Tornek Rayville Please

mleok said:

Even though MKII owns the rights to the name, it isn't really Tornek-Rayville, it is a zombie brand revival.

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Oh like Volkswagen did when they reintroduced the Bugatti brand?

If Blancpain was to re-introduce the TR brand, the whole WiS world would be stopped in their track, in awe. Bill made a very smart move many years ago. And basically is he doing where Blancpain left off:

When Blancpain produced the TR, it was a simple-but-effective watch company. The movements were bought from Anton Schild. A simple design with a wonderful buzzing sound when you shook your wrist. (My dad had a Fifty Fathoms that he lost when he was sailing north of Scotland. As a young kid, I sat next to him on the sofa and listened to the buzzing sound when he shook his wrist! He didn't mind losing the watch: just an old French(...) watch he lost. He replaced it with a Seiko from a marine hardware & optical store).

The later Blancpains for the Bundeswehr were cases from Von Buren (Squale) with a Rayville signed ETA 2873 movement (nowadays easily bought on eBay for less than $40). In fact, Blancpain produced simple, rugged tool-watches! Cousteau's crew wore them, along with LeJour, Nivada and Lip Nautics. Nowadays also wonderful watches but they've never reached the 'status' of a FF or TR.

Blancpain piggy-back'ed on the adventurous documentaries of Cousteau. Like Omega did with the astronauts and Rolex did with deep-sea exploration. Imho, Blancpain only dropped the ball at a certain point: leaving the name Tornek Rayville on the shelf!

Bill's rejuvenation of Tornek is picking up where Blancpain stopped. That makes it - together with the lawful rights of using the name- the resurrection of Tornek Rayville.

Returning to the engine analogy: my Porsche 914 in 'European trim' has a 2.0 liter 4 cyl + fuel injection engine like the ones in the VW 411. Real Porsche fans don't want to associate that engine with Porsche... it has to be a flat 6! Until they notice that those cars are outside their reach, pricewise. Solution: they turn to a 'modded' 914-6: a 4 cyl car with a replacement 6 cyl engine. Even on display and for sale at my official Porsche dealer! The main dealer allows a homage / mod / replica inside his posh showroom with a price tag on the windshield! (https://www.luxuryandexpensive.com/s01.php?sp=en&ag=2&cur=eur&pp=aa&bnr=30531 - and the 'stance' of that car is horrible)

Or potential buyers turn to the 912: the 4cyl version of the 'regular 911' only to find out that the engine in that car is again... the VW411 engine. And suddenly it is no longer addressed as "... only a VW product."
Can you see the analogy with watch homages? And with the 'what's under the bonnet' discussion? Just showing how much 'snobism' troubles a person's capability to make the right decisions.