The Swatch Group
Within the Swatch Group stable of famous brands, Omega, Longines and others originally made their own branded movements revealing their own distinctive design and calibre numbers. As part of the rat-ionalization of the Swiss industry caused by the advent of the quartz watch in the 1970s, it was surely more economical to have the (now) sister company ETA make them instead. As a principle of manufacture this is economic sense and has been widely implemented across the brands in the Swatch stable. But does this diminish the value of these watches as collectors’ piecesı
Cleverly, Swatch has allowed the prestige brand companies their own freedom of identity and thus they compete with each other on reputation and style but with the added economies of the vertical integration of the manufacturing facilities within the consortium.
However there were welcome rumours around BaselWorld that Omega is returning to its own discrete brand manufacture and this will be good news to collectors who have been closely and affectionately attached to Omega through significant army and rail contracts and the gold watch retirement presentation event for most of the 20th century.
Mark Watson, Swatch CEO in Australia, says “For sure Australia is not a luxury watch market but from a small base it is growing very well. The Australian consumer would rather spend discretionary income on other items apart from luxury watches [such as] property, renovating, property investment, jetskis, boats and BBQs!” But Watson comments, times are changing. “Swatch Group Australia has seen this with the huge success in the last two months of our OMEGA Seamaster Planet Ocean priced at A$4,800 which includes the revol-utionary co-axial movement.”
Swatch Group is planning to keep its brands right in front of Australia’s biggest audience. Watson says, “Australia has an unparalleled international reputation for staging world-class sporting events such as the Australian Tennis Open, MotoGP, major golf events, Sydney 2000 Olympics and Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. At all of these events, a Swatch Group brand will be Official Timekeeper and this will provide invaluable brand recognition to a sports obsessed nation!”

The TAG Heuer effect
Panos Levendi of the exclusive Levendi Jewellers in Sydney’s Castlereagh Street, agrees there is a culture difference in the way Australians and Europeans (particularly Greeks and Italians) approach prestige watches as collectible items conferring genuine status. But Levendi says, “ . . . the turnaround has started and this was over 15 years ago when TAG Heuer blitzed its new range of watches onto the Australian market with a pricepoint at about the A$2,000. Their Australian promotion was the most successful around the world and this points to a dormant market waiting for the signal event which was provided at the right time and the right level by TAG Heuer.”
It created a base-100 entry point for these watches and now, when the buyers are in a higher income bracket, TAG Heuer and all other prestige brands are receiving the benefits of the original TAG blitz promotion.
Levendi also points out that not only is Australia’s immigrant population a consumer of quality watches and luxury goods, but also their Australian-born children appear to inherit the prestige culture from their European born parents. Levendi comments, “Australians are more in the English mould of understatement which contrasts with the more showy Italians, Greeks and Europeans generally. If you have a prestige brand then wear it and show it off – compare it, discuss it and enjoy it!”




Ross Robinson, Executive Officer for the Council of the WCA (Watch & Clockmakers of Australia) shares a joke with Mark Watson, CEO of Swatch Australia.

Panos Levendi Proprietor of LEVENDI Jewellers, has been retailing high-end watches and jewel-lery in Sydney since the mid 80s.

The LEVENDI exterior


Thus it is a generational change which may take some time to infuse the wider community. But the pressure of the glossies with more and more of the Swiss prestige brands placing well targeted advertising, together with peer pressure amongst the professions may yield interesting results sooner rather than later.
So it is still the men setting the pace with watches defining the image. Further it is Australian men's fascination with the best of Swiss mechan-ical engineering (Swiss watches) which is emerging as a growth area with serious collectors.
Levendi says “The top true image-makers in Australia at the moment are Rolex Daytona and the large Panerai Luminor – they are out there and way ahead of the next pretender.”
Women buy watches if they double as serious jewellery but, Levendi comments, “Their image is more clearly anchored to the prestige branded handbag as an accessory which is easily identified by their peers."
The market is not an easy one to trade and we are not in boom times but business is steady and Levendi expects this to continue for the next year at least.


TO BE CONTINUED...
In the forthcoming days, the rest of this lenghty survey will be added to our europastar website.

Australian Market Focus: Part 1
Australian Market Focus: Part 2
Australian Market Focus: Part 3
Australian Market Focus: Part 4


Source: April -May 2005 Issue

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