is the Hermes Apple Watch a taste of new Watch faces to come ?

[Mac 128]

Yeah, I'm surprised that the Hermes Apple Watch prices include the actual watch. I wouldn't have been shocked if the watch bands were $1,500 on their own.

Yes imagine my surprise when I looked up the price of this Hermes Cape Cod classic which the Watch emulates, and it costs more than the Watch!

That suggests to me that either the Watch is much less expensive than we thought to make, or Hermes is making a massive profit on the quartz watches they sell!

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Yes imagine my surprise when I looked up the price of this Hermes Cape Cod classic which the Watch emulates, and it costs more than the Watch!

That suggests to me that either the Watch is much less expensive than we thought to make, or Hermes is making a massive profit on the quartz watches they sell!

No different from Marc Newson's Ikepods being significantly more expensive than their AW counterparts.

 

[zetaplus93]

The thing that really blows me away is that I actually like the design with the bracelet, even compared to my mechanicals. It's a very retro-future, 2001: Space Odyssey vibe, which I like.

Yeah, when I first saw that, I thought that's very retro and reminds me of old 70s and 80s designs. I actually didn't like it at the beginning, but it's grown on me and I've since bought it. It doesn't stretch though, which I think could've been awesome lol!

 

[zetaplus93]

That suggests to me that either the Watch is much less expensive than we thought to make, or Hermes is making a massive profit on the quartz watches they sell!

Oh, no doubt traditional watch brands enjoy significant markup.

Margins are likely greater than 50% if you remove marketing expenses (which I understand to be massive).

 

[douglasf13]

Oh, no doubt traditional watch brands enjoy significant markup.

Margins are likely greater than 50% if you remove marketing expenses (which I understand to be massive).

There were some pretty awesome threads several years ago about what it likely costs to make an $8K Rolex watch over on some watch forums. I'd be surprised if it costs more than $500 to make a Rolex, and, yes, I still own one, so I'm not disparaging the brand. Using a quartz movement, as Hermes does, is likely even less. There's certainly much more development and cost in the Apple Watch than that Hermes quartz.

Veblen goods, plain and simple.

 

[BarracksSi]

Yes imagine my surprise when I looked up the price of this Hermes Cape Cod classic which the Watch emulates, and it costs more than the Watch!

That suggests to me that either the Watch is much less expensive than we thought to make, or Hermes is making a massive profit on the quartz watches they sell!

Bet there's nothing special about the quartz movement in that Cape Cod, either. Pretty sure they didn't secure any Seiko 9F or Citizen Chronomaster movements to stick in there.

 

[Mac 128]

Bet there's nothing special about the quartz movement in that Cape Cod, either. Pretty sure they didn't secure any Seiko 9F or Citizen Chronomaster movements to stick in there.

I don't disagree, but I was curious so I looked it up ...

When Hermes started making watches in 1978, they partnered with fine watchmakers like Jaeger-LeCoultre, but since 2012 Hermes started making their own watches, buying into Vaucher, Joseph Erad, and Nateber.

So they can charge less of the Watch since Hermes had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

Seriously, all they did was design a band which is transplantable to any other watch, and Apple adapted a custom watch face so they could boast a prestigious association with Hermes, by branding the watch with Hermes trademarks.

 

[douglasf13]

I don't disagree, but I was curious so I looked it up ...

When Hermes started making watches in 1978, they partnered with fine watchmakers like Jaeger-LeCoultre, but since 2012 Hermes started making their own watches, buying into Vaucher, Joseph Erad, and Nateber.

So they can charge less of the Watch since Hermes had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

Seriously, all they did was design a band which is transplantable to any other watch, and Apple adapted a custom watch face so they could boast a prestigious association with Hermes, by branding the watch with Hermes trademarks.

The watch has both Hermes and Apple branding on the case. They didn't add or remove any Apple branding, compared to any other models. You're getting hung up on a single watch face of many available on the watch.