[Discussion/Debate]. My father and I had a discussion. He argues Japanese brands aren’t taken as seriously as Swiss luxury brands.

I asked my father what he thought about Seiko. He told me he thought of them as a reputable watch brand that had good quality and was affordable. But here’s where the fork in the road began in terms of our differing opinions:

Regardless of what he mentioned—he still believes that Swiss brands are better overall generally speaking. And his sole reason he believes this is because the name the watch represents. He has one watch. A Rolex OP datejust. He bought it when I was born. But he told me he had a Seiko tank during his time in the navy.

We proceed to go back and forth—i then mention to him Grand Seiko, their price points, their quality and how theyre on par with Rolex. He then says—-it doesnt matter, the names Rolex, Omega, Breitling—these will always deem more respect than Grand Seiko because at the end of the day—it has Seiko in its name, and that Seikos are for commoners. He then mentioned that in a high society event where the watch you wore would be payed attention to, no one would wear a Japanese high end watch and that everyone would be wearing a high end swiss watch. He then proceeded to pull up the video of The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner on YouTube and told me, “you see these high society functions and events like these? Everyone is wearing either a Rolex, Omega, AP, Patek VC etc etc—no one would wear a Grand Seiko because it’s still a Seiko…”

What do you guys think?