Masahiro Kikuno, Japanese Independent Watchmaker (2017)

The time required is very long to make the pieces by hand, but I feel any sharp person could do it. Nothing groundbreaking.

So I don't understand people that find this fascinating, inspirational. Just buy a usual watch, and it will have the same pieces.

It's cool that he makes new designs, however make a good market out of that and the chinese will do it too, at better prices.

Mechanical watches have (and this has been said before) the Rolex problem. On the lower end of the scale, a lot of mechanical watches will borrow design cues from Rolex (e.g., most dive watches will share similarities with the Submariner) and will fall far short of the quality of one.

On the higher end, you quickly end up at multiples of the cost of an entry-level Rolex with very questionable additional value, quality or longevity.

Rolex is really in a sweet spot in terms of value. They're virtually indestructible, tend to keep their (or even grow in) value and make a number of elegant, understated watches that are iconic.

For example, if you want a dive watch, buy a Sub (no date). While you might argue that Blancpain beat Rolex by a year for the quintessential dive watch, Rolex is the one that popularized it. You're not buying a dive watch, you're buying the dive watch as it has stood since the early 50s.

They're not cheap, but they will undoubtedly last two generations, possibly more. Compared to the other luxury watch makers, they're downright cheap. JLC is another value-oriented brand and you're lucky to get into a watch for 2X what you'll pay for a Rolex. Patek and AP are much more expensive.

The problem with the affordable brands is they cut a lot of corners with manufacturing (vs Rolex), use outsourced, less reliable movements and -- with the exception of some Seikos, have none of the cachet of Rolex.

You can go a bit higher to say an Omega, but you're already ballpark Rolex, so is it worth it?

The downside to buying a Rolex is it will probably kill your watch hobby. I used to collect watches and when I decided I did in fact like the story of Rolex, I bought one, strapped it on basically forgot about watches.

The only watches I'm interested in now are so expensive I'll probably never bother to buy one. I will get to gift my Sub to my son in another decade or so at which time I'll get to go shopping again. So that's something to look forward to, but I'll mostly likely buy another Rolex.

Counterfeit watches are a serious problem; the American Watch and Clock Institute sell a DVD on identifying fake Rolexes, with the target audience being professionals in the watch industry. Innocent parties can (and frequently do) pay large sums of money for worthless fakes.

https://www.awci.com/online-store/dvd/

It's one thing selling a replica "Bolek GMT-Master" with a standard ETA movement in a white box, but it's quite another thing to sell a very convincing counterfeit complete with Rolex-branded packaging and a counterfeit certificate of authenticity. If the counterfeiters are so honourable and have no intent to deceive, why don't they discreetly engrave the word "REPLICA" on the caseback, case, movement main plate and bracelet?

The moral line in the sand is putting the word "Rolex" on the dial. I have absolutely no issue with someone making a watch that copies the form and function of a Rolex watch, but I take great exception to someone using their name.

Trademark is an absolutely essential part of modern commerce. Trademark infringement is tantamount to identity theft - counterfeiting is a fundamental attack on the reputation of the counterfeiting victim and has a corrosive effect on trust. There are legitimate arguments against patent and copyright law, but I see no legitimate argument against trademark law.