SDC Weekly 93; Christopher Ward’s C12 Loco; Breguet's New Souscription
Patek, Rolex & Lange Price increases; Is Perfection Killing the Luxury Watch Industry? Is Watch Enthusiasm Cooling Down? Some Rolex CPO Thoughts, and more from Hunter S. Thompson.
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Estimated reading time: ~30 mins
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Price increases!
Rolex (USA) prices are going up 3% on average, but it varies across models (gold pieces are up 6%). Dealers’ margins started the year at 36%, were then lowered by 1% earlier in the year, and are now being lowered again by 2%, - this takes them to 33% margin from May onward.
Lange has also contacted customers informing them to buy now or pay more from the 1st of May - but none have been forthcoming with exact percentages.
Patek is increasing prices by 4.5% on average, with repeaters specifically going up by 6.9% and of course, dealer margins dropping by 1% (taking their margins to 35% on all but the application pieces, where they have a 17% margin).
Aside from price increases, the new Land Dweller will reportedly be very difficult to get in the US, as only a handful of dealers (in the US) will be receiving them, and they are getting a very limited number of pieces in 2025. First deliveries will take place in May, and (some?) dealers are obliged to hold them as display units for 30 days before selling them.
I predict they will be selling on the secondary for $55k+ in the next month, but do hope I’m wrong. All of this applies to the USA, and I have no further information about other regions. If you do, comment!
Is Perfection Killing the Luxury Watch Industry?
When modern machines are able to create flawless interior angles and robots can polish surfaces perfectly, what exactly will we we paying for? Tony Traina recently touched on this in a recent post where he argues that watches have gotten technically better over the past decade with modern technology, and advanced materials have democratised what was once the exclusive domain of Swiss artisans.
But, is this a good thing? Not necessarily, according to Velociphile, who paints an even darker picture: “When perfection becomes cheap, nothing is perfect.” In many ways this is a compelling observation which seems to highlight luxury’s existential crisis.
The luxury watch industry has spent decades telling tales of handcraft, artisanal skill, and centuries-old traditions. These stories became the foundation for astronomical prices. Now, as technology has advanced, these same narratives have become difficult to sustain. The timing of these articles coinciding with a discussion about Christopher Ward is really fortuitous - we will come to that below. But for now, when a sub-£5,000 micro band watch can realistically be compared with branded pieces which cost five times more, that question comes up again: what exactly are we paying for?
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If you take bracelets - arguably the most noticeable area of improvement across all price points - Traina points out how we’ve gone from flimsy folded links to solid, comfortable bracelets at virtually every price point. Even microbrands now offer articulating links and milled clasps that would have been considered premium features maybe less than ten years ago.
As I explored in my post on luxury last year, the entire concept has always been contextual; it is best defined by relative scarcity and social signalling, and not by inherent qualities. By this definition, when luxury becomes “accessible”, it ceases to function as luxury in the traditional sense.
The upper echelons of the industry have responded to this technological levelling by leaning into the idea of deliberate imperfection - what Velociphile speaks of as “a scar, not a sheen.” Watchmakers like Luca Soprana, Rexhep Rexhepi, and Dufour have all made hand-finishing into a religion - they celebrate the almost imperceptible traces of a human touch - any slight irregularities which signal something wasn’t made by a soulless machine, are likely going to be considered value-additive over time.
Then we have mid-tier brands which are caught in no-man’s land because they can't compete with the perfection that machines deliver at lower prices, but they also can’t match the sublime hand-finishing of skilled artisans. So they resort to what Velociphile calls “factory-made chaos, sold as character” - machine-randomised finishes designed to mimic handcraft.
All of this might feel like a curtain is being pulled back, and it seems to be making people uncomfortable. Watches have always been empty vessels into which we pour meaning - very rarely have they ever been objects with inherent value. Yes, they tell time, but so does your iPhone!
A Manchester United Hublot LE says nothing about its owner except that they have questionable taste. A Patek says nothing except perhaps you have adequate disposable income and are open to BDSM to get allocations. Without the patina of cultural mythmaking, a watch is just a mechanical device designed to solve a problem which doesn’t exist anymore.
The fact that these objects still command such passion and pricing power in an era when their practical utility has been completely obliterated is a testament to luxury’s greatest trick: convincing us that the emperor's nonexistent clothes are actually bespoke and made on Savile Row.
So where does this leave us? Everything will find its natural place eventually, even if that place is … in the bin.
Artisans: Independent watchmakers and a handful of traditional manufacturers who train and preserve hand-crafts (and craftspeople) and associate themselves with human input; obviously going to be in low supply, and high demand and will see their prices continue to climb as they become even more exclusive.
Innovators: Brands which embrace new technologies and materials to create watches that couldn’t have existed before; won’t be traditional luxury, but it’ll be considered valuable in terms of technical achievement.
Heritage brands: Established brands coasting on their history and logo; will be revealed as selling machine-made products at artisanal prices and eventually, their brand value will evaporate over time. Patek is dangerously close to being in this bucket, but their ultra-high-end pieces prevent this from actually happening for now - so maybe Patek (as an example) will play in multiple categories? One to think about.
Value propositions: Brands which offer high quality at accessible prices; we will talk about Christopher Ward below, as they exemplify this.
Luxury watches have always been about emotion; they have little to do with objective superiority over other watches. People generally choose watches because of how the watches make them feel - not solely because the watches they chose ‘do something better’ than the alternatives.
As I wrote in my luxury article: “Luxury occupies a unique space - desirable, but not essential; cherished, but not utilitarian.” This emotional connection - whether to craftsmanship, heritage, or personal significance - is what ultimately sustains the watch industry despite technological disruption.