![]() ![]() There seems to be a typical formula: An aristocratic sounding family name of the founder, a founding date sometime in the 1800s and a founding place in Geneva or some town or village with a quaint name in France. My point with the Chinese sweatshop example was its really about the image that they want to be associated with. I admit i know next to nothing about horology but as a software engineer i have trouble believing it has more complexity than a similarly priced family saloon or even a mobile phone, or a microprocessor. I can't believe that the price reflects the materials, the complexity and labour that went into the watch. Lets take a typical Patek watch which costs tens of thousands of dollars. OK fine, that might be an extreme example. The watch in question made in 1989 is valued at 6 million dollars (according to wikipedia). I am sorry to say you haven't assuaged my scepticism. Meanwhile, the real deal modern watch movements are decades more advanced. Part of why counterfeits are so cheap is because they source really cheap Japanese or local Chinese movements that have had decades of build up to scale to the current counterfeit prices. They'd have to start by sourcing synthetic materials, reinventing tools, or recreating components that a theoretical sweatshop wouldn't even have access to. That's not how it works.įurthermore, if you asked this theoretical Chinese sweatshop to build a modern highly complicated Patek Philippe, it wouldn't cost 1/100 the price, it would cost 100x the price if not more. To your analogy it would be like producing a cheap engine and simply calling it an F1 engine. Anyone in the know would trivially identify the differences. ![]() I don't think you should let your bias, if any, of the very inferior counterfeit movements and counterfeit casing industry color your opinion of watches. Even with the history I've linked to above, the Swiss industry is light years ahead and it's not even close. However, back to answer your question precisely, China simply doesn't have an industry or heritage or history that can support a Patek, which is why it doesn't exist. In fact the project 304 chronograph is still considered collectible, even the reissues. There's actually a rich history of Chinese watch making and it's worth reading up on if you're into mechanical watches at all: The answer is "yes" of course a Chinese made Patek Philippe would be an object of appreciation. I know you're asking this question as a rhetorical but the answer is not what you think it is.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |