and because one has to know a lot of details about a lot of models to know which Tag is a good buy and which one could have easily been bested for no more money.

Here's why I said that last bit.

• At the lowest end of Tag's price range, one is buying quartz watches. There's nothing wrong with quartz watches, but since the point of buying quartz is to get some style in the design without having to think at all about the movement inside, there're plenty of more interesting styles to be had at that price point and having a quartz movement. Also, there are less expensive watches with very solid mechanical movements in them, some of which are made by the people who make the rest of the watch. There are also plenty of ETA-inside watches well below the $1000 mark and they are going to be as good as anything Tag offers until one gets into Tag's in-house movements that are noteworthy, but then one is at a price well above $1000. Not many folks considering a $1000 watch are going to jump to $4000 instead.
• At the mid-point of Tag's price range, one is buying mechanical movements (hopefully), but they are likely ETA or a comparable purchased movement. Well, you recall what I said earlier about ETA, right. 80% of the watches in the market are ETA inside. So one isn't really getting a better piece and one still has a greater level of access at these prices to more interesting looking styles. Additionally, one is at the upper mid-range flirting with Omega's price points and a stretch up a few hundred dollars is not out of the question for someone looking to spend $2K -$3K.
• At the upper end of Tag's price range ($3K+, and not including gold watches), one is squarely in the realm of "nice" watches. Many folks will buy only one "nice" watch. For those folks, the first "nice" watch they buy should be a dress watch, something that Tag doesn't offer much of to begin with, and isn't their stock in trade even if they do.
  
  Why should one's sole "nice" watch be dressy? Well, if/when you have to dress up, do you really want to wear a chunky, sporty watch with your Sunday best or with a tux? After your friends and colleagues have been seeing you fittingly wear your sport watch in your casual and business casual day to day routines, do you really want to show up in your suit/tux with a lesser watch on? For most folks, the answer is, "no."
  
  Also, at $3K+, you can get an Omega Seamaster ($2800 - $3600), a watch that is among the best watches one can buy and is in the league of JLC, Patek, Vacheron, and others at the very top (above Rolex) of the watch world. Even the best Tag has to offer -- and costing more -- isn't of that caliber. That Seamaster has exactly the same easily swallowed, sporting looks, likely more brand recognition, and without a doubt a far better movement inside. And the next price point up from the Seamaster, and staying the "better than Rolex" realm, is roughly $5500-$6000 for several offerings from JLC (Reverso or Master Control). Slipping on a a Patek or Vacheron or AP is minimally setting you back about double the price of the JLC. So when it comes to value for dollar spent, Tag just doesn't have it. (FWIW, Rolex starts around $4400 new.)
  
  If instead you do want a dress watch for around $800 t0 $3000 or less, there're plenty of choices:
  • Frederique Constant - A company that's committed to making excellent watches at reasonable prices and squarely aimed at Tag in terms of price and quality for most of their lines, though FC's looks are more casual dress to dressy than strictly sport/casual. At the top end of FC's offerings, squarely above Tag while beating it on price, albeit in the dress watch space. I would look to FC for a dress watch. A couple examples:
    $3500 and with in-house movement:
    
    
    $700 ETA-inside silver guilloche
    
  • Emile Chouriet
  • Any number of others see this post (http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=907804)

As for the others, I'm kind of six of one and half dozen of the other about them. The Longines Legend watch is a very nice thing. Victorinox is a very sound alternative to a lot of what Tag offer at the lower end of its range. Hamilton's Jazzmaster is a great watch and that deco one they do (can't recall the name just now) is super smart looking, funky, fun and swanky all at once. Great for a nice evening out or for formal.

So, no, I don't dog folks who buy Tags, nor do I poo-poo Tag watches intrinsically. It's just that when I hear folks saying they are looking at Tags, more often than not what they are considering is not the best way to spend their hard earn money. Not because there's something wrong with Tags, but because there's so much other stuff that's not worse that costs less, and there's stuff that is better for the same price and sometimes for less, or better from the standpoint of collection building and wardrobe matching. And it's very rare that I find someone who upon seeing a Tag has to find a towel so they can clean up afterwards.

All the best.