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Apple Helps Push U.S. Watch Sales to Biggest Drop in Seven Years

26 points by philip1209 11y ago

listic 11y ago
U.S. Watch Sales ...including the Apple Watch?
- tedunangst 11y ago
  Nope. Only watches sold at department and jewelry stores (also excludes Amazon and Walmart).
  - duaneb 11y ago
    > (also excludes Amazon and Walmart) What value is this again? That seems like the majority of the market right there.
    - Axsuul 11y ago
      Watches are a niche market with die-hard enthusiasts and fervent collectors. If you are planning on purchasing a high-end watch, you're more likely to step into a jewelry or watch-only shop, or watch specialist or distributor. Big box stores simply don't carry these types of watches nor are you getting the best deal for one if you find them there. Not to mention, you're at risk that it might be a fake. We're talking about brands such as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, JLC, Vacheron Constantin, Rolex, and Hublot.
      - hkmurakami 11y ago
        >If you are planning on purchasing a high-end watch, you're more likely to step into a jewelry or watch-only shop, or watch specialist or distributor. + EBay
      - duaneb 11y ago
        How many people actually buy high-end watches, though? Surely it's a tiny portion of the consumer base. I would also highly, highly doubt that most would want to replace a rolex with a watch that is highly likely to die, break, or obsolesce. Maybe the watch market is dying because it's only useful as a status item.
        Axsuul 11y ago
        It's not simply just a status symbol, it's saying you appreciate the finer things in life and that you are someone interesting. In the world of business, having these accessories and toys can be very beneficial to your career and networking. Unfortunately, that's just show society works these days and has been working for the past few centuries. Being able to wear a Audemars Piguet into a restaurant and having the gentleman across the room come by and compliment your watch can open many doors. But that's not say that's why most people wear these high-end watches. I don't think it clicks for most people until you actually wear one of these things on your wrists. And you're simply a watch enthusiast or you aren't one--many would argue to say its in their blood. The way I see it, watches are an important investment and something that every man (and woman) should have in their arsenal. And touching on just how big the market actually is, big enough to warrant VC funding: http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/11/kevin-roses-watchville-and-watch-blog-hodinkee-find-the-time-to-merge/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/11/kevin-roses-watchville-and-...
        icelancer 11y ago
        I think the last sentence is a little ridiculous, but I wear a Breitling Navitimer and it gets plenty of attention. Or it used to in my last job in finance. Now that I've moved on, no one really cares. My Movado I got for $300 is "cooler" looking to the average person. It just depends on the environment you're in.
        dump100 11y ago
        It seems you are describing how status symbol works
        duaneb 11y ago
    - tedunangst 11y ago
      Well, if you're an analyst, you analyze the data you have, not the data you need. Or something. I suspect the people paying for this research are in the watches sold in department stores industry. To some extent, they're only concerned about their little microcosm. Then these reports get churned out and Bloomberg publishes them because they need to publish something and it's cheaper than doing more extensive research of their own.
stephengillie 11y ago
Apple doesn't say how many watches they've sold, but... > That would suggest the company may have sold at least 1.9 million watches, assuming the Apple Watch had an average selling price of $499. NPD estimates the traditional watch industry sold 927,500 timepieces in June in the U.S. So the Apple is estimated to have sold twice as many of their Apple Watches as traditional watches have been sold? And traditional watch sales only declined 11%? I don't know that Apple are eating traditional watches so much as providing a new accessory to own.
- IBM 11y ago
  If anything happens to the traditional watch industry it will be over a long period once people are conditioned into having something with more utility on their wrist.
PaulHoule 11y ago
If Apple is killing watches it is not because of Apple watch, it is because if you have an iPhone you don't need a watch.
- tzs 11y ago
  I'm not sure about that explanation. Clocks were very common on cell phones long before the iPhone came along. The iPhone greatly changed the type of cell phone people carried, but I don't think it changed the number of people who carried cell phones, so would it really have had much influence on whether or not people used a watch?
  - enraged_camel 11y ago
    >>I'm not sure about that explanation. Clocks were very common on cell phones long before the iPhone came along. But people weren't using "dumb phones" nearly to the same extent that they use smartphones today. If you had a Nokia 3210, the only time you used the phone was for calls and text messages (and also for playing Snake, but that took up the whole screen and you couldn't see what time it was).
    - tdkl 11y ago
      Eh ? You took the phone out to check the time as same as you do now in the smartphone era and I remember people stopping to wear watches for the same reason.
  - EugeneOZ 11y ago
    But big drop has happened after Apple Watch release, so your version is wrong. Even co-founder of Swiss watch brand understand it.
SG- 11y ago
I really hate how that site plays video automatically and is using something to hide the player controls along with the ability to pause.
animefan 11y ago
The market for watches that cost less than $1,000 is most at risk, as consumers in that price range have indicated they’re the most likely to buy an Apple Watch This makes perfect sense. IPhones are already a status signal, while sub $1000 watches are a pretty ambiguous status signal. If you knew enough about watches to tell a $100 watch from a $500 watch, you probably wouldn't be impressed by either.
sebastianavina 11y ago
and here i am waiting for my huawei watch
martindk 11y ago
Swiss Watch Exports up 5,1% in June 2015. I guess that is also because of the apple watch then :) Source: http://www.fhs.ch/scripts/getstat.php?file=comm_150606_a.pdf http://www.fhs.ch/scripts/getstat.php?file=comm_150606_a.pdf

26 points by philip1209 11y ago

listic 11y ago

U.S. Watch Sales ...including the Apple Watch?

tedunangst 11y ago
Nope. Only watches sold at department and jewelry stores (also excludes Amazon and Walmart).
- duaneb 11y ago
  > (also excludes Amazon and Walmart) What value is this again? That seems like the majority of the market right there.
  - Axsuul 11y ago
    Watches are a niche market with die-hard enthusiasts and fervent collectors. If you are planning on purchasing a high-end watch, you're more likely to step into a jewelry or watch-only shop, or watch specialist or distributor. Big box stores simply don't carry these types of watches nor are you getting the best deal for one if you find them there. Not to mention, you're at risk that it might be a fake. We're talking about brands such as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, JLC, Vacheron Constantin, Rolex, and Hublot.
    - hkmurakami 11y ago
      >If you are planning on purchasing a high-end watch, you're more likely to step into a jewelry or watch-only shop, or watch specialist or distributor. + EBay
    - duaneb 11y ago
      How many people actually buy high-end watches, though? Surely it's a tiny portion of the consumer base. I would also highly, highly doubt that most would want to replace a rolex with a watch that is highly likely to die, break, or obsolesce. Maybe the watch market is dying because it's only useful as a status item.
      - Axsuul 11y ago
        It's not simply just a status symbol, it's saying you appreciate the finer things in life and that you are someone interesting. In the world of business, having these accessories and toys can be very beneficial to your career and networking. Unfortunately, that's just show society works these days and has been working for the past few centuries. Being able to wear a Audemars Piguet into a restaurant and having the gentleman across the room come by and compliment your watch can open many doors. But that's not say that's why most people wear these high-end watches. I don't think it clicks for most people until you actually wear one of these things on your wrists. And you're simply a watch enthusiast or you aren't one--many would argue to say its in their blood. The way I see it, watches are an important investment and something that every man (and woman) should have in their arsenal. And touching on just how big the market actually is, big enough to warrant VC funding: http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/11/kevin-roses-watchville-and-watch-blog-hodinkee-find-the-time-to-merge/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/11/kevin-roses-watchville-and-...
        icelancer 11y ago
        I think the last sentence is a little ridiculous, but I wear a Breitling Navitimer and it gets plenty of attention. Or it used to in my last job in finance. Now that I've moved on, no one really cares. My Movado I got for $300 is "cooler" looking to the average person. It just depends on the environment you're in.
        dump100 11y ago
        It seems you are describing how status symbol works
        duaneb 11y ago
  - tedunangst 11y ago
    Well, if you're an analyst, you analyze the data you have, not the data you need. Or something. I suspect the people paying for this research are in the watches sold in department stores industry. To some extent, they're only concerned about their little microcosm. Then these reports get churned out and Bloomberg publishes them because they need to publish something and it's cheaper than doing more extensive research of their own.

stephengillie 11y ago

Apple doesn't say how many watches they've sold, but... > That would suggest the company may have sold at least 1.9 million watches, assuming the Apple Watch had an average selling price of $499. NPD estimates the traditional watch industry sold 927,500 timepieces in June in the U.S. So the Apple is estimated to have sold twice as many of their Apple Watches as traditional watches have been sold? And traditional watch sales only declined 11%? I don't know that Apple are eating traditional watches so much as providing a new accessory to own.

IBM 11y ago
If anything happens to the traditional watch industry it will be over a long period once people are conditioned into having something with more utility on their wrist.

PaulHoule 11y ago

If Apple is killing watches it is not because of Apple watch, it is because if you have an iPhone you don't need a watch.

tzs 11y ago
I'm not sure about that explanation. Clocks were very common on cell phones long before the iPhone came along. The iPhone greatly changed the type of cell phone people carried, but I don't think it changed the number of people who carried cell phones, so would it really have had much influence on whether or not people used a watch?
- enraged_camel 11y ago
  >>I'm not sure about that explanation. Clocks were very common on cell phones long before the iPhone came along. But people weren't using "dumb phones" nearly to the same extent that they use smartphones today. If you had a Nokia 3210, the only time you used the phone was for calls and text messages (and also for playing Snake, but that took up the whole screen and you couldn't see what time it was).
  - tdkl 11y ago
    Eh ? You took the phone out to check the time as same as you do now in the smartphone era and I remember people stopping to wear watches for the same reason.
- EugeneOZ 11y ago
  But big drop has happened after Apple Watch release, so your version is wrong. Even co-founder of Swiss watch brand understand it.

SG- 11y ago

I really hate how that site plays video automatically and is using something to hide the player controls along with the ability to pause.

animefan 11y ago

The market for watches that cost less than $1,000 is most at risk, as consumers in that price range have indicated they’re the most likely to buy an Apple Watch This makes perfect sense. IPhones are already a status signal, while sub $1000 watches are a pretty ambiguous status signal. If you knew enough about watches to tell a $100 watch from a $500 watch, you probably wouldn't be impressed by either.

sebastianavina 11y ago

and here i am waiting for my huawei watch

martindk 11y ago

Swiss Watch Exports up 5,1% in June 2015. I guess that is also because of the apple watch then :) Source: http://www.fhs.ch/scripts/getstat.php?file=comm_150606_a.pdf http://www.fhs.ch/scripts/getstat.php?file=comm_150606_a.pdf