Hi, price hikes, new pieces and new directions this year, I decided to edit Relozos list. I feel like the affromented words are especially true for Longines, Oris and Breitling. I´ve personally always felt that Breitling was in line with IWC, Omega and Panerai, maybe not so in the mid 2010s but they have really picked up again lately under the leadership of Kern who was the prior CEO of IWC.
As for Longines I feel like they are now intended as a direct comptitor to Tudor as the SWATCH group has taken Omega up a few notches and it feels like they are trying to place Longines almost where Omega once was, something that is becoming more apparent. If you look at the upated Conquest, HQ, the spirit line with their addition of Zulu, Flyback Chrono and their divers such as Legend Diver and Ultra-Chron as well as their Compressor, we see that they have taken their finishing up a notch, and Longines as a whole exluding their cheaper Quartz pieces (nothing wrong with that) is a great competitor to Tudor, especially with their exclusive ETA movements.
Oris with their fantastic in-House movements with a deeper dive into long power reserve, also deserve to be planted in the middle, their more affordable models have great finishing and their own unique DNA designs while their higher end pieces are implemented with fantastic in-House movements.
I took Sinn down a notch, I am still a little unsure of that descision but feel like they are firmly planted in the 2-2,5k USD range with a few timeless pieces like the Sinn 556, and overtall feel like their progression has been a little slower, even though they have released some nice stuff like their new divers.
Maurice Lacroix I have always felt belongs right at the end of entry level, and except their Aikon I feel like they are a little bland even though the watches are nice they are a little forgettable like almost like a entry class Baume (not entirely, dont get mad, haha).
Oh goodie, I’ll make popcorn.