Quote:
Originally Posted by mcnealstash
Omega makes some nice watches but they fall very short when it comes to business decisions and execution regarding their product.
Omega's branding is god awful and their upper management should all be canned- it should have happened years ago. Limited edition this, limited edition that. No, a run of 6,969 pieces is not limited whatsoever. Eight hundred different speedmasters to choose from. They're spread too thin and without focus. Navigating their product line on their website is a nightmare and makes no sense because there are subdivisions of all their main product lines. They're really starting to fashion themselves as a "follower" brand in the industry, not a leading brand. They pay too much attention to trends. Trimming down their product line and showing some focus on the things they do well is a must.
The new steel speedmaster 321 was a phenomenal opportunity for the brand to break the mold and get out of this funk- but they also managed to completely blow this one as well. If they could have made a steel 321 that was more true to the original's design and managed to keep it closer to the real retail of a speedmaster, everyone and their mom would be out at their local omega AD trying to get their hands on one. Instead, we got a fauxtina homage of a watch with a 321 movement in it. The price? Oh yeah it's essentially triple what you'd pay at an AD for the other steel speedmasters. A complete joke and slap in the face to the watch buyer.
They have cemented themselves as little brother at this point and continue to dilute the brand's value and reputation with each bad decision they make.
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Agree w/ some parts and disagree with other.
I will absolutely not begrudge a company for providing me variety and quantity.
The 321 was an absolute failure given that it was absolutely STUNNING but they tripled the price and made the smallest batch of them versus other "limited editions". (Let's admit it, the should just drop the word "limited" and use special or something else).
Omega's marketing dept is god awful to say the least.
If I were them, I would create a commercial like this and capitalize on the shortage and the higher price from Rolex:
"Q" sends an assistant to go purchase a new watch from the store b/c Bond just destroyed all of them playing w/ the new gadgets (or whatever reason that fully exhausts their supply).
The assistant, in a clueless/frenzied manner goes into countless shops but can't find it b/c he claims to Q, "the factory only produces/sends a few each year to the shop" (I'm sure that's a familiar thing told to rolex shoppers).
Q tells him,no no no, just come back.
Then he looks at Bond and tells him to go get the watch.
Suave Bond goes to a shop, where double doors are opened for him and 3 beautiful S.A.'s ask "which would you like", then they gesture (just like the price is right girls) towards a full shelf of various types of Omega SMP's.
Bond gives a his smirk, and end scene with "The true professionals choice, always available to save the day".
Hell, you can even inter change that out w/ the speedmaster.
Replace bond w/ an astronaut, Q w/ a NASA engineer and the girls with... aw hell, leave the girls in.
Retro/vintage is in today. They could even turn this into a one page retro comic showing all the scenes in popular magazines like GQ, Esquire, etc...
At the end of the day, Rolex isn't more expensive b/c it's a better watch or let alone even a better brand.
It's b/c it's a better marketer of its products.
When I was getting my new SMP 300 Bond (silver/blue version) sized at Jared's last month, a guy came in to purchase a Speedmaster watch.
He didn't have a clue that the watch needed to be hand wound as he though it was a regular automatic.
This isn't his fault at all, this is the fault of marketing only relentlessly stuffing the same old astronaut pics down his throat.
Either way, I'm not gonna complain too much.
Received a healthy discount for a brand new one w/ box papers and full 5 years of warranty.