zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

I've thought about this for awhile. To be honest I always hated getting ripped off and I find that spending several thousand $$$ for a watch that is essentially mass produced by machines is somewhat overkill. This goes for Rolex as well as many other supposively high-end watches. It is just a profit and marketing phenomenon to give an illusion of prestege. The general public is led to believe that these watches are made in small numbers by craftman but in reality hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions are manufactured. My Jeweler is a good friend of mine and he tells me that in many cases the mark-up is several times and in this case a minimum of 100%. This is why you'll see the same watch on the internet for 40 or more percent off. Even with that discount the dealer makes a profit. Of course the manufacturer scorns this because they want to keep their high-end image. This all makes me wonder when I get a watch should I just strive for a timepiece that is extremely accurate or one with a mechanical movement (and masses produced) that I will probably have to correct the time periodically. Since the outide looks essentially the same and it keeps better time and is more rugged why not go for the quartz. I so rarely have to set my Seiko Kinetic and when I do after many months it is just a few seconds. I've gotten spoiled by the accuracy of quartz watches. I have looked into very high end watches that are made by hand but their prices are truly ridiculous. They want more than my Lexus LS430. I find it hard to fathom paying so much for such a small article. However I understand that there is tremendous wealth out there and spending $10 million for a painting, etc. is pocket change. The bottom line is that I try to be realistic in my decisions and not swayed by marketing hype.