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shituonui | 4 years ago

Oh yes, the expertise of Patek Philippe will trickle down any day now.

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1123581321|4 years ago

It has. Wristwatch mechanical and material expertise has greatly diffused, resulting in good watches at many price points.

shituonui|4 years ago

I'm sure that's a real benefit to all the people living paycheck-to-paycheck who wear mechanical watches.

djsbs|4 years ago

OP spoke in generalities, and I answered in generalities with specific examples merely as illustrative aids.

You just used sarcasm.

shituonui|4 years ago

Sarcasm is a perfectly valid rhetorical device. If you find it rude, I apologize.

Some luxury goods are beautiful. Some are high-performance. However, many of them are prized merely because they are exclusive.

I find very expensive jewelry, almost without exception, to be gaudy and hideous. Even if it were tasteful, it could be made with artificial or semiprecious gems and clad base metals with no change in appearance.

There is nothing from high-end jewelry that can trickle down to the mass market. The entire industry is, by design, based around the work of skilled artisans. If it were possible to mass-produce jewelry, it would no longer be exclusive and would thus be less desirable.

Luxury cars are an interesting example. They are usually prized for their technical excellence. Some of the innovations may actually make it to market. The same definitely does not apply to fashion or to the majority of other luxury goods.