Is the omega/ swatch collab moonswatch a genius marketing move for omega?

I would agree that it won't devalue the brand. I mean both are great brands with great reps. I think the collab will catch fire for sure, but I personally am not interested in the collab, but I get why others would be. We shall see how much these fetch on the secondary. That may tell the tale.

Anyone that pays over retail is a moron. There will be no shortage of stock after the first wave of fanbois get their dose…me included 🤣

Strait facts! When they are more plentiful I'll take a look at one in person, but for now, I'm not too interested.

I may go ahead and pay over retail for one. Why not? I got money. I ain’t got time. You can always make more money. You can’t make more time. Time is the one and only non-renewable resource we know of in this universe. So if throwing money at something will save me time, why the hell not?
 

I understand that. It makes total sense but not for every situation. For instance. If you really want that sea dweller and can afford to pay twice retail that’s fine. But that’s because the wait time can be years and your watch is likely to increase in value anyway. This speedy wont be unavailable so long. It’ll be a month or two tops so spending double or more is not worth it imo. I mean maybe I’d pay an extra 50 bucks for it. But I sure as hell wouldn’t pay 500 or 1000. I mean, unless I knew I was dying soon and I really wanted the experience 🤣

Ha!  But, it's all relative, yeah?  I mean, I look at Roman Abramovich, and I'm like, "Anybody who would buy Chelsea Football Club and then waste nearly $500M dollars chasing a Champions League title is an idiot!  I would never waste my money like that!  Some people have more money than sense!"  But, I'm sure Roman Ambramovich is like, "Anybody who would buy the Washington Post just so that they can be vanity mogul is an idiot!  Jeff Bezos has more money than sense!"  

Meanwhile, a villager in Kenya earning below the global poverty line of $1.90/day is like, "All those motherf****ers are idiots!  Who in their right mind would spend even $1 on a watch, when their phone tells the time better?"

If you got the money, and it's a rounding error for you, who cares, right?  And that's entirely relative!

Can’t argue against that buddy. 

Omega isn't as unknown as people think, but this will definitely help push them into the limelight more. 

The Swatch Group is sitting on some of the best brands in the Swiss industry, and they seem to have been making some real power plays lately. The PRX/PRX Chrono, the Longines Spirit line, Omega's new AT colours, a new tech flex Seamaster, etc.. 

Is it a genius marketing move for Omega and/or Swatch? The fact that we are discussing it on an online watch forum is proof the answer is yes. 

I am in agreeance. I think this will only help popularize the brand and create more demand for the real thing. You got to keep in mind that this is a plastic quartz, and people will start to realise there is more to watches than button cell batteries. When they realise that there is something much better in actual metal and produced with actual craftsmanship, the speedmaster will be enjoyed by more people than ever before. 

I went in and saw them today at the dealer - not for sale but they had one of each colorway for viewing

it was funny since I’d only just tried on a ‘real’ speedy about 10 minutes earlier.

looking at the group of them , my thought was basically “those are omegas, not swatches”

in the 10 minutes of standing there about 50 people inquired about exact time of sale start… so it’s gonna be mayhem for this first round of sales.

since it’s not limited or anything- I kinda expect they’ll keep making and selling these.

And if that’s the case, I’d probably feel a bit annoyed if I owned at legit speedy and I started seeing this almost identical watch on every second person’s wrist 

Yes I believe this is a great move for both Omega and Swatch. 

Just the fact that EVERYONE in the watch world is talking about this right now is proof that this was a genius marketing move from Omega and Swatch. It seems to be on everyone’s mind and speaking as someone who’s never fancied a speedmaster before, I can sense that these will be a slippery slope as at that price, 

I think I’ll buy one just to see if I like it…(the only problem being deciding on which colours to get!) They’re at a price point where you can do that, then comes the slippery slope, because once I have one on wrist, if I start to like it, I know I’ll start getting curious about what the genuine article would be like and from that it won’t be long before I’m buying one.

Absolutely evil marketing geniuses!

All I will say is that I’m glad I have never pulled the trigger on a Speedmaster. It would annoy me to see so many of these in the wild, and therefore takes away a small element of the appeal of owning a luxury model. Maybe?

Excellent marketing and hype aside, here’s a hypothetical for you: this could be seen as an opportunity for Omega to move their focus away from the Speedmaster to allow for development of other lines? It has been a regular mainstay in their catalog for years (decades) so perhaps this and the Snoopy version is one last hurrah before they relegate it to a sideline part, maybe as a gateway model to entice people to buy yet more ATs.

I understand your point but disagree ( politely of course 😉). there are a ton of speedmasters around as they have been sold for decades. It will remain a luxury grail for many because not everybody can afford a 6000$ watch. I actually think the speedmaster is moving in the collective consciousness from solid toolwatch chronograph to luxury grail watch and who knows maybe as desirable as a a daytona one day ( before jumping on me about this statement…don’t forget that daytonas where absolut flops for years…used watch dealers would not even considering buying it from you)

And Omega's problem has, for decades, been too many options, so this is rather a step in the wrong direction in that regard.

Is that actually a problem for Omega, or is it an enthusiast/collector problem? 

Omega sells a lot of watches, Swatch Group sells a lot of watches, so I'm pretty sure they aren't seeing it as a "problem". 

On a more general note, I'm a bit surprised by the number of people admitting they buy watches for status... 

My name is Peter, I drive a Tesla, I still eat meat but try to eat more tofu and vegetables. I own a Speedy. If Jimmy shows me his Swatch Speedy at the grocery store, I will be very enthusiastic to meet a watch lover and it will be a conversation starter for sure. I would meet jimmy from time to time at the grocery store and talk about watches as we now both are in the "speedy club". I don't own a speedy as a status symbol and as much as i am excited about the Moonswatch, I understand the difference between a luxury mechanical steel sportswatch and a quartz entry level plastic "fun" watch....so does Jimmy. Jimmy dreams to eventually be able to buy the real speedy, but that is not easy with the money he makes at the grocery store

100% spot on!

I wrote an 8,000 word diatribe in another thread on this topic...  so, just to annoy everyone, I'm going to leave this here too:

I made the mistake of watching the first 2 minutes of the Bark & Jack YT review of the Moonswatches, and promptly unsubscribed from his channel.  All the YT commentary about potential "dilution" of the Omega brand is, to my cynical ears / eyes, nothing more than an attempt to get more YT views.

I do quite a bit of work on pricing strategy for multinationals, and the idea that the Moonswatch will somehow harm the Omega brand or cannibalize sales of the Moonwatch Professional is very hard to imagine.

Let me use a car analogy to make the point:

• The top-of-the-line Porsche Cayman is the GT4 RS.  It's MSRP is $141k, without any of the cool options.  After you click a few things, MSRP is gonna be like $175k.  But, MSRP is a fiction.  They'll be fetching something upward of $300k on the different auction sites, like Dupont Registry
• Meanwhile, a base 718 Cayman goes for ~$60k
• The price ratio is only 5x in the case of going from a base Cayman to a Cayman GT4 RS
• If you have the means to purchase a GT4 RS, the fact that the base model exists will NEVER influence you to forego the purchase of the top-of-the-line model.  If you are devoted to track days, if you're an enthusiast, if you're a car collector, and you have money, you will purchase the GT4 RS.  Hell, if you have the means, you probably already own 10 cars, and you're just adding the GT4 RS to your garage, which also has a Bentley Continental GT Speed, an Aston Martin Vantage, and an AC Cobra, amongst others
• Now, maybe you're rich and you just want to dip your toes in the water, and test drive the Cayman for a while, before deciding whether or not to buy the GT4 RS.  Sure, you might go ahead and buy the base model.  And you'll either decide to then get the GT4 RS or not.  But, in  no scenario did that cannibalize GT4 RS sales
• If you're a diehard enthusiast, and your GRAIL is the GT4 RS, you ain't gonna settle for the base Cayman.  You may buy the base Cayman today, but that's only because it's a placeholder for your real GRAIL.  In which case, the base model did not cannibalize sales of the GT4 RS
• There are new car buyers in the market, who don't know much about cars, who all of a sudden have some extra cash and want to get something that looks cool.  If they got enough scratch to lease a $60k car, they might lease a base Cayman.  And, then, after a few years, they've gotten another promotion at work, they fall into a mountain of cash, they win the lottery, or they off a wealthy relative who's designated them in their will, etc., etc., and then they think, "Wow, I really liked the base Cayman, and the GT4 RS is THE top-of-the-line, let me get that!"

Now, this is all a long-winded way to say, in the case of the base Cayman, in no way did it ever cannibalize sales of the GT4 RS, and the price ratio there is only 5x.  

The price ratio between the Moonswatch and the Moonwatch Professional is ~20x.

In the same way that a GT4 RS owner might buy an extra base Cayman, to use the base Cayman as their "beater" car, Moonwatch Professional owners might buy a Moonswatch as their "beater" or "fun" watch or to gift to friends and relatives.  In the same way that somebody who doesn't know anything about cars, but wants a Porsche, might buy a base Cayman, and then one day want the GT4 RS, people who aren't into watches might buy the Moonswatch for the awesome colors, and then learn about watches, and then decide their grail is the Moonwatch Professional.

In the meantime, I'm busy unsubscribing from all the Youtubers who are cynically trying to get more views by wringing their hands over "Emergency!  Emergency!  Click here to see 'What does this mean for the Omega brand???'"

Nice watches for the price but , in the words of Gertrude Stein " A Swatch is a Swatch is a Swatch."

There isn't a thing wrong with Swatch watches, but a few words printed on a dial don't make them something else.

In the same vein, got this off Reddit's WCJ.  Was dying laughing:

Only time will tell because the long term ramifications could go either way. Is this a part of a 20-30 year plan or a short term cash grab? I really don't know (but the discussion on WatchCrunch has been refreshing).

I wish we could sticky this reply to all of the Moonswatch discussions because this is phenomenal analysis. The "test drive" analogy makes a ton of sense...never thought of that angle. You have successfully swayed me to thinking this is definitely a part of a long term plan by Omega/Swatch.

I'm pretty sure the only ones imaging these MoonSwatches are trying to be "real" Omega watches are the people upset about them... 

Everybody else seems to accept they are Swatch watches made in the style of the Speedmaster, and officially sanctioned by Swatch/Omega. 

I live at least a six hour drive away from the nearest Swatch shop. However, my dear old mother is off to Lucerne, Switzerland in s couple of months snd her hotel is a 3 min walk away from Swatch.  She has strict instructions to get me the Mission to the Moon version if there are any left. 😃

I thought a problematic overload of Omega SKU's was conventional wisdom dating to at least the quartz revolution. The running joke of their perennial return to some Snoopy/moon theme or anniversary should be testament enough. Brands want to be either iconic or innovative. Churning out endless variations on a theme stymies both goals. 

The more important question is are they gaining more customers? If they are merely selling additional units to the same old customers, that is a dicey proposition down the line. I'd also posit that a huge percentage of sales are "runners up for Rolex aspirants" as Omega knows how to actually stock and overstock their units. And sell off excess inventory to discounters.

Gimmicks, like special editions and collaborations, work for bumping sales in the short term. The question is how they effect "the brand" (which is really what is being sold in most cases, the product is usually secondary).

If I’m not going to freak out if McDonalds has a My Little Pony tie in with Hasbro and giving away mini versions of Mimic the Twinkle Eye Unicorn Pony with their Happy Meals, I’m sure as hell not going to freak out over the MoonSwatch.

BRONIES FOR LIFE!

It is bad for Omega when wearing a Moon Swatch is cooler than wearing a Moon watch.

In my mind, I think this is brilliant, long-term strategy on behalf of Omega. Sprinkle some heritage and brand association on an inexpensive version of the Speedy so that a new, younger generation can buy into the product line. Get them into the Moon backstory of the Speedy by associating each MoonSwatch with a space theme, in this case, watches that represent the Solar System.

When that younger generation starts to come into some money later in life and wants to buy a watch to celebrate their next milestone, they will remember the MoonSwatch and by implication, Omega will already have a head start in terms of brand recognition, in the minds of these buyers.

Now, that's not to say Omega is a shoo-in to convert these consumers to their flagship product. Those who are hell-bent on Patek, AP, Rolex, Lange etc, have researched them and can afford them, will most likely buy these. But as mentioned in another thread, the vast majority of watch consumers are not enthusiasts. They won't research what to buy. They won't get overexcited about movements, dial finishes and zaratsu polishing. Instead, they'll remember the MoonSwatch, remember Omega and go to them first. 

Omega and Swatch can do this, because of the different audiences these individual brands appeal to and their common parent. Rolex, Patek and AP cannot do this.

Also, let's not forget that a younger generation have become accustomed to telling time by their mobile phones and wearables. A watch is an extravagance, a luxury that is no longer required. However, when it comes in at a price point comparable to an Apple watch, this is more compelling.

The new Longines Zulu time is amazing