Rolex a bit too expensive or Panerai a bit too cheap

[snog]

Originally Posted by applebook

How little money do you think that these watchmakers make? Even the most basic Panerai should take over a few dozen hours to finish and assemble completely, right? Are these watchmakers being paid minimum wage?

I doubt very much if any fully qualified watchmaker touches a production Pam or Rolex,I would think they are most likely "technicians",watchmakers are not that well paid anyway especially those that work in a production company.Do you really think that of the about one milloin Rolexes that are made a year that a watchmaker sat down with each one for a few dozen hours?

my guess at the finished cost of one of these watches is based on a few things,other similar specced watch brands can sell a watch for anywhere up to a few Ks less,so take a sub ND at around £4k(a ND sub was only £3400 just a few months ago) the AD gets around 40% of that,the Uk government get 20% and that is only the tax the customer pays, not counting the tax that Rolex pay so already we are down to £2400 without taking the 20% tax into acount and the business tax,take away the premium that Rolex charge, say an Omega speedy at £2300 which is nearly 2k less expensive but I would say is of a like standard to a Rolex in build costs and quality,we have an even lower price,even at £2400 taking a standard business mark up of 3x cost would bring us down to £800 without taking tax,advertising etc into acount,then if you take one of Rolex less expensive watches such as an Airking,which I would expect to have essentially the same movement and build costs but is 1-2k cheaper,to me it is clear our watches value lay not in the build cost but in the history and brand name.

all guess work but I doubt I'm wearing a watch that cost more than a couple of hundred to make.