More units sold?
We get the question about what the most popular or iconic watches of all time would be posed here frequently. Opinions vary. One measure must surely be how many units (watches) have been sold since the model's introduction.
In this poll I am interested in what watch you think has sold the most watches since it came on the market. I would also like to know why you think that. Share your methodology if you can.
(I don't think the answer is obvious.)
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Greg
Restitutor Orbis. Aristocrat of beauty. Autocrat of time. (Trying to perfect trolling over at theescapementroom.com)
Charleston, SC
Member since
Last active: 2 hrs ago
I’ll go with the west end and I guess that the volumes of these watches produced have something to do with the first and second world wars……..
Amongst diehard music people, the Pixies were THE band. Nobody has ever heard of the Pixies.
Lionel Richie, meanwhile, is no hardcore music fan’s favorite. Yet, I’m sure he’s sold 8,000x the number of albums the Pixies ever did.
I voted West End as this feels like a trick question.
I’m not familiar with West End, therefore no one has ever bought any.
Amongst diehard music people, the Pixies were THE band. Nobody has ever heard of the Pixies.
Lionel Richie, meanwhile, is no hardcore music fan’s favorite. Yet, I’m sure he’s sold 8,000x the number of albums the Pixies ever did.
Which watch is the Pixies in this analogy?
West End has been selling this model since approximately 1906. The Sudmariner only since 1954 or so, and they were probably actually rare until CNC came around. Even now that Rollie is cranking out a majillion watches a year, I suspect they limit the Sud to maybe a hundred thousand per year.
Besides, wikipedia says that WEW has made over 15 million watches since the start. I'll guess that something like 12 million or more are this model.
I'm guessing around 100K/yr Suds since ~1996 and maybe 40K/yr before that for....uh... 2023-1996=27 so 2.7M plus uh 1996-1954 = 42 times 40K is 1.68M. This is a total of under 5 million. Yeah, it's gotta be West End.
Do you really think the Submariner outsells the G-Shock in terms of units sold? By gross dollar sales it probably does.
I voted West End as this feels like a trick question.
It is not a trick question.
A couple of data points to consider:
The Sowar Prima was introduced 20 years before the Submariner
West End has sold over 15 million watches in its history
The most popular model West End has ever produced is the Sowar Prima, by a large margin (name another without a Google search)
Rolex does not disclose how many watches it produces (either does West End)
Rolex has more name recognition than any other brand in the world
The Submariner is one of the most popular, perhaps the most popular model that Rolex makes in terms of what people think of when they think of Rolex
This exercise was not meant to disparage either watch. If I put a new Submariner and a new Sowar on a table and told Crunchers to take one, at no cost, perhaps 100% of us would choose the Sub, even me. But, how many Subs are sold?
This article has two methodologies to try to get at that answer. It estimates that approximately 98k are produced a year. If you extrapolate that figure back to 1954 you get a number like 6.9 million total sold. But production in 2021 and historical production have got to be wildly different. No way that Rolex was producing 98k Subs even in 2000, let alone 1960. That number must be less than 6.9 million, maybe way less. (The Sub only seems to be the third most sold Rolex, behind the Datejust and Daytona.)
I gave you two facts about the Sowar. But what does it even mean that it is the most popular model? Is most popular 80% of watches sold or 50% of watches sold? Even at 40% (which seems low) the number of Sowars produced is 6.0 million.
I think it is likely that there have been more Sowar Prima sold than Submariners. That says something about the nature of popularity that number of things sold is not a metric that we consider about certain consumable goods.
West End has been selling this model since approximately 1906. The Sudmariner only since 1954 or so, and they were probably actually rare until CNC came around. Even now that Rollie is cranking out a majillion watches a year, I suspect they limit the Sud to maybe a hundred thousand per year.
Besides, wikipedia says that WEW has made over 15 million watches since the start. I'll guess that something like 12 million or more are this model.
I'm guessing around 100K/yr Suds since ~1996 and maybe 40K/yr before that for....uh... 2023-1996=27 so 2.7M plus uh 1996-1954 = 42 times 40K is 1.68M. This is a total of under 5 million. Yeah, it's gotta be West End.
Just trying to help you get the West End badge.
It is not a trick question.
A couple of data points to consider:
The Sowar Prima was introduced 20 years before the Submariner
West End has sold over 15 million watches in its history
The most popular model West End has ever produced is the Sowar Prima, by a large margin (name another without a Google search)
Rolex does not disclose how many watches it produces (either does West End)
Rolex has more name recognition than any other brand in the world
The Submariner is one of the most popular, perhaps the most popular model that Rolex makes in terms of what people think of when they think of Rolex
This exercise was not meant to disparage either watch. If I put a new Submariner and a new Sowar on a table and told Crunchers to take one, at no cost, perhaps 100% of us would choose the Sub, even me. But, how many Subs are sold?
This article has two methodologies to try to get at that answer. It estimates that approximately 98k are produced a year. If you extrapolate that figure back to 1954 you get a number like 6.9 million total sold. But production in 2021 and historical production have got to be wildly different. No way that Rolex was producing 98k Subs even in 2000, let alone 1960. That number must be less than 6.9 million, maybe way less. (The Sub only seems to be the third most sold Rolex, behind the Datejust and Daytona.)
I gave you two facts about the Sowar. But what does it even mean that it is the most popular model? Is most popular 80% of watches sold or 50% of watches sold? Even at 40% (which seems low) the number of Sowars produced is 6.0 million.
I think it is likely that there have been more Sowar Prima sold than Submariners. That says something about the nature of popularity that number of things sold is not a metric that we consider about certain consumable goods.
Oh wow, my "1 in 10 Rollies are Sudmariners" guess was thatclose?
I was looser with my West End estimates but methodology was similar.
Just trying to help you get the West End badge.
You do that sort of thing so much more slickly and effectively than I do.
Oh wow, my "1 in 10 Rollies are Sudmariners" guess was thatclose?
I was looser with my West End estimates but methodology was similar.
The Sowar Prima was introduced in 1934. It was the first production watch to use the Incabloc shock resistance system. The use of Incabloc was denoted by the term Prima and the red cross in the circle.
Which watch is the Pixies in this analogy?
What enthusiasts are into has almost no correlation with what sells in nearly every industry.
What enthusiasts are into has almost no correlation with what sells in nearly every industry.
I don't think "enthusiasts" are "into" either. I have been seeing the Rushmore comparisons and the "most iconic" questions and it got me thinking that I had no idea how many Subs were actually sold, last year or ever. The watch certainly has had an outsized effect on the industry. I decided to compare it to a watch that very few of us ever think about.
The Sowar Prima was introduced in 1934. It was the first production watch to use the Incabloc shock resistance system. The use of Incabloc was denoted by the term Prima and the red cross in the circle.
I need to remember this, as Incabloc dial boasts are something that shows up with regularity during a certain period and then sort of disappears. Add this to the Eterna "five balls" logo for technical symbols hidden in plain sight.
Interesting exercise. I want to know how we figure out how many Casio F91s have been sold since its inception.
Interesting exercise. I want to know how we figure out how many Casio F91s have been sold since its inception.
Annual production is alleged to be 3 million units. It will be a big number.
Interesting exercise. I want to know how we figure out how many Casio F91s have been sold since its inception.
The 3 million per annum is cited, but I recently read 50M since introduction in 1991.
It is not a trick question.
A couple of data points to consider:
The Sowar Prima was introduced 20 years before the Submariner
West End has sold over 15 million watches in its history
The most popular model West End has ever produced is the Sowar Prima, by a large margin (name another without a Google search)
Rolex does not disclose how many watches it produces (either does West End)
Rolex has more name recognition than any other brand in the world
The Submariner is one of the most popular, perhaps the most popular model that Rolex makes in terms of what people think of when they think of Rolex
This exercise was not meant to disparage either watch. If I put a new Submariner and a new Sowar on a table and told Crunchers to take one, at no cost, perhaps 100% of us would choose the Sub, even me. But, how many Subs are sold?
This article has two methodologies to try to get at that answer. It estimates that approximately 98k are produced a year. If you extrapolate that figure back to 1954 you get a number like 6.9 million total sold. But production in 2021 and historical production have got to be wildly different. No way that Rolex was producing 98k Subs even in 2000, let alone 1960. That number must be less than 6.9 million, maybe way less. (The Sub only seems to be the third most sold Rolex, behind the Datejust and Daytona.)
I gave you two facts about the Sowar. But what does it even mean that it is the most popular model? Is most popular 80% of watches sold or 50% of watches sold? Even at 40% (which seems low) the number of Sowars produced is 6.0 million.
I think it is likely that there have been more Sowar Prima sold than Submariners. That says something about the nature of popularity that number of things sold is not a metric that we consider about certain consumable goods.
Thank you for that information. I honestly had not heard of West End Watches. I have never seen one in a shop. The reason I thought it might be a trick question is sales maybe be huge in some parts of the world and not others. Those sales may be great enough to push the West End sales higher than the best selling watch from what is arguably the most well known watch brand in the word.
Thank you for that information. I honestly had not heard of West End Watches. I have never seen one in a shop. The reason I thought it might be a trick question is sales maybe be huge in some parts of the world and not others. Those sales may be great enough to push the West End sales higher than the best selling watch from what is arguably the most well known watch brand in the word.
The Datejust is currently the best selling Rolex. The Oyster Perpetual is second. The Sub is perhaps the third most popular Rolex.
West End is marketed to India, Asia, and the Middle East. For some reason I own three of them.
The Datejust is currently the best selling Rolex. The Oyster Perpetual is second. The Sub is perhaps the third most popular Rolex.
West End is marketed to India, Asia, and the Middle East. For some reason I own three of them.
Those are BIG markets for sure.
It's not even a contest. By this metric the one clear winner is the Casio square G-Shock DW-5600E and all its derivatives.
Casio F91W?
West End has been selling this model since approximately 1906. The Sudmariner only since 1954 or so, and they were probably actually rare until CNC came around. Even now that Rollie is cranking out a majillion watches a year, I suspect they limit the Sud to maybe a hundred thousand per year.
Besides, wikipedia says that WEW has made over 15 million watches since the start. I'll guess that something like 12 million or more are this model.
I'm guessing around 100K/yr Suds since ~1996 and maybe 40K/yr before that for....uh... 2023-1996=27 so 2.7M plus uh 1996-1954 = 42 times 40K is 1.68M. This is a total of under 5 million. Yeah, it's gotta be West End.
What he said!
What he said!
Great minds think alike.