Patek Philippe

This message has been edited by Dje on 2011-08-07 23:14:40

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...as many of us (my friends) got out of the Federal Reserve Note (a.k.a. United States Dollar Debit Note) many months ago. It is not Patek Philippe's fault the United States can not manage their debt or their highly problematic banking and government guaranteed system (Freddie, Fannie, postal service, other obligations, etc). Naturally these moves in devaluating the United States currency, as desired by the Federal Reserve central banking system as a 'known', is simply accelerating faster than they desire against other currencies. At a hoped 2% inflation per the United States Federal Reserve, you guarantee the dollar loses nearly 21% over only 10 years and nearly 44% in only 20 years. When inflation is higher, the losses in the dollar’s buying power escalates. With actual inflation now at ~8% within the United States (www.shadowstats.com) Patek Philippe and others will need to more regularly update their product pricing in various currencies.

 

It is rather un-gentlemanly to "hope" that the PP raises USD prices.  I would prefer to hope that PP doesn't raise USD prices again, and that you will come to the US to pick up a beautiful new watch at a bargain price (in terms of your own currency holdings).

The US economy teetering on the edge of another recession is unpleasant to contemplate in terms of the impact on the global economy.  These fora should be a respite (as much as that is possible) from such issues, and focus on that good.  Like a nice PP movement:

..would be truly horrible. Patek would lose money in one of their key markets, or the dealers would have to swallow the loss in profit margin. Either way, someone would lose margins and thus perhaps not be able to conduct business. As we all know, Patek Philippe reinvests their profits to further innovate and make advancements in the art of timekeeping. In addition, they also have an impressive support network to service their products and this costs money. With all due apologies of hoping they raise prices in the USA (and probably other places where the currency is falling as compared to the Swiss Franc), yet margin squeeze can be fatal to a company. Am sure we all here agree we want to see Patek Philippe available for the next generation (and the generation after that, etc) and continue their high quality and excellent service. Naturally if one can not afford a Patek Philippe, as hopefully they refuse to offer 'bargain' lower end products as some companies have done during this recent downturn, there are always other choices and qualities accordingly to choose from in the marketplace. As i recall, years ago someone told me the below equation. You may only pick two choices.

Low Price
High Quality
Ecellent Service

They raise prices for no reason and every reason...   This message has been edited by Mostel on 2011-08-07 20:33:00

If you have a Patek on order, or are strongly considering one, why not hedge vs. the Swiss Franc?   A very simple way to do this is purchase the ETF FXF.   There are, of course, many more complex ways (e.g. FOREX).

FWIW, maybe you don't know this, the prices of those high-end watches in Japan have been always, I mean always, higher than those in US when convered to the same currency.  So, to make things parity, US prices should go up no matter how many times it is necessary.  But I bet that the US prices will be even after the increase, still lower.  Sure, US may be the biggest market, but the difference is sometimes huge.  I don't know the situation in other markets, but I guess it is the same as with Japan.  I am not complaining (as many collectors now have means to purchase from US), but just letting you know of the global reality.  And it is not anyone's fault

Ken