“When times change, there a different ways to adjust a watch. Take Swatch and Richemont,” Andrea Felsted reports for Bloomberg. “The woes of the market for luxury timepieces were laid bare on Friday when Swatch, maker of the eponymous plastic watches and upscale brands such as Omega, warned first-half profit will fall by more than 50 percent. The stock tumbled to the lowest in more than six years.”
“Swatch isn’t alone in finding life in the watches and jewelry market tough,” Felsted reports. “Richemont, maker of Cartier watches, said in May it expected a difficult first half.Swiss watch exports, a barometer for the industry’s fortunes, have fallen for 11 consecutive months.”
“Sales fell in Hong Kong. Europe, especially France and Switzerland were also weaker,” Felsted reports. “Meanwhile, Swatch is also at risk from the rise of the smartwatch.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
The Apple Watch is an interesting toy. — Swatch CEO Nick Hayek, Jr., – August 21, 2015
It certainly is.
SEE ALSO:
Thanks to Apple Watch, smartwatches are now more popular than Swiss watches – February 19, 2016
As Apple Watch sales ramp, Swiss watch makers suffer biggest slump in six years – November 19, 2015
Swiss watch makers in deep shit, as Apple Watch designer Jony Ive predicted – October 23, 2015
Swiss watch exports post biggest quarterly export drop since 2009 – October 20, 2015
Apple Watch: Swatch CEO whistles past the graveyard – March 18, 2015
Old school watch makers don’t get Apple Watch – September 12, 2014
Apple Watch, the world’s first real smartwatch, will be a massive hit – September 9, 2014
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Denis” for the heads up.]