Asian-Watches.com: How Asian Watches Compete Against the Major Swiss Watch Company

by Tom Adelstein

Don't take this post as a lesson in genealogy. It's more about how Asian watches competing against a major or the major Swiss watch company. If Rolex does anything better than design and make watches, then it's providing innovative timepieces to influence their competition's designs. I'm not being flippant about that either.

Rolex released the Daytona Cosmograph in 1963 and it became one of the most popular watches in the company's history. Rolex designed and produced it for professional racing drivers, who needed a chronograph and bezel with tachymetric scale. It allowed drivers to measure speeds up to 400 miles per hour.

Rolex lacked initial success with this watch, until Joanne Woodward bought her husband, Paul Newman, one. Afterward, it became known as the Paul Newman watch. At that point, the watch experienced high sales volume and has become the gem of many Rolex collections.

In 2013, Rolex issued a 50th year anniversary version in platinum. The company showcased it at Baselworld and spawned a slew of homage, tribute or heritage watches. A fraction of those appear below.

Most analysts will say that Invicta came close to replicating the Cosmograph when it released the "Speedway" series (a Japanese made watch). Since, it's near impossible to replicate the chronograph's features with a low-end automatic movement, the Speedway has a Miyota quartz movement.

A watch out of China also closely replicates the Cosmograph. It's at the bottom of the page and has a funny logo "Bagelsport". It also has the Rolex term, "Oyster Perpetual" on the dial.

It's difficult to pinpoint the manufacturer of a watch called Bagelsport. A company like ShenZhen De Rieter in China could have produced it for a third party. It doesn't matter who manufactured it, since it isn't a fake or counterfeit. It's a homage, heritage or tribute watch. It barrows the design and features of the Cosmograph Daytona.

The main design features of the Rolex that allow us to focus on the Asian equivalents include:

1. The rotating bezel
2. Tachymeter
3. Slope and width of the bezel
4. Position of the sub-dials
5. Sweep second hand
6. Screw crown and subdial buttons
7. Plain back -that is - non-see through.

As you can see, some of the watches below, have a plethora of the Cosmograph's design features. If you had never heard of Rolex or the Cosmograph Daytona, the look and feel of the look a likes would still attract buyers.

I'm going to place some links below if you want to see which of the watches remain available and at what prices.