Horological Meandering

ThomasM
[PuristS]
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May I be candid?

Hi, Moses,

Simple answer to your basic question, which is asking for a personal opinion, after all:

I RESPECT GS and the other top of the line Seikos IMMENSELY.

There is a certain integrity, a "purity" to the final product vis a vis the stated and implied intention behind the product, that FAR exceed Swiss or German "high end" brands, including even the most august and prestigious.

Swiss chronometer based watches, actually named "Chronometer" that barely meet COSC standards that are 40 years old?!?

$100,000 European watches that have 20% or more field failures and then spend months, even years, in the SAV department?

If this happened with a Seiko product, entire departments would be reprimanded and some managers would likely be fired or would resign out of embarrassed disgrace.

Let's be candid: as much a purists (and Purists) like to claim (hopefully most with complete sincerity) that they care little about image, prestige, whathaveyou, most if not all pay the prestige tax whether they want to or not, and most subconsciously want to.

That said, Grand Seiko's leave me cold.

Their finish, while very consistently fine, looks too industrial, too sterile.

They, to me, are to Patek and VC and AP and Lange, as PVAL are to Dufour or Voutilainen.

GS is to Patek as Porsche is to Ferrari - lots more people "get" Porsche; it is more reliable ("if you want to win road rallies, enter a Porsche.")

But the Ferrari is what gets my heart racing. Put a Porsche next to a Ferrari of equal value in a random crowd of 50 people (random including car people and non car people) and I will bet more than 70/30 will ooh and aah the Ferrari over the Porsche.

Heart or mind?

Emotion or intellect?

Want or need?

Dreams, desires or ...

Man needs both/all.

MVHO.

Cheers,

TM

(Sorry for any typos, tapping on Blackberry) This message has been edited by ThomasM on 2010-01-08 21:15:54