Stop, I want to get off.
Daniel PintoAs we enter the final mile of this eventful 2023, we look back to try to understand what has happened in the watch industry in terms of trends, shifts in power dynamics, and how it all impacts us as passionate collectors.
And I say collectors in the broadest sense of the word, because enjoying watchmaking doesn't require buying, collecting, or accumulating watches. For me, it's more the act of studying, researching, connecting, and living experiences around this hobby that we collect as if they were our war medals. What we collect are stories, sometimes linked to a watch, sometimes not, but always lived from passion. Because for those of us who love this little universe, we have no choice but to live it with passion. It's not something you enjoy from a distance, or halfway. It's a hobby that invites you to read, to learn incredibly specific and useless details, to deal with frustration, and above all, to appreciate the other idiots who enjoy living the same ordeals as you.
For those of us who have been in this industry for a while, it would be easy to be shocked by what we see in the market today. The dizzying pace of social media has accelerated product and consumer cycles. Brands are increasingly focused on pleasing the blessed algorithm, gearing their offerings toward younger customers, generally new to the hobby, thirsty for the hype of false scarcity, and flush with fresh cash from an unprecedented bonanza of market liquidity. Innovation is increasingly focused less on manufacturing methods and improving timekeeping and more on developing new forms of marketing to capture the attention of an already distracted generation. Influencers, collaborations, "Tiffany" green... in short, we are getting closer and closer to the fashion industry.
And in this context, brands are trying to reinvent themselves to attract this new consumer without leaving aside us, the old school, the faithful collectors who enjoy the watch without having to take a photo, without waiting for a like, and without rushing to buy the latest novelty that seems impossible to get but that in 6 months is everywhere.
What Omega did with Swatch is perhaps the best example. A brand that's been battered by Apple manages, through a plastic (OK, bioceramic) copy of a renowned watch worth thousands of dollars, to attract the attention of those who can't afford the original but want to "be part" of the culture. At the other end of the financial spectrum, Audemars Piguet launches, without any explanation or context, superhero-themed versions of its venerated Royal Oak, calling on celebrities and former young nerds, now millionaires, to fulfill their childhood fantasy in a wealthy adult version. In other words, on one hand, we have the "poor" who want to belong to the "haves" club by wearing a plastic watch that resembles a real one, and on the other, we have the millionaires trying to be cool by wearing an ultra-luxury watch that attempts to imitate a toy that would come in your Happy Meal.
And the rest?
While all this madness is unfolding in the digital universe, savvy brands are making their moves. And no one is more astute than Rolex, which, understanding the importance of controlling the entire sales channel, not only entered the secondary market with its Certified Preowned program but also acquired the Swiss giant Bucherer, its largest retailer. Thus, Rolex now has the ability to:
- Producing a watch completely from scratch in its manufacturing.
- Selling it to its own distribution network with Bucherer, improving its margins, controlling the brand image at the point of sale, and, most importantly, avoiding the famous bad practices of retailers when allocating stock to end customers.
- Repurchase that watch when a customer wants to exchange it, controlling the brand's prices in the secondary market, to ensure that they remain high and that in turn generates more desirability to get a piece at retail price in Bucherer stores or other retailers.
This move will only further consolidate the Crown's largely dominant position in the industry, where, despite producing over 1 million watches annually, it can afford to say that many of its models increase in value over time despite not being truly scarce.
Other players, like FP Journe, have benefited from the new breed of millionaires who no longer want a Patek or a Richard Mille, but rather something truly unique, unattainable even for the rest of their millionaire friends. Here, maestro Journe has managed to strike an excellent balance between being highly exclusive, keeping his prices close to six figures, yet still massive enough to permeate watchmaking pop culture. Another great example is MB&F, where Max Büsser truly delivers watches that push the boundaries of what's possible, packaged in a unique, bizarre, yet instantly recognizable design. His move to bring that same spirit to the mid-range segment with MAD Labs is set to be one of the year's biggest hits, a move very similar to what Naoya Hida did with his affordable sub-brand, Kurono Tokyo.
Collect and not die trying
How do we collectors manage to avoid dying of anxiety, finance all these new releases that we fall in love with every year, and not lose our sanity (or our family)?
In this new digital world, collecting is overwhelming. Every day something new comes out, something different, with just the right mix of colors and flavors that the algorithm has planted as desirable in your head, and that something always seems scarce, limited, and accessible to everyone but you. My advice is to remember that you don't need to own something to enjoy it. There are hundreds of watches that I enjoy simply by researching them, trying them on in the boutique, or simply using them theoretically to have fights bordering on physical aggression with my other collector friends. We forget that the thrill of the hunt is more rewarding than the prey itself, that watches have been around for hundreds of years and will continue to exist for hundreds more, and above all, that we'll be fine with or without them; they're just watches.
Better enjoy those pieces you already have in your collection, give them new life with a different strap, disconnect from Instagram and go visit the boutique in your city to chat with the sellers (and have a free drink), put on your best watch for your next adventure, let yourself fall without brakes in the infinite depth of studying the history of some iconic model, connect with other collectors near you, give a nephew a watch that you no longer use, enroll in a basic watchmaking course (believe me, it sounds boring but you'll love it), schedule an hour to come play with the watches we have at LOFT, and above all, remember that EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH WATCHES .
