zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: Hi Teeritz

: It is not slagging of Omega put just pointing
: the fact that Omega made the Planet Ocean in
: order to grab some Sea Dweller and Sub
: customers from Rolex and this product was a
: result from Hayek's marketing strategy.

****Hi Georges, it would be crazy to think that other watch brands would just sit by and let Rolex be the one true dive watch on the market. And since Omega has produced dive watches since the 1950s, it was only a matter of time before they brought out a watch like the Planet Ocean. After all, the Bond SMP has been on the market now for 13 years and it was probably time for some kind of upgraded Omega dive watch. With regards to marketing, I remember that back in the 1970s and '80s, I could not pick up an issue of TIME Magazine, National Geographic or Reader's Digest without seeing an advertisement for Rolex watches in them. There are two things that got me hooked on watches- seeing Roger Moore as James Bond in "Live And Let Die" (I was eight years old)using his Submariner 5513 to cut through a rope he was tied with and then, years later, seeing a Submariner ad in Reader's Digest in my doctor's waiting room.
I get customers asking me for Rolex all the time. When I ask them why they want a Rolex, they can't give me an answer that makes sense. They just say; "They're the best." But they can't tell me why. During they 1980s, the yuppies adopted Rolex watches as part of their uniform and that made them even more sought-after. But it also drove up the price. As I stated earlier, I like Rolex watches, but I find them over-priced for what they are. Rolex also had a marketing strategy. It was just a little more low key.

: When you mean rugged it means that it has been
: tested through years under rough abuse as
: well as severe wear and tear. The
: speedmaster pro is a proven Omega watch as
: much as is the normal seamaster.
: About IWC they used the eta 2892 in their IWC
: porsche 2000 dive watch that they also
: supplied to the german kampfschwimmer, I
: know that IWC has a long term experience
: with the eta 2892-a2
: but that doesn't make the eta 2892-a2 a great
: or better movement than the former inhouse
: iwc 85xx series or than the new iwc 80110
: series of movement found on the new
: ingenieur or the iwc 5000 both fitted with
: the samuel pellaton winding system
: considered alongwith rolex jeweled pivot
: system as far better than the 2892-a2 bal
: bearing winding system. Breitling uses an
: eta 2824-2 for its divers (that movement
: costs itself $75) and it is nothing
: exceptionnal wether it comes to quality or
: long term accuracy, the super ocean or ocean
: are overpriced watches,you can buy a stowa
: for less money which will be as good as a
: breitling ocean or super ocean.
: Another fact is that Omega is not a manufacture
: anymore, Eta makes the movements for them as
: does Frederic Piguet. Omega is what I cal
: lan assembleur. Not all Hayek decisions were
: that great, the 33xx was a bad decision,
: seeing how much failures there were and
: there till are, stopping the 5100 was also a
: stupid decision, claiming that a coaxial
: won't need a 10 year service interval when
: clearly it hasn't been proven was not a good
: thing too.

*****I agree that stopping production of the 5100 was a bad idea. I think it's a bad idea that the new Seamaster Pro Co-Axial will have the word "Seamaster" in red on the dial. It's too much like the red Subs that were produced in the '70s. I don't like the new SMP Co-Ax dial, which has the luminous dots surrounded by little steel rings. Agaain, too much like the current Subs. Regardind the new IWC 80110 calibre, that is not a tested movement either. Certainly the Pellaton winding system is, but we don't know how that movement will go over the long term. And since this movement is IWC's own technology, that alone has pushed the price of the new Ingeniuer close to ten thousand AUD. It's a lot to pay.

: When OMEGA claims something they have to back
: it up with serious facts not test
: laboratories or any marketing hype
: argument,when you say a watch is rugged,
: make experiments by using the watch in the
: harshest condition and you will see how good
: it is rugged or not.
: The real diving watches are tools like the
: marathon sar,the chopard pro one,the certina
: ds3 (the older model),the blancpain fifty
: fathoms(vintage models) but also limited
: editions and the normal edition (who are
: both new models),auricoste spirotechnique
: and other watches that have been tested
: through time.
: I ma not excluding other brands just saying
: that today the watches that are often
: synonym of the tool dive watch and at the
: same time a luxury is the rolex dive watch.

*****Personally, I find it hard to believe that the Chopard Pro One could be considered a serious tool watch. Tool's watch, maybe (ha-ha!). Georges, not every person who buys a dive watch works for Comex. Most recreational divers are not going to subject their watch to anything more dangerous than spilling some Coca Cola on them after a dive. Most divers I have spoken to tend to wear a dive computer on their wrist which gives them all the relevant info and a Seiko/Citizen/Casio on their other wrist as a back-up. Gone are the days of the 1950s and '60s when men wore a Rolex Sub/SeaDweller while working on oil pipelines or welding foundations underwater for oil platforms. It's a romantic notion to think that these days they wear a $7K watch while performing hazardous work. Somehow, I doubt it.

: just my 2 cents

: regards

: georges

****Very informative post, Georges. You know your stuff. But one thing to remember is that the reason for IWC's creation of the 80110 calibre is because Hayek announced some years ago that the Swatch Group would not supply finished ebauches to outside companies in future. I don't know if this has come into effect yet. This decision has forced other brands to go back to the drawing board and create new movements of their own, hence IWC's 80110. I was speaking to a repairer recently who told me that the reason for Swatch Group's decision was because Hayek was sick of seeing other brands take the ETA 2892 calibre, modify it, fit it to their watches and then re-name it. ETA would do all the work in building the movement and other brands would take credit for it. His decision is understandable, but I wonder if it might bite him on the a** further on down the track.
It's a shame because I for one would hate to see the Omega brand suffer as a result. I think Omega watches offer extreme value for money. And the ETA movements suit me just fine. I don't care if there were two miniaturised squirrels running on treadmills powering the watch. As long as it's accurate and not too expensive to repair. I have had a lot of customers who spend 7 to 10 thousand dollars on a watch and they are always surprised by the servicing costs for their watch. Also, I somehow think that if Omega began making their own movements again, prices would surely climb and put them out of reach of a lot of people.
But I've gone on too long. Nice points you've made, Georges. Take care.

Cheers,

teeritz