Tweet
Let me share this article from the Business Times:
Made In China and proud of it
Luxury watchmaker Christian Bedat creates a new line
Most serious watch brands would not be able to fathom making their watches in Asia, much less take pride in it, but a new company called Red8 is going against the grain with the launch of its "Designated on Earth and Made in Asia" watches.
"So many luxury companies make their products in places like China but they try to hide the truth as much as possible perhaps because they are ashamed of it but I think that is wrong. I want to be transparent. My watches are manufactured in China and house a Japanese movement and you know what, I am proud of that," says Red8's founder Christian Bedat.
"The watch runs on an Epson I-Matic movement which is essentially a self-winding quartz movement. This means that it has a rotor that charges a battery so it never needs a battery change and let me tell you something, I brought the watch to show some of my Swiss watch manufacturing friends and they all tell me that they could not have done a better job themselves."
Now, if it were anybody else making this claim, one might easily brush off Red8 as a new entrant trying to drum up attention by being controversial. However, when these assertions are coming from a man of Mr Bedat's watchmaking pedigree, they should not be dismissed quite so quickly.
Mr Bedat, together with his mother Simone Bedat were responsible for giving the world Bedat & Co, the luxury watch label bought over by the Gucci Group in 2000 and taken over by watch distributing company LuxuryConcepts earlier this year.
Having said that, although the watches from Red8 and Bedat & Co share the same creators, they are as different as night and day. Unlike its more sophisticated and certainly more expensive sibling, the Red8 watch is more casual, with bigger mass appeal thanks to an affordable price tag of US$880. And yes, all 11 models in the collection are the same price.
"I look at all the big brands and their big price tags and I think to myself, a lot of the time, one watch is as good as the other, the only difference between them is the brand," muses Mr Bedat. "Which is why when I started Red8, I decided that the watches were not going to be overly expensive so as to allow everyone to be able to afford a nice, good quality watch."
This notion of accessibility is taken to another level: Red8 watches are only available for sale online through a fully interactive website, which not only allows the company to have direct contact with clients but at the same time safeguards the brand against copycats.
"The website is our window to the world. Because you can only buy the watches from the website, this means that if you see it being sold anywhere else online, it is a fake, unless it is a secondhand watch up for sale," he adds with a laugh.
"But more importantly, I decided to sell exclusively online because if I worked with a retail shop for example, they would put my watches in between other brands of a similar price point which may not necessarily be good for my watches branding-wise. I want my watches to be judged purely by its own merits and quality and not as a new competitor within a particular price bracket."
It seems as though Mr Bedat's strategy has paid off. Despite a zero advertising budget, Red8 has sold roughly 400 watches simply through word of mouth and the support of watch blogs.
"I think that people are attracted to the watches because they are fun and they are well-made," concludes Mr Bedat.
"It was not my intention to create a product that would compete with the traditional Swiss brands or even the low end of the market. Rather, what I had in mind was to create a watch that transcends social status - a watch that isn't necessarily expensive or cheap but one that would make a good addition to anyone's existing watch collection because it is different from what they already have. Instead of creating competition, I want to offer a product and shopping experience that people have never seen before. That is the philosophy behind Red8."
www.red8world.com
Made In China and proud of it
Luxury watchmaker Christian Bedat creates a new line
Most serious watch brands would not be able to fathom making their watches in Asia, much less take pride in it, but a new company called Red8 is going against the grain with the launch of its "Designated on Earth and Made in Asia" watches.
"So many luxury companies make their products in places like China but they try to hide the truth as much as possible perhaps because they are ashamed of it but I think that is wrong. I want to be transparent. My watches are manufactured in China and house a Japanese movement and you know what, I am proud of that," says Red8's founder Christian Bedat.
"The watch runs on an Epson I-Matic movement which is essentially a self-winding quartz movement. This means that it has a rotor that charges a battery so it never needs a battery change and let me tell you something, I brought the watch to show some of my Swiss watch manufacturing friends and they all tell me that they could not have done a better job themselves."
Now, if it were anybody else making this claim, one might easily brush off Red8 as a new entrant trying to drum up attention by being controversial. However, when these assertions are coming from a man of Mr Bedat's watchmaking pedigree, they should not be dismissed quite so quickly.
Mr Bedat, together with his mother Simone Bedat were responsible for giving the world Bedat & Co, the luxury watch label bought over by the Gucci Group in 2000 and taken over by watch distributing company LuxuryConcepts earlier this year.
Having said that, although the watches from Red8 and Bedat & Co share the same creators, they are as different as night and day. Unlike its more sophisticated and certainly more expensive sibling, the Red8 watch is more casual, with bigger mass appeal thanks to an affordable price tag of US$880. And yes, all 11 models in the collection are the same price.
"I look at all the big brands and their big price tags and I think to myself, a lot of the time, one watch is as good as the other, the only difference between them is the brand," muses Mr Bedat. "Which is why when I started Red8, I decided that the watches were not going to be overly expensive so as to allow everyone to be able to afford a nice, good quality watch."
This notion of accessibility is taken to another level: Red8 watches are only available for sale online through a fully interactive website, which not only allows the company to have direct contact with clients but at the same time safeguards the brand against copycats.
"The website is our window to the world. Because you can only buy the watches from the website, this means that if you see it being sold anywhere else online, it is a fake, unless it is a secondhand watch up for sale," he adds with a laugh.
"But more importantly, I decided to sell exclusively online because if I worked with a retail shop for example, they would put my watches in between other brands of a similar price point which may not necessarily be good for my watches branding-wise. I want my watches to be judged purely by its own merits and quality and not as a new competitor within a particular price bracket."
It seems as though Mr Bedat's strategy has paid off. Despite a zero advertising budget, Red8 has sold roughly 400 watches simply through word of mouth and the support of watch blogs.
"I think that people are attracted to the watches because they are fun and they are well-made," concludes Mr Bedat.
"It was not my intention to create a product that would compete with the traditional Swiss brands or even the low end of the market. Rather, what I had in mind was to create a watch that transcends social status - a watch that isn't necessarily expensive or cheap but one that would make a good addition to anyone's existing watch collection because it is different from what they already have. Instead of creating competition, I want to offer a product and shopping experience that people have never seen before. That is the philosophy behind Red8."
www.red8world.com