Zenith Defy El Primero 21 & The Future of Luxury Watch E-Commerce

Patrick_y's insightful post delves into the evolving landscape of luxury watch e-commerce, using Zenith's new U.S. online boutique and its exclusive Defy El Primero 21 edition as a timely case study. He explores the strategic motivations behind brands embracing direct online sales, examining the financial implications and the often-overlooked impact on traditional authorized dealer relationships. This discussion remains highly relevant as the industry continues to navigate the balance between digital convenience and the personalized luxury experience.

Zenith enjoys a lot of attention on the WatchProSite platform.  WatchProSite even had a special edition historically inspired Zenith made for our members that was presented to the world by none other than Jean Claude Biver!  WatchProSite’s Silicon Valley Moderator Patrick_y comments on online watch retailing, the future of luxury E-Commerce, and comments about the impressive Zenith Defy El Primero 21 Chronograph, capable of measuring 1/100^th of a second times. 

Online luxury watch retailing.  There are two main reasons why a brand does it; it’s to increase revenue and lower costs.  Some brands say that they get to know their clients more intimately and have a direct relationship with their client; while that may be true, they rarely seem to do anything with that relationship.  Authorized dealers aren't happy neither, they claim E-Commerce is a way for brands to cut out the middleman when it was the authorized dealers who helped build the brand's reputation over decades.  Online watch retailing didn’t exist 20 years ago, and in the next few years many brands will have online watch retailing in many countries.  The practice first started over a decade ago with Cartier watches and jewelry, Montblanc pens, and a wide plethora of Louis Vuitton products.  Today, luxury E-Commerce is quickly becoming a necessity.  With the SARS COV-19 Virus showing up all over the world, every major watch brand is now considering pushing up its timetable to launch an E-commerce website. 

Many brands’ E-Commerce platform has the revenue of more than some of their flagship stores!  Tiffany & Co. the famous American jeweler (and soon to be a part of LVMH) with a revenue of about $4.4 billion US dollars has an E-Commerce presence in 14 countries; about 7% of its entire revenue is realized through its website/catalogue department!  This is believed to be greater than the revenue of its entire flagship store in New York!  It also costs much less to run the operations of this online store than it takes to run 45,000 square feet of retail space on 5^th Avenue! 

If the goal is to increase revenue and to lower costs; would a brand hire the best firm and the most expensive firm to manage its website?  Hmm, difficult to grasp; a better website firm may create a better website that gets more revenue, but it would likely increase costs.  A trade-off ratio has to be considered.  However, since it’s difficult to ascertain what constitutes a “better” website firm, many brands may simply opt for choosing the cheaper firm since it guarantees a hit in that “lower costs” objective.

For most non-luxury and non-technical consumer products, specific details of the product do not need to be detailed on a website.  For instance, I buy paperclips regularly.  I don’t need a detailed description about the type of metal, the diameter of the metal (0.5m or 0.7mm), the coil angles of the paperclip.  But a luxury product is a treat, I don’t buy luxury products every day and they’re more important than paperclips, thus consumers want more details.  I normally buy luxury products in a store where a trained salesperson presents the product and shows me how the product functions. 

An online store is supposed to be able to mimic a brick and mortar store, it should be able to present the product and show me how the product functions.  Best of all, an online store can create a consistent message, more consistent than a human salesperson can who may be unfamiliar with the technical details of a product or is just not very well trained on product information.  This “consistency” factor is a huge benefit of E-Commerce stores.  Can an E-Commerce store have the integrity of a brick and mortar store?  Probably not.  But it’s okay for products that we are familiar with, like paperclips.  I don’t need my paperclips to come from a source with super integrity, delivered in a tamperproof box, and a guarantee that nobody has ever clipped papers with this paper clip before and that all of these paperclips are pristine.  I can live with one bad paperclip in a box of 100.  But a luxury product; from a Montblanc fountain pen to a Zenith watch, I expect perfection. 

Enter Zenith’s newly launched E-commerce website for the US market.  www.zenith-watches.com where they also launched a new Defy 21 Chronograph Boutique Edition coinciding with the launch of the new E-commerce platform. 

In order for an E-commerce store to be successful, it has to achieve these objectives:

1.     Does the E-commerce store mimic the experience of a brick and mortar store? 

In a brick and mortar store you can see if the watch has a screw down crown or a pull out crown, you can feel how smooth the winding system is, how smooth the chronograph pushers are, you can see the movement to see if it’s a cam system or a column wheel system through the sapphire crystal back, etc.  It’s so much information conveyed to you through all your five senses (except taste, since you never taste a watch, but you do smell the watch anyone who has a bronze watch will notice there’s a metallic smell) to be able to meet a watch in a store. 

Unfortunately, the Zenith E-Commerce store doesn’t explain what to expect.  With their Defy 21 model, there is no mention of how the watch works.  For instance, it’s a big surprise when I deduced that the watch requires backwards manual winding for the chronograph.  Apparently, the chronograph has its own power barrel and you have to wind the crown backwards in order to power the chronograph.  The website doesn’t even go into depth about the 1/100^th of a second timing feature, the special piece de resistance of this entire watch!  It’s a complex watch that is unlike anything else on the market, they need to explain it a bit more thoroughly! 

Conclusion: An “A” grade for the watch but definitely not a passing grade for the website.  Parent Teacher Conference with the website creators required!  As someone who did not know how the Defy 21 operated, I would’ve been in for a nasty surprise when I got this “automatic” watch that needed manual winding for the chronograph barrel as this was definitely not mentioned on Zenith’s website. 

2.     Does the E-Commerce store present an on-point (on-brand) experience that is cohesive to the brand’s values? 

The physical appearance of the website is beautiful and clean.  Lots of white space.  Elegant website overall.  Attractive photos, some detailed information, but just specifications, but no information that leads you to understand how the watch operates.  It’s like Zenith’s website is hoping you’ll buy the watch on its aesthetics alone. 

Conclusion: An “A” grade for the watch but “C” grade for the website, the website is attractive but lacks critical information.  The brand’s Defy 21 watch is all about that 1/100^th of a second timing mechanism.  They need to explain how this watch works better.  Yet their product page mentions a bunch of features but never their benefits.  50 HZ?  Okay, what does that mean?  That means it can do 1/100^th of a second precision on the chronograph.  Okay, let’s see it! 

3.     Can the E-Commerce store convey to the client a complex technical product in an effective method?  Let’s say the client has never met this watch before and lives a thousand kilometers from a dealer.  What mediums can be used online to convey complex information about complex watches to a client? 

An E-Commerce store has two mediums to communicate to the client; sight and audio.  That’s it, we’ve got a monitor and some speakers.  There’s no smell, touch, nor taste; at least not yet.  The good thing about an E-Commerce store is that it can make a consistent presentation.  Where in a store, that associate’s training and product knowledge will vary.

Conclusion: A+ for the watch, how many chronographs can technically measure 1/100^th of a second?  How many chronographs are even 50 hertz?  D grade for the website.  Zenith doesn’t fully utilize all the mediums to convey ownership of this product.  The product page of the Defy 21 Boutique Edition doesn’t even have a photo of the backside of the movement. 

4.     Does an E-Commerce store have the integrity of a physical store?  For instance, many physical stores allow you to see the merchandise before buying it.  Also, many physical stores do not have a return policy, which is something that can be important.  Who wants a watch or jewelry item that has been returned? 

Unfortunately Zenith’s website allows a return policy.  And they’ll need it too since many clients will be puzzled why their manual wind chronographs don’t seem to run off the automatic powered watch.  They will eventually discover that the watch has two separate barrels; one for the time (which is automatic wound) and one for the chronograph which is wound only manually.  I wouldn’t want to receive a watch that had been returned and I doubt the website would disclose this.  In a physical store, most stores don’t allow returns and I could at least ask them to check the computer if this watch had ever previously been sold. 

Conclusion: C grade.  This is about average for e-commerce stores.  But I’d be wary about getting a returned version.  For this watch, I’d really need to see it in a store, but with SARS-COV-19 I’d just never find out about this watch because I don’t go shopping anymore. 

5.     Does an E-Commerce store have after sales service?  Do they build a relationship with the client? 

Well-managed jewelry and watch stores do build a long-term relationship with the client.  It’s much easier to sell someone an expensive watch if they’ve already bought one before.  And with that personal connection, that store employee will know my particulars.  They won’t send me a generic Merry Christmas card if they know I specifically celebrate Kwanzaa instead of Christmas. 

Conclusion: To be determined.  It remains to be seen if Zenith can effectively make their clients feel special and gain repeat business from it.  Those automated emails from marketing departments and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems DO NOT make clients feel good.  I just delete them. 

Overall letter grade is about a C+ or a 2.4GPA.  The watch receives very high marks, but the website definitely needs some work because an individual who is not familiar with this Zenith model will not be able to get a comprehensive overview of what to expect with this watch from the data available on the website.  The point of this article is not to criticize E-Commerce and its shortcomings, but to understand a bit more about E-Commerce and the demand driving it and the mentality of the forces behind it. 

Looks great with a Denim Jacket! 

Looks great with a suit jacket too! 

All things considered, we will be seeing more and more E-Commerce stores.  In the long run, they may hurt the industry.  The reason why I buy multiple watches from a jeweler is because the jeweler has built a relationship with me.  How is a website going to build a relationship with me?  Send me insensitive and generic emails off a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform that automatically contacts me every 30-90 days?  In the long run, most consumers will likely buy less because their appreciation for watches is not cultivated by the retailer.  But, in the short run, the Vice President of E-Commerce Sales at multiple watch brands will have a job, be heralded as a pioneer, and get big bonuses.  These E-commerce employees will gain themselves, potentially at the cost of the entire industry if E-Commerce is not well executed.  It could potentially be a short-term gain that will ultimately destabilize a watch brand’s long-term future. 

Zenith makes awesome watches with truly special capabilities (a true 1/100^th of a second chronograph with a 50 hertz balance) at a reasonable price ($13,600 USD) for the “Launch” version of the Defy 21 Chronograph Boutique Edition.  It’s just too bad that the website they have isn’t advanced enough to convey how awesome and advanced their watch is!  The Zenith website states that the watch only comes with a "rubber strap" in the "Technical Specifications" but there's a photo below that also states that it comes with three different straps. 

Websites will get better.  But it’s not just about hiring great website builders and bringing in those expensive management consultant firms like Bain and McKinsey.  You can't solve the problem by throwing money at it.  It’s about genuinely understanding the buyer, and the buyer of a watch is very atypical and specialized.  You've got to invest some thought and have a genuine-from-your-heart spirit to educate the consumer.  And the website needs to meet the needs of every type of buyer; from the aesthetic inclined to the technical inclined.  I hope some brands that want to improve their website UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) reach out to me for help!  WatchProSite members, what are your thoughts about luxury E-Commerce?  Any major deficiencies you’ve noticed?  Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your comments.