justpen
912
The Pendulum swings both ways... and now is the time for Watch Makers to be vigilant.
This time in horological evolution could well be the most important period which "makes or breaks" the traditional and respected dominance by European manufacturers of high end watch making.
The Internet has been a carriage of support in recent years for both the eager buyers of exclusive watches, and their makers, and this combined with reduced computer aided manufacturing costs, have given high end makers unprecedented profits.
Defunct, but old and previously respected makers names have been bought for tens of thousands and after a rejuvenation over a short period been sold for tens of millions.
A short while ago, there was a time where almost every post on any watch forum was a positive acclamation of a new model, or recently arrived new acquisition from a high end, or recognized, maker.
However recent posts on most watch forums at any site, see an increase in promotional reviews about makers products, a decrease in excited accolades from new watch buyers, and an increase in complaints about a variety of disappointments ranging from excessively expensive repairs, to poor duration of satisfactory performance, to downright slow service.
Everything was so positive but now a different mood is obvious to any alert watcher.
Positively and to their credit and our future as consumers, some watch makers are benefiting from this publicity through excellent after sales service..... negatively, some other brands are feeling the pain of the other side of the Internet's Public Awareness Sword.
The frightening fact for the industry as a whole is that there are more disappointments now than ever before.
It is about 2 years now since the boom in luxury watches peaked, and many watches sold in the good times are just now coming out of warranty, and as such, the present economic conditions will offer clarification of the "Actual or Real" quality of the watch model.... and the quality of service of many high end watch makers.
This is a good time for potential buyers to discover which companies will go the extra mile to maintain good public relations with their consumers... and also..... a good time to discover which makers won't bother to support long term consumer based PR.
A continued exhibition of internet posts on sites exposing very publicly aired disappointment at high repair bills, slow repair service, or refused warranty for watches just out of warranty, could in fact do more damage to traditional watch sales.... than the recent global recession.
With sales down by anything from 30% to 70%, the makers need to be aware of this. This is a time for makers to tune their operation on all facets including production, distribution and after-sales service.
For it is times like this that buyers pay more attention to research before parting with their tightly held dollars.
And yet, in many cases, this circumstance of potential damage through slow, expensive or unfriendly consumer service, would not be presently realized, understood, or appreciated by many of the conglomerate high end makers sitting far away in their European enclaves.
Many corporations have high paid, high spin marketing / promotional gurus, but few have the experienced executive staff to foresee real market trends like consumer's perceived opinions.... certainly not until these opinions unfold and result in a lack of brand confidence, resulting in a lack of sales.
'Boom Times' make every corporate executive, from the CEO to the far flung regional marketing manager, a hero.
But,..... 'Bust Times' confuse large corporations, because there is a reluctance by management on all levels to see, or distinguish, the fine line between a lack of sales due to recessionary conditions... and a lack of sales due to their poorly managed corporate inefficiencies.
On the other hand.... Few people buying an expensive Swiss / European watch, expect it to break down in a couple of years.
Even fewer people are aware of the very high repair charges to fix these expensive watches when repairs fall out of warranty.
As well, most people can not understand or accept the reasons, that it may take half a year to get a repair done.
When any of the above three things happen.... the consumers scream loud and often. And they use the Internet to vent their anguish.
But in the long run, for the true purist, times like these can only be good for the continued improvement of the industry in relation to a product quality, consumer service and product accessibility...... but this is only useful if the watch works.... and only if the maker stands behind the product in a professional manner.
Not so good for those buyers that have had to learn the hard way... but good, in that the genuine long term stayers in the manufacturing sector, will be on guard to make sure that the "Ohhhsss and Ahharrrs" of yesteryear previously associated with their brand ... are not replaced by sad tales of strict warranty cut off times, slow repair service, or high repair bills.
Watch makers will also now need to be diligent in reference to their distributor's attitudes and practices... for it is an old trick, in many industries to say that 'the parts will be replaced for free ... but you will have to pay for the labour'.... and then result in an AD sending out an outrageous, but self serving adjusted, account.
Also, many makers do need to get better logistical agreements into contract with their distributors, because expensive watches generate unique problems within the industry in relation to costs of freight and insurance.
it is a fact that because a watch may only weigh 120 Grams... in many cases..... it is just as expensive to insure and freight one watch as it is to freight 20 watches in the same shipment.
A Distributor or an AD waiting until a shipping consignment has 20 watches could save $2,000 plus..... but result in frustrating delays for the consumer, and bad publicity for the maker.
It is often the practice all the way along the chain, that when a consumer returns a watch to his AD, for repair or service, that the AD will wait until he has a sufficient quantity of watches to send, before sending that particular watch to his head office in a group consignment.
This may mean that a consumer's watch may sit with his AD for a week or three weeks before being sent on.
With only a few distributors handling a large number of brands and where certain distributor chains have several brands under their portfolio, the head office of that country may also wait for a sufficient quantity of watches of a particular brand ... before sending that shipment to their Regional Head Office.... another week or three.
Again the regional office might wait until sufficient watches of XYZ brand are accumulated before sending a consignment to that brand's makers Regional Agent for assessment to decide if the watch needs to be sent back to the factory for repair... or can be fixed in that region.
All of this when added together.... the outgoing and incoming freight can add many months to a simple repair.
So, in the watch industry, logistics are a mess between many makers and their distributors .... resulting in very poor service for the consumer.... and equally poor PR for a particular brand.
Makers have to address this.
Finally there is the Internet, watch forums, and the public's access to information.
While the Internet allowed the Pendulum to swing in favor of the makers in the boom times.... and Watch Forums at many sites were the carriage to conduit this favor...... The Internet could well allow a swing against the whole industry in these present times, because these same Forums have now a community voice that is vocal and expressive.
High end watches have generally been accepted and perceived by the public to be a product of the Swiss watch industry.... and to the learned this may not be quiet true... but for the sake of simplicity, let us assume that it is true .... and so it is up to the 'Swiss' watch industry.... and all the makers that live off her apron strings, to come out and support both the products they have sold, and the committed community this industry has cultivated in the last few years
If these makers who have so benefitted in recent times do not all put their best foot forward the tradition and heritage of European horology could well slump back into the depression of Quartz age.
Jack.
This message has been edited by mkt33 on 2009-11-16 09:11:59 This message has been edited by mkt33 on 2009-11-16 18:21:28 This message has been edited by mkt33 on 2009-11-16 18:21:59
The Pendulum swings both ways... and now is the time for Watch Makers to be vigilant.
Seriously, this is the first post I have to read at the start of the new week?!
