Struggling to Understand - the Favre Leuba Zombie

Now before we go any further, I will admit a few failings that I have as a member of Watch Town's Fourth and Fifth Estates. When I first launched The Blog Formerly Known As Tempus Fugit, I had a desperate need to be liked by brand owners, to fawn and praise, often without any real belief in what they were churning out. 

I was there to cover Favre Leuba 2.0 when Thomas Morf puffed up the brand with what turned out to be some unrealistic expectations as to what Favre Leuba could (or in the end would) be.

So now the curtain has raised, not insignificant amounts of money have been channeled to PR firms and media outlets to promote "Favre Leuba III - The Revenge of the Value Proposition!" Oh, and apparently it is also now, among other things, a heritage brand... and in all honesty, gentle reader? I am now left in a quandery as to just what Favre Leuba is now.

Courtesy of Favre Leuba

In fairness, the new pieces look nice enough. They utilize movements from La Joux-Perret. While they make a very respectable movement, I don't know if that alone correlates to the somewhat ambitious prices that are being proposed.

So who has their hands on the tiller of the good ship Favre Leuba? One Patrik Hoffmann. I have read an interview published in Monochrome, and well... let's just leave it at that. 

In a secondary splashy video interview with Revolution, it would seem that the basis of Favre Leuba is a "value proposition"  (I thought that Hodinkee had copyrighted that phrase), which I heard so frequently I ran out of fingers to count on. I found this descriptor somewhat curious as (if the Monochrome interview is to be taken as gospel) a tourbillon is planned for next year... "A value proposition Tourbillon..."

The price points (if I am being brutally honest) are not what I would call value proposition based. I suspect the folks at The Solist and Joma Shop have already raised their collective antenna. 

So ultimately the market will inform us as to what it will bear. But the sad truth is that Watch Town is currently over populated. There are already a shit-ton of brands, and those with the history (Longines) will likely come out ahead. 

But let's see how this develops. 

What I Like - Hager Aquamariner Black

Sometimes you get a wee-bit tired of the press releases, and barking and clapping your flippers like a trained seal hoping to get a smelly, slimy fish tossed into your gaping maw.   Sometimes you just want to write about something that you actually like, that actually speaks to you.  

Courtesy of Hager

I would love to tell you that this attraction is rational, based on what the chuckle-heads over at some of the other outlets term the "value proposition".  And by the way, how douchey is that?  It is the ultimate back-handed compliment -

"Hey, your watch doesn't cost much money, and it looks marginally better than that other shitty wrist-bound turd for the same price!  And if I had a shitty job and couldn't do better, then by golly I'd buy it!" 

I guess you get to be the "value proposition" for a smaller retainer than to be a full-blown "dope-assed-watch" with some outlets ; ) 

But I digress...

Back to irrationality - I love the Hager Aquamariner Black for the very reason that it does not tick my usual boxes.  It is a completely and utterly visceral reaction (positive) for me.  I can't explain it with the "Well, for the amount of money spent, divided by the name recognition, multiplied by the jackass factor, this watch scores a..."
So let's dispense with the hyperbole.  I just like it.

Some Henki-lore that might help put this into perspective -
I am not, and have never thought myself to be, a bad-ass.  I am simply a middle aged man that never realized his full potential.  I have no fantasies about punching out a Nazi on the beaches of Normandy.  I do not fantasize about jumping out of airplanes or climbing mountains.  I LIKE room service and clean sheets, I like driving the speed limit, I closely follow the machinations of the local school board (even though I have no children enrolled there).  I entertain no misplaced notions that a watch will transform me into anything other than I am - a middle aged man who never reached his full potential.  

But all that being said?  The Hager Aquamariner Black?  It speaks to me.

Here are the pertinents, straight from the Hager site, and for the record, the retail for this time machine is (I believe) $650 US:

DLC case with a satin finished DLC steel bracelet equipped with a slidelock extension. Uni-directional rotating 60-minuted stainless steel engraved bezel with a black insert. Black dial with luminous silver-tone hands and luminescent dot hour markers. Minute markers around the outer rim.  Automatic hacking movement (Miyota 9015) with a 42 hour power reserve. Date Display at 3 o'clock. Scratch resistant sapphire crystal. Screw down crown with tube.  Solid case back.  Water resistant at 300 meters / 1000 feet. Functions: hour, minute, second.  Case diameter: 41 mm.  Case thickness: 12.75 mm. Lug to Lug: 50mm.  Band width: 22 mm.