The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I finally got round to reading the current quarter's edition of Watch World yesterday, and in amongst the usual excellent articles are all adverts for various brands - Patek, Parmigianni, etc, etc - but one in particular caught my eye because it was a name I'd never seriously associated with quality watches : Ralph Lauren. And the thing that REALLY caught my eye was the fact that they apparently have "Manufacturer movements"! Considering that the model in the advert was sporting a city date wheel, a power reserve indicator, a second time zone subdial, and a day/night indicator, it was pretty obvious that this wasn't just another ETA derivative.

So how on EARTH did Ralph Lauren (the purveyors of bightly coloured jumpers and cream slacks for yatching-types) manage to appear from no-where and produce a set of manufacturer movements???? All the more amazing considering that even an established firm such as Breitling has only just created the B01, which as we all know (with a few minor technological advances asided) is incredibly similar in form and function to existing ETA movements.

Well, a little bit of digging and the answer comes to light. As it turns out, the advertising boys have been a little cheeky IMO called these RL movements "manufacture" movements....... because they are actually "in-group" movements. RL is part of (surprise surprise) the Richemont Group, and as luck would have it, those nice men at JLC (also part of the Richemont Group) have answered the call and provided some rather nice JLC in-house complication movements for them. And then those equally nice people at Piaget have also stepped up and produced some nice slim non-complication movements for them as well.

So there we are - marketing at it's best again. But that aside some of their model are very nice indeed, especially the World Timer model. But there's just no way I could personally where the RL name on my wrist I'm afraid.

Here's the link - http://www.ralphlaurenwatches.com/

_________________
Driver8

Site Moderator

To be completely accurate.......

They aren't even in group. Ralph Lauren watches is 50% owned by Richemont and 50% owned by Ralph Lauren.

Incidently, they aren't all JLC, but they are all Richemont movements.

I know of Piaget (which I wrote above), but are there others too?

_________________
Driver8

Site Moderator

Arrrgh, another f%^*ing watch website using Flash. Why god, why? When will they learn?

I think so - but can't remember (which is why I didn't mention them) - I'll check.

Missed the Piaget - sorry - Monday morning!

I've had a quick look and I agree Driver that there are some good looking watches there, particularly in their sporting line. Nice complications! However I'm with you in that I don't think I could ever bring myself to wear a Ralph Lauren watch either. Just doesn't seem right for some reason

_________________
Happines is Good Health and a Bad Memory.
"Ingrid Bergman"