Did Apple REALLY hurt Swiss Watches? - Company Forensics

#startups #Slidebean #watches

Apple is known for bringing products into the mainstream. They are rarely the first to do anything, but they wait and try to be the best… or at least, the most popular.

Smartwatches have been around for a while but the popularity of the Apple Watch cannot be questioned: here are some hard numbers on that.

The smartwatch sector is growing at approximately 20% YoY.
Apple is the most sold smartwatch, holding over 33% of the market, with the next competitor only at 8%.
At the same time, by 2017 you could already find reports of the Swiss watch industry was on a decline, and the pandemic made it a lot worse.
Now as of today, Apple sells more watches than the entire Swiss watch industry. The gap widened in 2019 to 30.7M vs 21.1M. That’s number of watches sold.

Swiss watches are more expensive, certainly- but Apple watch sales for 2020 were $30.6B. The Swiss watch industry's total exports were valued at $15B.

Those are your Rolex, your Cartier, your Hublot- COMBINED. So there is strong evidence that could lead us to predict that traditional watches are a dead man walking: who would use one in 50 years? Heck, in 20 years. But it’s not that simple. Let’s see if the Swiss watch industry is really about to die. This is Company Forensics.

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0:00 Intro
1:33 A case for Swiss watches
3:24 A brief history of time(keeping)
4:13 The technological contributions of horology
5:07 The Quartz Crisis
6:21 Complications: a key part of Swiss watches
6:56 Complications explained simply
8:43 Swiss Watches: Art, Craftsmanship, and Self-Expression
10:25 Apple and Horology
11:57 Why the Apple Watch is successful?
13:41 So what’s next?
14:35 Is there a mid-range?
15:57 The future is safe

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Follow Caya:

[md.abdullaalwailykhanchowd]

Swiss & Japanese handmade watches will become Style items.
Like Suits, you know suits are expensive & we don’t use it everyday.
Fashion dies but Style always survive.

[johnhwang]

The day when rappers start wearing apple watches and rapping about apple watches instead of Rolex and Pateks is the day I will believe it.

[mohammadmahdeenalam]

Some things I would like to correct being a watch enthusiast. Firstly in most cases the demand for stainless steel luxury watches is more than precious metal. Secondly Omega is not semi luxury like Hamilton but rather the same level as a Rolex. The entry level omega is 3000. Lastly we like watches because of the craftsmanship and the engineering and as well as they what they mean to us.

[adityahalbe]

"Between 50-500 bucks, the world will transition to smart watches in the future"

Casio, Seiko and Timex - "Allow us to introduce ourselves"

[judyyang]

As a watch enthusiast myself, I wouldn’t classify Apple Watch as a watch, but more of a device. I definitely wear my Apple Watch during my 9-5, just in case if I miss any urgent notifications, or when I like to track my daily movement (walks, exercise). It is damn practical. However you aren’t gonna appreciate it like a real watch and immerse yourself in beauty of complication!

[FrancisJacquerye]

The “quartz crisis” is a misnomer that has been debunked by Prof. Donzé from the university of Osaka.
The Swiss watchmaking industry was in need of a structural overhaul in the 1970 and it was initially overtaken by Japanese automatic watches. We saw the same phenomenon with Japanese cars entering foreign markets. It didn’t kill American or European car brands, but it prompted them to modernise.

As for the drop in sales from the mid 2010s onward it has several causes, but fundamentally Swiss brands have been raising prices in growing post-WWII economies, only to come under stress whenever economic crisis make it so that consumers can no longer keep up.

It is no mistery: we have had the 2007 Credit Crisis, the ensuing Great Recession, a bubble burst in China, which was the new promised land of watch sales. And now the COVID-19 pandemic. It is bound to compromise a distribution model that relies on consumers disposable income.

That’s where the lifestyle watches have met with success, namely Daniel Wellington or MVMT, who harnessed social media marketing. I would not underestimate that business model.

[AsaNole]

Sidebean really needs to work on their audio. These days it sounds a bit tinny and muffled.

[Burbie]

This just made me want to buy a swiss watch and appreciate the craftsmanship

[pilcrow]

No joke, rappers will legitimately be the saviours of the Swiss watch industry. Making them cool, and providing enormous brand appeal. The majority of their audience wouldn't have even known about some of the Swiss brands before…

[digitalpragmatism]

Reports of death of swiss watches are as exaggerated as the death of vinyl in 1990.

[s.a.m.francis]

Omega watches are not in the $500-1, 500 range lol. Their average watch is in the $10, 000 US. On their website their Tourbillon watch is listed at around $175, 000 US.

[EMKWANREVIEWS]

Such an interesting video! I’m both a tech reviewer and also cover luxury Swiss watches. I agree with you on the point of analogue tech. It’s true tech on your wrist. Having said that, the apple watch and smartwatch boom has actually introduced more people to mechanical watches. As much as Apple Watch will impact a number of manufacturers, there will always be an audience for mechanical watches and as time passes, an audience for both!

[Sakomaru]

WAIT Omega a semi-luxury? They start at about $4K or so and can go for dozens of thousands in luxury metals, not $1500. The Hamiltons are in the 500-2500 range though, on that I can agree

[funmilayotijani]

"What does a samsung phone say about you?, it says that you hate apple"
Lmao

[igorrinkovec]

Actually, my experience is quite the opposite. Many young people start by getting a smart watch and it gets them in the door to the world of real watches. Rather than saying the swiss watch industry should be afraid of the mighty Apple watch, I think they should be excited at many new eyes coming onto their products.

Buying a mechanical watch does not share almost any motivation with buying a smartwatch so the markets don’t exactly compete with eachother. But motivating people to the simple fact of wearing something on their wrist will help the swiss keep their crown for years to come.

[PeterPan]

How much I would've liked to consult on this video :-)
First, please let me say, awesome video and very much in line with the quality of your other videos! I enjoy all of them very much.
A few minor mistakes (like the explanation of the power reserve, or the notion that many will increase in value when only a select few actually do) that only idiots like myself will notice and even fewer of us are stubborn enough to think it could've been proof-read and corrected beforehands.
One of the things that is hard for people to grasp before owning a luxury watch, unless it is a very flashy rolex on a person that keeps showing it to everyone within talking distance, no one will notice your watch. The portion of people who recognize a luxury watch when it's on someone else's wrist is so negligeably small thatmany first-time owners are somewhat disaffected and even disappointed after the purchase. Most of the people who recognise the luxury watch on your wrist are the ones trying to sell you another one.
Other than the few people who exclusively buy watches to show them off, most collectors and afficionados see them as works of art that are appreciated for the craftsmanship that goes into designing, manufacturing and preparing the parts, and assembling them.
Granted some watches work as status symbols (Rolex and especially Hublot to a certain degree live off the fact that they're being recognised) but most are mostly enjoyed by the owner, similar to a fine pair of shoes or a painting in one's living room. I do enjoy my watches very much, but other than friends who work in the industry or people you meet at collector's gatherings, no one else ever noticed them.
Keep the great content coming! Cheers from Switzerland

[maximrukinov]

The only problem with smart watches for me is that they look ok with my everyday wardrobe, but when I need to go to any official event, they look just awful with a suit.

[Lucasfonoli]

14:50 - You can't buy a core Omega for 500 to 1500. Omega is not a semi luxury watch. This was disrespectful for the brand heritage.

[TheStringBreaker]

Given the rich history of horology, excellent marketing by brands like Rolex and Richard Mille and the sentimental value of one passing their timepieces down to further generations, the watch industry will never “die”.

In fact, it might just grow bigger as people are surrounded by consumer electronics goods and long for craftsmanship.

[DileepKumar-nqqu]

I'm a Swiss watch guy and love to stay like that only.
For eg:- you bought a apple watch now you can use it hardly for next 3 years. After that it's outdated.
Swiss watches are timeless time piece