The Watch Appreciation Thread - Part two (Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger LeCoultre,

[Dino944]

Can I get the group's opinion the Tank Amercaine large? One has come up locally and thinking about something as a dress piece which can also double as dressy sport watch. Any negatives? It's the one with the seconds hand, I think the earlier ones had no third hand..

Until the latest version was released about a year ago, all Tank Americaines except for the limited production CPCP versions with F. Piguet movement had a seconds hand. I have the new Large version with brushed satin finish dial, and without the seconds hand, and I like it a lot. It's very comfortable to wear and easy to dress up or dress down. I don't think you will have any regrets and it's very different from your current watches.



Another view of the new style deployant




There was a little too much strap going under the deployant, so my SA expedited the order of making a new strap in whatever color I wanted, so I chose a slightly different navy blue, but with a black backing rather than the standard cream color backing, and waived the fees for the expedited order.

@chocomallo the CPCP deployants look similar to the old style clasp @Texasmade posted. However, the CPCP only had the strap go under on one side. The deployants that were really bad which @Texasmade was referring to the strap folded under on both sides. It wasn't comfortable for anyone and was a terrible design. I like the new deployant a lot, but the older inner blades of the CPCP style deployant felt higher quality.

 

[Dino944]

Updated clasp. The foldback the leather version was really weird. You can technically get a better fit with the old version but once you fold the leather there’s no going back. If you try to adjust it and create a new fold, the strap sort of moves back to the main fold.

The few people I knew that had watches with the double fold deployant hated it. They could never get a good fit and thought it wasn't comfortable.

 

[Texasmade]

The few people I knew that had watches with the double fold deployant hated it. They could never get a good fit and thought it wasn't comfortable.

I definitely hated it too. In addition to being uncomfortable, the folded piece would move off center and stick out slightly to one side making it look even worse.

 

[Ypuh]

Nice. I want to try on a PanoMaticLunar. What was the one-watch you had?

The one-watch for the past 2 years or so was a Breitling Chronomat 40 GMT.

Probably not a watch that satisfies most enthusiasts, being a Chronomat without chrono and ETA office GMT, but I really like the case, bracelet and thinness (11.7mm). I don't care too much about manufacture movements unless it's something special (like Breitling B09's or Glashutte's).

I've bought my first Seamaster Pro 300 (Electric Blue) when I was 17/18, but sold it when I went for college because I needed the cash for what I can only assume were rent and beers. Had a few years without a watch, then a few years with a smartwatch, before re-discovering my desire for mechanical watches.

It quickly ran out of hand, so decided to scale back to just one piece, also cutting in hours and going back to uni. Trying to weigh my purchases a bit better from now on. I'm not a flipper, so either occasionally add a watch that I can get out of pain free, or purchase a watch that I intend to keep forever. A 3-watch collection sounds like a happy medium between having choice and stressing about which one to pick and locking too much funds into a simple hobby.

 

[taxgenius]

I agree with her and own a Polaris. Her teeth bother me.

 

[Mute]

I agree with her and own a Polaris. Her teeth bother me.

Yes, JLC needs a go to sportwatch. Like it or not, most guys drift towards sportier watches and JLC is heavy on watches that are more towards the dress watch side of the equation. I love those, but if they want to move back up the market share, they need something different.

 

[Dino944]

I agree with her and own a Polaris. Her teeth bother me.

I found her distracting to look at, and not in a good way . That being said, she mentioned they need to draw from their rich history such as the Memovox, Deep Sea Alarm and Chronograph. They have already released modern versions, but they didn't seem to resonate with the public. I like the Polaris, its probably the only recent round JLC that I really like, but I feel like I have that base covered with other sports watches. The JLC I love is the monoface Reverso, but their price increases have become ridiculous. It's the same old movement that has been in used in Reversos for decades - so no R&D has gone into it in a long time, they merely increase the prices because they can. In addition, a lot of people only wear round watches, so it has a limited audience. I have one friend who has 3 JLCs, all were gifts from his wife. However, I don't personally know any other watch collector who own one. It seemed like people talked more about the brand years ago. I wonder what JLC can do to revive interest in the brand?

 

[Keyser_Söze]

I found her distracting to look at, and not in a good way . That being said, she mentioned they need to draw from their rich history such as the Memovox, Deep Sea Alarm and Chronograph. They have already released modern versions, but they didn't seem to resonate with the public. I like the Polaris, its probably the only recent round JLC that I really like, but I feel like I have that base covered with other sports watches. The JLC I love is the monoface Reverso, but their price increases have become ridiculous. It's the same old movement that has been in used in Reversos for decades - so no R&D has gone into it in a long time, they merely increase the prices because they can. In addition, a lot of people only wear round watches, so it has a limited audience. I have one friend who has 3 JLCs, all were gifts from his wife. However, I don't personally know any other watch collector who own one. It seemed like people talked more about the brand years ago. I wonder what JLC can do to revive interest in the brand?

They can stop unnecessarily raising prices. Their whole point for the watch community was higher quality for a reasonable price. Over the last few years they decided they wanted to be part of the high end luxury market and have raised their prices to match.

 

[taxgenius]

I found her distracting to look at, and not in a good way . That being said, she mentioned they need to draw from their rich history such as the Memovox, Deep Sea Alarm and Chronograph. They have already released modern versions, but they didn't seem to resonate with the public. I like the Polaris, its probably the only recent round JLC that I really like, but I feel like I have that base covered with other sports watches. The JLC I love is the monoface Reverso, but their price increases have become ridiculous. It's the same old movement that has been in used in Reversos for decades - so no R&D has gone into it in a long time, they merely increase the prices because they can. In addition, a lot of people only wear round watches, so it has a limited audience. I have one friend who has 3 JLCs, all were gifts from his wife. However, I don't personally know any other watch collector who own one. It seemed like people talked more about the brand years ago. I wonder what JLC can do to revive interest in the brand?

My humble opinion is that they raised prices to appear in the same category of the elites, but it did not have the intended effect. They may need to recalibrate their strategy.

 

[LeeR]

The few people I knew that had watches with the double fold deployant hated it. They could never get a good fit and thought it wasn't comfortable.

Respectfully disagree. I have two JLC on the double deployent and once I got the hang of them find them most comfortable and easy. I'm wearing one of them right now.

 

[Texasmade]

Respectfully disagree. I have two JLC on the double deployent and once I got the hang of them find them most comfortable and easy. I'm wearing one of them right now.

We're not talking about a double deployant. We're talking about Cartier's double fold the strap deployant.

 

[Dino944]

They can stop unnecessarily raising prices. Their whole point for the watch community was higher quality for a reasonable price. Over the last few years they decided they wanted to be part of the high end luxury market and have raised their prices to match.

+100%

My humble opinion is that they raised prices to appear in the same category of the elites, but it did not have the intended effect. They may need to recalibrate their strategy.

Agree completely! Raising prices was silly, and it doesn't elevate a brand. It was previously viewed as a high quality watch and a great value. Now the price has left many would be buyers walking away from the brand.

Respectfully disagree. I have two JLC on the double deployent and once I got the hang of them find them most comfortable and easy. I'm wearing one of them right now.

The double deployant buckles used on JLCs are a completely different design than those that were on Cartier for a few years. The Cartier ones required a person to fold the excess of the leather strap under both sides of a single deployant buckle design, resulted in it being uncomfortable, a poor fit, disliked by most Cartier buyers and it was eventually changed to a more conventional design.

The JLC double deployant buckle, is like the "Butterfly" deployant buckles of my VC 1936 and 1972. That style works fine, and is comfortable.

 

[LuxLibertas]

The few people I knew that had watches with the double fold deployant hated it. They could never get a good fit and thought it wasn't comfortable.

I know I am in the minority, but I actually really like it. It definitely took a while to get used to, though.

 

[Ebitdaddy]

it doesn't elevate a brand.

Especially given JLC has been more of a watch nerd's "value" brand for such a long time!

I've seen aggressive price increases work amazingly well in consumer, think 2x - 5x price increases in a ~2 - 3 year period, but it seems to be hit and miss.

 

[NakedYoga]

My humble opinion is that they raised prices to appear in the same category of the elites, but it did not have the intended effect. They may need to recalibrate their strategy.

I'm no business expert, but I would have to imagine lowering their prices is totally out of the question and would almost be a death knell. So that begs the question: how exactly do they recalibrate without further damaging their brand?