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Since we don't work for Zodiac, we can't say for sure. But since they only ever use one automatic movement with the exception of the rare Vajou stuff, they probably had left over movements which is why they are in the new line. Again, Zodiac is a Swiss Made brand that is run by a fashion company. Fashion in the Swiss Made world doesn't exactly resonate with enthusiasts such as those who read these boards. While I'm sure they value your input, you aren't necessarily the target customer. Zodiac has for the most part been sold at fashion brick and mortar doors (Nordstrom) where the main customer is not a true die hard Swiss watch enthusiast. I'm sure there's quite a bit that people from the outside just don't understand in the running of a watch brand. Your feedback has not gone unheard. We do pass along the sentiments we here from time to time to make Zodiac aware of what the enthusiast segment is thinks of the brand and their product. Prior to us existing, no one was there to do so. So hopefully (and it seems like) in that time, progress has been made.
 
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I think you guys have the right idea- Only time will tell if this course laid out by Zodiac is a success. I personally see discounting in the future. In this economy and with the realities and pressures faced by all retailors, sitting on inventory one is Too Proud Of can be disasterous.

I personally hope the affects to Zodiac and Fossil are less detrimental than the initial marketing, then the Complete Marginalizing of it's Reserve Line made by Invicta in the last 4 yrs. The Reserve name nowMEANS Nothing, and all the new RL Watchesare being offered at 150-250.00. Somehow the 500.00+ models from the Initial offering seem to be Screaming Foul from my watch boxes!

I understand the Up-Market Effort by Fossil. The Mvt Issues AND the Market they are facing make this shift hazardous at best. As a long time Zodiac fan (have dozens of vintage thru 90's Pcs., love them all)I hope for the best.

Clark in Seattle.
 
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ronmexico wrote:
I think you guys have the right idea- Only time will tell if this course laid out by Zodiac is a success. I personally see discounting in the future. In this economy and with the realities and pressures faced by all retailors, sitting on inventory one is Too Proud Of can be disasterous.

I personally hope the affects to Zodiac and Fossil are less detrimental than the initial marketing, then the Complete Marginalizing of it's Reserve Line made by Invicta in the last 4 yrs. The Reserve name nowMEANS Nothing, and all the new RL Watchesare being offered at 150-250.00. Somehow the 500.00+ models from the Initial offering seem to be Screaming Foul from my watch boxes!

I understand the Up-Market Effort by Fossil. The Mvt Issues AND the Market they are facing make this shift hazardous at best. As a long time Zodiac fan (have dozens of vintage thru 90's Pcs., love them all)I hope for the best.

Clark in Seattle.
It's funny how Invicta gets so many people to bite based on their fake retail pricing. They dupe customers into thinking they are getting 70,80 and even up to 90% off on some of their styles. They are a made for on sale brand and should never be compared to Zodiac in our opinion.

Zodiac made very few of their recent releases because they were aware of the market shift you speak of. They will not be stuck sitting on inventory if their fall launch does not exceed their expectations. It should give them the flexibility to change and adapt should they so choose. However, we do not believe anything has led them to believe thay they should abandon ship on their current plan. They have had nothing but great positivefeedback from their accounts on the fall 2010 and spring 2011 releases. The fall 2010 styles should be hitting stores shortly (if not already)for those who want to check out the new styles in person.

We can tell you they are currently in open development on some limited edition styles with very high end movements. We aren't sure if they will all come to fruitition or not but they look very promising for those looking for high-end autos in Zodiacs.

Will they be stupidly cheap like some expect them to be? Probably not.It seems like a lot of enthusiasts are making the analogy to compare lets say a $3,000 watch on aDaily Deal site at $800 to an $800 full retail Zodiac watch. There's a reason that watch is on a Daily Deal site in the first place. Usually it is because the watch styleis discontinued, heavily overstocked, has a fake MSRP (Invicta/Swiss Legend)or the watch brand is injeopardy and has to bail inventory to keep the brand alive and in business. All these are tricks used to lure in customers in the post-recession world.
 
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Great post Metro and thanks for the insight. I don't think most folks here are comparing Zodiac's MSRP to say Invicta's and drawing any conclusions (at least I hope not).

Personally (as I dive watch lover), I compare the Zodiac Oceanaire (for example) to other dive watches I can get in the same price range. For me, I prefer the boutique dive watches in the same price range but with included quality/thick link bracelet, ETA 2824 movement, and C3 superluminova (and often additional straps included). The Oceanaire comes up short in comparison to that competition. But as you pointed out, "We" are not the target market for Zodiac as I haven't purchased a watch from a retail outlet since watch collecting became my hobby.
 
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ky70 wrote:
Great post Metro and thanks for the insight. I don't think most folks here are comparing Zodiac's MSRP to say Invicta's and drawing any conclusions (at least I hope not).

Personally (as I dive watch lover), I compare the Zodiac Oceanaire (for example) to other dive watches I can get in the same price range. For me, I prefer the boutique dive watches in the same price range but with included quality/thick link bracelet, ETA 2824 movement, and C3 superluminova (and often additional straps included). The Oceanaire comes up short in comparison to that competition. But as you pointed out, "We" are not the target market for Zodiac as I haven't purchased a watch from a retail outlet since watch collecting became my hobby.
Zodiac will be adding extra straps with their watches in their spring 2011 release along with newly re-designed (and may we say much cooler) packaging.

It's funny. For as much as the Claro Semang CL-888 movement is dogged for being "cheap," it is actually quite expensive from what we've been told. Perhaps the fact that there is a Chinese counterpart makes it appear to have less value than say an ETA. We aren't sure, but the CL movements have been going up in cost significantly over the last couple of years. Not sure why. We'll see if we can dig anything up.
 
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I know I'll get a bashing for sure, but I actually like the CL-888 movement. They seem to keep pretty good time on the two pieces that I own. I think the bad rap they got a couple of years ago for a batch of bad movements has taken a life of its own on the internet from people repeating what they've read. If they were so bad, why has the Oceanaire line become one of the most collected Zodiac timepieces in recent years??
 
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I've only owned (2) CL-888 movements and they were both in Swiss Legends and yes they were crap, but I've heard that these movements seem to run pretty good in the Zodiac and JL brands. Are these as smooth as and ETA movement? I doubt it, but we may see some changes in these movements to make them more competitive with ETA and Sellita.
 
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Elkabong wrote:
I know I'll get a bashing for sure, but I actually like the CL-888 movement. They seem to keep pretty good time on the two pieces that I own. I think the bad rap they got a couple of years ago for a batch of bad movements has taken a life of its own on the internet from people repeating what they've read. If they were so bad, why has the Oceanaire line become one of the most collected Zodiac timepieces in recent years??
Metro Watch Company wrote:
It's funny. For as much as the Claro Semang CL-888 movement is dogged for being "cheap," it is actually quite expensive from what we've been told. Perhaps the fact that there is a Chinese counterpart makes it appear to have less value than say an ETA. We aren't sure, but the CL movements have been going up in cost significantly over the last couple of years. Not sure why. We'll see if we can dig anything up.
I can't speak for the masses but I consider the ETA 2824 movement better than the CL888 based purely on my personal experience with both movements. I don't care very much about movement origin (I actually prefer the miyota 8215 [though non hacking] to the CL888) but Ihave not been impressed with the one example of the CL888 I have in my Oceanaire.
 
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Elkabong wrote:
I know I'll get a bashing for sure, but I actually like the CL-888 movement. They seem to keep pretty good time on the two pieces that I own. I think the bad rap they got a couple of years ago for a batch of bad movements has taken a life of its own on the internet from people repeating what they've read. If they were so bad, why has the Oceanaire line become one of the most collected Zodiac timepieces in recent years??
Agreed. We've owned 7-8 Zodiac's with CL-888's and have not had any problems.
 
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Good to hear about the upgraded packaging and additional straps. I own several of the higher end Zodiac pieces and as spectacular as their rubber straps are, I find myself swapping over to exotic skins from time to time ... or leather depending on the watch style.

Those rubber clad boxes that sctratch really easily and stick to everything have got to go. They remind me of a poorly painted Fossil tin (coincidence??? ... nah :pk).

I hope they do well ... I really love the brand.
 
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At one time or another, I had a black dial (twice), a blue dial and a yellow dial.

The yellow was my favorite! :l


I had a problem with the yellow and naively sent it in for repair under warranty.


I was quite disappointed to be told:

it could not be repaired

there were no replacements

I could not have my watch back.


To their credit, I was given a $500 credit towards another watch, but not being
able to get the watch repaired was a major block for consideration
of purchasing another Oceanaire.


Oh, well.
 
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mattcantwin wrote:
At one time or another, I had a black dial (twice), a blue dial and a yellow dial.

The yellow was my favorite! :l


I had a problem with the yellow and naively sent it in for repair under warranty.


I was quite disappointed to be told:

it could not be repaired

there were no replacements

I could not have my watch back.


To their credit, I was given a $500 credit towards another watch, but not being
able to get the watch repaired was a major block for consideration
of purchasing another Oceanaire.


Oh, well.
Matt, what was wrong with it? I had an issue with my orange one when I had owned it, the second hand seemed to stop and get stuck on the dial...they told me it was something with the movt.....I sent it to metro watch in TX, and had it back in under 2 weeks and never had an issue with it again....it wasnt even under warranty, as I bought it from Ebay , and it wasnt and authorized dealer, but they still fixed it for free............
 
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mattcantwin wrote:
I could not have my watch back.

What?!? That seems like ... robbery. It is defunct. Fine. You can't repair it. Fine. I can't have it back?!? ... it is not your property. You SOLD it and now IT IS MINE. Maybe I want to replace the movement myself. Either way I would think the worst they could do is offer to return it at your cost ... but keep it because I sent it in for repair?!? ... no way.
 
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mattcantwin wrote:
At one time or another, I had a black dial (twice), a blue dial and a yellow dial.

The yellow was my favorite! :l


I had a problem with the yellow and naively sent it in for repair under warranty.


I was quite disappointed to be told:

it could not be repaired

there were no replacements

I could not have my watch back.


To their credit, I was given a $500 credit towards another watch, but not being
able to get the watch repaired was a major block for consideration
of purchasing another Oceanaire.


Oh, well.
When was this?
 
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