The Arrogance of AP

The old saying goes, Why Can A Dog Lick His Balls? Because He can! This is sort of the approach with super watch brand Audemars Piguet. As I have never been a huge AP supporter because they do nothing for me and kind of make me want to puke, I feel I can still objectively report that the key to they're success has been the Royal Joke or the Royal Oak line as it is so fondly known by millions of collectors worldwide. I mean when the hell will a million variations of the same watch stop getting old? This is really taking the piss out of the collector in my opinion, because there is nothing novel or interesting about reproducing the same watch over and over again and calling it new. Let's face it, nobody gives a toss about the Millenary Collection or the Jules Audemars Collection because they are bloody expensive and ugly for the most part. The sad thing is that this translates to the Authorized Dealer when placing orders has to buy so much of the garbage, before they are entitled to the Good Stuff. Well, I got news for all of you because at the end of the day, the good stuff Royal Oakes and the Offshore Line ain't that great!

In the words of my dear friend SH, who is an avid Audemars Piguet collector. When the F are they going to use the new Cases for their Royal Oak Offshore line, they keep bloody recycling the old one. What AP, may or may not realize from a consumer perspective is that by doing these things, it antagonizes the consumer and makes him or her have serious doubts when purchasing the next peace. The delivery schedules suck, and by the time the watch is delivered the price has gone through the roof by 10 percent because they cleverly managed to add a price increase on an already overpriced product, which is just downright infuriating and wrong.

I will always give credit where credit is due. They managed to capture and dominate the market with the Royal Oak and Offshore client, they have managed to get celebrities to ask for special editions be created and they have limited they're distribution which has been air tight on limited product, creating demand and hence increasing the value of that product in some cases almost four times the original retail value. They have been extremely innovative in being the first brand to make use of interesting alloys and composites that have influenced so many brands over the years, and are specialists in finishing with they're highly complicated pieces. However, in these recessionary times especially, it is vital the watch companies understand that the consumer shelling out thousands upon thousands of dollars for a timepiece doesn't want to be treated just like another flipping number, they want to be comforted and be treated with respect as they should!

So I really advise collectors out there, if your going to shell out 30k on a watch that's probably going to take years to get and something that looks exactly what you have on your wrist from years back, consider your options, expand your collection and get more for your money before considering being a part of the Arrogance of AP.

pic courtesy of www.perpetuelle.com