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 Steinhausen Dunn Horitzon Lumin Rasierer By: Steinhausen Average Rating: 3.0 Total Reviews: 1 More Information A critique, not a review (About the name of this watch.)  On: 2007-10-02While I cannot say anything about the quality of this watch, one thing has always bugged me whenever I saw an ad for it. The advertisement text says: "Dunn Horitzon" is German for "thin horizon", "Rasierer" refers to it being "razor-thin". Well, I am afraid this is only partly true. The German words for "thin horizon" would be "dünner Horizont" - and moreover, a Swiss or German watch would not be named that, because the phrase sounds very strange in German and does not exactly evoke the image of a technologically advanced product. The case for the "Rasierer" is similar: The word refers to not only the razor blade, but to the whole razor apparatus. The German word for "razor blade", which is indeed sometimes used to describe extreme thinness in German, but then only in a combination with "dünn", is "Rasierklinge". No speaker of German would ever associate the word "Rasierer" with something thin. The name of this watch only becomes transparent if one considers common misconceptions about German in English-speaking countries, such as that "tz" is a typical German letter combination (and those strange umlauts neednt be there) in addition with common American-English product naming practices. This name has been made up entirely for the English-speaking market to suggest German authenticity, but the German is false to cater to common misconceptions that native English-speakers have about German and in order to make the name transparent for these speakers. But why not just call the watch "Steinhausen Thin Horizon Lumin Razor" - because that would not suggest it to be a valuable Swiss watch? In my opinion, this is a somewhat shady way of conducting business, especially in a value- and tradition-oriented world of analogous watches. Lets hope the watch is not an example for "Nomen est omen". |