Time is Money: How Many $30,000 Watches Does The World Need?

The October issue of American Express’s Departures magazine features a staggering 27 ads for high-end watches, including this $30,000 Zenith.

While I’m not the target market, I’m not naive either. (I wrote for Neiman Marcus for more than five years.) Still, I couldn’t recognize half the names of these tony timepieces.

It begs the question: How can so many brands—with kindred positioning—slug it out in such a narrow category? 

CAN YOU SPOT THE PHONY?

Listed below are all of the watch brands that advertised in October’s Departures—plus one one phony. I’ll send a $15 iTunes gift certificate to the first reader to spot the fake and e-mail me at frank@frankoswald.com. Go ahead—the clock is ticking:

Breitling, Rolex, Van Cleef & Arpels, Breguet, Patek Philippe, Bulgari, de Grisogono, Jean Dunand, Richard Mille, Vacheron Constantin, Parmigiani Fleurier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Zenith, Corum, Girard-Perregaux, Blancpain, Jaquet Droz, Panerai, Carl F. Bucherer, St. Gallen, Glashütte, Roger Dubuis, Bovet, Wyler, Maurice Lacroix, DeWitt and Ulysse Nardin.

Update on Mon, October 15, 2007 at 09:28PM by Frank J. Oswald

I GUESS I’M NOT ALONE: No one has guessed correctly yet today—so the iTunes gift certificate is still up for grabs.

I’ll leave this post up for another 24 hours and reveal the answer, either way, on Wednesday morning.

Update on Wed, October 17, 2007 at 07:08AM by Frank J. Oswald

UNCOVERING THE FAKE: Thanks everyone for trying. But no one got it. The phony in the group was ST. GALLEN, which is a town in Switzerland but not a watch.

The No. 1 guess: Parmigiani Fleurier, which one reader suggested “sounds like something served over angelhair pasta.”