Like others, I have been thinking about this more and more since you started the topic...and have come to more conclusions which may or may not relate completely to your question.
To those that have been around and listened to and remember the things stated by Eyal and Jim, the Reserve designation has become...well...funny. I think what Eyal probably likes the most is the newer Invicta collectors (the ones who join the big forum and have 5,000 posts in a month and have to have one UPS truck just for their weekly purchases) who constantly, despite all the evidence put forth, will continue to scream "I dont care if they say its Swiss Made and its not and I paid 800 dollars for a hundred dollar watch...IT LOOKS COOL!!!". That makes Eyal smile.
Its a sad state when people use the argument...I dont care if on thursday the new Reserve was on a daily site for 199 and on monday, I paid 899...I didnt buy it for resale. Thats all well and good, but since when have we lowered ourselves to almost being thrilled that we were given the shaft by some guy who laughs all the way to the bank...and cant so much as have the common courtesy to even have a decent CS department when our 899 dollar watch craps out in 10 minutes. But the customer does not care and will defend those practices until doomsday...because the watch looks cool.
Reserve is "All Swiss Made" and made by "The top 10% of watchmakers in OUR employee"...maybe.
Amazon has "Exclusive" versions of the Venom...not stamped "Swiss Made", but simply "Swiss". It has been established that "Swiss" cannot be trademarked in the US..."Swiss Made" can and has, but not just Swiss. And the "Swiss" version on Amazon is about half the price of the "Swiss Made". But WAIT, THERES MORE...Jim said Swiss and Swiss Made are the same (and it is IF you are a member of the Federation, but Michael says Invicta is not since its just "a good old boys club")...Michael compared those who question it to seeing the black helicopters, and the Invicta loyal either say "Jim said it so its true" or a few have even to posters to "Shut Up".
Does the fact that Jim, Michael and Eyal said it make it so? Remember the first release of the S1 touring with SAPPHIRE CRYSTAL!!! Only when questioned and the issue was pushed heavily did it come to light that they were mineral. Flame Fusion...if it is FF it is stamped on the case back...there have been a few instances where watches were said to have FF...whoops again. There is the "Swiss Mov't" which is meaningless and says so on the Swiss Federation site. Movement must be spelled out. Anyways, there is the now famous photo of the "Swiss Mov't" Invicta with the caseback removed and guess what...the movement is CHINA!!! There is always the Seiko movement that Invicta and Seiko developed together...well, not really...but Invicta did have their name on the rotor.
Their "Swiss Factory"...when really really pushed on the issue, the defense is to have Michael come out and say on the other forum...There will always be those out to get Invicta...we have facilities all over the world. Really?? But do you actually have the "Swiss Factory"...silence.
Look, as a former soldier in the Invicta customer army, I know what its like. I also know what I would like to see. Invicta should simply be up front. Have a certain number of models and production targets that can be reached with good QC...have a couple of folks be able to answer the phones...and maybe even stock basic parts like SCREWS!!! 3 months for a push pin is ridiculous.
Seiko, Citizen, Casio, Pulsar, Bulova and plenty of others hide nothing. There are plenty of Seiko Monsters made in Malaysia...and says so right on the dial. Other Seikos and Citizens are Japanese and say so. Casio has factories (actually owned by them) and makes watches in Japan, China, Korea and Thailand and says so right on the case backs. And all those companies have realistic retail prices and street prices are realistic and stable. Why? Because people know for a fact what they are buying up front...no slight-of-hand to make you think its something its not.
I for one would love to see Invicta back on track as they do have some very cool designs. Kristie is still lusting after an Excursion and I would love to get her one...if I simply trusted that its what it says it is, would be backed up by the company in my lifetime if there was a problem and had the same quality that Invicta used to have. My older Pro Divers as I have said many times are simply great watches. The Miyota driven Grand Divers...steal of the decade...the original version of the Akula, WOW...Invicta has potential to be what they used to be, and you hate to see that tossed away just to make a quick pile of money...I suspect they made plenty the way they used to do things.
