anybody ever heard of Albert Riele watches?

[tyrantblade]

They are supposedly a Swiss watch brand that has been around since 1881, but i never heard of them

I must say though, i kinda like how their Challenger 300m water resistant watches look

I found out about them by looking through OceanicTime blog

[SSTEEL]

Thanks for the heads up, will check them out!

[Mike on a bike]

info?

 

 

blog Albert Riele watches by Apart - Swiss made?

Lately, I've heard from my Polish friends that Polish jewellery producer Apart took over Albert Riele brand from Switzerland and now they sell Albert Riele watches in Poland advertising they are Swiss made.

Do any of you consumers know when the goods can be called Swiss made?
It's a crucial thing to distinguish between the company's marketing and advertising practise and the legal requirements it has to comply with in order to produce real Swiss made goods.

Swissness  - this new legal basis meets the concerns of consumers around the world, who are prepared to pay more for products marked Swiss made but expect in return, quite rightly, that the major part of such products should be manufactured in Switzerland.

Consumers are usually not aware of the marketing techniques used to attract them. When you hear: impeccable quality Swiss made watch sold by a Polish company, for some it may seem a good bargain and a piece of Swiss luxury. Others first like to check before they buy something valuable if it is really worth the money and whether the slogan "Swiss made" reflects the true production process and guarantees the true Swiss origin of a watch.

According to the law, the goods can be marked Swiss made if the Swiss share in costs of manufacture is at least 60%, and the company's registered office or at least a person's responsible for the company's activity must be in Switzerland.

How does it relate to Albert Riele watches?

According to the trademark databases the owner of Albert Riele is Inwest AP Sp. z o.o. (Apart), which has a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in the territory of Poland. Now, the question is: how much of an Albert Riele watch is produced in Poland, and how much in Switzerland?

More worryingly for watch lovers and consumers, Albert Riele brand, unlike Blancpain, Omega, Tissot or Rolex, does not belong to the Federation of the Swiss watch industry:
http://www.fhs.ch/eng/homepage.html
Moreover, it is sold only in Apart in Poland and online from their website.

You can always look some brand up in the databases and the above mentioned Federation of the Swiss watch industry to make sure that a watch you buy is a certified Swiss watch about which you have no doubts.

[kernow]

So, that'll be a no then!

[tyrantblade]

Well i figured they might not be a true 100% Swiss company and knew Swiss made doesnt mean 100% made in Switzerland anymore

But if the price isn't too high and the quality is good then its still a good product

[tyrantblade]

And in to price, it seems they start at under $500, but the Challenger series is new, no info on price or the quality you would get yet, but thats a price range you don't really need to get 100% Swiss made at.

It might be interesting to see if they ever take off and if worth the money

So far though, all thats known about these models is full SS, 43mm case size, 300m WR and powered by a Sellita SW200

[Mike on a bike]

Save a few bucks get this when sales reopen, good quality watches from this company.

 

 

http://www.obrismorgan.com/aegis.asp

[tyrantblade]

Two very different styles watches, as I've said, im interested to see at what price the Albert Riele challenger gets released and what the quality is like (somebody is sure to buy and review one of the versions eventually)

Its not really a case of what i would buy as i would never just go off of looks without getting high enough quality  (for the price)

[Mike on a bike]

True very different. I guess I just don't like the looks on the challenger as much, just personal preference and it's hard to beat the Orbis on cost to quality.

[automatico]

Albert Riele watches...supposedly a Swiss watch brand that has been around since 1881.

My guess it is an old forgotten swiss brand and the brand name has been purchased by a marketing/watch company so they can use the swiss pedigree to make them appear to be relevant in the swiss watch arena. There are hundreds of doa swiss watch brands and many of today's 'Big Names' are not much more than a brand name from the 1800s/1900s that was out of business for 50 or 75 years and bought for a few thousand $$ and fired back up.

Under the 'swiss made' rule, a watch can get by with being 90% Asian made because they only have to be 60% swiss 'by value' with 'final assembly' (whatever that means) performed in switzerland. Take a $30 swiss Eta quartz movement and stuff it in a $20 HK case/dial/hands/bracelet combo in switzerland for a few bucks and you have a 'swiss made' $1500 retail watch.

I saw this with a batch of Wenger 'swiss military' watches we bought for our store about 10 years back. They were nos and a lot of them were doa and a battery would not make them run so they had to have new movements. They had 'swiss made' on the boxes, dials at 6, and case backs (with 'Made in China' stickers on the bottom of the boxes). Inside were cheapo plastic Eta 805.xxx plastic movements. Inside the case backs they had 'Made in China' (printed in ink), on the backs of the dials they had 'China Made' (printed in ink), and the bracelets had 'Made in China" stamped on them. The watches were all steel, high quality 'swiss' watches...but mostly made in China. Wenger has moved upscale quite a bit since then but I bet they still use a lot of parts made in China.

From wiki:

A watch is considered Swiss, according to the Swiss law if:

• its movement is Swiss and,
• its movement is cased up in Switzerland and;
• the manufacturer carries out the final inspection in Switzerland

A watch movement is considered Swiss if:

• the movement has been assembled in Switzerland and,
• the movement has been inspected by the manufacturer in Switzerland and;
• the components of Swiss manufacture account for at least 60 percent of the total value, without taking into account the cost of assembly.