Few watch industry traditions are more sacred than the yearly dance during Watches & Wonders between shiny new novelties in Switzerland and comments from observers back home about pricing being out of control. Every year, without fail, new watches are announced in the dead of night on the east coast, and before anyone in the United States could conceivably have access to the new pieces, the commentary comes through loud and clear: they want how much for that?
Look, I get it, I really do. As a collector, I’m priced out of a lot of watches that I wouldn’t have been even a year or two ago. Things are getting crazy, and fast. But you’d think based solely on the online discourse that there isn’t a single watch priced fairly anymore. I really don’t think that’s the case.
When I say “priced fairly” I want to be clear that I don’t mean any given watch is necessarily affordable to me, or anyone else. But that, in the scheme of things, and thinking about what you’re actually getting for your money at this current moment in time, certain watches are retailing right about where they should be, or at least at a level that aligns with what the watch is offering. And “fair” can mean a bunch of different things when we’re talking about retail pricing. Things like finishing, the positioning of a brand compared to their competition (and how watches are positioned within a brand’s collection), as well as production scale and the health of the brand itself all come into play.
It’s also important to consider that most of the early reactions to pricing at an event like Watches & Wonders come amid an absolute onslaught of new information that’s hard to contextualize. There are hundreds of new watches announced at virtually the same time, and it’s impossible, even for us, to properly contextualize everything with a full understanding of positioning and category.
At Watches & Wonders, Oris holds the belt for accessible, reasonably priced watches and makes it hard for anyone to make a serious case they are gouging the consumer. The Oris Star was one of my favorite watches of the show this year for a few reasons. First and foremost, it’s a straight down the middle take on the vintage reissue. Rather than upsizing a vintage watch to a more contemporary size, Oris understood what they had in the Star and decided to bring it back in what amounts to a mostly one-to-one recreation of the original. This was the right choice. At about 35mm in diameter, it’s a great medium size that feels like a real vintage watch in the best way. They even kept the acrylic crystal and the oddly sized 17mm lug width. This will disappoint some strap swappers for sure, but I think it’s a charming decision and shows the brand’s commitment to the bit.
The Star is also genuinely affordable. At $2,300, I think it’s hard to argue that this watch is priced unfairly. While I’m sure some will try to make the claim that there are microbrands out there doing similar work for under $1,000, or that vintage examples of the Star can be had for less, those arguments break down pretty quickly when you consider that Oris is not a microbrand, but a historic Swiss company that doesn’t benefit from the lack of overhead that allows many micros to undercut their larger competitors, and that vintage watches are, as ever, a minefield, and that $900 watch you find on eBay might be the best $1,500 you ever spend after you fix whatever might be wrong with it.
The Tudor Monarch is a watch that came under a great deal of criticism almost immediately from the enthusiast community upon its unveiling. And while the response wasn’t nearly as unanimously negative as something like the Black Bay P01, there were many strong opinions shared about its design and its price tag from the opening bell of Watches & Wonders.
Liking the look of this watch is, of course, totally subjective. I’m mostly pretty indifferent, personally. The dial color and California layout is not my favorite. But I like the hands, and I think the case shape is nice looking, and the finishing of the case and bracelet is very well executed. I could easily see how someone might see this watch and immediately be taken with it, and by the same token I can understand how it might be an immediate turn off for others.
What doesn’t make much sense is a knee-jerk reaction to the price of this watch without holding it in your hand. The retail price is $5,875 and, as Zach Weiss points out in his introductory piece, that puts it a notch higher than your typical Black Bay, almost certainly a result of the more elaborate finishing of the Monarch. And that’s the trap people are falling into with the Monarch, I think. Comparing it to the Black Bay misses the point entirely as this release sits in a different category that, until Watches & Wonders, didn’t exist at Tudor at all. It’s plainly obvious once you see it in the metal that finishing really is superior to what we expect from Tudor at a lower price point. It’s simply more complex and better rendered in every way. The case and bracelet are also quite a bit more complex in their shape and construction, and the movement is new and Master Chronometer certified.
The Monarch is being positioned by Tudor as a premium watch in their lineup, something more luxurious than a Black Bay or Pelagos, and it felt like that when I tried it on in Switzerland. Judging from early reactions of collectors and enthusiasts who have visited Tudor boutiques and authorized dealers in the week since the watch has been on display in stores, once people are able to get hands-on with the watch, they begin to understand that it’s a higher end product. It’s certainly not inexpensive at nearly $6,000, but the pricing makes complete sense when you zoom out and see the full scope of Tudor’s offerings.
The Bremont Supernova Chronograph is another watch that garnered a lot of mostly acid responses from the watch community in the wake of the show. I’ve gone back and forth on this watch like no other piece that I saw all week. Prior to seeing it, I was ready to strongly dislike it. The press photos did nothing for me, and the thought of yet another brand jumping on the space watch bandwagon made my eyes roll literally all the way to the back of my head. But in the metal, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a big, chunky, modern sports chronograph with a genuinely fun dial execution (especially if you’re into lume) and very nice finishing that is helped along considerably by the use of 904L steel. It has Royal Oak Offshore vibes, and I say that in a way that is, honestly, complimentary.
The price, initially, was not something I was entirely comfortable with. At $8,250, we have another watch that is objectively expensive. Recent Bremont releases, I think we all have to admit, were ambitious in their price points, and I think we’ve been largely trained under the Davide Cerrato administration to assume that there’s not going to be a whole lot of obvious value present in Bremont’s new releases. I’m not convinced this watch is a “great value” at $8,250, but it also doesn’t exist in a crowded field of direct competitors when you line up all of the meaningful specs (904L steel, ceramic components, and a new integrated bracelet design).
I’m not a buyer for this watch at $8,250, but it’s easily the most interesting release from the brand in the Cerrato era. It represents a real dividing line, in my opinion, between the previous incarnation of the brand and this new version. The Supernova idea is something that could never fly, pardon the pun, under the English brothers, and the introduction of this platform feels like the brand stepping decidedly into an entirely new direction for the first time under this leadership group. The Supernova case architecture is an entirely new creation and, as a platform, shows a great deal of potential. That tourbillon released alongside the chronograph (which is too expensive…) has a case that is much thinner but with the same shape and finishing, and when we eventually get the inevitable slim three-handed Supernova, that will be a pretty compelling watch to a lot of people.
I’ve found over the years that our feelings toward the price of a watch really come down to your overall approach. I think I’ve accepted, for better or worse, that luxury brands are going to luxury brand, and price their watches in a way that makes our collective heads turn and jaws drop. And it’s true that pricing feels out of touch right now, even within the scope of the luxury industry, but I think it’s also important to consider the trajectory that watches have been on over the last few years. This is no longer a niche hobby that the larger public does not understand. When I started writing for Worn & Wound and explained to friends and family what I did for a living, I got a lot of puzzled looks from people who didn’t understand watch enthusiasm was a thing, or that the luxury watch industry was something that a specific group of media professionals wrote about and covered.
That’s no longer the case. Even if you’re not part of the watch community, you likely understand that there is a community of people who care about watches and that there’s an entire craft tradition around it, and that watches have their own economy that fluctuates somewhat wildly. A comparison to the world of car collectors and enthusiasts is apt, here. Very few people are actively collecting rare cars, or think of cars as a hobby or enthusiast pursuit in their own lives. But nearly everyone understands what car enthusiasm is. They’ve seen Road & Track on the newsstand. Watches are now in a similar place.
So it follows, I think, that we’ll see a rise in prices and less perceived value in an environment that is no longer so isolated and closed off. More people (and often, more people with lots of money to spend) are on their way into the hobby, and prices reflect that, while also reflecting the state of the world economy, supply and demand, and a host of other small things that contribute to everything feeling so expensive. But if you look carefully, there are still watches out there, even in the halls of Palexpo during Watches & Wonders week, that feel priced where they need to be once they’re evaluated on their own terms.
Zach Kazan
2026-04-27 19:00:00