PRIMETIME - January 2022

PRIMETIME

Jan 13

Watchmaking in the News - 2021 recap

At the beginning of this year we have a pleasure to share with you our 2021 Primetime. Yes, we had to wait until the beginning of 2022 to be able to fully comment on our previous year. A previous year still affected by the pandemic but with some positive points.

We must say the independent brands that are one of the main topics on WATCHESTV are continuing their success next to three other major brands. We are quite proud of the place we gave them on our channel, and who knows maybe we are a little part of their success. If it’s the case or not we will in any case continue to speak about them.

On a general level our industry keeps a good turnover and comes slowly back on turnovers of 2019. However, turnover is positive but quantities are lower. This is mainly on the entry price level that might worry some suppliers of our industry.

2021 was also an important year for e-commerce. We do believe in that channel for selling watches but also on omnichannel that should hopefully soon start again with what we hope to be the end of the pandemic. The e-commerce in the field of second-hand watches will also be discussed, with even one of the major players in that field which bought a brand.

Breitling's owner CVC did a fantastic operation in 2021. They have sold 20% of their shares for almost the same amount they paid less than five years ago for the entire company. We can also speak about the record auction of Phillips in November 2021 which confirms that there is still money around.

The Dubai Watch Week was for sure a very important success for 2021. The Seddiqi family organizer of that event and major player of our industry in Dubai even received a GPHG price for this event. In the good news we can also add Kari Voutilainen who is now formally the new CEO of Urban Jurgensen where he was already a key supplier.

2022 will also be an important year with our glossary project and also sharing some educational video programs but we will not say too much now. In a few days you will also see some interesting videos, for example one of a good 100 years old friend who worked at Rolex in Geneva at the time they had 17 employees and had as a boss a certain Mr Hans Wilsdorf.

Enjoy our Primetime video and you will see how new year goes with new glasses B-)