IWC: The Book, The Manufacture

I did a survey on Luxist within the last year that was a survey of the “best” luxury watch brands according to the site’s readers who participated in the poll. I had to choose five brands, and among those was IWC. With a strong, focused product line, and an emphasis on performance and gentlemen’s sport activity, I felt that the brand resonated particularly well with American audiences. While such polls aren’t hard science, the result was that Luxist readers felt that IWC was the best luxury watch brand. Beating the likes of others such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet.

IWC was obviously on my radar before the results of that poll, but it was a fascinating look into the perception of (mostly American) luxury blog readers. One of your fellow aBlogtoRead.com readers recently commented on an IWC related article that IWC watches are well-made, nicely designed, but over-priced. A quick response via another fellow reader indicated a wise observation. If a brand is doing well, selling its products, and experiencing high demand, the amount it asks for its products isn’t too high — especially if it is getting that amount. That sort of halted the topic, and I thought it was a good message about the luxury industry overall. Luxury goods are easy to attack. It is easy to complain about price, image, and snobbiness. What is more impressive is when luxury brands are defended. Such conduct shows that the price, image, and possible snobbiness don’t actually result in bad sentiment - in that particular case. I’m making a general statement about the luxury industry and many different types of products, but in the context of IWC, it interesting to see fans ‘ring in’ to communicate their own personal high-view of the brand and what they sell.