Is it just me, or does this seem like Omega doing an epic troll of the Tiffany Blue craze?

I will gift this one to my wife 🍑

I bet you'd love a mission to Uranus

I thought how appropriate the mission title was for the faux Tiffany blue reference

I'm not 10 anymore. But Uranus...

It’s no coincidence! If only they’d ‘auctioned’ the first one off, as well….on eBay…😉

correlation or causation... no one knows lol

You just identified that target demographic for the watch. 😂

It is… only because of the methane gas surrounding Uranus. What’s the surface of Uranus like? We don’t know. Turns out that a probe can’t touch the surface of Uranus because it’s an inhospitable, destructive environment composed of violently swirling fluids.

source: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/uranus/in-depth/

I get a mission to the moon watch. I get a mission to Mars watch (though it’s kind of ugly, sorry Alaska Project). But given what we already know, does anyone really need a mission to Uranus watch unless they really like light blue?

Also, the Earth watch is pastel green, unlike the Earth.…

(True watch comment, my picks on this would be the moon, Pluto, Earth, Saturn, Mercury, and this light blue one…)

Let‘s be honest, though… if anyone is going to be successful on a mission to Uranus, it’s not NASA. It’s Elon Musk. 

The watch looks like the planet. I think that's all there is to it.

Venus is pink, because the planet is pink.

I’m going to point out that it’s the lead-up to Watches and Wonders, and Omega is owning the watch conversation everywhere by releasing a set of Happy Meal toys we all want our parents to get us.
 

Golf⛳️ Clap 👏🏻

the winning comment 🏆 

and yeah, getting one for wifey 😀

I honestly can't tell yet whether this was a smart move or not. I'm sure it work out for Swatch quite nicely in the short term, but the core problem of the Swiss watch industry remains. Swatch was originally a successful answer to the quartz revolution, taking the quartz watch one step further towards a pure fashion accessory. 

But today's problem for anything but the Swiss luxury brands is the smartwatch. Outside of a group of collectors this doesn't address the generation that uses a smartwatch, or simply carries a smartphone without a watch.

The Swiss watch industry still shines when it comes to luxury watches, and the effort and the knowledge that goes into these watches is not easy to replicate, which is why they are part of that luxury segment.

The Omega label aside, there is no shortage of colorful quartz chronos.

Sorry to offend… It’s a joke. ;-)

The Swiss watch industry is recovering, and it is at about a 2019 level in sales, but not in volumes. The trend toward luxury offerings continues. And no, there unfortunately isn't demand at all price points for traditional watches, or at least not a very high one. I'm sure the smartwatch will eventually be replaced, but I doubt its replacement will be a traditional watch.

The decline in the mid-tier Swiss watch industry started before COVID, and there was of course a blip because of the pandemic, but the previous trend seems to continue. (That's why I compared the current state to 2019.)  I would agree that a rebound exists, yet it is noticeable that revenues rebound stronger than sales volumes, indicating a further shift to the luxury segment.  

Sales data within a country doesn't tell me much, as essentially the preowned market is usually included. Unless these numbers are inflation adjusted, they are also not very encouraging. (Many companies predict a sales but not necessarily a volume growth these days.)

It's things like this Deloitte report that make me somewhat uneasy: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ch/Documents/consumer-business/deloitte-ch-en-swiss-watch-industry-study-2021.pdf

P.S.: I'm proud that the "Mission To Uranus" has resulted in a rather meaningful discussion. 😉

I would happily wear this colour dial on a watch, and I look like a bear that just finished hibernation. My wedding ring is actually a Tiffany band with the turquoise middle; my wife says I’m like a proper princess when it comes to shiny things, it’s quite scary. Like a magpie.

My wife has the OP in 31mm after almost a year on the waitlist. It's actually a quite nice color. Not worth 4x retail, but nice.

I would like to believe that, yet I'm afraid there were many people looking for a real or perceived bargain. It's not like there was a shortage of quartz chronos prior to that event. Nor does it really change the underlying dynamics.

Apple is producing more smartwatches than than the entire Swiss watch industry produces regular watches. (I have no clue about how many fitness trackers are being sold produced by other companies.) Even brands like Seiko tilt more to the luxury side. The average price of a Seiko sold in the US is around $500. (In Japan it is twice that.) This is a trend away from a regular consumer product. In fact, I'm quite certain that most watch manufacturers wouldn't have been able to survive without new wealth in Asia. Sure inexpensive watches are being offered, but I don't see a strong demand for them.

I have to look long and hard to find a person with a traditional watch at work. My wife and kids don't wear any, and neither do their friends. I don't really need to wear a watch either, as my employer requires me to have a smartphone. Sure, collectors take a different view, but we're not enough to support an industry.

There were three page-sized ads leading up to the launch in the newspaper I'm reading. I couldn't tell you about TV, as I don't watch any. But the launch wasn't exactly a secret.

My point is that a marketing event says relatively little about the watch industry as a whole. Or to reference the following Forbes article about the Swiss watch industry: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolbesler/2022/02/26/the-swiss-watch-industry-returns-to-pre-pandemic-highs-2021-exports-to-the-us-up-55-over-2020/?sh=5ac300417df6 :

"In January 2022, exports to the U.S. stayed strong, with a 37.5% increase in the value of watches exported, compared to the same month in 2021. According to the FH, three-quarters of the growth was in the category of steel watches. And although rising prices accounted for some of the increase in value – the total number of watches sold in 2021 was about 24% lower than in 2019, the last comparable year – the reduced volumes occurred mainly at the least expensive end of the market, in the $200 to $500 range."

What I'm saying is that the luxury segment is enjoying quite a bit of pricing power. With sales forecasts also likely including inflation expectations, the watch industry looks healthy as a whole. But the shift to higher-priced watches is definitely noticeable. My concern is around who will be the future collector if entry-level watches aren't finding a buyer.

Dude!  What???  She has the Tiffany blue dial OP?  Wha?  Sell it so that the funds can toward your Cayman GT4 RS!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwM-n7IjmGA

Steve Sutcliffe says it's the best car he's ever driven!

She (@WrapItUp) is slightly more into watches than I am, I think, and that would not end well at all for me. We did a his/hers, waiting almost a year on the Rolex waitlist for our 20th anniversary recently. She got the TB OP 31, and I got the Explorer 124270. I’m mostly an Omega and Oris brand loyalist, but it is the one modern Rolex that I truly love the looks of.

She’s also the type of wife who sees a JLC Ultra Thin Moon and wants to get it for me for a future anniversary gift so she can see it, so we work well together. :-)

@Omeganut No way I’m getting rid of my OP. Besides I’m more of a Porsche Macan GTS kind of girl. 

Ah!  That is the right trim level, according to Nick Murray!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3bb6IbqE18

You know, I love watching Chris Harris drift and can watch his videos all day long.  I love EVO and Pistonheads and all the other enthusiast sites.  But, when it comes to reviews of Porsches, Nick Murray is by far and away my favorite source - very few of us are actually going to be racing around Anglesey Circuit; meanwhile, Nick's videos are focused on which options and packages make the most sense.

The other thing that's great about him is that he can get you a really, really good discount - at least, if and when the world gets back to normal.  At least on the Cayman, he had an agreement with his dealership that they would give his viewers a 7% discount off MSRP and ship the car to wherever.  I went to my dealership, told the SA about Nick Murray's offer, and the dude said, "I won't lose the sale.  I'll do 8%."

Thanks, I’ve always wanted to go in-depth into Uranus