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One example of this is mechanical watches. My wife is a photographer and buys glossy magazines as a part of getting inspired, so I picked up a Vanity Fair spec
by sgt101 11y ago
One example of this is mechanical watches.
My wife is a photographer and buys glossy magazines as a part of getting inspired, so I picked up a Vanity Fair special on watch movements a few days ago and thumbed through it. I was struck by the fact that the shots of watches weren't accompanied by prices so I typed "tourbillon" into google. I got 5 returns in the "shopping" banner, with prices ranging from £380,000 to $22.
One of the things I learned from the Vanity Fair article, which is pretty obvious, is that the patents on automatic watch movements have all expired. New designs are not, by in large, technical innovations, the patents on them protect novel arrangements with novel aesthetic characteristics. Therefore if you have a little cnc machine or a 3d printer you can make a movement for pennies and sell with the comfort of IP protection. The gold and gems on a watch are worth ~£10k, leaving ~£360k as margin.
Staggering.
- tribaal 11y agoWhile you are right, I feel compelled to point out that mechanical luxury watches are expensive not because of IP (they expired long ago, as you point out), but because they are: 1. Assembled by hand (in Switzerland, for the most famous brands, where labour isn't cheap) 2. Made of precious material, as you pointed out. 3. Require a lot of R&D and design to develop (fitting movements and complications in each model's unique case is a hard problem). 4. Very limited numbers of them are produced (mostly because of 1.). It's common for watches to be unique. 5. Come with an "eternal" warranty (they will fix my dead grandpa's watch for free, forever). So while having a CNC and a 3d printer, making a wearable watch to the same specs will be quite a challenge.
- sgt101 11y agoI agree, a substantial premium attaches to all of these points. The differential between that premium (Gold, diamonds, R&D and Swiss labour) and the price used to be relatively small. There is a magnificent analysis of this process of "luxurification" here : http://www.ablogtowatch.com/rolex-prices-past-60-years-revealing-analysis/ http://www.ablogtowatch.com/rolex-prices-past-60-years-revea...
- dethswatch 11y ago> a little cnc machine or a 3d printer you can make a movement for pennies you need to do a little more research on what goes into even assembling the movement, much less the manufacturing, etc.
- sgt101 11y agoYou can buy automatic watches for ~$10 with cases, straps and shipped.