Welcome to case back watches my name is tim and in this episode i’d like to cover the topic swiss or germany you saw swiss made or made in germany and this was a request of a viewer he’d like to know my opinion or my my favorites made watches made in germany or
Watches swiss made and so i will debate this in this video and by the way i’m planning the next q a video and so if you have a question then just put it in the comments under this video okay so that i can choose 10 or 12 questions
As usual and then i will answer them in one or two weeks okay now to the topic i will give you three pros and three cons for every country but first let’s ask what was the beginning in switzerland and in germany when it comes to watchmaking and in switzerland the beginning was
1770 around that date and switzerland back then was not state of the art when it came to watchmaking they had strong competitors especially in the united states and in france but they had managed to pool some knowledge since the late middle ages and we’re speaking here about the huguenots
The huge notes were persecuted because of their faith and a lot of them went to switzerland and in germany the the beginning was much later it was 1845 1845 and this was the year when the famous adolf langer founded or built his first factory in the city glasshooter
Okay and now let’s start with the pro and cons and of course i cannot mention here everything uh with which is worth mentioning but i want to give you my three major pros and cons and the pros and cons i have um own experience with and so i don’t
Have to speculate here all the time and so let’s begin with the first pro for switzerland and this is brand value brand value backed by something really by something earned over centuries backed by quality over centuries for high standards it stands for very old companies which is
Nice if you see it on an advertising but it’s more important because the signal is we will survive everything if you buy a product from us we will be there for your kids and you can add of course the reputation of switzerland in general i mean it’s a nice neutral small
Country and in a way how to put it clean i mean of course switzerland has its dark spots in history like every country but the reputation is relatively intact and you will not find a good watch from switzerland with a let’s say red communist star on the dial and so there is this
Neutrality in the products which many people like and i think this is really a pro next pro for switzerland the designs marvelous designs and more important the number of icons design wise if you buy a high tier swiss watch then the probability that you have
A real icon on the wrist is very very high and if you compare let’s say famous watches from germany like the max build series by junghans with something like the longine flagship i mean the name says it the flagship i think for me personally is way ahead design wise
Than the max bit by the way a little wrist watch check here i’m wearing since weeks hey focus on the watch not on the tin tin please i’m wearing the dube and child run diplomatic enjoy it a lot next pro for switzerland you can buy the wide variety of quality
Watches from relatively affordable to super luxurious and so basically everything is possible there everything is possible if you go swift by the way this would be a nice claim for them in swiss and swiss watchmaking everything is possible and that’s exactly the truth you can’t buy there your three-hand watch and you
Can buy a tourbillon if you like and so everything’s possible and this is absolutely a pro i think okay now let’s go over the border let’s go to germany let’s check the three pros for germany and first as well quality they have a reputation for quality and there’s this cliche that
Germans in general are obsessed with quality and this is not 100 true but to a certain extent certainly especially if you see this region between craft and industry so small manufacturers but with machinery but also with people who can touch the products there there you find uh definitely a high tenancy to
Although the willing for for absolute 100 quality yes the next plus mind might be a little strange but it’s a shadow from switzerland the shadow from switzerland germany watchmaking and watchmaking was always in this shadow and so they were under constant stress to prove that they are equal that they can put out
Nice quality wrist watches and if you see um advertising from switzerland from the big brands then the the they try to grab you with emotions with family values with heritage pedigree all those those those terms and if you compare then the the ads from germany then they try to grab
You by your emotions as well but with numbers they say then this is not steel this is u-boat steel and this movement runs with those specifications they try to convince you that they are equal with numbers and details and not only with emotions and there you see it that they’re under
Constant stress to prove we’re equal we can deliver something outstanding like the like the guys from switzerland and of course for us as clients this is extremely good because we know a german manufacturer cannot get away with sloppy work they have to deliver they are not switzerland they are germany
And so they have to deliver something extra to convince us and of course this is great for you and me as customers pro number three is the customer service in germany which is um on a good normal standard you may ask now why is the normality good um we will debate this
When it goes to switzerland to the to the to the negatives of switzerland but if you buy a watch from a german manufacturer then you will see a good accessible website with a web shop with an email address with the telephone number somebody will answer your phone calls and something like that
And if something goes wrong if there is a repair in need for your watch and you send it in you will get it back after what is it two weeks or something like that so normality normality and in the watch world this in my eyes is
Good this is absolutely a plus and part of this last pro here this pro number three is that the prices for services are relatively normal as well and this is absolutely a positive i think okay but now it’s getting funny now let’s start with the cons let’s begin with switzerland
First con is the service mafia i’ve mentioned this type of mafia here on the channel and i think what many people don’t realize if you buy a very expensive swish swiss made timepiece then they want more money from you they want that you service the thing every five
Or every seven years some brands every three years small service they call it and they will charge you um over the top absolutely over the top i made this video and people sent me their service build it was that was ridiculous And this without a real convincing reason i mean always presented now the this movement which should last 10 years without everything i think it comes with a 10 year warranty actually and so this this service market this is really strange and this is absolutely a
Con the next coin as i see it when it comes to switzerland are high watch prices and sometimes not really backed by real features but backed to a high amount with brand value only and this sometimes is a bit crazy if you have that three-hand watch it’s very
Basic and i mean it’s a good timepiece but it’s basic there’s nothing very really special in it and then you see the price and you think wow i could buy a good used car for that kind of money and then you see that they just try to
Go to the limit they they just squeeze out every last bug from their customers and this is yeah this is a corn it’s a little bit like apple i think and con number three is customer service i mean swiss brands they have their nice websites with nice images but sometimes west online shop
In not in existence and um but sometimes it’s very hard to get in contact with them and when you have a minor problem with your watch then they send it to switzerland and it will stay there months months i’ve experienced it several times with rolex and jesus culture
Digital culture needed once i think four months for a service and then the watch came back lost four minutes a day again the service another four months was just crazy or the new seal for the rolex date just for the crystal or i think i wanted a new crystal for
Watchmaker i mean five minutes works they sent it to switzerland and it took six weeks to change the damn crystal and this reluctance to make it comfortable for you as a client this is not normal okay now the three cons for germany first lower brand value i
Mean let’s face it of course there are regions in the world where german watches are very popular but if you attend a party with an international crowd and of course more people will find swiss watches swiss watches more valuable than german watchers that’s a fact and this is
Absolutely a con and so if you’re interested in the actual watch but also in the and the flare around it then my suggestion here is go swiss the next con um people will absolutely hate me for this but i have to speak up here and german watches can be
Damn ugly really really ugly i mean of course there are beautiful watches made in germany but the number of extremely ugly watches is so extremely high that i sometimes ask myself who’s the designer here i mean the the the brand owner or the son of the brand owner
And sometimes i think it’s exactly that they just they just don’t hire professional product designers and then you have watches and you see the specifications are great but they look like and then you have to ask yourself what’s going wrong here and my theory what’s going wrong is con number three
They focus too much on a small segment of people um like like men between 30 and 60. and you can find big brands from germany and you go to their shops and you cook look where where’s the ladies section in absence not existing nobody there thinks it’s a valuable
Step to produce watches for women and of course this is a problem i mean imagine a public room only for men we all know how it looks like and then you imagine a public room for both sexes and it looks way better often mostly and so if you focus
Only on a small segment of people there is this nerdy smell around your brand nerdy nerdy nerdy um your flair around your brand and then you produce watches which are extremely ugly and nobody speaks up everybody says oh yeah that’s nice that’s the watch for me and then his wife says this looks
Absolutely ridiculous that thing okay those were my three pros and cons for every country but let me allow me in addition here um there’s an overall problem if you favor a region a single region nowadays because if you see the situation let’s say prior to world war ii there you had regions like
Switzerland like lassiter where and the people were exclusively capable to produce those timepieces because of the knowledge because of the machinery and no but nobody else could do it really and so the region there was the promise for quality for actual quality for technical specifications but nowaday if you are a little dictator
And you have this nice country there you can you can make it a a federal goal to be a player in watchmaking the knowledge nowadays is accessible accessible as a word i’m not sure and so if you compare today let’s say a high quality movement from japan seiko grand psycho
And you compare it with a high high quality movement from switzerland then it can be that the japanese thing is just better second problem made in germany or swiss made doesn’t mean 100 swiss made or made in germany because there are terms and regulations and laws and the industries in those countries here
Are in constant movement to lower the bar so that you can produce fifty percent of the watch in china or sixty percent and only the rest in germany and in switzerland and it still is swiss made or made in germany and i’ve made a video where i demonstrated with clever bookkeeping
You can lower this even more and then you have technically a chinese watch with the label swiss made or made in germany for a very high price and so keep this in mind please and so for me personally the region is not so important not so important anymore i want the
Actual watch i want features i want something which are which is pleasant to look at which is a good standard and when i have a equal equal watch from china or switzerland i would buy the swiss thing of course okay those were my three pro and coins for every country if
You have an addition then don’t hesitate just put it in the comments and please don’t forget the q a video the upcoming q a video just put your questions in in this comment section here as well and you can ask about yeah watches or what we are doing here in during the
Lockdown i’m in week four now look like absolutely pale because we’re inside all the time home office but there’s some distraction of course keywords on netflix um computer games and i still i’m still trying to become a better illustrator i’ve announced this and i try to make
Illustration this is the first try the first draft for the perfect ushanka the perfect russian ushanka and i want to ink this properly and to color it and inking this type of illustration is extremely challenging extremely difficult but yeah we have the time right now and
So i think i will carry on so if you’re interested then please follow me on instagram caseback underscore tim i think i will show those illustrations more on instagram than on youtube i think the better platform for this okay and now stay healthy thank you very much for your attention and maybe until
Next time you
