Shinola Watches -- Just a rant!!!

[dfq23 131]

Interesting read here on a similar topic

 

http://www.oneims.net/patriotism-as-a-branding-tactic/

 

"In the context of marketing post-9/11, patriotic branding was especially helpful and effective. Americans felt unsure of what was going on in the country, and brands that had been around for years and years stepped up to reassure people that although the country’s future seemed a bit shaky, they weren’t going anywhere."

 

Hence why fossil bought a shoe polish company founded in 1907, based in the workshop of the country, with a recognised name and a ready made famous marketing slogan to brand their new watch line.

 

Or if you are european and don't want the classic style american watches how about the clean design lines of a scandinavian watch like a skagen...

 

Also owned by fossil and based in texas

[Daywatch 4]

And there You have it: Why buy reps when You can have a reliable, gen, "school-clock-type" Shinola for just $800-$1200?

[Kcore 0]

Yep you guys are right. Transparent marketing "made in USA" bullshit. Opportunistic capitalism at its best. Emblematic of corporate greed built on hyperconsumerism. Definitely overpriced...

 

Then again so is an $800 AP ROO rep with no guarantee you don't have a paperweight 3 months in. Hmmm… remind me what we're calling a "joke" again?

 

How about to each his own? How about people can spend their money on whatever the fuck they want? I personally like the design, and spending my money on one in no way demands an assent to their ridiculous marketing scheme. In case you hadn't noticed, this is the essence of the American free market. Everything is overpriced. Everything is proffered in a gleaming capsule of American marketing. Don't be a lemming, ignore the incessant ads (not just for Shinola, for everything), and buy whatever you want. Or don't. Who gives a fuck?

 

I'm as tired of "I hate Shinola" rants just as much as I am of the actual ads. For every brand in the world, rep or gen, there are thousands of people here who think "no way in hell", and thousands more thinking "yep sign me up". I love my Runwell. I love the case, the curved lugs, the dial, the reliability of the quartz. I buy what I like, and I don't need the snobbish assurance that other people agree with me.

 

Oh by the way… this was "just a rant"

+10000 - Well said!

 

They buy really average cars over there just cos they are made in the USA

First, who the fuck are "they?"

Secondly, the thread and rant is about a company, Shinola, their product, and they're marketing. It's not about taking a cheap shot at RWG members' country. But since you brought it up, at least the "really average cars" over here actually run unlike the totally unreliables built on your side of the pond.

 

We pretty much only build japanese cars over here now and they're fairly reliable.

 

Jaguar are indian, mini are german as are bentley and rolls.

 

In a similar way most americans only buy american beer and as monty python pointed out that stuff is like making love in a canoe.... fucking close to water!

 

My point was that some people will buy any old shit if it has their flag on it or is made in their country. The marketing is targeted at the kind of buyer who probably has an american flag in his yard, only drinks bud, stands up for the anthem and puts his hand on his heart and won't buy one of those them there foreign automobiles and mistakenly thinks he is helping his country by buying a watch made there... with parts probably all made in china.

 

A lot of americans are very patriotic people and much respect to them for that, and the advertising men are just playing to that post 9/11 audience and bigging up the fact that it's made in the USA and using a name from a product from days gone by to invoke feelings of nostalgia and the sentimentality for when america truly was #1. Making sure everyone knows the watches are made in DETROIT and not boise, idaho shows their intentions.

 

It's just the same as how mini make a big thing here about the 60s and swinging britain even though all the new one has in common is the name.

 

 

They aren't made and marketed for the kind of people on here. Most of us are professional people who understand that the world has changed and know that swiss watches are the best, the germans design the best cars, the koreans now produce the best electronics and that the chinese make everything, but as is said over and over again it's peoples money, it's their choice.

 

Accurist promote the fact they are a British watch brand and have the union jack on their products. Don't see many of them on wrist check..

 

You can be patriotic without being a mug

 

Your point is clear, crystal clear. The OP's rant and our members' posts afterward were about a company and their products and you had to take the opportunity to use it and take a cheap shot and insult America and Americans.

[dfq23 131]

Yep you guys are right. Transparent marketing "made in USA" bullshit. Opportunistic capitalism at its best. Emblematic of corporate greed built on hyperconsumerism. Definitely overpriced...

 

Then again so is an $800 AP ROO rep with no guarantee you don't have a paperweight 3 months in. Hmmm… remind me what we're calling a "joke" again?

 

How about to each his own? How about people can spend their money on whatever the fuck they want? I personally like the design, and spending my money on one in no way demands an assent to their ridiculous marketing scheme. In case you hadn't noticed, this is the essence of the American free market. Everything is overpriced. Everything is proffered in a gleaming capsule of American marketing. Don't be a lemming, ignore the incessant ads (not just for Shinola, for everything), and buy whatever you want. Or don't. Who gives a fuck?

 

I'm as tired of "I hate Shinola" rants just as much as I am of the actual ads. For every brand in the world, rep or gen, there are thousands of people here who think "no way in hell", and thousands more thinking "yep sign me up". I love my Runwell. I love the case, the curved lugs, the dial, the reliability of the quartz. I buy what I like, and I don't need the snobbish assurance that other people agree with me.

 

Oh by the way… this was "just a rant"

+10000 - Well said!

 

They buy really average cars over there just cos they are made in the USA

First, who the fuck are "they?"

Secondly, the thread and rant is about a company, Shinola, their product, and they're marketing. It's not about taking a cheap shot at RWG members' country. But since you brought it up, at least the "really average cars" over here actually run unlike the totally unreliables built on your side of the pond.

 

We pretty much only build japanese cars over here now and they're fairly reliable.

 

Jaguar are indian, mini are german as are bentley and rolls.

 

In a similar way most americans only buy american beer and as monty python pointed out that stuff is like making love in a canoe.... fucking close to water!

 

My point was that some people will buy any old shit if it has their flag on it or is made in their country. The marketing is targeted at the kind of buyer who probably has an american flag in his yard, only drinks bud, stands up for the anthem and puts his hand on his heart and won't buy one of those them there foreign automobiles and mistakenly thinks he is helping his country by buying a watch made there... with parts probably all made in china.

 

A lot of americans are very patriotic people and much respect to them for that, and the advertising men are just playing to that post 9/11 audience and bigging up the fact that it's made in the USA and using a name from a product from days gone by to invoke feelings of nostalgia and the sentimentality for when america truly was #1. Making sure everyone knows the watches are made in DETROIT and not boise, idaho shows their intentions.

 

It's just the same as how mini make a big thing here about the 60s and swinging britain even though all the new one has in common is the name.

 

 

They aren't made and marketed for the kind of people on here. Most of us are professional people who understand that the world has changed and know that swiss watches are the best, the germans design the best cars, the koreans now produce the best electronics and that the chinese make everything, but as is said over and over again it's peoples money, it's their choice.

 

Accurist promote the fact they are a British watch brand and have the union jack on their products. Don't see many of them on wrist check..

 

You can be patriotic without being a mug

 

Your point is clear, crystal clear. The OP's rant and our members' posts afterward were about a company and their products and you had to take the opportunity to use it and take a cheap shot and insult America and Americans.

 

Strangely I saw the OP discuss the marketing of the brand on it's Americaness and it also being discussed by subsequent posters which is also what I did drawing comparison to another product made in america and marketed to americans by promoting the aspects that seem to appeal specifically to that country. Also they themselves make a big deal about being based in the motor city in an old GM factory so I considered cars to be a good and relevant analogy

 

The states exports hardly any cars because they don't appeal to other nationalities, are not designed to appeal to other nationalities and not marketed to appeal to other nationalities.

 

Shinola watches are the same as they are only available over here online or in places like selfridges who have a lot of tourist trade. You won't see them in beaverbrooks or ernest jones because they are not really for us. Why would a Brit buy a gloried fossil quartz for silly money just because it's promoted as made in the USA?

 

Does anyone need to commute to work at an office in a gas guzzling, impossible to park, low spec pick up truck when they could get an economical, small, high spec, reliable euro box of some sort? Is a chrysler 300 better than an S Class? Probably not but it's the image, the lifestyle and the AMERICANESS that AMERICANS are buying because they are very patriotic people generally and that is how they are marketed to them.

 

If you can get something "better" for the same money, then choosing the theoretically worse option would be generally because of your heart leading your head. The fact that Detroit is mentioned so often in the marketing shows, as I have already mentioned, that they themselves are trying to link themselves to the motor industry and what that stands (or stood) for. The excessive promotion is because they are building a brand from scratch trying to get that they are THE american watch brand into peoples succonscious by drilling it in over and over again. If people hear the marketing spiel about heritage enough times they'll believe it as fact and assume they are a brand with history. It's all very smart really.

 

Enough americans bought british sports cars even though they were shit quality because of their britishness and what the perception of that is so it works both ways.

 

Their beer is still like piss though

[dfq23 131]

 

 

Same borderline xenophobic marketing promoting their americaness by a company ASSEMBLING not MAKING watches from parts made in china and switzerland and another owned by Fiat, who last time I checked were italian.

 

Does make you wonder why if their cars are not average as I said then why the makers needed to be bailed out by the french, italians and the government. The cars we used to make were very very shit (austin allegro with square steering wheel anyone) and we never exported them because no one else wanted them so they were marketed to the middle england pensioner market with their leather driving gloves and tartan travel rugs who drive along at 20mph on a sunday afternoon (oh on i'm disrespecting britain and the british now too!) hence why our industry had to be bailed out by the germans and indians.

 

 

Back on topic, I think most people whether it's the case or not anymore consider hamilton to be THE american watch brand

[Left Coast Guy 24]

Yeah, that advert is exactly what I'm talking about -- the "exceptional quality" and over-emphasis on "Made in American" and "Detroit-built" are what I take issue with.

[NFleischer 4,355]

Funny, I was just talking about this with my buddy who grew up near Detroit and now lives in LA.

 

I was mentioning that Shinola seems to have a HUGE marketing budget, with tons of large ads and a beautiful boutique here in NYC as well

 

as several others across the states and London. Do they sell a lot of stuff? How pays for all this?

[Benjah88 0]

Deleted. Didnt realize the thread was so old.

Edited May 24, 2017 by Benjah88

[brang1 4,084]

guess thats where the saying comes from, "shit or shinola" I'm tipping they are the same thing

[Amac 0]

These are plain and simple, watches for hipsters. Gotta wear skinny jeans and a flannel to own one of these. They've gotten cheaper though, seen a few different models at Costco for around $600.

[tonyh7 248]

Shinola as a brand gets a lot of positive publicity because they are creating jobs in Detroit which is a good thing. Hence stuff like Obama wearing a Shinola watch. And they may be assembling rather than manufacturing but then a lot of brands are like that. Personally if I wanted and American watch I'd go for a Hamilton. Way more stylish.

[GenTLe 1,510]

Shinola to me really sounds as an Asiatic name. Definitively not American one...

 

 

Ehi... Wait a minute...

[Slink73 6]

I just like em. I'm a Brit, don't give a shit with the branding.

 

I have been to Detroit and it is was as close to Hell on Earth as one can imagine (I say that not to offend but it's like the North of England, sold out by successive governments and left to die a slow painful death) so it's not like saying its Paris or NYC or LA . Like all dress jewellery you pay way over the odds for shiny. My missus likes diamonds - high pressure dino poo - they're only worth what people are willing to pay.

 

So shinola may have a marketing budget but if they don't sell watches they won't be here for long. That said I see they've moved into hotels and shit too. So maybe its an Apple thing and you buy a lifestyle. My experience of a Detroit life style was derelict homes, street zombies, boarded shop fronts and every third building a homeless shelter.

 

Wear Shinola live that Detroit dream...

[Abe Fromen 1,624]

I mean we're talking what $25 max for a rhonda mov't, then another $100 for a caset and $50 for dial/hands/crown, so $175 in parts (absolute max cost mind you) and these things sell for $800 -- $1200 ??!?!??!

 

 

 

One could say much the same about a stainless Rolex but obviously with a much higher retail. It's all about marketing and making people believe expensive = quality and exclusivity.

[elp 26]

.... american beer and as monty python pointed out that stuff is like making love in a canoe.... fucking close to water!

 

I remember laughing out loud at this when I read it first time round .... just as funny now :)

 

No issue with some nice American microbreweries, but some of the beers (e.g. Sam Adams) that I've been served in the US do fit the description rather well .

 

Anyway, back on topic. Where can I get a decent 1:1 rep Shinola?

[Benjah88 0]

I own a 47mm Shinola Runwell in Rose Gold with a blue Face and an Oxblood football leather strap. I actually love it. I bought it used for about 300.00. The Watch is of very high quality and its nice to have a reliable quartz when I don't feel like fiddling with my autos. Its also a great travel watch.

 

Shinola offers a lifetime warranty which includes battery change which is nice.

 

I get a lot of hate and "hipster" name calling but I can take it. I just pull up my skinny jeans and walk it off :-p

Edited May 24, 2017 by Benjah88

[Helmut Wong 36]

I don't see how "made in detroit" can be considered slick marketing. Id consider it a warning.

 

BTW I love America, but an American watch is a step too far.

[171796 2]

Shinola sounds Japanese. The product cost is probably around 40 dollars in total (without marketing). The design is quite nice actually, not too bad. You say it's overpriced, but aren't all watches overpriced ($100 mass produced Rolex for $10,000)? Or sunglasses from Luxottica ($1 glasses sold for $150 to $1000). I actually find it good. These luxury product companies rip off rich people who made their money by exploiting poor people. And poor people can afford the same as reps for a few dollars from a brother on canal street who rips off the rich luxury product companies :B):

[NFleischer 4,355]

My friend who is from Detroit has one, I think Runwell (stupid name but so is Datejust IMO).

 

It's not poorlly made but looks like a Radiomir wannabe to me. $800 for quartz ?? Not for me, agree Hammys are much better.

 

I see they're selling all kinds of stuff Golf Ball??!! Total rip-off, $400 for wall clock, worth about $50 tops.

Edited May 25, 2017 by NFleischer

[FL13 511]

USA here, Shinola get's a nice laugh from me when I see people acting like it's "Quality". Quartz and Generic with a name that reminds me of excrement.