FEATURE Watch Industry Review LOCKED-DOWN WORLD OF WATCHES EMERGES FROM ISOLATION MARTIN FOSTER details the return to face-to-face fairs amid a distorted post-COVID watch-buying environment. JAQUET DROZ BIRD REPEATER 300TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, SHOWCASED AT WATCHTIME NEW YORK <strong>2021</strong>
FEATURE | Watch Industry Review BY THE DIGITS Watch the Numbers by MARTIN FOSTER W e have followed the ups and downs of Australia’s COVID-19 politics as we watched the rest of the world twist and turn under the insidious influences of the Delta strain during the pandemic. It seems that hospitality and entertainment have been the big losers as they rely on customers coming in and sitting down for lunch or dinner or attending live events and trade exhibitions. As we know, it is this very form of business that logically suffers from lockdowns, which prevent in-person attendance and reduce retail ‘foot-traffic’. In contrast, the extraordinary performance of the watch industry shows another side to the lockdown coin. Sales figures indicate that consumers at the top of the market were largely unaffected by the rules and restrictions – they simply had to find a different way to dispense their buying power. There are many examples to illustrate this point. Industry media has reported Rolex and Tudor sales in the UK and Ireland generated sales of £468 million ($AU867.7 million), up from £415 million ($AU769.4 million), an increase of 13 per cent even during the lockdown chaos. As an example of unbridled insanity and excess funds was the auction of a newly-released Patek Philippe model – a factory-sealed olive-green Nautilus – which was sold in April by Antiquorum in Monaco. The nominated retail price of $AU48,000 was utterly dwarfed by the auction sale, which was a staggering $AU650,000 including buyer’s premium. Bidders online and in the saleroom refused to back down until the price nudged half a million US dollars. That was just one example! Research, conducted by retail analytics firm GfK, also reveals other distortions in the watch market. Total watch sales value in the UK in August for models £468m Rolex and Tudor sales in the UK and Ireland, <strong>2021</strong> – an increase of 13 per cent 21 watch brands presenting at the independent WatchPro Salon in London in <strong>November</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 23,600 attendees at September's Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair, including members of the public $650,000 auction price realised for Patek Philippe Nautilus, April <strong>2021</strong> – more than seven times its retail price 61% increase in average prices of watches purchased in the UK between September 2020 and August <strong>2021</strong> priced at £500–1,000 ($AU925 –1,851) fell by 7 per cent – but increased by 31 per cent for models priced at £5,000–10,000 ($AU9,257–18,515), and saw a stunning rise of 19 per cent for timepieces priced at more than £10,000 ($AU18,515). Overall, average prices rose by more than 61 per cent for the 12-month period from September 2020 to August <strong>2021</strong> as customers actively sought more expensive watches. GfK’s research reported that for July <strong>2021</strong> alone, the total value of watch sales in Great Britain was 34 per cent higher than in the same month in 2019. We may safely observe that there is unrestrained wealth at the top of the market burning holes in the pockets of buyers who suffer no budgetary cares – and the watch industry is happily celebrating the bonus” Swatch Group – which includes brands such as Omega, Tissot, Breguet, and Longines, among others – went against the trend with a 39 per cent revenue decline in 2020. However, this was of its own doing and partly a result of the unsettled restructuring of its UK operations. The Swatch result is an exception, and we may safely observe that there is unrestrained wealth at the top of the market burning holes in the pockets of buyers who suffer no budgetary cares – and the watch industry is happily celebrating the bonus. Return of the fairs Christophe Claret In the meantime, the physical fairs are starting to reemerge as the online promotional meetings of the last year achieved an unenviable result – the highest-ever boredom ratings! <strong>November</strong> <strong>2021</strong> | 55
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