The "Fake" Reason Luxury Watches Are Getting Cheaper — Transcript

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1. 0:00For the past 5 years, luxury watch
2. 0:02brands have been pricing you and I out
3. 0:04of the market. Suddenly, we're seeing
4. 0:06this massive shift because a market is
5. 0:09now struggling. Brands are now starting
6. 0:11to quietly reduce their pricing, but
7. 0:14they're hiding it in a really smart way.
8. 0:17For example, take the new Panory Lumia
9. 0:1942. It's significantly cheaper than
10. 0:22previous models. Tannery claims this is
11. 0:24simply because they've removed the
12. 0:26sandwich dial. But let's be honest, a
13. 0:28change in dial manufacturing doesn't
14. 0:31equate to a price difference of
15. 0:33thousands of dollars. So what I think is
16. 0:35happening right now is that we're seeing
17. 0:36an industry reset. We're actually seeing
18. 0:38brands right now trying to reverse what
19. 0:41they've been spending the past 3, four,
20. 0:435 years doing, increasing their prices
21. 0:46drastically. Brands are desperately
22. 0:48trying desperately. Sounds a bit
23. 0:49dramatic. They're trying to win back the
24. 0:51buyers that they alienated by
25. 0:53drastically increasing their prices.
26. 0:55They're doing this by building budget
27. 0:57versions of their iconic watches. And
28. 1:00they're using fake excuses to protect
29. 1:01their prestige. But what Panor and Omega
30. 1:04are doing right now is just a band-aid.
31. 1:05It's just a plaster because what Zenith
32. 1:08have announced this week shows us how
33. 1:10bad the luxury watch industry has
34. 1:11become. I'll show you those numbers in a
35. 1:13minute and and explain what Zenith have
36. 1:14actually done and how I think that
37. 1:16they're going in the wrong direction.
38. 1:17But first, let's look at how brands are
39. 1:19using a Trojan horse to secretly lower
40. 1:22their prices. Now, I want to be clear,
41. 1:24I'm all for this. Let's talk about
42. 1:26Panerai and their 42mm Luminor. The
43. 1:29prices of this new range range from
44. 1:32$6,700 for the steel versions. And if
45. 1:34you're going to go for DLC versions,
46. 1:36that's around $7,700.
47. 1:38Now, compared to the previous versions
48. 1:40of 44 mm versions of these watches,
49. 1:43that's a saving of a good couple of,000.
50. 1:47That's a serious chunk of cash. So, how
51. 1:49does a luxury brand like Paroy justify a
52. 1:53price reduction without really admitting
53. 1:56that the prices were bloated in the
54. 1:58first place? They simply strip away one
55. 2:01minor but beloved feature, but it
56. 2:03doesn't make it a lesser quality watch,
57. 2:06just a slightly different watch while
58. 2:09still protecting the icons that they
59. 2:11have in their catalog. In Panoro's case,
60. 2:13they simply stripped away the sandwich
61. 2:15dial that they're known for doing within
62. 2:17the Luminor range and they've just used
63. 2:19just a normal flat dial with printed
64. 2:22markers on it. Now, moving forward, I
65. 2:24think we're going to see a lot more of
66. 2:25this happening within the watch industry
67. 2:27and my background's music and and you
68. 2:30saw it within the guitar world. Look at
69. 2:32Gibson for example. You got the standard
70. 2:34Lespool. You can go up the range to a
71. 2:36custom Lespool or you can go down the
72. 2:38range to a studio Lespool. Now, it's
73. 2:40marketed as being the the same quality
74. 2:43of product. It's just had
75. 2:44specifications. It's had the fanciness
76. 2:46stripped away. And this is exactly what
77. 2:48I think the watch industry are going to
78. 2:49be doing. Want to protect their current
79. 2:51range, but at the same time getting
80. 2:53back, winning back the customers that
81. 2:56they've priced out. Specifications that
82. 2:58I think brands will change will simply
83. 3:00be removing bracelets and and putting
84. 3:02watches on straps, which again, we've
85. 3:03already started to see. I can imagine
86. 3:05brands using solid casebacks as opposed
87. 3:07to display casebacks and then reducing
88. 3:09the finishing of the movement which
89. 3:11doesn't matter because it's hidden away.
90. 3:13I think the majority of brands will will
91. 3:14simply do things like uh using a more in
92. 3:17Paner's case I think brands will do what
93. 3:19Paner have done and use a more simple
94. 3:21manufacturing process for the dial
95. 3:23rather than having surrounds for loom
96. 3:25markers it will just be loom painted on
97. 3:27the dial or rather having stepped dials
98. 3:29or applied indices this stuff will start
99. 3:31to be printed instead. This allows them
100. 3:33to lower the entry point and capture the
101. 3:35struggling middle market while giving a
102. 3:38a plausible excuse for the reduce in
103. 3:41price rather than them just simply
104. 3:43saying, "Oh, we've now reduced the
105. 3:45price." There's a reason. However much
106. 3:47smoker mirrors is used for the actual
107. 3:49reason. Now, this doesn't need to make
108. 3:51sense. The excuses don't need to make
109. 3:52sense. And and I don't care if they do
110. 3:54or they don't. The outcome is still a
111. 3:57positive outcome for us. I just want
112. 3:59them to reduce their prices. I don't
113. 4:01care what story they tell to get to that
114. 4:02reduced price. I just want to reduce the
115. 4:05prices. Now, it's not just Panory that's
116. 4:07doing this activity. We've seen Omega do
117. 4:10this and I did a video talking about
118. 4:11Omega's new release of their Speed
119. 4:13Master reduced range. This is the first
120. 4:15time that Omega have used the reduced
121. 4:17range, which has obviously been cheaper
122. 4:19than the professional range. Naturally,
123. 4:21this is the first time that they've done
124. 4:23a true alternative to the Speed Master
125. 4:26Professional, the Moon Watch. And it's
126. 4:28interesting that this has been within
127. 4:30the Swatch group. The Swatch Group have
128. 4:32multiple brands at different places
129. 4:34within the market. So if they needed to
130. 4:36make a more affordable version of the
131. 4:37Speed Master, they could have quite
132. 4:39easily used Line to do that. So it's
133. 4:41interesting that they've decided to do
134. 4:42this within Omega themselves. Now the
135. 4:45specification [laughter] difference
136. 4:46between the Speed Master Reduce that
137. 4:48looks like Speed Master Professional and
138. 4:50the actual Speed Master Professional.
139. 4:51The specification difference is massive.
140. 4:53But the biggest difference between the
141. 4:54two is the pricing. The Speed Master
142. 4:57Professional is around $7,800
143. 5:00whereas the Speed Master Reduced around
144. 5:02$6,500.
145. 5:03Now Omega doing a similar thing to to
146. 5:05Panorai. They're just doing it in a
147. 5:07different way, a different strategy. At
148. 5:08least they're trying to do something to
149. 5:10keep you as a customer. I feel like
150. 5:12that's a better idea than what Zenith
151. 5:14have done. The watch market in 2026 has
152. 5:16gone through massive correction. the
153. 5:18middle of the market, the brand selling
154. 5:20between $5,000 to $10,000 watches. That
155. 5:23that range has been squished massively
156. 5:26simply because the middle classes are
157. 5:28feeling it's very much a first world
158. 5:30problem, but simply the middle classes
159. 5:32are really feeling a financial pinch at
160. 5:34the moment. The ultimate casualty of
161. 5:36that has been Zenith and this month
162. 5:38they've just announced that they're
163. 5:40doing massive restructuring of their
164. 5:42company, cutting up to 200 jobs. They've
165. 5:44also announced that they're not going to
166. 5:45be making watches for the next 2 years.
167. 5:48Makes you question why. Well, their
168. 5:50strategy is to leave this middle market
169. 5:53and go for the high-end market. They're
170. 5:55going to come back as a horology brand.
171. 5:58Now, that tells me that the bosses at
172. 6:00Zenith have realized that they they
173. 6:02can't compete with the bloodbath that is
174. 6:04the more affordable end of the watch
175. 6:06market. They know they can't survive in
176. 6:08the middle end. So, they're instead
177. 6:11going to go for the top end. On one
178. 6:13hand, it makes sense because that's
179. 6:14where the money is. Ultimately, right
180. 6:16now, you either need to be selling more
181. 6:18accessible, affordable products to a lot
182. 6:21of people or you need to be selling a
183. 6:23handful of products to the proper rich.
184. 6:26That middle point, that's where the
185. 6:28struggle is at the moment. Zenith,
186. 6:30they're going after the 1%. Now, I
187. 6:32actually think Zenith have got this
188. 6:34completely wrong. They're an iconic
189. 6:35brand. They're a seriously important
190. 6:37brand within the watch world, but that's
191. 6:39only kind of known by watch geeks like
192. 6:42you and I. Outside of that, I don't
193. 6:45think people know what Zenith is, let
194. 6:47alone why they're important. I feel like
195. 6:49Zenith should be looking further down
196. 6:51the market at the more accessible end of
197. 6:52the market and creating something highly
198. 6:55commercial and highly desirable. They
199. 6:57have the watch designs behind them.
200. 6:59They've got the watch legacy behind
201. 7:01them. They've got the stories to tell.
202. 7:03They just need to double down on that if
203. 7:05they were to compete or or go down to
204. 7:08the long gene tuda level just below
205. 7:10Omega. I feel like they could kill it.
206. 7:13Especially with those brands focusing on
207. 7:15more vintage inspired models. That's
208. 7:18what Zenith does. They've got the
209. 7:19heritage. They've got the watch making
210. 7:21behind them. They should just create
211. 7:23more affordable versions. Take a leaf
212. 7:25out of what Panerai are doing. They can
213. 7:27actually do something similar to Chopar
214. 7:28where you've got Chopar and then LU. You
215. 7:30got Chopart as the normal brand and then
216. 7:32you got LUC as the fancy stuff. You
217. 7:35could have Zenith and then you could
218. 7:36have GFJ. And I actually thought this is
219. 7:39what Zenith were doing back at Watches
220. 7:41and Wonders this year when they launched
221. 7:43their GFJ watch. GFJ are the initials of
222. 7:46the Zenith founder George Favako. But
223. 7:49what do I know? I I just sell watch
224. 7:51straps over at bargainjack.com. So if
225. 7:53you like watch straps, then go check out
226. 7:55our watch straps at barkandjack.com. Had
227. 7:58to get it in there somehow. So, it's
228. 7:59quite obvious that we are in the middle
229. 8:00of this big industry reset. This this
230. 8:03hype bubble has absolutely burst. For
231. 8:06ages, we've been talking about how the
232. 8:08industry isn't the same as what it was
233. 8:10in in co when we saw this huge spike in
234. 8:12sales. And we've got to the point where
235. 8:15we're actually seeing brands take action
236. 8:18to that reduction in sales or rather
237. 8:20it's got to the point where brands need
238. 8:22to take action. Now, it seems like
239. 8:24there's three options of what brands are
240. 8:26doing. either do what Panera are doing,
241. 8:28reduce specifications, reduce pricing,
242. 8:31or what Omega are doing, create an
243. 8:32alternative to the Icon and reduce
244. 8:34pricing, or what Zenith are doing, kind
245. 8:37of close up shop and redirect to a
246. 8:40different portion of the market. Now,
247. 8:42I'm all for all of these options,
248. 8:44frankly. I I just want watch prices to
249. 8:46come down or for products to improve. My
250. 8:49favorite option is actually what Panera
251. 8:51are doing. Create some excuse
252. 8:54just to reduce prices. I think that's
253. 8:56fantastic. Let me know what you think in
254. 8:58the comments down below. Have you been
255. 8:59priced out of the brands that that you
256. 9:01previously loved or previously
257. 9:02collected? And do you support what these
258. 9:05brands are doing? What are your thoughts
259. 9:06on Zenith? If you like this video, hit
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266. 9:14andjack. And uh check out watch straps
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269. 9:19That's it. Take care.