Horological hierarchies jostled by the world of fashion

The movement has been accelerating rapidly during the last two to three years. With a desire to expand into new territories, the large fashion brands are all, or nearly all, proposing their own watch collections.
Their intrusion en masse into this somewhat limited market has given an electric jolt to the traditional mentality of the watch industry and upset a number of the old ways and habits.
From the point of view of style and aesthetics, the fashion brands have undeniably brought a breath of fresh air to the industry, a freshness that has been inspired by the “minimalist” creations of independent designers.
From the point of view of distribution, these brands have global and, dare we say, captive networks at their disposal, a situation that has forced other brands to seriously reconsider many of their own distribution strategies.
From the point of view of communication, the fashion brands are reusing time-tested formulas from their other product campaigns, invoking namely the concepts of relaxation, provocation and sex, all with an “attitude”.
From the point of view of the end consumer, these brands have converted serious timepieces into seasonal timewear that follows the winds of current fashion trends.

The next edition of Europa Star (6/2000, to appear in January, 2001) will provide you with an insight as to how this rather recent marriage of fashion and watchmaking is faring. It will offer opinions and portraits of the primary players along with economic analyses and industry investigations. Of course, the next edition of Europa Star will also feature beautiful photos, lots of photos, depicting the latest in the world of fashion watches. And there is still time for you to insert advertisements in this oncoming edition! Closing date is 1st of November. For more information please send us an e-mail at: [email protected]