“The Apple Watch won’t supplant venerable luxury timepiece makers, but everyday fashion watch makers are in trouble, two former retail executives said Monday,” Matthew J. Belvedere reports for CNBC.
“‘The fine, luxury watches, they’re being hurt right because of the euro,’ not because of the Apple Watch, former Saks Chairman and CEO Steve Sadove told CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ in an interview. ‘Fashion watches are taking a hit right now. That’s sort of a trend we’re seeing,'” Belvedere reports. “‘That watch business, which was great for the last six years, was slowing down before the [Apple Watch],’ retail consultant and ex-department store executive Jan Kniffen said. ‘This is the nail in the coffin, the new Apple Watch.'”
“‘The real market is the $300 to $600 watch. That’s what they’re [Apple] really trying to win,’ continued the J. Rogers Kniffen Worldwide Enterprises CEO,” Belvedere reports. “‘Angela Ahrendts, the ex-Burberry head who’s at Apple, has done a great job of treating [the Apple Watch] as luxury launch as opposed to a mass launch,’ Sadove said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Once your live with the Apple Watch, you’re not going to be taking it off for anything. If you want to wear your Rolex, you’ll wear it in addition to your Apple Watch. For the under $1,000 “fashion watch,” there is no worse news than Apple Watch. With Apple Watch, there is now no reason to buy a “fashion watch.”