Watch Brands as Car Brands Part 1

Watches and cars have been intrinsically linked since the dawn of the automobile and growing industrialization. It's also no surprise that many car brands took inspiration from watch brand marketing in the 20th century in order to promote certain lifestyles.

So how do we pair a watch and a car? We're going to boil some of these down to the basics such as market positioning, pricing, and general public perception (as status or tools).

1. Seiko and Toyota

Seiko and Toyota are evidently analogous to one another: made in Japan, heavily reliable, great value proposition, and ones that shook up entire industries in the 1970s with the Quartz Crisis and the Energy Crisis when reliability was a concern. Grand Seiko and Lexus are also included here as both are the luxury arm of each respective company and also share parts with their parents.

2. Rolex and Mercedes-Benz

This pairing is something one might actually see often in the real world as both are status symbols that accompany a sense of ignorance when it comes to actual owner knowledge of their watch/car. Both try to play up to their hyped status by inducing artificial production limits which in turn creates more demand by people who have more money than they know what to do with.

3. Omega and BMW

As analogous competitors to Rolex and Mercedes, this pairing was very logical as both Omega and BMW like to throw everything at the wall and see what tends to stick. Both have over-engineered their products to a high yet functional degree which has led to the creation of some of the most iconic models in their respective industries. Now all BMW has to do is to be the first [normal] car on the moon and this comparison will come full circle.

4. Tag Heuer and Maserati

Tag Heuer and Maserati might be the uneducated person's gateway to luxury timepieces and cars. Often Tags and Maseratis use cheaper common components found in other brands while maintaining their relatively high price tags that depreciate as soon as you exit out the door. But at least in the case of Tag Heuer, the brand has been reinventing itself to be more vintage-inspired in the vein of its '60s heydey, something that cannot be said for Maserati.

5. Cartier and Ferrari

Cartier and Ferrari are what most high-minded consumers dream about when you ask them who makes the best-looking watch/car. They both emphasize the art of making their products rather than what their products offer in functionality, but one can argue their form is their function when talking about the likes of the Cartier Crash and the Ferrari Genesis.

What other brands do you think align with each other? I'll be making more posts each day so be sure to let me know!