what do you guys think of 'designer' watches

[numptyj]

Hi guys,

my friends always say to me when I rock up with a new watch, ooh whats that, another fake u got there? and I just kinda shrug it off cos they say it in a sarcastic manner as if to say why the hell buy that and not buy a 'real' watch.

Now these guys only have 1 watch and it will be an Armani or Hugo Boss, now these watches do look nice, but the price they have paid would be over

[aneki]

Designer watches should DIAF. They're crap movements with a huge markup due to the "design", which most of the time is a ripoff of a proper watch brand anyway.

[DocRaph]

All you pay for with the 'Designer' watch is the brand name and very little more.

And it's not just the High-street' designer brands (those associated with clothing and perfume, etc~) that use cheap movements and materials, but some of the non-manufacture watch makes as well - you don't need me to tell you who I mean.

Mark-up on all designer gear, clothing, jewelry and watches is 100% plus tax over trade cost, and you can imagine the sorts of profit the traders make....

I found out about this sort of stuff helping a friend out who owned a sports clothing store. He was having computer problems at the time.

Although the store was supposed to be sports clothing, more than 80% of his trade was 'Designer' sports wear - he admitted that without it he would have been in deep financial trouble - real sports gear is in a sad decline.......

Now I could buy gen watches (have done and have a few), but I now have a couple of reps, and as far as I am concerned they are just as good to me as the gens - I don't need to prove anything to other people and I wear what I want without having to 'flaunt' it, for my enjoyment alone.

Sorry to rant on... back to browsing...

Cheers, DR

[nikki6]

I used to look at designer watches as a gimmick to sell the clothes that are worn with them in the adverts! I agree with others here, that most 'designer watches' are a waste of money these days.They feel light and 'flimsey' in comparison to a good Tag or Breit rep, the bracelets feel like you could snap them with one hand, again, in comparison to the aforementioned reps, they are garbage!

BUT!!

I just got a couple of Police watches and they are amazing value!! I've always liked their jewellery and have several pieces by them, but never really paid much attention to their watches, until the past few weeks! I got the 'Fastlane' Quartz in white dial with blue surrounds and the Portland reserve Automatic.

I took some pics of the auto and the box and stuff, as I was going t make a post on what great quality it was, I will probably still do it or post them here in J's thread since they are the same subject! I seem to have gotten some ltd Edition Reserve, or one that is rarely seen, all the pics of Reserves that I've had people look at for me look the same, black dial with white accents. Mine is black dial with white accents and some red ones with red PR hand and seconds hand. The bracelet is pins, but really well built, I think the movement is a 23j number, but again I'm not sure on that as I can't see the movement and others that did wasn't sure. It has crystal front and rear, really solid, well made case. For the money, this is a top quality piece!! The quartz isn't quite the same quality, but still a grea piece for the money paid for it!!

Don't know if the rest of the 'designer' crowd make theirs as well as the Police models, but I would say the Police, auto especially, holds it's own pretty well!!

I'll post pics later.

Sixx

[StormTooper4]

Cr4p [censored] Rubbish waste of money cheap chinese stuff with a silly label

Save your money Armani and Boss make nice suits and very average watches

[gran]

This is actaully a difficult question in some ways ..... as many of our favorite replicas and 'designer' watches have so much in common....the look and the name on our replicas is in some respects more important to us the actual working parts quality and QC.....come to think of it some of the more ordinary models of genuine watches of major brands are nothing more than a name placed onto an ETA....am I wrong?

[swdivad]

Designer watches are pretty crap, except maybe Gucci, Versace, Hermes, Bulgari, LV, Chanel, and Hublot...

Armani, HB, and the like... stay away, they might look good, but under the hood, it's all yukky stuff

[maxman]

I guess It depends on who makes them and what kind of movements they have. I know Ralph Lauren has been puting out some pretty nice timepieces. Ralph Lauren himself has been a serious timepiece collector for many years. Most of his pieces have movements from Jaeger LeCoultre and Piaget. But take a watch from Designer power house Dolce& Gabbana. I have been using there cologne for years. But there watches are tacky Imo and have cheep quarts movements. Again It all depends on the designer. Mike

[plaifender]

If you go quartz... go digital and call it a day. The only "designer" watches that I find remotely interesting are some of the digital Fossil watches.... They're not terribly priced and look cool with their moving digital faces..... I would never pay 400usd for the shoddy DGs I've seen.. but that's just my opinion....

[Bike Mike]

I guess It depends on who makes them and what kind of movements they have. I know Ralph Lauren has been puting out some pretty nice timepieces. Ralph Lauren himself has been a serious timepiece collector for many years. Most of his pieces have movements from Jaeger LeCoultre and Piaget. But take a watch from Designer power house Dolce& Gabbana. I have been using there cologne for years. But there watches are tacky Imo and have cheep quarts movements. Again It all depends on the designer. Mike

Have you seen RL latest pieces

[maxman]

Have you seen RL latest pieces

[panerai153]

Maybe it's and age thing, The older I get, the less I like the so called "Designer" watches. They are Fad watches that will be thrown in the sock drawer as they will be "out of style' when next years must have models appear on the scene. Better to spend your money on enduring designs that will stand the test of time.

Like this

Or this

[Newbie]

If you go quartz... go digital and call it a day. The only "designer" watches that I find remotely interesting are some of the digital Fossil watches.... They're not terribly priced and look cool with their moving digital faces..... I would never pay 400usd for the shoddy DGs I've seen.. but that's just my opinion....

Any links to the aforementioned Fossils?

[RLudlowe]

Kenneth Cole makes some nice looking watches at reasonable prices, I have a few, mostly $75-$150 on sale, $100-$200 list. They even have autowinders with Chinese movements.

If you catch them when they do a 40% off sale they're worth the money. Not the quality of a Gen Breitling, but fair for what you get.

They're pretty much the same as Chinese fakes with the KC logo instead of the Gen logo.

[mastrmindalliance]

A pro photographer friend of mine once gave me excellent advice on buying a digital camera. He said, “You don't buy cameras from a company that's known for making fridges or DVD players, you buy a digital camera from a known camera maker, a specialist".

So, he was saying, don't buy an LG or Samsung for the higher megapixel count, buy a Nikon, Canon or Pentax et al.

The same can be applied here - don't buy a watch from someone who specialises in jeans or shirts. Be it Rolex or Seiko doesn't matter, no matter how pretty it is, buy a watch from a brand known for watchmaking.

Very wise advice.