Chapter 6: Consumer Decision Making

With the average TAG Heuer exceeding $1,000, extensive research is conducted before purchasing a timepiece from the company. For my 24th birthday, I decided to buy a sports timepiece that I could wear on a daily basis. Here I'll describe in detail my personal process before making my final decision to buy my present.

Before buying my TAG Heuer Aquaracer, I not only examined the watch carefully in person, I weighed my options.

1. Do I need the watch?

The answer to that was quite simple - No.

A luxury item is never a necessity, but generally a want.

2. Do I want the watch?

Absolutely. My goal was to find a sporty timepiece that I felt was the best bang for the buck, while still buying a product of high reputation and quality.

3. Are there any other watches I can look at?

With my price range approximately $3,000 - $4,000, I knew I had options. I surfed the web to see what those options were. I came back with product from Ball and IWC as possible contenders.

I then asked myself another series of questions.

1. Am I willing to spend $3,000 - $4,000 on a Ball watch?

While in existence for 120 years, they have little recognition within the watch community. My thinking was that if I spend that much money on a product, I'd like to feel like the product reflects the price.

2. Do I like the IWC enough or in this case is it purely the name brand that appeals?

IWC, a watch ranging from $3,000 to over $100,000, has much more recognition than Ball, not as recognized as TAG Heuer, but a product generally categorized as "expensive", and a name brand very well known within the watch community - classified as one of the best. Their Mark XVI was the perfect blend of sporty and classy.

3. Which watch looks the price?

The Ball watch was eliminated, with the final contenders being the TAG Heuer Aquaracer 500M and the IWC Mark XVI. The TAG Heuer Aquaracer 500M variation I wanted consisted of an integrated rose gold bezel, and that became the answer for me. I went back and fourth and without solely looking at the name on the dial, the decision had been made.

Now that I had essentially chosen the product I'm about to purchase, I needed to know from an outside source if the decision I am making is the right one. Is the product worth $3,650(price at the time, now $3,850)? I began looking at nonmarketing-controlled information sources. At the time, I found reviews of the watch on watch blogs as well as watch message boards. These unbiased opinions helped finalize the deal for me. I purchased the watch after 2 months of researching and pondering and have enjoyed it ever since. I have used the same process when buying any product exceeding $500, and have been 100% satisfied each and every time!