Vacheron Constantin Overseas is the next hit

                                

The market has gone insane about Patek Philippe’s Nautilus, and the already high prices of Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak will skyrocket in a matter of a matter of two years even amidst of COVID-19

The “Holy Trinity” of horology is composed of Patek, Audemars and Vacheron Constantin. What’s VC answer to its mainstream cousins?

During the “Japan quartz crisis”, Audemars Piguet introduced a premium stainless steel watch, creating the first modern luxury sport watch, it created the idea of paying for a luxury item of a steel watch, not necessarily for the intrinsic value of the object.

Noticed popularity that AP was gaining with its new Royal Oak, Patek Philippe seeked the same designer, Gerald Genta, to create Patek’s Nautilus.

What was Vacheron Constantin doing, being the oldest watch maker in current production?

Vacheron Constantin followed Patek, decided to introduce a modern sports watch. They hired a young designer named Jorg Hysek and requested him to create a watch in line with the Royal Oak and the Nautilus.

In 1977, the Vacheron Constantin 222 was born. 222 is the anniversary of the birth of the oldest Maison in Switzerland in 1977.

The beautiful Hysek’s design incorporates all the esthetic details that were popular in the 70s such as sharp angles, integrated bracelet and a distinctive bezel. The caliber inside was the thin VC1120 the same movement was being used in the Royal Oak and Nautilus, based on a Jaeger LeCoulte design.

It was produced in much smaller quantities that its cousins, however, it was available in a wide range of materials and sizes, from stainless steel to gold, from 25 to 37 mm. A square version was available too.

After some short experiments with the “333” and the “Phidias", two very 90s looking watches that allowed Vacheron to experiment some innovations, the brand was ready to unveil its watch for the new millennium.

The Overseas

Designed by Vincent Kaufmann and Dino Modolo in 1996, the “Gen. 1 Overseas” was released and immediately crowned as the heir of the 222. The nautical theme, which was at the base of the Royal Oak and the Nautilus, is now fully embodied.

Very discreet at 37 mm, Model 42042 with iconic bezel is intended to remind the Maltese cross, VC’s logo. The overall look of the Overseas immediately conquered the heart of many watch enthusiasts, looking to acquire a true sports watch, paired with the elegance and artisanal craftsmanship typically from Vacheron Constantin. This was immediately recognized to be one of the most beautiful and refined sports watches available.

The Overseas Gen. 1 was redesigned in 2004, to create the “Gen. 2”, with the intent of creating a much sturdy watch, capable to withstand every adventure.

The case was bulked up to a larger 42 mm as in the hype for bigger case and a new, less delicate, bracelet was introduced. This bracelet reminding of a half Maltese cross, is now an icon of the Overseas.

In 2016, introducing the “Gen. 3”. The general design was modernized with softer lines: the eight notches of the bezel were reduced to six, the hands were slimmed down and the solid case back was switched in favor of a sapphire case back. This allows the owner to admire the magnificent movement, powered by a solid 22Kt gold engraved rotor.

A system of quick interchangeable straps allows to switch between a stainless steel bracelet, a leather strap and a rubber strap without the need for tools, providing incredible versatility for the owner.

The wide variety of complications, from chronographs to perpetual calendars, is masterfully executed, creating one of the most refined and elegant sport watches ever.

The Overseas is ready to hit?

For over the last ten years, the Vacheron Constantin Overseas was overshadowed by it more mainstream cousins, the Royal Oak and the Nautilus. While the Reissue 222 in 2022 has now reached a cult-like status, being rightfully crowned as a 80s icon, the Overseas is just beginning its rise.

In 2019 Oversea Gen. 1 automatic watch blue dial was as little as HK$80,000, now we can see Chrono24 is selling as high as HK$240,000. That is 3X higher in 3 years.

In my humble opinion. The top tier quality of the masterpiece with so many unique iconic feature on one single watch. The Overseas is the watch gaining momentum. No doubts.

HK Snob

Picture top down

1st picture :VC ad on 222 in the 70s

2nd and 4th Picture : VC 222 with special gold inlay with diamond.

6th and 7th picture: VC Overseas Gen. 1 in blue Ref 42042 37mm.

Vacheron Constantin 222 reissue

  
 This is the hot season for all fans of watch as most of the makers are announcing their new 2022 watches in this few days.

There are so many sites and bloggers talking about Rolex, I don't feel needed to say anything about it. Rolex effortlessly just put the crown from right to left and add a new bezel colour to green to create the new GMT Master.  Only you are Rolex Fans, or you will not be getting excited at all.

Above all these, I feel this is the most exciting watch of the year. 

Vacheron Constantin is reissuing its luxury sport watch launched in 1977, the model 222, as the 222th anniversary of the watch company established on 1755. The model 222 is the third watch of the so called Holy Trinity of luxury sport watches besides the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, and Patek Philippe Nautilus. As they shared the same basic JLC movement by that time.

Being a big fan of Vacheron Constantin, I once owned the 222 Jumbo in gold. 

One 222 was auctioned in 2021 with HK$1.3M. 

This 2022 model 222 is made with 37mm as diameter, 2mm smaller than the original 222 in 1977. Well, this is the perfect size, and the norm for most of  the new generation modern watches.

This is perfect size for me except the price is EUR 62,000,  I think this watch will be selling easier X2.5 more in the open market, I wish I could get one in Boutique at SRP.

HK Snob

Courtesy picture from monochrome

What is the impact of Swatch X Omega to Rolex?

What is the impact of Swatch X Omega to Rolex?

On of 26 March, it happened in many cities at the same time, the news were flooded with the event of Swatch X Omega launched which had overtaken the war between Russia and Ukraine, until Will Smith slapped face of Chris Rock on Stage.

In Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Sydney, and even Switzerland, thousands of people line up at midnight awaiting for door to be open for Swatch X Omega Moonswatch sale. Mad line up at the street of rainy night as early as on 24 March at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong!

The impact is there, and I can say it is a very successful launch of this Watch sales since the 80’s when the Swatch was introduced to the market, but this time the host s not Swatch, it’s Omega.

Omega is second to Rolex in sales in 2020, 2021, well, I can say the strategy is to

Offer these feature to the customers

1.       Affordable casual watch US$265.00 (HK$2,100)

2.       It is supper light <30grams

3.       Colourful

4.       It is quartz driven, water proof and shock resistant

5.       Available without line up at Swatch boutique

 Why there are a lot of people waiting at the store, I think these are they expectations:

1.       Try something new, colourful and affordable

2.       Variety and choice for each day

3.       They can be mix and match with Nato strap as personalized style

4.       The youth may feel this is desirable for them while they are not willing to pay insane price of a Rolex

5.       Some of the younger people is seeking a replacement for a Rolex

6.       The mature age group is also looking for a liberated causal life style for week days

Pros

1.       It is an affordable Omega

2.       Fashionable

3.       Easy and comfortable to wear

4.       Almost maintenance free for three years and change a one dollar battery cell for another three years.

5.       It is accurate

6.       Its user age is from 5 to 99 practically

7.       Low cost of ownership

 Cons

1.           Quartz is not for collector

2.           The dye pigment of the bioceramic case stains on the skin, I have not tested by myself yet.

3.           What else?

The first sales is having about 450 pieces in Hong Kong, meaning that each colour may have about 44 pieces, So far the Sun ( Yellow ) is least found, the Earth and Uranus is more common to be found.

Second market rice is from 5-7 times higher than SRP as of today.

If I were Swatch X Omega

Certain model will be made less and I think this is a must for the Omega marketing decision team, same as the 2020 Snoopy, it was said Unlimited too!

As Majority model can satisfy most of the watch user, and those least available ones will be coming a hot back up for the hype and for flippers.

If I were Swatch X Omega marketing team….

I shall launch one to three models only per month or quarter, hence you need to span the whole year to get in touch buying to complete whole collection of 11 pieces.

And I will make a special “Error” dial or “defect” printing on certain model, that will be create another collectors’ attention.

And next phase for certain discerning collectors, make an automatic version at high cost. Why not?

I know that Rolex is going to receive the impact and Rolex will lose certain market share to Omega in 2022.

HK Snob

The Swatch X Omega Earth and Uranus

I bought these from the markets, immediately I checked them. All Packing is made of paper.

The Watch is as light as less than 29.6 grams, which is lighter than Richard Mille RM-27-04 made for Nadal, tourbillon 30 grams! That is a watch over HK$6m.

To certain people, light weight does not means much to them except Cheap, but there is a lot of technology to make a durable watch light, I believe the use of plastic-ceramic compound is one of the factors to make the watch so light. 

For its feather light watch, so it is super comfortable to wear, it is sharp and eye catching. I believe the youth may love to wear this a fashion wears. and gradually they may go for the real serious Speedmaster of the Omega to explore more.

42 mm size is great, clear to read the time, the push button is able to be quick response sharp with alacrity.

I have seen that some of the dye of the case may leave on the skin on the wrist after wearing for a while, for this particular issue, I have not tested it yet.

Note that the crystal was stamped with s "S" , S for Swatch.

HK Snob

Remarks

I have not seen the "Sun" I think this is my next trasure watch to find!

The Limited Un-Limited Swatch X Omega MoonSwatch is most desirable

This is Kowloon, Hong Kong 

This is Causeway Bay, Hong Hong

This is Sydney

This is Tokyo

This is Singapore

This is KL

This is Macao boy sold it right there at HK$20,000, and was taken way by Macao Policeman

 This is one big boy who got it minutes ago 

Believing or not there was someone selling on line eBay for the Red Mars with HK$550,000 yesterday.

Also there is Uranus and Saturn package deal with HK$68,000 in HK dealer group.

Why they are so much eager to get it today, as they afraid some of the submodule will not able to get in later stage, I guess.

HK Snob

Order Of Swatch X Omega BioCeramic watches on 28 March

There are notices displayed at the three special Swatch Boutique that we don't have to 

line up for the new 2022 Swatch X Omega watches, after 26 March we can order it at Swatch Official site.

Still a lot of people are lining up at the entrance of these three boutiques at TST, CWB and Ocean Centre.

HK Snob

Mad overnight line up for two Swatch X Omega in Hong Kong

24 March at CWB

                                                                                   Morning at Taiwan 24 March

                                                                               Langham place, Mongkok.

 The new sale start at 1030 26 March, 2022, which is 48 hours in advance, there are  people line up at Swatch boutiques at Taiwan, and Hong Kong. How about your city?

So guess the Tiffany Blue may be sold on line for HK25,000 in the first three day, I guess, rough guess only. Carousell has some selling post for Alaska Project (Red) with HK$20,000. I just saw eBay is now bidding with a current bid of 61,600 Pounds for Mars. 

It is not abnormal for this kind of episode happened exactly in the same location 30 years ago we waited for the Swatch X'mas special, Hocus Pocus, or Golden Jelly.

Suddenly I think of the movie " Somewhere in time" 

Time flies, but it is fun that I feel those happy time that I could get a Hocus Pocus with HK$600, then sold HK$6,000 two weeks later.

HK Snob

Follow my other Swatch Collection article

Hong Kong Watch Fever 香港勞友: Kiki Picasso Swatch (watch-fever.blogspot.com)

Swatch X Omega Bioceramic Moonswatch 2022

                                                                             Uranus

                                                                                Sun

                                                                              Venus

                                                                               Mars

                                                                              Earth

                                                                               Jupiter 

                                                                              Saturn

                                                                             Mercury

                                                                            Moon

                                                                           Neptune

                                                                               Pluto
This is 2022 Swatch X Omega novelties 2022.

Quartz movement with 3 years battery life

Bioceramic 42mm case material on NATO strap

There will be official open for sale at Swatch AD in three branches

CWB, TST Ocean centre and Mongkok Langham 

Max. purchase per head is two pieces

Price is HK$2,100

What is your choice?

HK Snob

50 years of Audemars Piguet Royal Oak

 This is a good reference or summary of those most sought after Audemars Piguet Royal Oak.

Antiquorum witnesses 50 years of Royal Oak | Antiquorum Auctioneers since 1974

I am thinking the price isn't too high at all, well, we will see what final auction will be for more of the rare AP, such as Salmon Dial Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar, A series 5204 in Gold or Steel.

HK Snob

The Luxury Watch market and demand in 2022

At this midst of Russia-Ukraine war, US is manipulating his remote hands between two giants in the East and West to maintain for his hegemony.  On 14 March, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan raised concerns about China’s alignment with Russian in a seven-hours meeting with Chinese diplomat Yang JieChi as Washington warned again of the isolation and penalties Beijing… Warning again? LOL!

Quite obviously we can see watch market has been slow down in end Feb. till now, as most of the dealers are liquidating their funds to keep the purchasing power for new watches after Watches and Wonders 2022 by 30 March. Some of the current deals are good if you had the hard cash, but who knows what shall it happen on April?

Well, I am optimistic about the watch markets, especially the Big Four or Big Five watches. However many of my friends, Bloggers, dealers, collectors are on panic sale in these two weeks.

Refer to Morgan Stanley Research, we can have a glimpse on what has been showed from 2020-2021 on Swiss watches performance…

At the beginning of COVID-19 Rolex had been shut down some of the production in 2019 with output about 700,000, However on 2020, they have ramped up their production to 810,000, and even with 1,050,000 in 2021. Refer to the attached chart, Rolex had reached 8B CHF in 2021. Followed by Cartier with 2B, Omega, Audemars Piguet over taken Patek become No. 4 with 1.6B, follow up with Richard Mille and Vacheron Constaintin… What I have noticed is that amongst these big players, Rolex had almost double its revenue in 2021 comparing with 2020, Well, Vacheron Constantin is the second biggest growth in revenue about 40%, may be the Overseas and FiftySix are gaining attention of those who cannot get Nautilus and Royal Oak at all.

Base on these figure if say the Luxury watch definition is US$5,000 to US$50,000. There is not too many Luxury watches falling into these range from these top ten watch maker of Switzerland. Take for instance, Switzerland produces 6M watches a year in 2021, there is only a fraction of them going into the “Luxury Category” may be only 20%, that is about 1.2M watches a year.

Do you think 1.2M Luxury watches will be more than enough for those discerning client all over the world?

Don’t ignore that there are about 5M new Millionaires with asset of over US$1m created in 2020. So every year there will be 5M-7M people coming into this Luxury market. They are never short of cash just

many of those are FOMO of those Nautilus, Royal Oak, Aquanaut, Overseas, Daytona and RM.

So I am sure that the so called Watch bubble will not burst at least within the year 2022.

HK Snob

 

 

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 25770ST In Orange

 This is a 1997 Audemars Piguet Ref 25770ST 42mm Offshore. 

Its super smooth, quiet and accurate with less than 1 second gain a day in these two weeks.

It comes with an Archive paper, and the original box and booklet.

HK Snob

The 50th Anniversary Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Ref 15500 in Blue 2022

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak ref. 15550 50th Anniversary 37 mm

This is the 2022 new releases AP Royal Oak, 50^th anniversary after Audemars Piguet launched the first Royal Oak in 1972.

With a refined design wider bezel, deeper chamfer on the edge, notably that the size is diminishing as other major brands going to be small and thinner.

This is 37mm, well, back in 5 year ago, no one could expect size like this would be the trend. Additional models in 41 and 34 mm (for ladies) will be available in the second half of 2022 to continue the Royal Oak Jubilee. For now, the new 37 mm models are only available in stainless steel or in stainless steel with a diamond-set bezel.

Colour

·       Royal Oak ref. 15550ST.OO.1356ST.01 with silvered dial

·       Royal Oak ref. 15550ST.OO.1356ST.02 with Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50 dial

·       Royal Oak ref. 15550ST.OO.1356ST.03 with ruthenium grey dial

·       Royal Oak ref. 15550ST.OO.1356ST.04 with light blue dial

 

I like the Light blue if I could get it as this looks the colour of Tiffany blue.

This is not the same profile as the first Royal Oak 5402 Jumbo 39mm, 7 mm thick. This is 37mm diameter with 8.9mm thick.

There is no “automatic” printed on the watch. It is Automatic with the new Audemars Piguet calibre 5900. Composed of 186 parts and 29 jewels, the automatic calibre 5900 provides a power reserve of 60 hours when running at a frequency of 28,800 vph. Eye Catching features of the ‘50-years’ oscillating weight in rhodium-toned 22K pink gold which will be fitted to all watches during the year 2022. What if the watch on 2023? No such “50^th-Years” Possible, as AP would create a super hype on this model!

I can’t decline they are wrong being a watch company, “50^th anniversary” is a big event.

With the new Audemars Piguet calibre 5900 also comes a slightly thinner case construction measuring only 8.9 mm in thickness which is definitely an upgrade from previous models.

SRP Price $24,100 USD (HK$188,000) and $33,200 USD with Diamond-Set Bezel.

Availability, unless you are SVIP, or there is difficulty to get one at SRP, probably by end of the year the market price of this watch will be going up to HK$2,000,000 if they have only One-year production! With the 50^th anniversary feature on the rotor!

Related size from other major brands

Rolex Explorer I Ref 124273, 36mm

Vacheron Constantin 2300V 37mm

HK Snob

Courtesy pictures of Watch collection lifestyles