zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: If the auto movement costs approx £70 GBP ( I
: don't know the quartz cost)
: What's the rest of the money for?

Me. I get a commission every time someone makes a wrong decision buying watches... Mwuhaaaaahhhaaahahaha (evil laugh)!

No, seriously, it is all market pricing. Jewelry and watches are like fine art. Their price reflects many factors besides cost of parts plus a modest markup.

Perception, exclusivity, expectations of the target buyers, and the classic supply and demand formula are all factored in. When someone buys a mechanical watch, they are expecting something better than a quartz watch. If the price difference was merely $20 on a $1000 to $15,000 watch, the perception that the mechanical is better gets lost and the entire mechanical watch industry would suffer.

Similarly, consider the person spending $15,000 for a gold watch that my previous example showed could also be seen as worth only $1500+700=$2200. Are they just buying a watch plus gold? Not really, the steel models are made in the tens or hundreds of thousands per year. The gold models are made in the hundreds per year.

So most of the price difference is an exclusivity premium for getting something much rarer than average. This is NOT unique to watches, it is everywhere in life. This type of pricing is reflected anytime people buy gold, diamonds, fine artwork, collectible comic books, or anything labeled 'limited edition.'

If you are perfectly happy with steel, cubic zirconia, mass-produced prints, or such, then you don't need to pay a premium price. Those that desire these 'rarer' attributes--whether they will ever truly benefit the person or not--pay the exclusivity premiums to buy them.