Quote:
Originally Posted by enjoythemusic
What was the output of each in 1960 since you mention it? Haven't had time to find that data.
As for finishing, which techniques are considered and to what extent? Does it have to be throughout the entire production, or is a sliding scale of hand finishing quality per price allowed? Does additional movement decoration, such as ALS, give it higher merit? Given what I think are your rules, we need to remove at least one old school and add ALS ????
|
In the 60ies both Patek and AP made around 10,000 watches a year judging by the sequential serial numbers. So still double what ALS makes today.
My personal view would be that today ALS must take AP’s spot among the top 3, but that, as I mentioned, kind of runs afoul of the argument that a trinity brand must produce a certain quantity, which I think should be a marker. Otherwise you have to add every one of the many talented independents and you’ll never credibly reduce those to only three.
Even if you discount the legacy entirely and make a spot measurement of a brand’s street cred at this very moment, you’d end up with more than three, if anything, doing so would be more favorable to AP, as the brand remains very popular despite the decline in quality of its baseline volume products.