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> unpopular opinion but crossing over these brands only makes sense if you think youre capable of targeting a lower income customer without risk of damaging your existing luxury brand, or if your existing luxury brand is floundering. [...] I suspect its the latter, and i suspect its confirmation that the last decade of rennaisance for Rolex is starting to impact the bottom line at Swatch.

You've actually got it precisely backwards here. Omega, like most other Swiss luxury watch brands, has been absolutely killing it these past two years. Profits are up substantially. Omega is doing fantastic*. What isn't doing fantastic is Swatch -- their numbers are down substantially over the past decade. Smart watches are really killing them. An Apple Watch is not a replacement good for a $6k mechanical work of art, but it absolutely is a replacement good for a similarly priced quartz watch with fewer features, which is exactly what Swatch makes.

So I view this as a successful attempt at leveraging the brand value of Omega to prop up their lower-end brand.

> call me a cynic, but mark my words...in 10 years time youll see the same phenomenon with these watches as you saw with Timex. repair shops wont touch them, and they exist as a valueless testament to disposable faux luxury.

You're being over-dramatic here. And you don't generally repair cheap quartz watches like a Swatch anyway; you replace the battery as needed, and eventually in some number of decades they stop working entirely and that's that. You could do a movement swap at that point if you really wanted.

* See https://watchesbysjx.com/2022/03/morgan-stanley-watch-indust...

Omega did very well out of the Craig and Brosnan series of Bond films. Outside of a few special editions, an Omega won’t appreciate like a Rolex, but it’s also not gonna run you $25k.

> I suspect its the latter, and i suspect its confirmation that the last decade of rennaisance for Rolex is starting to impact the bottom line at Swatch.

Not even close, Swatch Group is the largest part manufacturer and was previously required by Swiss Anti-trust authorities to supply their own competitors with parts. It’s only in the last decade Swatch Group has been able to begin terminating contracts to supply competitors with the goal of not supplying any brands outside Swatch Group. These changes have hurt everyone but Swatch.

Pretty much in the last 2 years every luxury Swiss watch has set their own sales records, and Omega is no different, they can’t meet demand.

The bioceramic (i.e. plastic) MoonSwatch is about meeting the demand for Omega while being able to sell it under the Swatch brand. Rolex has the same problem not being able to meet demand, but they don’t have the luxury of being able to print and sell plastic watches.

My understanding is that Omega is very confident in its brand’s strength and staying power. I believe they put out a substantially larger number of watches than, for example, Rolex, and as a result Omega resale value hasn’t grown like crazy like Rolex watches have. But still, they sell a ton of watches and the brand remains popular.

> My understanding is that Omega is very confident in its brand’s strength and staying power. I believe they put out a substantially larger number of watches than, for example, Rolex

Nope. Rolex produces significantly more watches than Omega. Rolex is in a class of its own year -- no other manufacturer commanding such a high price is making remotely as many watches.

Thanks for correcting! https://italianwatchspotter.com/brands-podium-2020/?lang=en

They're trying to shut down the replica market

Then they should have gone with an ETA automatic movement. They have access to them, and at this point the high end rep market is using high quality automatic movements.

Besides, the whole point of the replica market is to have an omega on your wrist, not a Swatch.

That would have dramatically increased the cost of the watch though, to the point that I don't think it would have made such an interesting proposition for customers.

Sure, but Swatch have been adding auto movements to watches for 30 years. The Sistem51 is almost good enough to be COSC certified. All cheaper than the MoonSwatch pricepoint.

IMO they could have put an auto movement in, but then it becomes waaaay closer to a Speedy and way more likely that people start going "is the 5k price difference worth it?"

Sistem51 isn't a chronograph movement though - and my experience of the longevity/durability of it left a lot to be desired (yes, yes, N=1)

You're right though - not only does it put the price up, it would then beg the question of "Why the extra for a 'real' speedmaster?"

An ETA automatic chronograph movement would have put this watch over $1000, maybe less if they kept all the other materials and manufacturing the same, but still a significant multiplier over what it costs as it stands.