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Forum's Viewpoint On Designer Watches

3K views 18 replies 13 participants last post by  Aleric 
#1 ·
I just started getting into watches and love this forum.
How does the forum in general view designer watches like Emporio Armani, Nautica, Kenneth Cole, etc. How well made are they compared to Seiko, Citizen, etc. How respected are they among WIS? Bang for the buck size would you be better off with a comparably priced Seiko?
Just wondering to me it seems like most of their designs are fancier or shall I say gaudy than the Japanese brands like Orient, Citizen,etc and I'm not into that. But some designs seem pretty subdued also which is more what I look for in a watch. Just wondering the overall quality and they are viewed.
 
#8 ·
Generally speaking, I think you will find an opinion on here that they are more akin to fashion jewelry than quality watches. Some of the fashion brands however, Calvin Klein for instance, do offer some watches with respected movements. The vast majority, not so much.
 
#10 ·
Look, you'll get a lot of snarky answers on this forum because we get questions like this all of the time (and worse) so be ready for moans and groans but this is actually a fun community if you like watches.

As to your question, most fashion watches are manufactured by Fossil which isn't necessarily a bad watch but when you put a designer name on it then they become inflated on pricing. What you're buying is usually a quartz movement (battery) which can be as cheap as $10 and an entry level quality case with a design. As far as good, from purely a production standpoint, they fall below the comparably priced models from watch companies like seiko, orient et all. You'll notice that this forum has a bias for mechanical watches over quartz so you'll likely hear people advocate for buying an auto instead of a quartz but really they aren't any better, just different.

As far as design that's entirely subjective. Go with what you like, there's an entire fashion watch forum of you dig them.
 
#12 ·
It's not that they are bad watches.
It's just that they are not good watches.
These designers don't know watches...they know dresses, shoes, fabrics, colors...it's like those designer cars of yore,
Gucci Granada's, Mr. Black Lincolns....Get real, you don't see Patek Cocktail dresses,Rolex wedding gowns.
 
#15 ·
You'll here a lot of disdain for fashion watches here. It's usually true that a watch from say Seiko or Citizen is a better value for money proposition in the long term than a Michael Kors or Armani watch. However if you look around you can always find these kind of fashion watches heavily discounted in sales somewhere and if you like the look of it and feel the price is ok then why not go for it? It's your wrist and if you see a design you like that's all that matters. The watch police aren't suddenly going to come along and cart you off for wearing one. Wear whatever makes you happy.
 
#16 ·
Most Quartz movements are $5-50. Regardless of fashion or other maker.
Quality of fashion watches? Generally disposable as related the cost. A bic biro compared to a waterman. You can put colors, designs a fancy name on a bic biro and make it look subdued and cool but at the end of the day it's a bic biro.
 
#19 ·
Most all of the Japanese manufacturers (i.e. Seiko, Citizen, Casio, Orient, etc.) have their watches produced in China these days, at least in the price range we are discussing here. Many of the fashion watches use Seiko (TMI) or Citizen/Myota designed quartz movements, which are probably also produced in China or some other country.

So my point is, you are paying a premium with the well known watch manufacturer names too. Are they necessarily better than many of the "fashion" brands? They are all sourced from the same place. You'll probably get better CS from those Japanese companies than the typical fashion brands (save Fossil branded watches as their CS and 11 year warranty is hard to beat).
 
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