I’m not talking about that people don’t like it, because they do. But looking in sales, I would expect a brand like zenith to at least be in top 20, but they’re far off. Why is that? I see them as an Omega-like brand, not a small brand.
I dont see advertisements, they dont pay celebrities to wear them, they arent featured in tv or movies… No one outside of the enthusiast community has ever heard of them. James Bond wore an Omega, they were the first watch on the moon, they spend probably the most in advertising outside Rolex.
Everyone likes to pretend advertising doesnt affect them, but it 1000% influences the choices you make on a daily basis.
Marketing & Distribution.
I desperately wanted the Defy EP Carl Cox but after seeing both it and the Defy EP Purple in-person, they really disappointed. My tastes since shifted to the dark revival, but I’m going to be sure to see it irl before making a move.
actually it doesnt need to be popular
Omga like? Omega has a storefront in every major city in america. Zenith exists in the watch enthusiast shadows
I’m unsure whether OP means the watches themselves or explicitly the brand around them?
I don’t want a watch that has the same name as a crappy old 80s big tube TV.
The ones who know, know it. Omega is humongous, and has big PR budget. I would personally pick Zenith over any Omega group watches any given day.
A lot of good points were made in a previous thread this week about it.
Simply put it’s because they lost their ways when Nataf joined.
Like a lot of other brands, key people didn’t understand the concept of a brand in it’s whole, and it’s most important part : the image of the product. A brand has to stay true to it’s roots, and the only way of expressing this is by design codes wich makes the brand unique. So that a customer can relate to the brand, and stay related to the brand in the future.
Another way to explain this: if you take a watch from a well established brand and hide their logo/brand name, you should always be able to tell which brand it is. The two best examples are Rolex and Richard Mille (please chill guys ! I’m talking design codes here, and only that).
If I remember correctly, Zenith lost their soul when they came with this horrible open dial with view on a poorly finished balance wheel and surroundings.
I will never understand open dials and open casebacks with shit finishing.
I have 5 watches with open casebacks. A seiko presage (pretty ugly), a farer Hailey (better, but it’s still a basic sellita), a Breitling B01 Chronomat (decent, not amazing, not shit), a Grand Seiko Spring Drive Shunbun (amazing for the price), and a Tag Heuer Monza, with the El Primero caliber 36 in it. (a work of art, and a thing of beauty).
This shows, that they CAN make beautifully finished movements https://imgur.com/a/tazMkMj
I don’t know why this el primero movement from the early 2000’s looks better than the modern El Primero, It just makes no sense to me, and I don’t think it’s all on Tag Heuer finishing it, or is it?Also, the pink chronomaster sport looks amazing. You don’t need 3 different colors of dials, and that watch shows it. also, Zenith, improve your bracelets please. If you want people to spend 10-13k for a watch, it better have a bracelet that doesn’t look like seiko made it.
That Monza you mentioned made me feel all tingly. Honestly I could stare at that movement for hours.
At this price point the Monza seems to be nice. (I first thought it was like 15k to 20k and wasn’t OK with the level of finishing).
Please note the El Primero does have an important flaw (I don’t know if they ever corrected it), and if you see grease full of black particles near the automatic ratched wheel , you need to ask for a service ASAP. Here’s the problem, please take a seat before opening. obviously NSFW.
Besides marketing and all I think another factor is that their main selling point is a movement rather than a specific watch model. When you think of Omega you think of the speed and sea masters; when you think of an El Primero, well it comes it too many flavours.
Because they make one interesting model
One thing that barely gets mentioned by that does have an effect is the beat rate of their flagship watches. 36000 vph is not popular in general and people also wonder what that means in terms of service.
Three reasons:
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They are a niche brand, and is content to be one. Their specialization is chronographs (specifically the el Primero and variations of it) while the mainstream shopper can’t tell the difference between a chronograph and a chronometer. It may also be how the mothership LVMH groups wants to position the brand: Zenith is niche enthusiast brand while TAG is the mainstream mall brand.
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It simply does not have the manufacturing volume and scale to be a popular mainstream brand. If the whole world suddenly wants to buy Zenith watches the way it wants Omega, the brand simply cannot make that many watches to satisfy the demand.
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The dive watch is probably the most popular type of wrist watch and Zenith doesn’t even have a proper one in the catalog.
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I have a thing for boots as well as watches.I think Zenith is comparable to a boot brand like Jim Green or Thursday Boot Co.Everyone knows Timberland,Carolina,Redwing,Doc Martens etc.But a brand like JG or TBC are brands less known but more appreciated for their quality by people who wear boots often(especially Timberland and Doc Marten,which now use garbage leather and are terribly made but popular because of name).
They don’t get a ton of media attention. Lately they’ve had some from Theo and Harris but they to seem to be a bit polarizing. Another reason is they have basically no retailers in the US and like it or not. We are a huge market. Finally, like most watch companies. Their website is absolute dogshit. As an American it’s my only way to see their watches and it’s a nightmare to find anything. Filter by case size options: Small (<30mm) Medium (31-43mm) Large (>44mm). I’m exaggerating but that’s the kind of issues I have on almost every watch company’s website.