Rolex’s power and influence reach terrifying levels, Watchfinder survey finds

[RealMadrid1988]

Originally Posted by vh2k

The survey was carried out by Richemont’s Watchfinder & Co., which asked over 20,000 watch lovers, from over 140 countries, to name their dream watch.

In second place was the Rolex Submariner with 12.4% of the votes.

Patek Philippe’s Nautilus came in third with 6.2%, followed by Rolex’s GMT-Master with 5.1% and Rolex Datejust at 4.9%.

Look, I love Rolex as much as the next poster, but the above is just preposterous. A plurality of "watch lovers" desired a Rolex Submariner over a Patek Nautilus? Not to sound elitist, but this sounds like the result of a poll where the majority of respondents have never even heard of Patek Phillippe, Audemars Piguet, etc.

[ThatOtherGuy7]

I think the article just goes to show the power of Rolex’s marketing. The fact that more than 50% of people know of and would choose Rolex over all the many brands is itself insane! I think if you did the same survey for cars, Bimmers and Benzes would top the list even though Porsche and other brands make superior cars. Things need to be attainable, familiar, and of high quality.

[Mystro]

Originally Posted by RealMadrid1988

Look, I love Rolex as much as the next poster, but the above is just preposterous. A plurality of "watch lovers" desired a Rolex Submariner over a Patek Nautilus? Not to sound elitist, but this sounds like the result of a poll where the majority of respondents have never even heard of Patek Phillippe, Audemars Piguet, etc.

“Better” can mean so much to so many people. I am a movement enthusiast and almost a movement super nerd. That said, durability and being robust is a determining factor for me making Rolex more attractive than those other two brands. I could care less how well a watch is finished if it is too delicate and can’t take my daily activities or even my vacation activities when I would want to wear it. Then there is the routine service cost that needs to be considered with PP and AP. Ultimately in the end, you have to like the way a watch looks on your wrist. If you don’t like the look of a 5711 then all the fine finishing and horological history is a mute point.

[hambone1983]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

Swatch is publicly traded, so they have to show their shareholders that they have lots of sales. For them, sales are recorded when they sell them to their dealers and allocated to their boutiques (maybe, not 100% on that accounting).

That means LOTS of production to have sales to dealers.

The thing is that too much production and subsequent sales to dealers kill the desirability of the product and the end user has no interest in them, so the dealer has to sell them at a discount to customers or dump them on the grey market at even bigger discounts just to get the dead stock off the books...

The desires of the market are making it VERY CLEAR that overproduction = brand erosion and irrelevance, but it's too late for Omega (and others) to make changes. Some of these brands won't make it unfortunately.

since June 2018 the S&P 500 is up 43% and Swatch Group is down 50%. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know

[T4ME]

Originally Posted by Singslinger

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading it.

x2

[NiJaRo1225]

Originally Posted by Timetracker

‘Terrifying’ levels?……….a tad dramatic when discussing anything to do with a watch, don’t you think?

Lol, exactly my thought.


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