They always feel to me like a pointless drain on overstretched marketing budgets that could (and I declare an interest here!) be spent on advertising or co-op funding for hard-working retail partners.
Imagine a collaboration that costs absolutely nothing, is right under your nose, and has the potential to turbocharge not just one, but two brands within the same organisation.
This is precisely what Swatch Group has done with stablemates Omega and Swatch joining forces to launch the Bioceramic Speedmaster MoonSwatch.
Fratello Watches in The Netherlands shared pictures of the luxury UK replica watches last night on its Instagram, and it lit up with likes and comments.
“Thanks to Swatch Group again for having done something fantastic for the watch industry,” @78salar remarked in reference to the way ASUAG/SSIH (which became Swatch Group in 1998) is credited with saving the Swiss mechanical fake watches wholesale industry after the 1970s quartz crisis.
It may be too a big an ask for one watch collection to transform the watch industry a second time, but MoonSwatch does have the potential to strap rocket boosters onto 1:1 best Omega replica watches, a brand that has been cruising in recent years while its arch rival Rolex has gone into orbit.
Beyond the obvious desirability of launching a version of high quality copy Omega’s most iconic watches with a price tag of £207, it is worth speculating on what flows from that.
First, this is the type of watch that will appeal to the same demographic as Apple or Samsung smartwatches.
These tech giants did the traditional cheap replica watches industry a favour. Far from killing the market for mechanical timepieces, it created a new generation of customers who had previously told the time from their phones and suddenly learned a wristwatch is both practical and fashionable.
If some of these Apple Watch acolytes can be persuaded to wear an analogue watch — particularly one with Omega on the dial — they are a giant leap closer to a lifelong appreciation of the real thing, £5,500 top fake Omega Speedmaster Moonwatches or something equally iconic from the mechanical end of the spectrum.
Secondly, Instagram makes this route into traditional replica watches wholesale all the more likely. Just check out Frattelo or Watchpro’s Instagram feed where the MoonSwatch mixes with fine art wristwear from the likes of H. Moser, Patek and AP.
Influencers are certain to pick up the MoonSwatch, giving it additional oxygen.
Once you start down that rabbit hole, it is hard to get out.
MoonSwatch is highly collectible. I’ve been pinged by half a dozen friends this morning asking if I can use my connections to lock in at least two colours.
Super clone watches online store collecting is another habit that is hard to break once people start.
This is a watch that will have the sort of hype that only the secondary market can truly generate. In other words, if MoonSwatches start being flipped on Chrono24 or eBay for double their retail price, that will cause secondary storm online; exposing people who have spent only 200 quid on replica watches shop site to the mechanical world that lies ahead.
If I am right, these fake watches for sale could be popular enough that they become recognisable at a glance across a crowded train carriage.
Apple Watch is the only product to have done this in the past five years. Before that it was Michael Kors in 2014 when the TOWIE and Made in Chelsea cast lit them up.
As I said at the top, I am normally a pretty cynical hack, but I recognise marketing genius when I see it, and the Omega and Swatch Speedmaster MoonSwatch is precisely that.
Purists with five figure Swiss movements Omega Speedmaster replica watches in their collections may object, but Swatch has created a gateway into their world that will only enhance it.