[OFFICIAL] RWI Tourbillon Club

[Tcc13c]

I dont think there is a royal oak offshore tourby mate? The recent roger dubuis look great if you like a skeleton dial. The a lange is pretty close to gen aswell.

You're right. I meant to say Royal Oak (non offshore). And are there any obvious giveaways an the a lange one? Which model is it you are referring to?

 

[Tcc13c]

Hello guys I want to show you a watch that is not a rep.

ERA Timepieces created an affordable tourbillon, (I paid 1k USD, now it cost 1.5K USD), and they maid and amazing job.

In case you don't know the brand here is the link:
https://eratimepieces.com/

I'm legitimately curious about what you guys think of this piece.

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

You're right. I meant to say Royal Oak (non offshore). And are there any obvious giveaways an the a lange one? Which model is it you are referring to?

Thickness is the big giveaway on any royal oak but especially the more complicated reps. Bottom one is pretty cool, unique i guess is a good word for it. For some reason the hands look like an after thought to me, not quite as ornate as the rest of it.

 

[Hyjynx]

Hey guys, I didn't read through all 170+ pages of this thread but what is the general consensus on which tourb reps are the best? It seems the AP ROO Tourbs are liked. Any others?

IWC tourbillons are great too, particularly the ones without rotors.

 

[JumpiterT]

I'm legitimately curious about what you guys think of this piece.

Looks really messy to me

 

[Tcc13c]

Looks really messy to me

I was thinking the same but my opinion is not from a vet.

 

[Tcc13c]

IWC tourbillons are great too, particularly the ones without rotors.

Mind sharing a favorite or two?

 

[corinth]

Hello All,
Owning a beautiful JLC Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon replica, I get delight to watch it everytime I wear it. But I have this fundamental question.
What really makes the gen price of a tourbillon watch north of USD50k while our Chinese friends can build it for USD500 tops?
Is it ripoff strategy of Swiss makers with their bumped up gross profit margins, is it really some kind of exquisite workmanship and materials cost going into the Swiss tourbillon compared to the Chinese one?
Anybody who is an expert in this, please shed some light!
Thanks!

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

Hello All,
Owning a beautiful JLC Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon replica, I get delight to watch it everytime I wear it. But I have this fundamental question.
What really makes the gen price of a tourbillon watch north of USD50k while our Chinese friends can build it for USD500 tops?
Is it ripoff strategy of Swiss makers with their bumped up gross profit margins, is it really some kind of exquisite workmanship and materials cost going into the Swiss tourbillon compared to the Chinese one?
Anybody who is an expert in this, please shed some light!
Thanks!

Same reason ferraris cost more than fiats. Smaller production numbers push up costs. Most high end watches are hand finished which costs more than the machine made stuff in china. Is it worth 100x the price? Well that all depends on what people are willing to pay!

 

[corinth]

Same reason ferraris cost more than fiats. Smaller production numbers push up costs. Most high end watches are hand finished which costs more than the machine made stuff in china. Is it worth 100x the price? Well that all depends on what people are willing to pay!

Well a Ferrari's V8 or V12 is definitely superior to a 4 cylinder 1,5 liter engine of a Fiat, not mentioning the drivetrain, carbon fiber, other materials, the design and the looks and so on and so forth. There is a significant material cost and engineering going into that. But a tourbie is a 40 piece rotating machine basically invented some 200 years ago, and basically the same mechanics over time, so an apple-apple comparison is more possible with a Swiss-Chinese tourbie whereas Ferrari-Fiat is not necessarily an apple-apple.

So I have concluded that a Swiss tourbie is nothing but a ripoff strategy by the Swiss towards those who can afford it. There is no logic behind the pricing of a tourbie watch that costs north of USD100k. How many hours would it take to bring together a tourbie even though it is handmade? are these Swiss tourbie watch laborers getting 4000 USD/hour or something?

Apologies for the challenge, but my view is that what Swiss makers are doing is just against the rules of fair trade laws..
At some point, what if they will price a tourbie 1 million USD, instead of $100k they are charging now, and nobody will care. Everyone will think that, "wow it is such an exquisite piece, and oh my God, it is so f..ing rare, and I gotta get that". Bull..

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

Well a Ferrari's V8 or V12 is definitely superior to a 4 cylinder 1,5 liter engine of a Fiat, not mentioning the drivetrain, carbon fiber, other materials, the design and the looks and so on and so forth. There is a significant material cost and engineering going into that. But a tourbie is a 40 piece rotating machine basically invented some 200 years ago, and basically the same mechanics over time, so an apple-apple comparison is more possible with a Swiss-Chinese tourbie whereas Ferrari-Fiat is not necessarily an apple-apple.

So I have concluded that a Swiss tourbie is nothing but a ripoff strategy by the Swiss towards those who can afford it. There is no logic behind the pricing of a tourbie watch that costs north of USD100k. How many hours would it take to bring together a tourbie even though it is handmade? are these Swiss tourbie watch laborers getting 4000 USD/hour or something?

Apologies for the challenge, but my view is that what Swiss makers are doing is just against the rules of fair trade laws..
At some point, what if they will price a tourbie 1 million USD, instead of $100k they are charging now, and nobody will care. Everyone will think that, "wow it is such an exquisite piece, and oh my God, it is so f..ing rare, and I gotta get that". Bull..

You make good points man i cant argue with that! But you can apply the same logic to why limited edition Ferraris or lambo’s are £50k more than the standard one and often have just a different body kit or less interior so it weighs less. Its just supply and demand, people want cool shit that other people either dont have or cant get. I agree the swiss tourbys arent worth the money, but is a rolex really worth double what a tudor is? I mean a titanium tudor is half the price of a 904l sub... its not materials its just the brand value.

 

[bkg!]

You make good points man i cant argue with that! But you can apply the same logic to why limited edition Ferraris or lambo’s are £50k more than the standard one and often have just a different body kit or less interior so it weighs less. Its just supply and demand, people want cool shit that other people either dont have or cant get. I agree the swiss tourbys arent worth the money, but is a rolex really worth double what a tudor is? I mean a titanium tudor is half the price of a 904l sub... its not materials its just the brand value.

This in a nutshell

Consider the apple-apple argument from the likes of Ferrari Vs Ducati. They are both Italian, great styling, exquisite design and workmanship, and both are at the top tier of their game. The top Ducati (limited edition) goes for like $45,000 where the top Ferrari..... Yes, there are more 'components' to the Ferrari by virtue of it's layout and size, but a large portion of the expense in these is the R&D costs to achieve the best they can at the time from the machines. And the biggest element of the expense is 'name, prestige, exclusivity'. And the Ducati would murder a Ferrari any day of the week. How do you like them apples?

It's the same as a Rolex. What do you think the manufacturing cost of a 6 digit Sub actually is? Steel, other parts, machining & tooling, R&D etc all in, per unit (1m watches per year) cannot realistically be any more than about $1,200 tops. Anything above that, you're paying for the 'prestige' that owning a Rolex comes with. And that is exactly why I don't care for Rolex watches. You go and ask any of your friends who are not watch geeks like us 'What do you consider is a good watch?' and I guarantee their response is Rolex. Cleaver marketing has driven their prices. Again, supply and demand. Every time I walk in to any AD that sells Rolex, without fail, whilst chatting with the sales rep, someone will always come in and enquire about a Sub. So I always ask the rep 'How many times a day do you get enquiries for Sub's?' and they usually answer 10-12 per day, to which I then ask (all in front of the enquiring punter) 'And how many have you actually had in to store in the last 12 months?' where the common response is "2". Case in point. Limit release / distribution, demand increases, ergo price increases, as people are willing to pay a bigger ticket to get one.

 

[Hyjynx]

Mind sharing a favorite or two?

The two in the picture above are my favorite IWC tourbillons.

 

[Tcc13c]

The two in the picture above are my favorite IWC tourbillons.

I'm loving those IWC ones! How close are they to Super rep or NWBIG status in your opinion?

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

The two in the picture above are my favorite IWC tourbillons.

Still loving that memorigin. Absolutely class man!

 

[Hyjynx]

I'm loving those IWC ones! How close are they to Super rep or NWBIG status in your opinion?

We don’t use those terms in this club. That’s Rolex and Pam talk. We’re above such silliness here.

 

[Tcc13c]

We don’t use those terms in this club. That’s Rolex and Pam talk. We’re above such silliness here.

Haha well what terms do you guys prefer to use then? I definitely want to make sure I'm using the right vernacular.

 

[Hyjynx]

Haha well what terms do you guys prefer to use then? I definitely want to make sure I'm using the right vernacular.

I’m just kidding. But in truth, we tend to talk about “close enough to gen”. You’ll never find a tourbillon that can be considered a “super rep”, primarily because the gens tend to be made of precious metals like gold, platinum, etc., rep are generally SS. However, all rep tourbillons can be considered NWBIG from a gen/rep price point of view. And to answer your initial question, the IWC with tourbillon at 9 o’clock is the closer of the two to the gen, but only very slightly.

 

[Tcc13c]

I’m just kidding. But in truth, we tend to talk about “close enough to gen”. You’ll never find a tourbillon that can be considered a “super rep”, primarily because the gens tend to be made of precious metals like gold, platinum, etc., rep are generally SS. However, all rep tourbillons can be considered NWBIG from a gen/rep price point of view. And to answer your initial question, the IWC with tourbillon at 9 o’clock is the closer of the two to the gen, but only very slightly.

Ha thanks for the info. If the case itself is ss then wouldn't the weight not be a big issue? If a few of the internal components are gold plated then it will still look the same without feeling like a rep due to it being lightweight.

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

Ha thanks for the info. If the case itself is ss then wouldn't the weight not be a big issue? If a few of the internal components are gold plated then it will still look the same without feeling like a rep due to it being lightweight.

Just wait until you get a working tourbillon. All the nonsense of is it gen like etc goes out the window when you see that magical roundabout of goodness. I think most people who buy tourbys just like tourbys, they're not worried about spending 3-4k to make their sub look 10% more gen like.