History Repeating

Just had it on my wrist. Stuning. Very well balanced despite its first appearance. Unlike what you could perceive from the pictures it is not bulky or overdone at all. Still I would have made taken 2 mm off the crown and protectors... would have been absolute bliss. The finish of the face is so far the best by AP and the attention to detail is at an all time high. All that is thanks to the fact that it is in a regular size OffShore and not the T3. In an oversize case it would have been an aberration.

Unfortunately there is a BUT... It will reach stores at 31,000€ in Europe and in the US I guess it will be close to the 40's. I am perplexed to say the least. Apparently the high price point of the Survivor is due to a very complex ceramic bezel (three times the cost of the Barrichello's) and that there are no precious metal variants. Despite this, there is still a coherent need to justify a 8,000€ or 10,000$ price increase from a Barrichello II to a Survivor. Would you rather have a Survivor instead of a Safari PLUS a Jumbo? For a little more you could source an End of Days and have it restored to NEW condition. Which would you rather have? Thirty-one thousand Euros... a hard sale in the current times.

All this said... don't count on the Survivor being much of an investment. Sure there will be the initial fanatics and collectors that will make the first pieces fly away yet like the "Shaq" (hot the first month but a real downer up until now). This whole mater reminds me of the second Alinghi watch. After the huge and completely unexpected success of the first "City of Sails" they came out with the "Alinghi". Way overpriced (starting at 23,500€ when the regular OffShore was 10k less...) the Alinghi just never picked up while the City of Sails today sells used for over 20% of its list price. An unused, boxed and with papers Alinghi can be had for 17k. If you are in hopes of speculating be careful. If you are getting one of the first at no discount you might have problems getting rid of it. I could be wrong but looking at the current economical situation these might be sold at a discount sooner rather than later.

The Survivor is definitely worth having. However, it is a bit pricey so don't attempt to speculate, you might burn your fingers with this one.

Audemars Piguet...