Mike Kobold's whole pretense at the beginning was that he was going to sell his watches at an affordable price. Why should I one day pay for one of Kobold's watches at $1200-1800 and then the very next day pay $3000-6000 for the very same watch! Many of us did feel betrayed. Take it with a grain of salt if you wish, but that is the truth of the matter. Yes, Mike Kobold has good marketing hype at making a buck, but he did lose a lot of his early supporters. I'll say it again. There are many watches out there with the same quality sold for much less than half of their prices using the same movements.
One could argue the same for my Panerais I collect, except that Panerais have a long history (military) and are in limited supply and high demand. Many who own Panerais do not lose money (and some gain a lot of money) when they sell theirs for that next watch they just have to own. Try that with a Kobold! Now, I don't believe in spending twice the money (which I don't always have) for a Panerai (PAM 127) just because it's a limited edition but has the exact movement as the 111, which costs less than half. Well, if I had money coming out of my ears I probably would.
I did, however, just purchase a UTS Adventure with the same movement as many PAMs and with case and movement refinishing of their equal for half the price. I just hope UTS doesn't go in the same direction as Kobold did.
Watch beauty and price are in the eye of the beholder.
Regards!