Timezone.com: "Lower Prices for Luxury Watches!"

Can you imagine knowing luxury watches from the time you were a child? Richard Paige has; he is a 4th generation watchmaker and retail jeweler. He collects watches, loves watches, and lately has lamented the high price of luxury watches in his blog. You see, he has the big-picture view on high-end watches because he’s been part of that scene through lots of changes like the 1970’s mechanical wristwatches converting to Japanese quartz and the rebirth of Swiss mechanicals in the late 1990’s. He even had four tourbillon watches at one time and sold his watches because he couldn’t bear to wear them.

You know the feeling he talks about…spending so much money on an item you are afraid to use it because it might get scratched. What fun is that? Part of the joy in owning a luxury, high-end wristwatch is the way it functions. (You can always find your favorite high end watches below retail at RLJ, btw–we like joyful customers!)

Why are those luxury watches so high in price? Mr. Paige says an Omega Speedmaster Professional cost $225 in 1973 and is basically the same product today. Counting for inflation, this watch should be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,215 today but it is retailing at $4,500 or so. Yikes! He thinks we should all go stage a protest in front of one of the great Swiss House Watch companies. It’s a fun read.

There’s really not a good reason for shelling out ridiculous amounts of money for a good product. The real rich people who stay rich aren’t interested in spending money just to say they did. They look for value and are willing to invest in quality. Raymond Lee Jewelers sees those people all the time and they aren’t outside picketing with signs that say, “Let’s be Franc…Down with Prices!” They are inside looking at our display cases.