Bang Olufsen Centennial Collection Colours Actual Hit.

 

Bang & Olufsen are celebrating being in business for 100 years in the only way they seem to know, by releasing a special limited edition collection.  And similar to nearly every other limited edition they release, it is absolutely no different in any meaningful or material manner, and is simple a change in paint.

However, as the somewhat obvious title of this brief entry indicates, we're fans this time.  Regular readers will be well aware of our disdain for B&O's so called limited editions, and that they add nothing.  Along with the healthy disgust we have for their Atelier ranges that are grossly overpriced for a different colour way.

However, the Centennial collection is liked by us for two reasons.  Firstly, the colours chosen are genuinely attractive.  The Brown leather with the H100, looks stunning for example.  Second, and perhaps more importantly, the premium here isn't a premium, it's either a very small increase over the conventional pricing, or less.  For example, the Beosound A5 in Century Weave is £1,500, while in the evergreen dark oak it's £1,600.

Montblanc Hope Second Time is the Charm with Digital Paper.

 Readers of the luxury consumer press might have come across glowing and effusive praise for Montblanc's exciting new Digital Paper.  The new device is effectively a writing tablet, Wirth accompanying Montblanc Meisterstuck pen,

The marketing material suggests this is Montblanc's first foray into the digital writing space, and that it represents a remarkable new direction for the storied firm.  This is extremely odd.  As the brands own website still stocks and sells "Augmented Paper", their first attempt to break into the digital writing space. Available at this link at time of writing.

The older Augmented Paper, which has existed for over 10 years, is a conventional piece of paper, with special pen, and sensors, that turns writing into digital text via the sensors and a program.  Granted, this is clearly quite different from a tablet one writes on, but it is still profoundly odd that they wax lyrical on the new tablet, giving the impression throughout that they never dipped their toe into technology before.

We like making suggestions and predictions here, and would love to again.  Yet a pen company releasing a new digital product suggesting it's their first, while an existing digital product exists in their range really doesn't make much sense.  Even less so when in consideration of the fact the older product never sold well.

The sensible choice would have been to quietly discontinue the unpopular Augmented Paper, and release the Digital Paper to much fanfare.  But they didn't, so let's look on the bright side, you as a consumer have choice!  You can go for the Augmented Paper, pad with pen, for around £1,000, or the new Digital Paper tablet for £750, plus Digital Pen for £230.  Enjoy.

Tissot Re Release Rock Watch for a new Generation.

In the late 1980s Tissot released a number of watches made from natural materials, including the WoodWatch.  The most famous, and most collectible to this day, was the RockWatch in 1985.

Made from a single piece of granite from Switzerland's Jungfrau Mountain, each piece is unique, as it's a result of the variations of the stone, making them special in a way few luxury consumables can be.

We've seen a huge increase in specialised small watchmaking houses creating pieces that sell out.  For example Kurono Tokyo.  This reissue of a classic echoes this, and in 999 limited pieces, it also demonstrates the same ethos of severely limited runs.

Available no for £995.00, this is sure to be another future classic. 

 

Hermes Anti Trust Birkin Lawsuit Dismissed Pending Appeal

 

Readers of this little blog will be well familiar with the amount of times we have discussed Veblen goods, so should by now clearly understand them as a concept.  The Birkin bag from Hermes is one of these, as demonstrated by the fact the image in this article is a screen capture from a Wikipedia article on the product.

Another point of interest in the Birkin story is its lack of availability.  Like steel Rolex watches, Ferrari's and Cristal champagne, the supply is deliberately restricted to increase demand.  A classic Veblen good tactic.  However, a number of consumers took considerable.e offence to this, and filed a lawsuit in America alleging Anti Trust.

However, in a 17 September 2025 Judgement, the Northern District court of California ruled that this action had no merit, and indeed took the decision to do so with prejudice, debarring the Claimant from further action.  

This doesn't prevent them from appealing, and the Claimant has done so.  However, it is a significant victory, and well demonstrates that choosing to throttle your stock to increase demand doesn't necessarily qualify as anything other than a smart business decision.

Our view on this is simple.  Hermes is one of the last true luxury brands,  While luxury conceptually can be subjective, and mean things to an individual such as "quality time", Hermes does remain however an institution that manages to retain the aura of luxury despite changing times, and is evergreen in that.  Its sales practices might be slightly suspect, but ultimately, that's part of the allure.   

Bang Olufsen Beo Grace Fail to Impress Prior to Reviews

 

Bang & Olufsen has continually failed to impress in one area of their product ranges, that being their in ear headphones.  They haven't managed to capture the market since the days of their A8 headphones, and with their latest wireless earbuds they appear to be harkening directly back to those Halcyon days.  Yet forums and tech journalism is not persuaded.

Those who consume design led magazines and newspapers might be fooled, as several of the higher end publications have written in the most glowing terms about these.  Waxing lyrical on the high design, and stunning feature set.  Yet a glance towards outlets that regularly write about technology, along with forums for B&O, show a far more circumspect view, which firmly seems to have declined to drink the marketing Kool Aid.

Amongst these more realistic groups the 4.5 hour battery life has been derided as beyond disappointing.  While the claims of battery replaceability having been simply laughed at.  The major reason for this is the price, which is £1,000, or $1,500.  This makes them at the same level as IEM's, yet while IEM's can offer world class sound, these seem to lack high resolution codec, only supporting AAC, SBC and LC3.

It's difficult to discern what the marketing team at Bang Olufsen are thinking here with the pricing.  The H100's are pricey, but they offer an entirely different value proposition.  Over ear headphones can last for many, many years.  In ear headphones won't.  No amount of marketing guff will change that.  We can't help feeling that using these is more likely to get you laughed at than admired, as they are simply overpriced at their release.

Brunello Cucinelli Eyewear Demonstrate's Dominance of Jacque's Marie Mage

 

It's difficult to conceive the absolutely seismic impact that Jacque's Marie Mage has had on the luxury eyewear industry.  The brand has encapsulated the idea of storytelling, the mythologising of very specific artisanal manufacturing, specifically heavy Japanese acetate, and the concept of "limited editions.  It has weaponised these and created a brand which produces products that are both overwhelmingly in demand, selling out consistently, while also being astronomically priced, for example the starting price for frames is $900.00, going up to several thousand dollars.

The idea of pricey glasses isn't new.  Cartier make frames that are excessively priced as routine.  However the manufactured image JMM has fostered allows them to dominate the marketplace.  Whether you know it or not you have seen your favourite celebrity wearing this stealth wealth yet loud brand. With an example of how extraordinary their popularity is being the period movie, Babylon, starring Brad Pitt, set in 1920's Hollywood, where Pitt insisted on using his JMM Zepherin glasses, despite the brand only having launched in 2014 nearly 100 years after the period the film is supposed to be set within.

It's often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but more often than not in consumer goods, it reflects a desire to capture a market that has moved in a given direction.  And unquestionably luxury glasses manufacturers are copying JMM in hopes they can grab some of that halo of success.  One overwhelming example is the Brunello Cucinelli "Mr Brunello" sunglasses, and their remarkable similarity to JMM glasses.

From the bold design, to the description which heavily references "bilayer acetate", to the packaging which even replicates JMM's red colouring, as the images on this article show, with JMM on the left, and Cucinelli on the right, anyone failing to see the parallels is clearly fooling themselves.  

In our view, JMM does it better. There's little to say here.  JMM had a vision, they followed it, and continue to produce products in line with it.  We don't find them without fault.  Their constant claim of limited numbered editions, while constantly producing the same frame with the minutest difference is annoying.  But they are still stunningly well made glasses that redefined luxury glasses.  Until something else comes along they continue to lead the way, and imitators beware, lest ye be called out by irrelevant commentators like us.

Hermes Rare Swing and a Miss With Connected and Terre Speakers, and Headphones plus more Audio Plans.

 

Just yesterday we ridiculed the Loewe x Jacob headphones as risible (here), yet we turn around and immediately find another luxury audio technology release bordering on the ridiculous, and this time from out favourite luxury merchant, Hermes.  

First we have the connected speaker, in leather, for £24,000 per speaker, next the Odyssey Terre which has a detachable "mini" speaker for $27,000, then the wireless headphones on limited release for $15,000, and a £250,000 statement jukebox not worth mentioning as it isn't on general release.

The speakers, and limited release headphones, give no information about the specifications, no updates on the technology inside, and nothing speaking to what they do, just the price tag and the vaguest of information on the fact they are audio equipment.  According to the most Delphic press statement imaginable from Axel de Beaufort, Ateliers Horizons' creative director, “We need to understand the engineering of things. It doesn’t mean that we do the engineering, but we need to understand and we need to be able to push boundaries." Whatever that means.

As the headline states, in out view this is a miss for Hermes, and smacks of the same slightly sad desperation seen in the Loewe Jacob release.  The luxury market is contracting, so they are flailing desperately and trying to do something, anything, to draw clientele back to spend money.  But this isn't it.  We're not saying luxury technology isn't desirable, Bang Olufsen regularly show that with £100,000 plus speakers.  But this isn't luxury technology, because technology by its nature should move with the times.  This is obviously very low end tech which is likely already obsolete, covered in Hermes leather, with vague press releases promising commitment to more tech, identical to the Jacob Loewe set of headphones.  Which is a sad indictment of how Hermes must be doing. 

We only hope they don't do poorly enough to consider allowing themselves to be acquired by LVMH, and therefore loosing everything that makes them special.  That, not the sad outdated old hifi kit they attempting to rip clients off with, will be the true tragedy.