Re: Tag Heuer a Marketing Sham?

In the alleged hierarchy of watches, "manufacture" watchmakers are more
esteemed than "ebauche" assemblers and their watches fetch higher prices.
The manufacture allegedly exercises quality control at every point and
produces a product that you cannot get in identical form elsewhere. As you
point out, this may be myth to a large extent and as a practical matter
there may be no difference. However, there is a difference in price if
nothing else so the last thing you want to do is pay manufacture prices for
ebauche watches - this is the worst of both worlds and largely what you get
when you buy something like a Tag.


"John S." <hjsjms@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1127608003.390077.286930@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> David Johnson wrote:
>> John S. wrote:
>>
>>
>> >
>> > Thus no swiss watch company is truly a manufacturer. They are at best
>> > assemblers who may do some work within their shop.
>> >
>> >
>> If the standard of being a true manufacturer is so close to 100% that
>> Rolex doesn't qualify, nobody manufactures anything--GM doesn't make
>> trucks, Panasonic doesn't make televisions.
>
> Well, to a large degree it is true. We are really buying brands more
> than internal components when it comes right down to it. Strip off the
> Rolex or Panasonic logo and the consumer product becomes a lot harder
> to differentiate from all the others.
>
>>
>> >
>> > To be honest there is no practical difference for us consumers one way
>> > or the other. Whether a screw is cut and blued in one building at
>> > Rolex or the local machine shop is pretty much irrelevant as long as
>> > the watch does its job of looking good and keeping time.
>> >
>> It's not that Tag Heuer isn't a good watch, it's that you can get a
>> similar watch with different logos for less. Keeps time, looks good,
>> just as reliable.
>
> I'm not saying that Tag watches are not good watches. The OP said
> something to the effect that Tag watches were somehow less of a good
> product because they were not "manufacturered" by the Tag company. For
> some of us it is important to believe that if a watch is manufactured
> under one corporate roof within one country that it is somehow better
> than one that is assembled from components coming from several vendors
> possibly in several non-swiss countries. I don't buy into that
> nonsense for watches anymore than I buy into it for cars. It is a myth
> that some people feel comfortable believing however.
>


.

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