not to defend IWC but the original ingeneur is also a genta design so there’s a history there and i think why they mainly charge $12k retail ($15k for titanium) so you cant really knock them for being royal oak rip off
what sucks with the price is the movement isnt anything special, its the same movement on the pilot (iirc) with an extended power reserve but at the end of the day, its not in-house (baume and mercier uses the same movement iirc)
the alpine eagle, while can be considered a copy, at least has some luxury prestige (check out luc chopard watches), chopard watches are right up there with jlc and has an in-house movement it uses lucent steel which is made and developed by chopard themselves and kind of have a unique look for a steel
i get it though, some people may not care for those nuances but it does add up and you get more for the price
and between the 2, ill take the alpine eagle 36 at $11k (which is probably more like $9k after disco) over the ingeneur at $12k (which is are boutique exclusive so no disco), at least the alpine eagle is more consistent the pricing with their other watch offering, its not marked up by the brand to capitalize on the genta design (the ingeneur before retailed at $7k?)
as for IWCs other offering, they have a lot at a decent price like the pilot36 on a bracelet for example, $5400 plus discount makes it good, even great especially compared to the explorer 36 which is now $7250
in comparison the aqua terra 38 on a bracelet is $6300
they definitely have their overpriced pieces, like the portuguese chrono is close to $10 on bracelet while the speedy is $7k with the hesalite ($8k sapphire)
