Horological Meandering

Bill
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Great question - far reaching but...

I don't think you can draw any real conclusions as to the quality of a product if every piece was not build in-house or in-country.

Case in point - The Beloved Ipod

You would be wrong to think that you have in your hand a great "Made in USA" product because you would be absolutely wrong. 

For example - Parts

The 1.8 inch hard drive was provided by Toshiba.

The stereo digital-to-analog converter was supplied by Wolfson Microelectronics Ltd.

The flash memory chip was provided by Sharp Electronics Corp

Then the assembly is done in China by a company like Inventec and Foxconn.

However,  The concept and design is "Made in USA".

Does this make the product any less of a quality product.  The name Apple stamped on it is what we are buying and we assume that Apple is going to make sure that the quality is there and is affordable.

I realize that High-Horology and electronic devices are by no means in the same category or price point for that matter but the underlying principle is the same.  If a Ferrari or an Aston uses parts from Bosche or ZF (both German companies) is that a minus.  On the contrary it's a plus because those brands themselves stand for quality.

 The brand is what we come to trust and we assume that they will be the guardian of their quality.  If their products start to fail that is when we will abandon them.

Champagne that is not produced in Champagne is not Champagne.  Why because it has been established and recognized as such.  But you can make a product that taste and is produced in the same way but you can't call it champagne because it was not produced in the region.   This is a provenance issue.  But for all we know the bottles, the corks and the packaging may all have been outsourced.  Maybe even out of country.

So I guess what I am saying is there has to be an acceptable amount of outsourcing for quality and price consideration that does not diminish the value of the product.  That is the fine line that brands need to walk all why maintaining the highest standard of both assembly and manufacturing.  I guess the Geneva seal comes into play at some point but that would be another discussion.


I think I am rambling now so I will stop here.  No real conclusion.

Bill