Watch News: a response to the Wall Street Journal's Article with Jean-Claude Biver

Jean-Claude Biver discusses the success of the watch group LVMH which includes Hublot, TAG Heuer, and Zenith in the Wall Street Journal's newest article about the Swiss watch industry titled “Is Time Running Out for the Swiss Watch Industry?” of course this is no new knowledge to watch enthusiasts knowing the decline in watch sales in the past years. And if you're new to the watch world, think, when was the last time I bought a watch, or just look on people's wrist and try to see how many you see a day.

“It’s the first time we have young people not buying watches” My. Biver says in the article, “Time is everywhere. Why should these kids buy something for the wrists that tells them the same thing they get everywhere?” he later says.

Why should kids care? But what about the brands like DW and MVMT with sales soaring, is it the price? Maybe, but I know I can buy a better quality timepiece with that kind of money. But the issue is that they don’t, Apples claiming to be bigger than Rolex and MVMT is using every Instagram celebrity they can get their hands on to make them look like the “cool new thing”. They intensely push the Instagram feeds and facebook pages with ads so when that 15 years old thinks “hm maybe I should get a watch like *insert favorite Instagram or youtube celebrity*” an MVMT ad is sitting right there.

And Mr. Biver would agree with me and shows it by rethinking the strategy for LVMH and focuses on the younger consumer, with celebrity endorsements and brand ambassadors pushing out more marketing strategies for the viewers of that particular artist. Even having artist design watches (like swatch back in the 80s and 90s). They went as far as having bought ads in the virtual world of video games as they put it. So now when kids see their favorite celebrity wearing a Hublot they grow up dreaming to purchase that watch, which is brilliant. But I want to take that a step further, and what if these brands lowered their entry level (which we saw at SIHH) and push out social media ads? First off we could get more young adults purchasing sooner and more interested in watches. And getting the younger generation like MVMT and DW are doing so well at getting, with the use of social media ads and product placement.

As we all know Jean-Claude Biver is a brilliant man, and if you don’t know who he is go look him up right now! I think all the major watch companies should take a step back and look at what is happening in the world and change and adapt to their environment. As Mr. Biver brilliantly says “If you talk Latin to people who don’t understand, don’t be surprised that one day they won’t come any more”.