It looks so terrible I thought the idea behind it was “this is what the US can manufacture without importing foreign materials”. But nah, it’s just an ugly watch with a pretty dumb marketing stunt that makes it less usable as a watch.
The number 39 refers to the 39% tariff rate on Switzerland.
Kind of insane that the American President just made up a lie that tariffs are paid by foreign countries and rest of the administration just went along with it. It flies in the face of any common sense.
I don't know how this tariff stuff works, so for my own understanding, how come countries retaliate to US tariffs by imposing retaliatory tariffs? Are they punishing their own nationals?
So why would the Swiss company care then? Care so much to make a special watch? It’s no skin off their back, they don’t pay the tariff right? Americans are the only ones affected right?
It's even worse than that. Their argument against corporate income taxes is that any tax imposed on a corporation is just passed on to consumers.
Hard to see why companies would pass on a government imposed tax if it is an income tax but not a tariff.
If anything you'd expect it to be the other way around, because an income tax allows deductions for much of the cost of making that income which generally means the amount of tax is lower in times when the business is not making much money, whereas a tariff is on the cost if the businesses imports which can remain high even in times where the business is not making money.
Both are passed to consumers... the difference is a tariff is a point for international negotiation, there are competing options to a tariffed product, and it's a relativistic approach.
The U.S. has lost so much in terms of even being able to produce anything that it's in a weak position not just in terms of trade, but in domestic security in and of itself. The lesson from COVID should be that ensuring domestic production of at least SOME of everything that CAN be produced domestically in the US should be ensured to exist.
As examples... IMO, all prescription medications/devices should require dual sourcing and at least 50% domestic production. This ensures actual patent licensing as well as being able to ramp up from 50% in case of a need (war/pandemic). It's nearly impossible to ramp up from 0, but easy to ramp up from 50%. This can/should be extended to essential infrastructure, communications and technologies.
Most countries don't have the size/scale/scope to do this... the U.S. and a handful of other countries are and should take advantage of that and ensure it for their own critical security.
I don't say any of this from an isolationist PoV, I think trade is important... I think diplomacy is important... I just feel that a level of domestic security in terms of self-reliance at a certain level is more important.
This would be more impactful if we could see the cost to US purchasers was actually 39% more. Sadly some manufacturers spread the cost across all consumers, which actually means non-US customers are actually paying some of the tariff costs too.
> Sadly some manufacturers spread the cost across all consumers
Of course not. They charge the highest price they possibly can in each market, regardless of other factors. They're not compensating this here or that there. Every company always charge as much as they can get away with, that is the core function of business.
Tangential. It is fun to note how in ads showing watches the time is usually 9 past 10 as shown in the image. This apparently gives the most pleasing balance of the watch dials for the eye, while not covering the time indicators below.
Haha but seriously, Trump is just starting to ramp up full kleptocracy mode. Each tariff change is going to be associated with billions in trades made with foreknowledge of the move. His robber baron friends will fund him and his regime forever. They can do whatever they want now. We might as well tear down the White House and replace it with a Putin style gilded palace for Oligarchs. Oh wait.
Do we still remember that Tariffs are supposed to raise the price of foreign goods and make domestic goods more reasonable for buyers? it targets buyers and this is how it works regardless of how it is presented to the public, I don't imagine lots of supporters if presented as it is.
> raise the price of foreign goods and make domestic goods more reasonable for buyers
Tariffs never make domestic goods cheaper. In fact if the supply chain has anything imported then domestic goods become more expensive.
The best argument is that it makes domestic good relatively cheaper, thus supporting US manufacturing and so keeping jobs and profit in the country.
However... that would require domestic goods to be an actual option. I don't see many US manufactured watches available, and the ones that are still don't really compete.
It’s actually quite shocking to leave the U.S. and experience the drastic fall in respect.
The U.S. has over a century’s worth of dominance and control built in, so it’s not gonna unravel anytime soon and countries will need to grovel along for a bit.
But the decoupling has begun, is almost certainly irreversible and is gonna hit Americans hard at most a decade from now.
We have no idea the the chain of motion that has already been set in. Trillions of dollars worth of goodwill and respect has been lost in months.
At first I thought tariffs were just more inflation. Import prices increase, sales prices balance it out and people will buy anyway.
But no, it hurt import businesses in unforseen ways. I saw entire shipment crates get discarded because it was suddenly too expensive to get into the country overnight and too expensive to ship back. Just senseless, pointless waste.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 70.8 ms ] threadHere’s a link to the Swiss store which has more details, like price: https://www.swatch.com/en-ch/what-if-tariffs-so34z106/SO34Z1...
The whole idea of Swatch is based on simplicity, reduction of parts count and automated manufacturability.
Kind of insane that the American President just made up a lie that tariffs are paid by foreign countries and rest of the administration just went along with it. It flies in the face of any common sense.
What is insane, though, is that people voted for him. Elect a clown, expect a circus.
Hard to see why companies would pass on a government imposed tax if it is an income tax but not a tariff.
If anything you'd expect it to be the other way around, because an income tax allows deductions for much of the cost of making that income which generally means the amount of tax is lower in times when the business is not making much money, whereas a tariff is on the cost if the businesses imports which can remain high even in times where the business is not making money.
The U.S. has lost so much in terms of even being able to produce anything that it's in a weak position not just in terms of trade, but in domestic security in and of itself. The lesson from COVID should be that ensuring domestic production of at least SOME of everything that CAN be produced domestically in the US should be ensured to exist.
As examples... IMO, all prescription medications/devices should require dual sourcing and at least 50% domestic production. This ensures actual patent licensing as well as being able to ramp up from 50% in case of a need (war/pandemic). It's nearly impossible to ramp up from 0, but easy to ramp up from 50%. This can/should be extended to essential infrastructure, communications and technologies.
Most countries don't have the size/scale/scope to do this... the U.S. and a handful of other countries are and should take advantage of that and ensure it for their own critical security.
I don't say any of this from an isolationist PoV, I think trade is important... I think diplomacy is important... I just feel that a level of domestic security in terms of self-reliance at a certain level is more important.
Of course not. They charge the highest price they possibly can in each market, regardless of other factors. They're not compensating this here or that there. Every company always charge as much as they can get away with, that is the core function of business.
Tariffs never make domestic goods cheaper. In fact if the supply chain has anything imported then domestic goods become more expensive.
The best argument is that it makes domestic good relatively cheaper, thus supporting US manufacturing and so keeping jobs and profit in the country.
However... that would require domestic goods to be an actual option. I don't see many US manufactured watches available, and the ones that are still don't really compete.
The U.S. has over a century’s worth of dominance and control built in, so it’s not gonna unravel anytime soon and countries will need to grovel along for a bit.
But the decoupling has begun, is almost certainly irreversible and is gonna hit Americans hard at most a decade from now.
We have no idea the the chain of motion that has already been set in. Trillions of dollars worth of goodwill and respect has been lost in months.
What you mistook for respect was fear.
But no, it hurt import businesses in unforseen ways. I saw entire shipment crates get discarded because it was suddenly too expensive to get into the country overnight and too expensive to ship back. Just senseless, pointless waste.
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Greatest feature, you can glance at it sideways! And the built-in reminders of 39%.