Some of us know a Chinese guy Ken Fong who says many things that make us scratch our heads. He said one of his friends said Rolex is the costliest watch brand, and many people seem to agree with that. I saw some questions on here that indicate such a belief. One of my friends has a 2008 watch almanac, and I will now give prices from it of ten sports wristwatches with steel cases and bracelets and self-wind movements for showing hours, minutes, seconds and date in a countdown from cheapest to costliest.
9. $5050 Rolex "Oyster Perpetual Datejust" ($5450 in 2010, I hear)
8a. $5600 IWC "Ingenieur" is 1.11 times costlier than the comparable Rolex
8b. $5600 Ulysse Nardin "San Marco" is also 1.11 times costlier
7. $6900 Glashutte Original "Sport Evolution M" is 1.37 times costlier
6. $8100 Panerai "Luminor Marina Automatic" is 1.60 times costlier
5. $8300 Franck Muller "Conquistador" is 1.64 times costlier
4. $10,400 Vacheron Constantin "Overseas" is 2.02 times costlier ($11,600 in 2010)
3. $11,200 Audemars Piguet "Royal Oak" is 2.22 times costlier
2. $13,500 Breguet "Marine" is 2.67 times costlier
1. $20,600 Patek Philippe "Nautilus" is 4.08 times costlier than the similar Rolex ($23,000 in 2010)
I can make lists of other types of watches and they also prove my point. A list of basic dress watches has even more difference in price that this one of basic sports watches. Rolex's most complicated watch is a "Cosmograph Daytona" chronograph, but the other companies listed here make much more complicated watches than chronographs. The ultimate single complication is the chiming watch, and costliest is Vacheron Constantin's "30010" minute repeater for $631,000 in a platinum skeleton version. Franck Muller's "Aeternitas Mega 4" combines all of the major complications for $2,700,000. Rolex's costliest watch is one with many diamonds for $120,000, but Vacheron Constantin's "Kallista" was valued at $9,000,000 in 2000 and is totally covered with many big diamonds perfectly matched for color. The most valuable watch of all cost someone $11,002,500 in 1999. It is the Patek Philippe "Graves Supercomplication" that was finished in 1932 for banker Henry Graves, Junior who wanted to own the most complicated pocketwatch in the world.|||1905 Hans Wilsdorf begin watch making, 1908 he invent name Rolex and use it at his watches. Many people believe what they see at news media. Rolex have largest advertising budget of any watch brand, thus everyone hear of Rolex, not know some better brands, since they not advertise much. Here are some figures of 2007 USA advertising budgets of some watch brands.
1. Rolex - $47,100,000
2. Breitling - $27,070,000
3. TAG Heuer - $24,730,000
4. Citizen - $19,850,000
5. Movado - $15,870,000
6. Cartier - $15,040,000
7. Seiko - $11,020,000
8. Timex - $10,210,000
9. ESQ - $9,360,000
10. Omega - $9,250,000
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
14. Patek Philippe - $6,030,000
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
19. Jaeger-LeCoultre - $4,770,000
20. IWC - $4,420,000
21. Ulysse Nardin - $4,280,000
Rolex spend nearly 8 times so much so Patek Philippe, thus more people hear of Rolex compared of Patek Philippe. My lover Kyojin own 1893 Patek Philippe watch, it is so accurate so most new watches.|||One of my former boyfriends wrote several books about watches. One rates the costliest brands, and Breguet was costliest overall in the first three editions of his book. Patek Philippe placed second twice and fourth once. Vacheron Constantin placed third twice and second once. A. Lange of Germany rivals the top three Swiss brands by placing third once and fourth once. It was not rated in the first edition of the book, because it had few models and could not be firmly rated. The next brands have changed over the years. Prices change erratically. Between the first and second editions, Cartier increased its prices by 16.67%, but Piaget increased some of its prices by a whopping 45%, and thus Piaget moved up from 14th to 8th place, and Cartier dropped from 12th to 14th. Blancpain decreased most of its prices by a large amount, e.g. the basic dress watch dropped from $9050 to $7000, so Blancpain that was in the top five dropped to barely in the top twenty. Rolex placed 24th.
Another book gives details about the beginnings of watch brands and the ranges of prices and types each offers. Rolex was begun by Hans Wilsdorf in 1908 as the new name for Wilsdorf %26amp; Co. that began in 1905. Antoine Norbert de Patek and Francois Czapek began making watches in 1839. In 1845, they hired master watchmaker Adrien Philippe. Soon, Francois Czapek left the business, and the company was incorporated as Patek Philippe, rather than Patek %26amp; Czapek, in 1851.
As a couple of people have said, Rolex is advertised much more than any other brand. It appeals to bourgeois parvenus, while Patek Philippe appeals more to the higher classes and thus does not need so much advertising. Some highly exclusive watchmakers produce low numbers of watches, but they spend more time upon each watch than mass-produced brands do. Rolex has the most COSC rated chronometers of any brand, and that impresses naive people. Jaeger-LeCoulter gives its watches much tougher tests than the COSC does, thus it does not need a COSC rating. A Rolex "Datejust" is a good sports watch, but a Jaeger-LeCoultre "Master" is a really great one. A Patek Philippe "Nautilus" is now the costliest basic sports watch, but some years ago, the Breguet "Marine" was. About 1998, the "Marine cost $29,600 with gold bracelet, while the "Nautilus" cost $28,000". I think the Rolex "Datejust" cost $15,000 then with gold bracelet, and the Jaeger-LeCoultre "Master" cost $18,000 or so. Swatch acquired Breguet and has repositioned it at a lower price for some reason. Rolex is still an independent firm, as is Patek Philippe. They are hardly in the same class, however. Patek Philippe appeals to the highest classes of refined and sophisticated people, and Rolex appeals to the lower middle class who may finance one of its watches for five years, as Jeffrey told us.|||The brand was built up quite simply, They use very costly metals like gold and platinum, combined it with part hand made manufacturing process (DUHH!) and then put a bunch of really expensive gemstones in there in most watches, and then finally to make a profit, they made some cheaper made watches and charged for the but up brand name!!!
To protect the innocent:
Im not in a the watch business but, Im definatly on the marketing and manufacturing side of the subject!|||Many people believe lots of malarkey for no good reason. "Believe" is a good choice of words for you to use in this question, because "beliefs" are blindly accepted without any proof. There are many things that are badly over-rated, e.g. Bruce Lee in martial arts, Mohammed Ali in boxing, Cadillac in cars ... and Rolex in watches. There are PR men, creators of hoaxes, politicians, preachers and such frauds who want to make people believe lies for their own selfish reasons. Miyuki knows her watches I can see. She told the history of Rolex and gave specific figures for the amounts of money spent in America on advertising some watch brands. It's interesting to contrast her figures and yours, e.g. the Patek Philippe "Nautilus" costs 408% the price of the Rolex "Datejust", but Patek spends only 13% as much money on advertising as Rolex does. Most people have no real basis for their naive opinions, and Rolex is hyped. Any product that has such market saturation in advertising as Rolex does is bound to be seen by everyone, so they imagine it's a very good and very costly brand. I own a Rolex "Datejust" I bought soon after graduating from college. Today, I'm wearing a Fortis pilot's watch that costs $2050, but it keeps time better than my $5450 Rolex that cost 273% more. In Houston, I saw a jewelry store that offered five year financing on Rolexes. That shows Roles is the upstart's dream. I don't buy any watch unless I pay cash for it. Long-term financing is for houses and cars, not watches. The ignorant upstarts wear Rolexes, while the sophisticated and classy rich men wear Patek Philippes, Breguets and Vacheron Constantins. I heard someone say Rolex makes more watches in a year than Patek Philippe has in its entire 175 or so year history. That's true of many of the most exclusive watch brands I think.|||Rolex used a massive marketing campaign to help position the brand at the high end, and many people have seen those ads, whereas other brands do not spend as much on mass marketing.
Many brands, including Rolex, offer models that go into six figures.
Why you care enough to bother researching this so carefully is probably the more important question.
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