Watchlords

Mortuus wrote:This is awesome news! 40mm case width by 12mm case height; I love it! But $305 per copy? Orient? Would they really make us small watch lovers pay that much through the nose? Or maybe the author has what's colloquially (that's "everyday speech," for those of you in Fairfax, VA) referred to as the 'wrong end of the stick.' Maybe that's just the MSR price; I mean, heck, if I already build the "Bambino" and sell it for ~$165 USD, why should the new, smaller piece be so much more expensive? Factory retooling costs? Corporate greed? Just because they CAN? I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Orient actually does here before worrying over a quoted-by-a-non-Orient-employee price that shows up in an online article... (I still don't like it, though... )

conjurer wrote:

Mortuus wrote:This is awesome news! 40mm case width by 12mm case height; I love it! But $305 per copy? Orient? Would they really make us small watch lovers pay that much through the nose? Or maybe the author has what's colloquially (that's "everyday speech," for those of you in Fairfax, VA) referred to as the 'wrong end of the stick.' Maybe that's just the MSR price; I mean, heck, if I already build the "Bambino" and sell it for ~$165 USD, why should the new, smaller piece be so much more expensive? Factory retooling costs? Corporate greed? Just because they CAN? I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Orient actually does here before worrying over a quoted-by-a-non-Orient-employee price that shows up in an online article... (I still don't like it, though... )

I honestly don't know why companies like Orient (and their owner, Seiko) continue to bother with slightly absurdly inflated MSRPs, when anybody can instantly access the interwebz and quickly find the actual street price.

Way back, my first retail job was selling fine luggage and briefcases, and our low-end brand was Samsonite. Now, Samsonite (back then, I have no idea today) was a good, serviceable brand. It held up well, protected your clothes when you were traveling, etc. But it was a brand with inflated retail, and when new stock came in we'd unbox it, leaving the Samsonite hangtags on the handle (that stated the MSRP), then put our store tags next to them, with the MSRP (which we crossed out), and the "sale" price below. Back then, it made a certain sense--most people didn't even know what the internet was, let alone access to it--and to "shop around" for the best price meant at the very least making some phone calls.

Yet, today, it still goes on. The MSRP for a Seiko SKX007 diver is $450, and yet the street price is around $200. Indeed, you'd have to go out of your way to buy it for the MSRP, even at ADs. I'd guess the new Orient (I refuse to use the term Bambino) will land around the $175-200 mark.

Mortuus wrote:Thanks, John; that was the price range I was thinking it might be, but wasn't sure. And I agree with you about the silly, arcane practice of MSRP inflation, as well. Even otherwise mature, ethical companies, like Seiko -- and now, apparently, Orient -- still engage in this, so it's a no brainer that the invicters and turdlings -- AKA the less mature, ethical companies -- will follow suit, only in a more obnoxious and superfluous manner. The answer? Euthanize Eyallallow Lemonjello...

conjurer wrote:

Mortuus wrote:Thanks, John; that was the price range I was thinking it might be, but wasn't sure. And I agree with you about the silly, arcane practice of MSRP inflation, as well. Even otherwise mature, ethical companies, like Seiko -- and now, apparently, Orient -- still engage in this, so it's a no brainer that the invicters and turdlings -- AKA the less mature, ethical companies -- will follow suit, only in a more obnoxious and superfluous manner. The answer? Euthanize Eyallallow Lemonjello...

While the idea of Eyal laying in state in a big yellow cheesebox in the Florida capital rotunda is indeed pleasing, Orient (and more particularly, Orient USA) has been inflating retails for years. Some years back, they would embed a coupon code in their videos, promising 50% off of just about everything that O Japan allowed them to sell. The word was that O Japan got up in their ass and forced them to stop, thinking (correctly) that it devalued the brand.

MKTheVintageBloke wrote:The date window and the seconds subdial placement really are the fly in the ointment here...

To be completely honest, Bloke, at age 59, I don't care if I ever see another date window, because instead of seeing numbers, like I used to, I now see little mini Rorschach spatters, and even they're way too small for me to try and conjure up some kind of description of just what in blue fwiggin; blazes they are...and as Andy Griffith said, on more than one occasion, "Fuck it, Barney, gimme the fuckin' bullet back before you shoot your fuckin' toes off."

conjurer wrote:Way back, my first retail job was selling fine luggage and briefcases, and our low-end brand was Samsonite. Now, Samsonite (back then, I have no idea today) was a good, serviceable brand. It held up well, protected your clothes when you were traveling, etc. But it was a brand with inflated retail, and when new stock came in we'd unbox it, leaving the Samsonite hangtags on the handle (that stated the MSRP), then put our store tags next to them, with the MSRP (which we crossed out), and the "sale" price below. Back then, it made a certain sense--most people didn't even know what the internet was, let alone access to it--and to "shop around" for the best price meant at the very least making some phone calls.

Yet, today, it still goes on. The MSRP for a Seiko SKX007 diver is $450, and yet the street price is around $200. Indeed, you'd have to go out of your way to buy it for the MSRP, even at ADs. I'd guess the new Orient (I refuse to use the term Bambino) will land around the $175-200 mark.

Pubbie wrote:

conjurer wrote:Way back, my first retail job was selling fine luggage and briefcases, and our low-end brand was Samsonite. Now, Samsonite (back then, I have no idea today) was a good, serviceable brand. It held up well, protected your clothes when you were traveling, etc. But it was a brand with inflated retail, and when new stock came in we'd unbox it, leaving the Samsonite hangtags on the handle (that stated the MSRP), then put our store tags next to them, with the MSRP (which we crossed out), and the "sale" price below. Back then, it made a certain sense--most people didn't even know what the internet was, let alone access to it--and to "shop around" for the best price meant at the very least making some phone calls.

Phone calls?? The way you describe it, and given my age, it sounds like this is 1975 - but in all likelihood it might well be 1995

Yet, today, it still goes on. The MSRP for a Seiko SKX007 diver is $450, and yet the street price is around $200. Indeed, you'd have to go out of your way to buy it for the MSRP, even at ADs. I'd guess the new Orient (I refuse to use the term Bambino) will land around the $175-200 mark.

You can buy SKX007s all day long on the British high street for $375. Many do!

High Street...isn't that where Grace Bros. is?

Pubbie wrote:

conjurer wrote:Way back, my first retail job was selling fine luggage and briefcases, and our low-end brand was Samsonite. Now, Samsonite (back then, I have no idea today) was a good, serviceable brand. It held up well, protected your clothes when you were traveling, etc. But it was a brand with inflated retail, and when new stock came in we'd unbox it, leaving the Samsonite hangtags on the handle (that stated the MSRP), then put our store tags next to them, with the MSRP (which we crossed out), and the "sale" price below. Back then, it made a certain sense--most people didn't even know what the internet was, let alone access to it--and to "shop around" for the best price meant at the very least making some phone calls.

Phone calls?? The way you describe it, and given my age, it sounds like this is 1975 - but in all likelihood it might well be 1995

Yet, today, it still goes on. The MSRP for a Seiko SKX007 diver is $450, and yet the street price is around $200. Indeed, you'd have to go out of your way to buy it for the MSRP, even at ADs. I'd guess the new Orient (I refuse to use the term Bambino) will land around the $175-200 mark.

You can buy SKX007s all day long on the British high street for $375. Many do!

Mortuus wrote:High Street...isn't that where Grace Bros. is?

Pubbie wrote:

conjurer wrote:Way back, my first retail job was selling fine luggage and briefcases, and our low-end brand was Samsonite. Now, Samsonite (back then, I have no idea today) was a good, serviceable brand. It held up well, protected your clothes when you were traveling, etc. But it was a brand with inflated retail, and when new stock came in we'd unbox it, leaving the Samsonite hangtags on the handle (that stated the MSRP), then put our store tags next to them, with the MSRP (which we crossed out), and the "sale" price below. Back then, it made a certain sense--most people didn't even know what the internet was, let alone access to it--and to "shop around" for the best price meant at the very least making some phone calls.

Phone calls?? The way you describe it, and given my age, it sounds like this is 1975 - but in all likelihood it might well be 1995

Yet, today, it still goes on. The MSRP for a Seiko SKX007 diver is $450, and yet the street price is around $200. Indeed, you'd have to go out of your way to buy it for the MSRP, even at ADs. I'd guess the new Orient (I refuse to use the term Bambino) will land around the $175-200 mark.

You can buy SKX007s all day long on the British high street for $375. Many do!

Pubbie wrote:

Mortuus wrote:High Street...isn't that where Grace Bros. is?

I was tickled to discover whilst living briefly in Melbourne about 20 years ago that Grace Bros actually existed. This isn't a photoshop!

That's TOO COOL...I wonder if they have an 80 year-old guy with white hair going through there twice a day, calling out, "You've all done very well!" and then falling down...now that would be uber cool, too!