How will time judge many modern watches ?

[willy]

No doubt about it , you can buy a lot of watch for a few thousand kroner today . CT machines and modern production methods have changed the face of watchmaking in a radical way . There is no question that many modern watches could never have been made say 40 years ago and sold for the low prices of today . There are just millions and millions of watches made on the same machines with the same types of basic caliber .

Most of these watches are quite reliable and will give you years of service without big problems . But have they got anything to do with real watchmaking ? I would have to answer yes and no .No if we compair them to many vintage watches that involved much more handwork and individual watchmaking skill . Yes if we take into account development costs and new materials used in modern watches . When say Rolex unlease a new caliber into the world , it has been developed by great watchmakers who have maybe spent years working on it . And when they are finished the machines take over and spit millions of the calibers out .

At our recent watch meeting in Næstved one fact hit me straight between the eyes . I was looking at a vintage Urban Jurgensen watch that was made with great skill and effort by master watch builders . The price of this watch was about the same as a new Rolex Deep sea . And if i am honest there is absolutly no comparison between these two watches . The Urban J is just superior in every way imaginable when we consider the know how and skill involved to make a watch like this . You just could not ever spit a UJ watch out of a machine , not yet anyway

I believe that now and for ever collectors of fine watches will pay for and collect watches made like Urban Jurgenson watches in their great period in history. I am also sure that in the future many people will collect old Rolex deep sea watches , but not because of how they were made . No they will collect them just because of the brand name that made them . Willy

[jk_phpbb3_import15746]

willy Skrev:I believe that now and for ever collectors of fine watches will pay for and collect watches made like Urban Jurgenson watches in their great period in history. I am also sure that in the future many people will collect old Rolex deep sea watches , but not because of how they were made . No they will collect them just because of the brand name that made them . Willy

Jeg håber og tror bestemt også, at der i fremtiden vil være samlere, som sætter pris på de håndværksmæssige kvaliteter i ure også fra mindre kendte fabrikanter. De vil dog nok være i mindretal.
Den store samlelyst vil formentlig fortsat være på de kendteste brands, hvor innovation i nogle tilfælde begrænser sig til præsentationen af en ny blå-sort bezel. Men det er selvfølgelig også interessant om skriften på skiven er rød eller hvid, og måske er der oven i købet to linier, der er røde...

Jeg undskylder på forhånd for ironien og ønsker ikke at starte en borgerkrig !
JK

[bjorn_e58]

Heldigvis er der et marked (det er os!) for både Rolex's bundsolide, relativt dyre samlebåndsure, for det unikke (tag f.eks. F. P. Journe), for det ekceptionelle (eks PP eller Lange), og for den store mængde af dem Willy først omtaler. Der er selvfølgelig stort udsving i, hvordan det altsammen vurderes i fremtiden, men mon ikke urene i den dyre ende stadig er mere sandsynlige til fortsat at være eftertragtede? Nogle alene på grund af brand. Men det er da lige så god en grund til at eje dem som forfinet urmageri? Jeg er i hvert fald kun en blandt formentlig millioner, der glædes over at eje en håndfuld nyere Rolex.

/Bjørn

[willy]

I have nothing against Rolex at all . It could have been any watch of that type i compaired to UJ . I just think that sometimes we are blind to the real quality of many watches . But nothing is fair in the watch business as we know Willy