Random musings and general banter.

Oh it's Gen and the cordless lawnmower, after Peter's show extolling the benefits's of corded over cordless and Peter telling us he & Gen use a corded lawnmower at home, then will be interesting to hear what she says.

"That cordless technology with all the power behind as well."

Nae quite what Peter was saying Gen, think you and Peter need to have a word, after all he's an acclaimed tech expert.

Tricompax said:

Love the way they twiddle the 10 o'clock crown like Billy oh, and the "expensive to do 24hr internal bezel" (so they tell us every show) hardly moves a fraction
Bring back baby Fields, more fun when he was telling us all about their horological master pieces

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Yeah baby Fields is way more entertaining, I especially like his history lessons.

Jokes aside, I'm not knocking anyone and their buying choices, whatever floats your boat and all that. I'm also conscious that selly telly cameras get up close and personal to the products, often focusing more closely than the average human can!

Having said that, some of the S&E watches do look quite cheap in terms of their finish. Some have a plastic look to them, very glossy, shiny. In short, they look cheap. Maybe they look better in real life, however I reckon they're very much at the right price point, if not over-priced. However there's no way to my untrained eyes these things should be selling for their RRPs.

And when the presenters start waffling about 'would sell at 5 times the price all day long' or 'this should have another zero added to the price' you can't really do anything other than laugh at the absurdity of their comment.

ronzy75 said:

Can't believe the cr@p coming out of the S&E rep 4 generations of the Field family of watchmaking, I bet none of them own a loupe never mind make a watch And why name watches after people who have nothing to do with horology? This is why I joined this forum to vent my spleen

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Yeah this makes me chuckle. They seem to pick names out of thin air and link them to a watch that often has little or no design cues to said person.

Yes, this is the Fosbury, named after the American athlete Dick Fosbury who perfected what became known as the Fosbury Flop high jump technique.

(Camera pans to the watch that looks like every other generic watch on the market.)

You'll notice how we've integrated the ethos of Fosbury into this particular design. Dedication, hard work, perfection, efficiency and effectiveness.

Eh, nope.

Welcome to my Timpo range of exclusive timepieces. Heritage watches made of plastic with interchangeable plastic parts. The Sioux Confederate Robert E.Lee Ike Clanton... Created in the finest heritage plastic with cowboy hat (apt) winder, 7th Cavalry paper strap, presented in the most delicately recreated Timpo Red Indian Reservation Box with complimentary Timpo Wigwam (worth £250). We are down to single figures (we only ever had one). Flying out the door..Insure Insure it....

Just turned on to hairy Haley just as she was saying’there should be a won in front of this’

She can’t say’one’ for some reason always’won’.

There are no winners

Mommabear said:

Just turned on to hairy Haley just as she was saying’there should be a won in front of this’

She can’t say’one’ for some reason always’won’.

There are no winners

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It's just such a STUPID thing to say. Yeah we get why they say it (this product is worth x times more than you're paying blah blah blah) however it's just senseless.

So this Ford Fiesta is selling for £18,000?

Yes sir. To be quite honest, such is its quality, it could easily sell for £118,000 all day long sir.

Was out gardening earlier and one of my neighbours walked past. He was looking a bit forlorn.

What's up? I asked.

Oh, I can't decide between buying this BBQ or that BBQ! he replied, showing me a BBQ product catalogue.

If it helps, I said, pointing to one of the models, the presenters on the shopping channel Ideal World say they've bought that one.

Wow! Awesome. Thanks. That's made up my mind for me. He replied, walking away quite happy.

cheeky chappie said:

Was out gardening earlier and one of my neighbours walked past. He was looking a bit forlorn.

What's up? I asked.

Oh, I can't decide between buying this BBQ or that BBQ! he replied, showing me a BBQ product catalogue.

If it helps, I said, pointing to one of the models, the presenters on the shopping channel Ideal World say they've bought that one.

Wow! Awesome. Thanks. That's made up my mind for me. He replied, walking away quite happy.

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He bought the other one?

Mommabear said:

He bought the other one?

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You got it

Hammy60 said:

They maybe sold watches, but they didn't have their own in house watch brand.

The present Swan & Edgar brand belongs to Fields Luxury LTD, started up in 2018, baby James Fields is the sole Director, they have absolutely NO connection, past or present, with the dept store. Trademark was registered in 2017.

They also do Gamages of London watches, again named after an old London store, exactly same type of watches as the Swan & Edgar range, papa Antoni Fields usually flogs them on TJC channel instead of Ideal World. Gamages trademark was registered in 2019, again NO connection with old store.

They are also friends with a chap that has also started a watch brand, in 2017, after another old London store, Barkers of Kensington, yeah and you guessed right, same type of watches as Swan & Edgar and Gamages. There is also some info to suggest that Baby Fields is a partner in the brand, although can't find anything official, but their are internet links which suggest he is a partner. Papa Fields and the owner of Barkers were directors together of an advertising agency back in the 90s. Again this brand has NO connection with the old store.

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I've never understood why they name these watches after old fashioned department stores that closed down...

cheeky chappie said:

Jokes aside, I'm not knocking anyone and their buying choices, whatever floats your boat and all that. I'm also conscious that selly telly cameras get up close and personal to the products, often focusing more closely than the average human can!

Having said that, some of the S&E watches do look quite cheap in terms of their finish. Some have a plastic look to them, very glossy, shiny. In short, they look cheap. Maybe they look better in real life, however I reckon they're very much at the right price point, if not over-priced. However there's no way to my untrained eyes these things should be selling for their RRPs.

And when the presenters start waffling about 'would sell at 5 times the price all day long' or 'this should have another zero added to the price' you can't really do anything other than laugh at the absurdity of their comment.

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Swan & Edgar are cheap, we've seen how they taken watches straight off Ali, rebranded them or equivalent quality, and quadrupled the selling price for IW, and their RRPs are even worse, ridiculous in fact. they are poor quality. For automatic watches, they come straight from the bottom end of the Ali express quality range.

If you compare say the Solar time brands on IW and Swan & Edgar, although I detest the Solar Time guests and sales patter, over exaggerating the quality and lying about some of the movements (CCCP) and lying about the history and heritage of their brands, and every watch has to be huge and heavy, their watches aren't as poor quality as Swan & Edgar, would be on a par with most well known fashion brand and even the lower end of the watch making brand's collections, Swan & Edgar on the other hand are one of those brands that have realised there is a killing to be made, by buying lower end watches from China, and trying to pass them off as at least similar quality to fashion watches but in some cases trying to pass them off as even higher quality, the Resultco brands with Miss Boydell are similar to Swan & Edgar in quality.

cheeky chappie said:

It's just such a STUPID thing to say. Yeah we get why they say it (this product is worth x times more than you're paying blah blah blah) however it's just senseless.

So this Ford Fiesta is selling for £18,000?

Yes sir. To be quite honest, such is its quality, it could easily sell for £118,000 all day long sir.

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It's even more stupid as, like most of the IW presenters, she's hasn't the expertise or knowledge to judge what the worth of any given watch should be, to claim there should be a one in front of the price just shows how utterly ignorant she is regarding watches.

Muttley said:

I've never understood why they name these watches after old fashioned department stores that closed down...

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It's so they can use that store's history and heritage in their sales pitch, most folks will be oblivious to the fact that there is absolutely no connection between the brand and the stores, they'll be thinking although store is closed must be some connection to use the name of an old well known store. Sadly, some folks will believe any rubbish they are told.

cheeky chappie said:

Yeah this makes me chuckle. They seem to pick names out of thin air and link them to a watch that often has little or no design cues to said person.

Yes, this is the Fosbury, named after the American athlete Dick Fosbury who perfected what became known as the Fosbury Flop high jump technique.

(Camera pans to the watch that looks like every other generic watch on the market.)

You'll notice how we've integrated the ethos of Fosbury into this particular design. Dedication, hard work, perfection, efficiency and effectiveness.

Eh, nope.

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well just watching just now and they have the Pioneer sports, "named after Roger Bannister, first four minute miler" and i'm looking to see what the connection is.

Is it a chrono which could be used to time a runner? Nope

It's got a diver's bezel, is that a connection to Bannister or running? Nope

Mabye the expert will explain why it's named after Bannister? Nope, waffled about colours and could sell at double the price but mentioned nothing about it's relevance to Bannister.

So why name it after Bannister?

Mason - "you see that on a wrist, you want to know what that fella's job is"

Nae really Mike, if I saw that on a wrist, i would be thinking, oh that poor mug fell for the IW sales crap.

Thought Mike loved and knows all about watches, just said he's never seen anything like the bullhead watch.

Oh forgot to say, I'm actually wearing a selly telly watch today, was working in the back garden wearing one that I know can handle mistreatment.

Bought off QVC many, many moons ago, over 20 years ago in fact, actually a cheap watch that actually is better quality than the original price would have suggested.

Was a work watch for years, built like a little tank and took a lot of knocks and bangs and kept on ticking, will probably still be going when many of those Swan & Edgar watches have died and gone to watch heaven.

Mommabear said:

Where’s Rob, haven’t seen him for ages?

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Rebooting his 'career' in America? I think he's mentioned it once or twice.

Hammy60 said:

Thought Mike loved and knows all about watches, just said he's never seen anything like the bullhead watch.

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Yes, picked up on that, Seiko and Citizen populised them in the 70's. Not a common configuration granted
but they're out there even now, with some present day makers doing them.
P.s I'm an astronaut today wearing a Speedy pro not a van driver

The Duke of Cheese said:

I genuinely don't get this Swan & Edgar story. As far as I remember, Swan & Edgar was a department store in Piccadilly. I remember it closing in the early '80s, I think. I don't remember them having their own in-house watch brand - but of course, I could be wrong.

I am assuming the name was purchased years later and applied to a new watch brand? Fine, I am aware of lots of dead brand names brought back decades later with absolutely no connection with the original manufacturer. I have no problem with that at all. The concerns start when a restarted company name's products are sold on the basis of a spurious direct connection and heritage of the old unconnected name. Is this the case with these Swan & Edgar watches? Am I missing something and there is a direct link?

Oh God, no. It's that ****** woman with the titanium knees and more steps than Hampstead tube on that wretched treadmill again. Time to disembowel myself without an anaesthetic

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As far as I can remember, Swan and Edgar was -as you say - just a department store. After they closed, the new tenant in their building was (I think) Tower Records, who had a strong presence around the mid ‘80s and then also closed.
And you are absolutely right, the Swan and Edgar department store wasn’t famous for watches, as far as I know.

Mind you, a good few years ago, when Ali Express was just starting out, I bought a few ‘Grace Brothers’ watches from them for around £15-£20 each. (Absolutely true story). All automatic, one with a retrograde second hand. I think one of them is still going (must be an heirloom- maybe I ought to insure it!).
I think the Chinese makers had watched UK tv and assumed that somehow ‘Are You Being Served’ was a documentary!!
I always think of that when I see Swan and Edgar!