Jeweller - November 2021

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, 2021
– an increase of
13 per cent
21
watch brands
presenting at
the independent
WatchPro Salon
in London in
November 2021
23,600
attendees at
September's Hong
Kong Watch & Clock
Fair, including
members of the
public
$650,000
auction price
realised for Patek
Philippe Nautilus,
April 2021 – more
than seven times its
retail price
61%
increase in average
prices of watches
purchased in the UK
between September
2020 and August 2021
priced at £500–1,000 ($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 2021
as customers actively sought more expensive watches.
GfK’s research reported that for July 2021 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!
November 2021 | 55