Yesterday we introduced the new Torgoen Swiss T32 Collection of Swiss Made Automatic Watches. After literally years of requests Torgoen has entered the mechanical Automatic Watch arena. Their first entry is a classic design Swiss three hand Automatic with a date function. And the entry level price of just $795.00 is remarkable, a real bargain among Swiss Automatics.
What's of real interest in Torgoen's choice of Swiss Movements, the Valanvron 24, a 25 jewel classic movement with the date function. Just one year ago Torgoen would likely have chosen the ETA 2824, which is virtually identical. But ETA, a division of The Swatch Group, has announced that it will, sometime in the future, stop selling ETA movements to all outside companies.
This has caused an explosion of new start-up manufacturers making certified Swiss movements to meet the demand of the non-Swatch Swiss brands. We are now seeing ETA 2824 clones from Sellita and now Valanvron spring up to meed the expected demand for Swiss mechanical movements.
Our experience, so far, with these start-ups has been excellent. We can't be certain of Swatch's reasons for restricting the sale of their movements. It seems unlikely that they cannot meet demand as worldwide sales of Swiss Watches is stable given today's economy. More likely they want the prestige of the ETA name for their own brands only.
Either way we think this development is good for the Swiss Watch industry. Have all their mechanical eggs in one manufacturer's basket was never a good idea. Ultimately more manufacturer's will mean more innovation and lower prices.
We are happy to recommend the new Torgoen T32 Collection for anyone wanting to own a fine Swiss Automatic. See the Complete collection on Gem of the Day or on Top Flight Watches.
