SwatchGroup

Just as I anticipated, the stream of fallen luxury watch company heads continues. This time it is not from the Richemont Group, but from Swatch Group's boutique luxury brand Jaquet Droz. No one is particularly happy about this news, and I am sure Maunel Emch himself suffered for long enough before calling it quits.

Why the departure? Sources seems to indicate that new company for Swatch Group (acquired in 2000) president struggled with the heavy hand of conservative and old school thinkers who simply could not conceive the needs of the modern watch market landscape. Emch is 37, while the average age of a watch company executive is much older. The poor economy likely resulted in a slew of bitterness and resentment, not to mention oppressive and unnecessary micromanagement when it was undue. Emch is well regarded as the one who made the Jaquet Droz brand as interesting as it is, but I must disagree with the giant plastic glasses. He took some risks, but overall made the brand what it is today. Despite what looked like success for the brand, the pressure on Emch was apparently too much. We can add his name to list of recent watch company casualties. Who will be next?

Via Business Montres (in French).

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

The Tourbillon Boutique is a chain of retail stores operated by the Swatch Group that offers its most exclusive watch brands (and Swatch). While most of the shops are located in Switzerland, the US is about to see its second Tourbillon Boutique store, due to open in New York City sometime in May, located in the Financial District on Wall St. Recently, Swatch owned Omega opened up its flagship store on 5th Avenue, and this second new opening indicates a distinct focus on the US market for the Swatch Group watch brands.

Until now, the only Tourbillon store in the US was located in Costa Mesa, just south of Los Angeles. The purpose of the store is to house the most luxurious brands and timepieces that the Swatch Group offers. This includes Breguet, Jaquet Droz, Blancpain, Glashutte Original, Leon Hatot, Omega, and Swatch (though I am not sure how the Swatch branded watches fit in as they are mainstream as opposed to luxury watches for the most part). The Tourbillon Boutique stores are not limited to watches with the expensive and complex tourbillon complications, but any of the firm's best timepiece offerings.

Questions arise as to why the Swatch Group is currently expanding during difficult economic times. My guess is that the US market has more promise in terms of expansion than Europe, while at the same time the Swatch Group is investing in the future when the economy will eventually bounce back. Lower real estate prices and the availability of labor makes it an enticing environment for market positioning once the demand for fine timepieces edges its way back up, once again.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Let me get this straight? For years Tiffany & Co. have been selling watches with their name on it. I don't just mean the watches that they append their name on, but their own watches. Now Tiffany & Co. Ltd. is claiming that they just launched something new with Tiffany Watch Co. Ltd. What about the existing watch brand? This leaves me scratching my head. They can of course claim that under the new Swatch Group ownership, their watch division is "under new management." Maybe that is what they mean. Just to clarify, Swatch now owns the watch making division of Tiffany & Co., not all of Tiffany & Co.

At Baselworld the new line of watches was displayed. There weren't many, and at least one line, the "Atlas watch," retained a name carried over from the existing Tiffany & Co. watch line. The new watches come in quartz and mechanical varieties - each heavy on the use of Roman numerals that Tiffany & Co. is well known for. The watch designs were nice, but not Tiffany & Co. nice. There was no magic appeal or charm, and the timeless look that Tiffany & Co. watches typically have was absent - in my opinion. As of writing, the Tiffany & Co. website is still stocked with their existing line, with no mention of the new watches, but that is to be expected so soon after launch.

While the Swatch Group has the ability to produce beautiful watches, I am concerned that due to their many brands, they will attempt to segment Tiffany Watch Co. into a niche, so as not to compete with its other luxury watch brands. On a plus side, Tiffany & Co. is also known for carrying other watch brands in their stores such as Patek Philippe and Baume & Mercier, so there will still be a nice variety of watches at each retail location.

It is likely that as the Swatch Group becomes more comfortable with the brand, design will improve. For now I feel like the watches don't have enough stylistic staying power to still look good a few years from now as poignant luxury watches. We are seeing a lot of the similar designs in entry level or designer watch brand, and that is simply not what buyers of Tiffany & Co. watches have come to expect.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.