I think much of the market is in china. Especially on this rep, I know this is a complete & unfair generalization, I am racist, and am going to hell, etc. But this watch seems to do better with Asian buyers... I have seen it 2x in NYC and both times an asian guy was wearing it - guessing gen on both given where I saw them. Your evidence may of course vary and it isn't really worth arguing this point, just a silly theory I have. Seemed to look better on them than me, skin tones just have that effect.
They also realize there are two sets of buyers for reps. One that will pay top dollar for the latest and greatest, and another more value conscious set. They charge the high price first to extract what is basically a monopoly rent from the early adopters, then wait for sales to drop off and cut the price. This way they maximize profit. If you sell 50 of these, it is better to sell 15 at $600 and 35 at $400 than all 50 at $400, particularly if you don't need all the money right away...
The theory that upsets me most, and that I think might also be the case, is that they are initially charging $600 for these so when the price gets down to $400 everyone will think it is a "good deal" and they are "saving" $200, when really they are getting a rep that should have cost $250-350 (max!) to begin with. Probably a symptom of general trend toward higher prices.
Could also be the case that it is hard to get ceramic part for this, limited supply, etc so it makes even more sense to use theories 2 & 3 since they don't have the stock to meet the demand at $400...