My First Review: my Stuhrling Raceway (Daytona Homage)

==BUSINESS MODEL==

The Stührling Company seems to be (according to www.chinesewatchwiki.net) "...founded by Max Stührling IV in 2002 in partnership with George J. von Burg. Stührling watches are assembled by von Burg-owned facilities in Switzerland and Hong Kong. Many of the Hong Kong assembled watches use Chinese mechanical movements supplied by PTS Resources."

Chaim Fischer, who is said to be the company's founder on Stührling's official website, is also the company's Chief Executive Officer. The website refers to him as "...our Founder & SEO (Stührling Executive Officer.)"

Chaim Fischer has said that he had a vision for creating a watch brand offering affordable luxury watches, i.e., watches that were reliable, and had nice, elegant finishing, at a price that "everyman" could afford. His exact words on his Linked-In profile are: "And because we make our watches so affordable, it is possible for the every-man/woman to collect scores of timepieces without breaking the bank."

That's a noble purpose. And it's a good business model, as well. Rather than relying upon a few, elite clients to each buy an expensive, several-thousand-dollar-cost watch, he is counting on the larger mass of middle-income clients to buy MANY low-cost watches. Some may scoff at such a model, but that's what made Sam Walton into a multi-millionaire, and made his children and grandchildren into billionaires. I can't blame Mr. Fischer for wanting to start a discount retail watch company.

BUSINESS MODEL SCORE (Out of 5 stars): 3 (Stührling is a discount brand, not a luxury brand.)

(THIS RATING DOES NOT APPLY TO THE CRUNCH SCORE.)

==HISTORY==

One thing that plagues new watch companies is lack of history. It's hard to compete with well-established, reputable brands that have existed for over a hundred years. Stührling claims that their founder, Max Stührling IV, had an ancestor (great grandfather) by the name of Max Stührling, who was a famous, master watchmaker in Switzerland in the 1800's. I HAVE NO REASON TO DOUBT THE TRUTH OF THIS STATEMENT. After all, it's easy enough to become an apprentice watchmaker, and later develop the skill required to master the craft. Lots of people have done that. However, whether or not that ancestor knew or worked with Louis Audemars as a "silent protege" in his early years as a practicing watchmaker, is less certain.

Does that mean that the claim is false? Not necessarily; but I will tell you something I learned while researching my family's genealogy: there are lots of "family legends" that get passed down from generation to generation, which have a spec of truth to them, but become, over time, highly embellished and exagerrated.

And the newer generations of the family, many of whom are taking the information on faith, because the ancestor in question died one or two generations before they were born, often continue to pass on the "legend," exactly as it was told to them, with no idea that what they were told was not the complete truth. That's why genealogists refrain from making claims of any kind about their ancestors, unless they have some sort of reliable documentation and/or proof to back it up.

If I could ask one thing of Mr. Stührling (IV), it would be to provide a photo or a scanned document, etc. that could be used to verify the claim. Is there a picture of his ancestor shaking hands with Mr. Audemars? Is there a copy of his employment contract with the Audemars factory? Is there an old check stub? Did your ancestor keep a diary about the daily goings-on at the Audemars factory? Are there any old design blueprints for watch models that the ancestor worked on, that show a connection to the Audemars factory? Etc.?

If there can be no proof to substantiate the claim, then all we can really say about it is that Mr. Stührling (IV) BELIEVES that his ancestor worked for Audemars, according to his family's historical oral tradition. And if that's the case, then fine. But you must be willing to admit the anecdotal nature of the "history," and make peace with the fact that you're not able to prove it.

HISTORY SCORE (Out of 5 stars): 2.5 (Stührling should stop pretending to be old and established, and just focus on making good watches.)

(THIS RATING DOES NOT APPLY TO THE CRUNCH SCORE.)

==CUSTOMER SERVICE==

The one problem I had with this watch was that at one point, one of the steel rings around one of the sub-dials detached, and became entangled around the minute hand, causing the movement to stop. The watch was not under warranty at the time. I mailed the watch to their repair center in Brooklyn, N.Y., and they sent me an email saying that the repair cost was $25.00, plus $20.00 shipping, and that they accepted PayPal as a payment option. This was an excellent option for me, and I gladly paid the cost. About two weeks later, I got the watch back in the mail, and it was good as new, and worked fine. That's a very fast turn-around, in my opinion, for a watch repair. The cost was not excessive, and both the emails and the phone inquiries I made during the whole process were met with polite, courteous, and timely responses. I have no complaints whatsoever in this regard; Stührling has excellent customer service.

CUSTOMER SERVICE SCORE (Out of 5 stars): 5. (They did everything right, they made the process smooth, and they got my watch back to me in a timely fashion.)

HISTORY / BUSINESS MODEL / CUSTOMER SERVICE AVERAGE SCORE ("REPUTATION SCORE") = (5 + 2.5 + 3) / 3 = (10.5) / 3 =

3.5 [Very Good Reputation]

Reputation Score Description

=============================================

1 = Fly by night / shady / Poor Reputation

1.5 = Acceptable / "Ok" / Average Reputation

2 = Decent Reputation

2.5 = Fair Reputation

3 = Good Reputation

3.5 = Very Good Reputation

4 = Excellent Reputation

4.5 = Outstanding Reputation

5 = Impeccable Reputation / Highly Recommended

(This is a score of my own design, but you guys can make use of it if you so wish.)

==QUALITY==

Just because your ancestor was a master watchmaker, doesn't mean that you, as his descendant, are producing quality timepieces. You can't rely on name recognition alone to sell any product, watches or otherwise.

For a long time, the website was ambiguous about where the watches were made. Then in 2019, in a blog post on their official website, they openly admitted that their watches were of Chinese manufacture. (https://stuhrling.com/blogs/horology/where-stuhrling-watches-are-made)

To be fair, their designs come from the U.S., while the parts are manufactured and assembled overseas, in both China and Switzerland. According to Fratello: "...While the products are manufactured in state-of-the-art overseas facilities, every other aspect of their development—from preliminary designs to final pre-production samples—takes place at Stührling’s US headquarters in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, a location they’ve called home way before the hipster community made the borough its own." (https://www.fratellowatches.com/stuhrling-brand-grows-brooklyn/)

Also, just because their manufacturing facility is in China, doesn't mean that the production quality is low. And from what I have seen on various internet reviews, the quality of their products has improved over the years. Based on my own, personal experience, having owned a Stührling Concorso Raceway for 9 years, I must say that the watch movement (an ISA 9238/1970 quartz movement with 3 sub-dials) has never failed or faltered, and has kept accurate time the whole time that I have owned it. While I wouldn't call that "high quality," I WOULD say that Stührling watches are good, mid-level tier in terms of quality, at least as far as their quartz movements are concerned. Since I haven't yet owned a Stührling automatic movement watch, I cannot reliably report on the quality of those movements.

I think the key to getting a good level of quality out of ANYTHING that is mass-produced is to perform quality checks in the post-production process, and then to correct any deficiencies that are found. From what I can gather from the reading I've done, Stührling is doing this; their movements are tested and regulated before final packing and shipping to retail venues occurs.

QUALITY SCORE (Out of 5 stars): 3 (Stührling takes mass-produced movements, and gives them a finishing touch, to produce a watch of good, acceptable quality.)

==DIAL==

The dial is beautiful. Black with steel detailing is a classic combo. The minute and second markings around the dial's edge are clean and easy to read. Being an homage watch, the Raceway is very reminiscent of Rolex's Daytona. And that's fine. The three sub-dials show the day of the week, the hour in 24-hour format, and the day of the month.The major markers (12-11) are very elegant looking. Is the design original? No. Does the design fulfill its purpose as an homage to the Daytona? Yes.

DIAL SCORE (Out of 5 stars): 3 (Aesthetically pleasing, but no truly original design elements.)

==MOVEMENT==

The movement is an ISA 9238/1970 quartz movement; manufactured by Hangzhou in their mainland (China) facility, and assembled in their Switzerland facility. And I gotta say, it's a nice, reliable movement. I have had the watch for almost 9 years now. (Got the watch on Valentine's Day, 2014.) And during that time, the movement has been VERY accurate, and has not failed. I cannot find the data sheet to verify this, but I believe that it is rated at -20 to +40 seconds per month in terms of accuracy, but since I reset this watch back at the first part of January (2023), it has only lost about 10 seconds during that time, so the actual performance is much better than the average estimate which the technical rating is based on. It's nothing to write home about, but it does the job that it was designed for, that is, it keeps accurate time.

MOVEMENT SCORE (Out of 5 stars): 2 (Does the job, keeps accurate time.)

==WEARABILITY==

The lug-to-lug distance is 47mm. The watch diameter is 42mm. On my 8" wrist, it fits perfectly, and wears comfortably, although it might be clunky / cumbersome if your wrists are small. It feels "hefty," because of the 12mm case thickness, which might be off-putting for some people, but for me, this is my preference. I enjoy beefier watches. Watches that are lighter in weight frustrate me, because I sometimes forget that I am wearing them. But this watch feels good on my wrist, and the weight of it also inspires confidence in that it feels sturdy, and I don't worry about it being easily damaged. This watch was truly built to last.

WEARABILITY SCORE (Out of 5 stars): 4 (Not for those with small wrists.)

==DESIGN==

In terms of being an homage, which means the main design elements are copied from another watch (in this case, from the Rolex Daytona) this watch is well-designed; it looks almost exactly like its inspiration. In terms of originality, it's not. Thus, in terms of design, it falls in the "middle of the road."

DESIGN SCORE (Out of 5 stars): 3 (Middle of the road.)

AVERAGE CRUNCH SCORE: 3/3/2/4/3 = 3.0

For $75 or so, which is the cost for most of their quartz models, you can't really go wrong.

NOTE: Cover photo is a stock image. Here are some images of my actual watch, which still looks great after 9 years: