Limited edition number?

Anything above 250, to me is no longer limited. Hard to get? Maybe, but definitely not limited. The silly there will only be 1963 of these made to commemorate they year, just posturing as I’d bet they rarely hit that number.

To others I know, they may say anything above ten.

For a large brand 1500 examples. For a micro brand 100 examples.

Limited Edition, to me, means there is a predetermined limit in how much of something will be produced. Whether 100 or 1,000,000 - both quantities are "Limited Edition" if that number was pre-determined.

What truly ruffles my feathers is when a watch is deemed as Limited Edition, but is not numbered. *insert JM Hodinkee Gshock (i am still guilty of buying 😂)

Great choice of topic!

Anything with less than 200 pieces can be fairly called a limited edition.

Probably an ideal limited edition number is 50 pieces or less.

It depends also on the price.

For something that is very affordable, than a 200 piece limited edition is likely to sell out relatively quickly. But then you have to ask, why only produce 200 pieces. Zelos are the masters of this method of "limited editions". Consequently, Zelos watches will sell out within a minute when a new "limited edition" is launched with FOMO created by having loads of YT and influencers advertise the upcoming launch. The momentum than keeps the next releases "hot" because of all of those collectors who were not able to purchase the previous limited editions. At some point, the merry-go-round stops and more normal purchasing behavior takes over.

Seiko on the other hand will produce "limited editions" in the thousands of pieces. I believe the only reason they call it a limited edition is to get collectors to purchase the watches sooner than they otherwise would, and to pay closer to list price because of that.

(the fantastic new Seiko 5 Sports 55th Anniversary Limited Edition of 15,555)

Take Rowing Blazers Seiko limited editions for example. Of the several models produced with say 888 pieces, one model will sell out quickly and the rest will take quite a while to sell out, if at all. So for the one that sells swiftly, there are the rest that don't. However, the single model that sells out fast helps the rest to sell more swiftly because of FOMO.

(one of the models that did not sell out quickly 😉)

A great example of a real limited edition would be the collaboration between Parmigiani Fleurier and Revolution Watch with the Tonda PF Micro-rotor “La Serenissima” limited edition of 25 pieces. Selling for $22,350 that limited edition sold out swiftly. The rare salmon dial that will not be available otherwise, in a brand and reference, the Tonda PF, that has become super hot...deservedly so...created the perfect limited edition. One glance and you know that the watch is that special collaboration. The watch is special, regardless of whatever aftermarket premium results from its limited status.

A more affordable recent limited edition was from Dumoreau, the DM01 in Turquoise with a limited edition of 75 pieces. A proper limited number, and likely a fair amount to produce given the demand for the microbrand and the more limited appeal of the dial color. A microbrand offering something special to its customers, but not intended to create hype about the model or the brand.

If it's a global brand then I think 750, if microbrand then maybe 500. I have one that's limited to 5,500 but at least they're all numbered.

Limited editions are a marketing ploy.

I am starting to think you are correct. They use it to have you buy the watch swiftly without researching

It creates urgency in affordable watches.

It's all irrelevant sales bullsh*t.

Buy what you like.

I've got limited edition microbrand stuff that's proper rare, but I don't like it so it's worth less to me than mass produced stuff. 🤔👍🏻

I’ve had a few limited editions, like the Murph in the tesseract box and the first Captain Cook. I don’t think those were super limited though.

I have this Stowa that’s an edition of 95. I would not have bought it except I managed to buy #1/95.

I still hate limited editions as a concept though.

I mean... 15,000 is limited to 15,000, obviously. 15k is not a lot compared to how many people there are on this world, buddy.

Even if it's 50k I'd still call it limited just because they will all be bought one day and they won't make more.

It's not a question of, 'what number is limited'; if a company makes a run of 10,000 watches, then its unequivocally limited to that many. That's not opinion; that's fact.

I think what you're really getting at is, 'what number would feel special to you'. And this number can vary quite a bit. For me, around 500 or less would feel pretty special.

A watch that has the edition number, you know, 345 of 1000 for instance. It may be a large edition or small.

But just saying it is a limited edition and then not limit it/make multiple thousands of copies....

You got exactly what I was going for

The Spinnaker Boettger is limited to 150 on each colourway, not numbered, but after that they released 2 or 3 other colours, I still believe it's just a ploy and they're using the FOMO tactic to sell them.

500-1000 pieces. It's a limited run for me.

But if you do like 10 limited runs each year, it gets really old.

I've got a couple of "limited edition" Seikos. The 55th anniversary, 6888 of 15555

And the Snoopy one of 8900, but that's not numbered.

I like them both but there's a lot of them about so I don't really being limited edition means much.

YES! There should be limits on how many limited editions a brand can run a year!

But, enforcing it would require legislation; of which we have too much of as it is.

Partly, yes, but wouldn't you say that being genuinely limited in supply is cool to know that there aren't tens of thousands of your watch out there? I think it's a marketing plot only if it's not really limited, eg Grand Seiko putting out the LE SLGA007 and then putting out a non limited version with slightly darker blue and one with similar blue but no gold accents. That's somewhat cheating ie marketing plot, but I still think the SLGA007 is the best lake Suwa!

I agree that limited edition by itself doesn't mean anything unless you like it of course. That's not a fair or relevant argument against limited editions if you link it to a watch you don't even like.

By no means is that a limited edition run of anything at 7,000 to 15,000 pieces made.

While I agree with the basic premise that there are too many limited editions now (seems like at least one comes out every week) and to call some of them 'limited' flies in the face of what the term used to signify, there's really no reason from a brand perspective that they should not be doing it.

It is a marketing ploy, but a very successful one.

There are two ways to attempt to stop it:

1. Legislation defining what a limited edition is and how often it can be used. However, we would need multiple governing bodies to pass such legislation and there are much more important issues that those bodies need to deal with. The brands will then pivot to something else like "Special edition", "Special release", or "<Brand name> Reserve". Then we legislate that and the merry-go-round begins.

2. As consumers we need to develop a "Que sera sera" attitude towards spending on such items. But now we are talking getting millions of people to change what has been programmed into them for decades. IF this were to happen on a large enough scale, it might cause some watch brands (typically micro) to have to cease operations.

Even if there was just one, I’d still call it a marketing ploy. The ploy is selling you exclusivity. Why not make as many as you are capable of making?

Sometimes they can't make as many as people would buy. For example, while people shat on Lange for only having 50 of their Odysseus chronograph, they literally couldn't make enough and didn't want buyers to wait too many years for them.

Sometimes a watch isn't limited edition, but they cant pump them out fast enough. FP Journe Chronometre Bleu another example.

I agree for less hand made or hand finished watches that are mass produced, limited editions are a marketing ploy.

Agreed that if the limit is strictly resource based (parts/labor/artisans) then we are just fortunate they exist. These are not the LE watches most on this forum are referring to.

Thank you for the clarifying points.

I recently made a purchase for a limited edition of 288. Not sure if that is limited enough but that wasn't the reason for buying the time peice.

Looking forward to getting the new watch towards the end of August. Great topic.

It's is all hype to sell more units, but I'm not adverse to a special/limited/whatever edition. All watches are awesome, we just prefer that feeling of exclusivity I s'posd. 😉🖖🏻👍🏻

point taken on scope!