My ‘failed’ watch collection

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Richard D
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My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by Richard D »

As you can imagine there are thousands of watch designs yet amongst them there are those who have simply ‘failed’. These are the cast outs, watches that just did not impress the customer or indeed their maker. I’ve selected four from my ‘failed collection’ which might be of interest today.

The first being the TAG Heuer Autavia, model CY2111 which had a short life because of poor sales. The watch was very much the victim of the Monaco, Calibre 17, which shared the same price point as the Autavia. The Monaco, with its Steve McQueen image, proved much more popular with customers. This Autavia went into production in 2003 but was pulled the following year.

The 2003 Omega Railmaster, Calibre 3205, probably is the biggest ‘failure’, well for me it is. Like the Autavia it failed to impress customers who’s preference was for the Seamaster Aqua Terra. Visually similar but with one big difference, the Aqua Terra came with a date window. Not even Jeremy Clarkson’s XXL exited the public, I guess no surprise there with that endorsement. The Railmaster was reluctantly pulled in 2012 having struggled to make sales for nine years.

Next the Copernicus Regulator, Unitas 6498, from a Polish brand that ceased production in 2014. Their bold themed designs never caught the imagination which is a shame because the Regulator came with an extraordinary background story.

Finally the Christopher Ward C1 Worldtimer, JJ03. Unlike the production model this watch has a completely different dial and finish. It remains a mystery as to why this 2018 model never made it to production, even Adrian Buchman was left scratching his head. This watch remains the only prototype ever made.

I do have other watches in my collection that also can be described as ‘failures’, but I kinda like that, because in many ways it makes them all that little bit more special.


64274111-BE8B-4A15-9395-5A0DF0DFE256.jpeg
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by Thegreyman »

Some superb "failures" there Richard. I've always liked the Worldtimer (or Worldglow), simply too large for me but I'd love one in 39-40mm.
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Richard D
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by Richard D »

^^^^ There’s definitely a trend for smaller watches and I hope you get your wish. As for me and my big wrists it’s not something that excites me, the Sealander collection being a good example. Lovely designs but if only the cases were 41/42mm.
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by nbg »

An interesting selection.

I much prefer that Autavia to any Monaco model.

I wonder if the Railmaster failed as a chronograph, compared to Omega chronographs, due to the size of the sub dials?

I think that the old three hander Railmaster was a classic, available in different sizes over the years, making it suitable for a range of wrist sizes.

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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by Richard D »

nbg wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 11:31 am An interesting selection.

I much prefer that Autavia to any Monaco model.

I wonder if the Railmaster failed as a chronograph, compared to Omega chronographs, due to the size of the sub dials?

I think that the old three hander Railmaster was a classic, available in different sizes over the years, making it suitable for a range of wrist sizes.

Neil
Agree the old three hander is certainly a classic. My Railmaster came from an exhibition held at the London Olympics in 2012. Speaking to the folks at Omega they told me it came down to an absence of a date window. As for the Autavia, that’s now fetching, on the preloved market, four times what I paid for it new.
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by Soporsche »

Some great 'failures' there Richard! I have a couple too and like them because of the fact they are great watches but interesting and different. Amongst these is also an Autavia CY2111 which with time is gaining a bit of a retro chic following. Also and somewhat surprisingly is my Harrods Heuer Autavia 02 a Ltd edition of 125 that without marketing failed to sell, in fact LVMH recovered a number of these from Harrods and distributed to selected individuals. Yet its a very attractive white dialed black subs (panda) autavia with a great movement in v limited numbers.. its strange how the watch gods (WIS bloggers, celebrities and forums) often determine the fate of these things. Or the design just missed the mark!
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Nothing “failed” about any of those. Perhaps they were not huge sellers because they were a little left field for the herd? superb watches.
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by jkbarnes »

That Autavia is a real beauty! Was there ever a thread on that Worldtimer prototype? I’d love to hear more about it.

Any chance we can get a few close up pics of the watches, or at least the two I reference? :lol:
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by H0rati0 »

Some beauties there and what's not to like about any of them? That Worldtimer appears to me as the best iteration.

My small collection is also full of "failures" but I reckon them carefully chosen "niches". Mainstream and most certainly "celebrity" opinion means less than decimal zero to me, I'll walk my own path, thanks.
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by strapline »

Incredible to think of those as so-called failures; I think they're all great. Particularly like the Tag, the bracelet is awesome. The Omega is gorgeous too. Failure is clearly a very, very, very subjective term with somewhat limited merit, certainly if they are anything to go by.

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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by exHowfener »

If you bought them, wear and love them, they aren't really failures. It's the ones that never see the light of day that are failures, no matter how many were sold.
Of course, I don't make or sell watches!
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by Richard D »

strapline wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 1:01 pm Incredible to think of those as so-called failures; I think they're all great. Particularly like the Tag, the bracelet is awesome. The Omega is gorgeous too. Failure is clearly a very, very, very subjective term with somewhat limited merit, certainly if they are anything to go by.

Des
The TAG bracelet is certainly awesome, probably the most comfortable in my collection.
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by Richard D »

exHowfener wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 1:06 pm If you bought them, wear and love them, they aren't really failures. It's the ones that never see the light of day that are failures, no matter how many were sold.
Of course, I don't make or sell watches!
In my eyes none of these watches are failures as I would never have bought them in the first place. They simply failed in the wider circles.
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by Richard D »

H0rati0 wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 12:57 pm Some beauties there and what's not to like about any of them? That Worldtimer appears to me as the best iteration.

My small collection is also full of "failures" but I reckon them carefully chosen "niches". Mainstream and most certainly "celebrity" opinion means less than decimal zero to me, I'll walk my own path, thanks.
I couldn’t agree more.
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Re: My ‘failed’ watch collection

Post by Richard D »

jkbarnes wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 12:50 pm That Autavia is a real beauty! Was there ever a thread on that Worldtimer prototype? I’d love to hear more about it.


Any chance we can get a few close up pics of the watches, or at least the two I reference? :lol:

I’ve posted the Worldtimer prototype before but it has never gained much interest on the forum. Might explain why CW were right not to go into production. The only prototype that I’ve had any interest in a C60. Again only one watch was ever made.

E3E3E9D1-729C-45E2-B003-F8C300AC8FAC.jpeg

As for the Autavia I’ll post some close ups later. In the meantime hope this is helpful.

FE99A266-083F-4BE9-85CE-70E095B6C944.jpeg
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