What does OEM and ODM mean in watch manufacturing?

[ercro]

I'm new to watch manufacturing and i wanted to know what OEM and ODM means. I have a small watch company that is growing and I'm looking for a manufacturer to make more time pieces for business under my brand. When i contact them they tell me that some of there watches are OEM which i know is original equipment manufacturer, so does this mean there watches are designed and built to be branded by another company? ie mine.
Some of the designs in many company catalogs look like knock offs of Nixon's,G Shock's, and many other established watch companies and some are sold under no brand at all just the manufactured time piece.
Does anyone know the rules or dos and don'ts of OEM or ODM products from china.

Thanks in advance
E

[Tanuki]

OEM means Original Engineering Manufacuring. This means you can send them original designs and they will manufacture them for you.
ODM I've not come across. I'm guess here though that it means Original Design Manufacture and carries the same meaning as OEM.

There's no real do's or don'ts for dealing with suppliers. you just need to use your head. make sure that the supplier is capable of doing the work they say they can do (in China if you ask a manufacturer "can you make this?" the answer will nearly always be yes. yes here often means "we will try" not "yes we can")

As for the knock-off's, it sounds like a 99% chance they are infringing on copyrights and patents, and copying designs. If they already publicly show themselves to be engaged in this type of behavior you have to ask yourself do i want to send original designs to them? knowing that if they like them they wont hesitate to copy them or sell them to someone else...

[ercro]

Thank you for the reply Tanuki, I think this is the best advice ive received in a wile about this topic...and ive asked around a lot. I have a company thats made watches for me in the past and the do great work for the price im paying. After putting the watches out in my area they have done well sales wise but I've been seen similar watches pop up all over the US. So in order to seperate my watch company from the others i want to come out with new stuff every season and provide my customers with a variety. The company that i worked with tells me that they have OEM products that are original designs from there company. The watches look great and I've never seen anything similar to them in the US so i think they would do well here. After doing some research i believe OEM products are made to be branded under another company's name, but i have seen some similar pieces in on an online stores in china? So im not 100% clear if there just selling a product they made cause it has no brands or labels of another watch companies.
So im trying to figure out weather I should use the companies OEM designs and put them under my name until were big enough and have more distribution to be able to come out with and sell our own original designs.

[HK Canuck]

Hi ercro,

OEM companies usually make a customer's designs if I'm not mistaken on the terminology. ODM means that they'll design for you...and will make that design. I could be mistaken though...I've never fully figured out the correct definition myself.

The main thing is, if you're dealing with a legit OEM company, they shouldn't be selling you another brand's designs that they're making. However, if you're just picking from their designs, as it seems you are, they can and will sell these to other brands as well unless you've negotiated exclusive rights to those designs. These could be regional or global, but you'd need some decent quantities before they would do that. Otherwise there's no stopping them from slapping another brand on the exact same watch that they sold you...and it's well within their rights since it's their design.

[David Woo]

OEM:
Original equipment manufacturer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ODM:
Original design manufacturer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[toufik92]

Hi ercro,

I took the liberty to draft you this email in hope to introduce you to our company and explore any possible collaboration. My name is Toufik Agra the Middle East Repesentative of Tembo Electronics Ltd A Watch Maker and Manufacturer based in Hong Kong with factories in China. Our Watch business is a family business focusing on delivering high end watches since 1979. We are using top quality movement from Japan and Switzerland (SEIKO and Citizen). We usually work with retailers, fashion designers and other high end brands. We are in pocession of hundreds of designs and we do literally work closer with companies to put in shape their own desired designs.

Should the above spark your interest, please feel free to call me or drop me a line for further discussion.

I look forward to hearing from you.

With My best Regards,

Toufik Agra
Middle East Business Development Manager
Toufik.mg(at)hotmail.com
Mobile: +852- 61109240
Tembo Electronics Ltd