Rant : wtf Cartier prices?!

[T1ck]

Mainly because my wife reckons the Tank Francaise is the one and only watch she wants, I am keeping my eye on them.

Fair enough.. Iconic, timeless, stylish.

I may be able to rationalise their price for an automatic based on arguments such as
* it is tiny and
* difficult to engineer and
* high quality movement with great accuracy

... Even though the thing has been around for nearly a century, so surely the costs have been recovered, and economies of scale have kicked in by now!


But why the heck are they £2000 for a stainless steel quartz? To add insult to injury, the bigger the case (I.e. easier to get a movement to fit in it), the higher the price!

Sorry, had to come out.

[RayMac]

Movement costs are incidental when you talk watches like Cartier. You pay for the bling and the history. You'll get a pretty good quartz movement though. Cartier knows their watches.
Another example of the theory that watches today are more jewelry than time machines.

[Der Amf]

Mainly because my wife reckons the Tank Francaise is the one and only watch she wants, I am keeping my eye on them.

Fair enough.. Iconic, timeless, stylish.

I may be able to rationalise their price for an automatic based on arguments such as
* it is tiny and
* difficult to engineer and
* high quality movement with great accuracy

... Even though the thing has been around for nearly a century, so surely the costs have been recovered, and economies of scale have kicked in by now!


But why the heck are they £2000 for a stainless steel quartz? To add insult to injury, the bigger the case (I.e. easier to get a movement to fit in it), the higher the price!

Sorry, had to come out.

Moderate supply meets infinite demand. At least, en passant, a decent watch is built

[Nokie]

Market Supply and Demand Economics 101.

Sometimes it works for you, other times against you......