Cartier (parent Richmont) is buying back their unsold watches to keep their prices up.

[Dawson Leery]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/18/richemont-destroys-nearly-500m-of-watches-in-two-years-amid-buyback-policy

"The Swiss watchmaker Richemont has destroyed nearly €500m (£437m) of its designer timepieces over the past two years to avoid them being sold at knockdown prices."

Aren't monopolies just great?

[mr_lebowski]

1. More like 'isn't capitalism great' ... when you have 50000000000 Jigawatts

of extremely inexpensive energy at your disposal every day in the form of carbon-based fuels you rip out of the ground ...and then socialize the costs thereof onto the entire population of the planet, including all plants, animals, insects, etc.

Without all this 'free' energy, we would have no choice but to stop such ridiculous and profligate WASTE as a world community.

[klook]

2. I'm very happy with my $11 Casio watch!

I don’t even know what these Cartier watches cost, and pretty sure I can keep on doing without one.

[fescuerescue]

3. Cartier is hardly a monopoly

It's luxury item. If it were a monopoly, then a $50 Casio would cost $20,000.

Basically this is wealthy people getting wealthy off of other wealthy people. Since the unit cost of a Cartier is probably less than $100, then sold for $10,000, it's pretty good business to keep them rare. This changes a bit with gold or platinum watches as the raw materials might go up to $2,000, but then retail price soars to $30,000 plus.

Honestly I have a hard time getting upset at $100 watches being destroyed to keep wealthy people paying $10k instead of $5k.

Doesn't affect the middle class or poor in the slightest, but it probably a little tough on the 1% when they get exploited by the 0.01%

[Midnight Writer]

4. Rich screwing rich. I've never even seen a Cartier watch and get along just fine.

[Ford_Prefect]

5. Rather like the diamond market. They have huge reserves of stones

but hold them off the market to allow the wildly inflated price to stay up.

[Dawson Leery]

9. Just $100?

10K for a watch is absurd. But don't you think it costs more than $100 to make a watch in Switzerland?

[fescuerescue]

10. A bit of hyperbole from me there

But it's only a mild exaggeration.

For a rolex the consensus seems to be about $300 to $750 on Quora

https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-it-actually-cost-Rolex-to-make-a-watch-i-e-aside-from-the-stones-and-precious-metals-themselves-what-is-the-manufacturing-cost-and-what-is-the-profit-margin

[pecosbob]

6. Not even really comparable to say, the diamond monopoly

Cartier has no monopoly...only the perceived value of their name. A profligate waste of skilled man-hours and resources, but one assumes of course that the majority of the material was recycled.

[djg21]

7. There's no monopoly.

If Cartier held monopoly power, it would be able to sell its watches even if it were to raise prices significantly. To the contrary, Cartier is unable to sell its watches unless they are discounted, which suggests slackening demand for its products and increased competition. My guess is that Cartier and other traditional watch manufacturers are losing market share to Apple and companies that have entered the relatively higher-end watch market with connected devices. Apple watches have become ubiquitous. If Cartier has to reduce output or destroy inventory to maintain its pricing structure, it is in some trouble.

[Blue_Tires]

8. That's their right and they don't want their brand diluted

Yes it's wasteful but it is smart... Richemont is in a cutthroat marketplace and the prospect of having your premium goods sold at some outlet or overstock wholesaler would be the kiss of death...