Greek Watch Forum - Το ελληνικό forum ρολογιών
Ρολόγια => Υπόλοιπος κόσμος => Μήνυμα ξεκίνησε από: grecellin στις Οκτώβριος 03, 2011, 19:33:04 μμ
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Kobold Arctic Diver - Steve Austin - Hunt to Kill
(http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt30/grecellin/KoboldArcticDiverside.jpg)
(http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt30/grecellin/Kobold-11.jpg)
Kobold Arctic Diver worn by Steve Austin in "Hunt to Kill"
Στην ταινία δράσης Hunt to Kill, ηθοποιός (λέμε τώρα) και πρώην επαγγελματίας παλαιστής "Stone Cold" Steve Austin φοράει Kobold Arctic Diver ρολόι με custom paracord λουράκι.
Το ρολόι, ένα Arctic Diver "SWISS" με ref. num. KD 832121-C κυκλοφόρησε από την Kobold το 2009.
Μεγάλου μεγέθους (46 mm) ατσάλινο, έχει παχύ καμπυλωτό sapphire crystal με antireflective επίστρωση εσωτερικά.
Η υδατο - στεγανότητα είναι 500 μέτρα.
Το ρολόι κανονικά κυκλοφορεί με λουράκι καουτσούκ.
Η νεκροκεφαλή στο καντράν είναι custom προσθήκη για τον Steve Austin.
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Kobold Phantom Black Ops chrono... αυτό που φοράει ο Steve McGarrett
Στη σειρά Hawaii Five-0 (TV Series 2010) ο Αυστραλός ηθοποιός Alex O'Loughlin υποδύεται στον Steve McGarrett. Το ρολόι που φοράει -στη σειρά- είναι το Kobold Phantom Black Ops chrono, με μαύρο NATO ιμάντα:
(http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt30/grecellin/Hawaii50.jpg)
(http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt30/grecellin/Hawaii5-0KoboldPhantomBlackOpschronoclose.jpg)
(http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt30/grecellin/Hawaii5-0KoboldPhantomBlackOpschronoa.jpg)
(http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt30/grecellin/Hawaii5_0KoboldPhantomBlackOpschronoclose.jpg)
(http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt30/grecellin/Hawaii5_0KoboldPhantomBlackOpschrono.jpg)
H σειρά ήδη διαφημίζεται σε "ελεύθερο" τηλεοπτικό κανάλι και εκτός από το Kobold αξίζει κάποιος να τη δει για την Grace Park.
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σε απάντηση διαμαρτυρίας σε φόρουμ ο ιδιοκτήτης της εταιρείας σχετικά με τις υψηλές τιμές κ τις ΕΤΑ δήλωσε ότι τα ρολόγια είναι καθαρά αμερικάνικο προϊόν που προσφέρει εργασία σε αμερικάνους, ότι δεν φτιάχνει κάσες στη κίνα που θα του κόστιζε 60$ αλλά με αμερικάνικη τεχνογνωσία κ είναι σχεδιασμένη κατόπιν συμβουλών γνωστών περιηγητών κ μελών από ειδικές δυνάμεις σχετικά με την άνεσή της σε δύσκολες συνθήκες. Επίσης πρόσθεσε γιαυτό κ η επιλογή στις ΕΤΑ, ότι είναι ανθεκτικές μηχανές κ ταιριάζουν τέλεια στη φύση κατασκευής του ρολογιού, μια δική του μηχανή θα στοίχιζε πολύ αλλά ελπίζει στο μέλλον ότι θα τα καταφέρει κ προς το παρών δε καπηλεύεται το swiss made k made in german που κάνουν άλλες εταιρείες με κινέζικες κατασκευές..
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Δικαιολογίες για την εξωφρενική τιμή τους!
Τότε πώς θα μπορούσε να δικαιολογήσει το γεγονός ότι το Phantom έχει την ίδια κάσα με το Dievas Timeattack π.χ.;
Έχει κοινό προμηθευτή ή απλά αναπαράγονται τα σχέδια;
Αυτά είναι κλασικές περιπτώσεις μικρομπράντας: ή θα έχουν έναν κοινό προμηθευτή και -βαριά βαριά- διαφορετικό ποιοτικό έλεγχο ή αντιγράφει ο ένας το σχέδιο του άλλου, προσθέτει τη δική του πινελιά και βγάζει το ρολόι στην αγορά!
Σε κάθε περίπτωση προτιμώ το Γερμανικό προϊόν σε λιγότερη από τη μισή τιμή...
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Οι κασες των Kobold φτιαχνονται απο τον Fricker.
Ή μαλλον φτιαχνοντουσαν σιγουρα,παλια που το χα ψαξει,δεν ξερω αν εχουν αλλαξει προμηθευτη τωρα...
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Michael Kobold's Letter
Although in his column the Watch Snob has correctly identified an industry-wide problem (i.e., watch companies using smoke-and-mirrors techniques to dupe unsuspecting customers into buying their overpriced watches), he clearly has got some of his facts wrong.
It has sadly become a prevailing industry practice to use base ETA (or other) calibers and combine them with cases made in China that cost between $25 and $60 [U.S. dollars] per unit. Swiss and German laws regarding the use of the terms "Swiss Made" and "Made in Germany" are very lax, which allows watch companies to identify their watches as such, even though critical components (i.e., the case) are made in a low-cost country such as China.
Including assembly and all other components (dial, hands, band and box), a watch produced in this manner typically costs less than $200 to make. Depending on the relevant watch company's brand positioning, said watch will then retail for between $1,000 and $5,000. The profit margins of these watches are astronomical. Numerous very large and powerful watch companies have amassed a great deal of wealth precisely in this manner, all the while misleading the public by using the "Swiss Made" or "Made in Germany" trademarks.
Making a large profit is in itself not a bad thing. Time has proven that capitalism, as flawed as it may be at times, is still better than the alternative options. Typically, profits are reinvested into R&D in order to identify better technologies, increase product quality and to lead the way into a better future. At least that is the case in theory. What has happened in the watch industry (and in a number of other cottage industries that faced exploding costs in their traditional places of production in the 1990s), instead, is that manufacturing and artisanal jobs were cut at home in favor of low-cost jobs overseas. This has caused two problems.
First, the loss of jobs affects the individuals and their families, as well as the specific country's economy. Just last summer I toured a very prestigious watchcase manufacturer in the Swiss Jura who had to shut his company's doors and lay off some 60 employees. Until then, the company had been led by the fifth generation of expert watchcase makers. Instead of regrouping and working with fewer people, the owners decided to abandon the watch industry altogether. Today, they import solar panels from China.
The second problem is the permanent erosion of trade-specific know-how in these former centers of the watch industry. Europe is losing its cutting-edge technology much in the same way that the U.S. has lost a lot of its manufacturing expertise.
As a lifelong collector of watches, I find these practices abhorrent. I started with Swatch when I was 6 years old, and over the course of 25 years progressed to Chronoswiss, Patek Philippe and vintage Rolex. I have spent my entire adult life, from when I was 17 years old, in the watch industry. As a result, I came to benefit from the tutelage of men like Helmut Sinn (founder of Sinn watches) and Gerd-Rudiger Lang (founder of Chronoswiss). These men have taught me a thing or two about creating a unique product and selling it by way of an enticing story.
However, the practice of selling cheaply made watches that are essentially from China (for they may also be assembled there) is not unique, nor is stamping "Swiss Made" on the dial of such watches any part of telling an enticing story. It's selling watches by way of an elaborate ruse.
At Kobold we do things very differently, and it's my firm belief in the fairness of our products and our trade practices that has led me to write this response to the Watch Snob's column.
First, Kobold does not simply "bury" ETA movements into oversize watch cases. The term "bury" is misleading in the sense that it implies that we, as a company, are not proud of using these movements. We are!
Although any connoisseur of fine mechanical watches will agree that ETA movements are not the most exclusive in the world, as a watch manufacturer I know that my company's customers can rely on these movements no matter how much abuse they take. It's actually an ETA movement that can take a licking and keep on ticking! Why is this so important? Because Kobold watches are made for men who abuse their watches in all types of harsh conditions.
This brings me to my second objection: The implication that we use smoke-and-mirrors tactics to somehow dupe unsuspecting customers into buying our watches. The facts are simply this: We are a company that prides itself on producing "watches for adventurers, by adventurers." Unlike some of our biggest competitors, this is not just empty marketing speak. The Soarway line of watches, which comprises almost all of our products, is based on a case we have decided to call the Soarway case. This case isn't just something that was preexisting and that we simply picked off some watchcase manufacturer's shelf and called it our own. It was designed by me and with the close help of none other than Gerd-R. Lang of Chronoswiss and Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
Sir Ranulph, as you may not know, has been called "the world's greatest living explorer" by the Guinness Book of World Records. As a legendary polar explorer and former Rolex brand ambassador, Sir Ranulph is quite well-versed when it comes to the requirements of a professional-grade "tool watch." Since Kobold markets its watches as adventurer's watches, Sir Ranulph's input from the very start of the Soarway case's design phase was invaluable.
Although I take great pride in my company's watches, I cannot take all the credit for their success. Men like Philippe Cousteau, grandson of the legendary oceanographer, Sir Stirling Moss, the Formula 1 driver of yesteryear, and a number of U.S. Navy SEALs have all helped me to develop various Kobold watches over the years. While other companies purport to make watches for pilots, divers, etc., Kobold watches are actually designed with the direct input of these types of individuals.
The Soarway case is now in its 11th year of production, which perhaps is an indicator of how popular it has become. In fact, it has consistently been copied by other, smaller watch companies who clearly source their components from Asia, either directly or through middlemen.
Finally, as concerns Kobold's pricing, which has been heavily criticized by the Watch Snob, we are in line with our "Swiss" competitors who also use ETA movements but who apparently source their cases in Asia -- this, despite us having far higher per-unit costs. Take, for example, the Soarway case. Made in the USA, its basic components cost far more (about 10 to 15 times) to manufacture here than for how much one can purchase an entire watchcase of decent quality from China. Add to that the significantly higher costs of labor in the U.S. and you can imagine why I find our pricing to be relatively low in light of the fact that all our watches are assembled in the U.S. If we were to apply the same margin calculations to our watches that our so-called Swiss Made competitors apply to their products, we would charge an average of $15,000 per watch.
Instead, we have learned to become efficient enough to live with lower margins and still find ways to innovate. For example, we invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into research and development in order to come out with the first serially produced U.S.-made case in almost 40 years. That was in 2008. Today, almost all Kobold cases are made in the States and we have plans to do more. We have capitalized on highly precise equipment to make our case components and hope that before 2013 ends, all Kobold watches will be semi-made in the USA. Of course, unlike our Swiss competitors who freely and legally bastardize the Swiss Made trademark, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission bars us from putting "Made in USA" on our watches, even though they are far more U.S.-made than the "Swiss Made" watches of our competitors.
Lastly, our little horological endeavor here in Pittsburgh has created local manufacturing jobs; helped to revive an otherwise dead industry; and created a stir this side of the Atlantic, for today we find ourselves in good company, as many smaller watch brands based in America have decided to follow our lead and jump on the bandwagon of American watchmaking. Over a hundred years ago, America was the world's leading producer of good mechanical watches and in fact taught the Swiss a few tricks along the way. If Kobold has its way, we will one day see our own cottage industry spring up here again, and once that is reality, we can focus on more than just making watchcases. So far, we have used the lull of the recession to spend the significant time and effort required to tool up for more locally made products.
It is my wish and goal that in the future we produce certain movement components here in Pittsburgh, and I think this, too, will become a reality. When I started this business, all I had was $5,000 and the trust of one of the leading watchmakers of our time. Look what has come of that in just a matter of some 13 years.
Will we ever make a complete movement here? Only if we can do so at least as well as ETA does, because our customers are less interested in the mechanical exclusivity of the movement inside Kobold watches than they are in knowing that they can tempt fate for fun or profit and rely on their Kobold in all situations. There is a reason why we sell so many watches to members of the military, in particular to SEALs, Force Recon Marines and Army Special Forces. These watches hold what they promise.
This has become a rather lengthy email, but it is my hope that the Watch Snob is now more well-informed and can make a more reasonable assessment of the situation as a whole and as it concerns Kobold in particular.
I would like to reiterate my invitation to the Watch Snob to visit us in Pittsburgh and tour our operations. Please contact me directly if you have any questions or comments.
Very sincerely yours,
Michael Kobold
Founder, CEO,
Kobold Watches
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