Comments:
1 in 6 U.S. broadband households now owns a smart watch
I received a report that one in six USA broadband households owns a smart watch now. Do you think this will have any effect on the mechanical watch industry?
Let's hear your thoughts!
Cheers,
Anthony
Anthony
I think there are tons of brilliant analysis online
My idea is that the entry level watches will be more affected by these new "smart" watches rather than the high end models, but maybe in the future this potential lack of new aficionados, or simply purchasers of mechanical watches, will short circuit the whole sector.
A complex question ....
Yes is the short answer, but in brief several factors come into this.
The Apple Factor:
Apple see this product as a disruptive product and a growth market, add a sprinkling of cool design and bingo !
Younger Generation:
Many younger people don't own a watch because if they need to know the time they look at a smart phone. They will be the target audience for Apple.
Medical Innovation:
Monitoring health with a smart watch will become more main stream and relied upon as advances in this area continue.
Digital Integration:
Continued digital integration of various media will make the smart watch more versatile and valuable to the user.
Do I personally want one … NO !
1 in 6, that's 16%, about Apples market penetration in "Smartphones".
It appears to me that the "Smart Watch" craze is leveling off.
Most of the people who I know who have them are not wearing them any more.
Maybe I have a very special market slice around me, but I consider them expensive quartz watches, a different market.
Don
Apple is the largest watchmaker in the world. Period.
Apple is the largest watchmaker in the world by units.
Apple is the largest watchmaker in the world by dollar value.
Apple is the largest watchmaker in the world by such a large margin... Apple has sold more watches than the entire Swiss watch industry on a per unit basis since late 2017 (according to analyst estimates)!
Apple sells over 15M watches a year! Its revenues are greater than that of Rolex or Patek Philippe!
I don't see Apple losing its watchmaking leadership.
Despite the Apple watch popularity; its designer, Jony Ive is a fan of Swiss watches.
The net effect...
As smart watches conquer the health industry and health insurance industry; baby boomers will start wearing more of these and set a trend. Medical insurance companies, Google, Data collection companies, analytical companies, and retail survey companies will subsidize and popularize smart watches.
These smart watches will take up the incumbent real estate on the wrist leaving no more room for watches. Mechanical watches will be worn merely as novelty items. In the decades from now, there will be a mental shift in developed Western countries with large baby boomer populations towards health and away from antique mechanical watches.
These smart watches will take up the incumbent real estate on the wrist leaving no more room for watches. Mechanical watches will be worn merely as novelty items. In the decades from now, there will be a mental shift in developed Western countries with large baby boomer populations towards health and away from antique mechanical watches.
We're not American but we own a variety
...of wristwear with time display.
They have mechanical escapement or quartz oscillator or electronic vibration "movements".
Some even have other functions than timekeeping like altimeter, compass, ocean tide, thermometer, barometer, heart rate, exercise, sleep and calorie counting.
The point is that eventually, we stopped using those extra functions.
So, owning a device does not equate to using the device! 😉
Regards,
MTF
Good observation
Typically these “extra functions” (on watches, cameras, etc) are added for magazine reviewers, comparison with competitors and for super-users.
You hit the nail on the head - people fool with them a bit then seldom go back.
An average smartphone user has 80-90 apps loaded and uses about 35-40 in any month (I have 74 and used 29). But on a daily basis a users loads up about 9 apps.
I was gifted an iWatch and gave it away. The recipient was a Mac fan-girl! She hardly ever uses it.
FWIW - we have 3 iPhones, 4 iPads (2 inactive), 3 iMacs, 2 Apple TV devices, and a MacBook (?) laptop somewhere. In a 2-person household... ☹️
You hit the nail on the head - people fool with them a bit then seldom go back.
An average smartphone user has 80-90 apps loaded and uses about 35-40 in any month (I have 74 and used 29). But on a daily basis a users loads up about 9 apps.
I was gifted an iWatch and gave it away. The recipient was a Mac fan-girl! She hardly ever uses it.
FWIW - we have 3 iPhones, 4 iPads (2 inactive), 3 iMacs, 2 Apple TV devices, and a MacBook (?) laptop somewhere. In a 2-person household... ☹️
Yes for under USD 1000. Over that, less to no impact. I do not buy..
The argument that buying a smartwatch will lead to the purchase of a mechanical watch.
I had a smart watch once (actually twice)...
But the frequent charging is annoying. The you begin to realise you don’t want messages to appear on your watch.
Then there are people who wear a luxury watch on one wrist and a smart watch on another.
Then there are people who wear a luxury watch on one wrist and a smart watch on another.
Who cares?
They are here to stay. Of course they will have an effect. Normal people will only wear one device on their wrist. And the smart watches will monitor our health and sports activities so it’s inevitable that they will eat into the non smart watch market.
Smartwatches and mechancial watches are two different products that serve two different purposes
They overlap in that both can be worn on the wrist and tell time. That's when the similarities end.
The smartwatch is used as an extension of the mobile phone and computer. To take some of those tasks and features from the computer and make them a little more mobile and travel resilient. It has a limited lifespan due to forced obsolescence from improving technology and abilities and reduced size and price. Once the next generation or next several generations are out in the market the older generations are tossed. Totally disposable and meant to be that way. Do you know anyone still using an Apple IIe? Or anyone still using Windows 3.1 for their computer's OS? How about an Applewatch Series I?
Mechanical watches have been obsolete since the quartz revolution of the late 70s and 1980s yet they are surviving and in some cases thriving even as prices increase for many vintage and even new pieces. The number of small "boutique" brands that sell mechanical watches seems to grow everyday as well. Despite their obsolescence mechanical watches are still bought and collected not because they are still required tools to go diving or to navigate a plane for example, but because they are now part of fashion (whether we like to admit it or not) and they evoke an earlier time when "men were still men" exploring the world, conquering mountains, diving shipwrecks, and walking on the moon. Even just to pretend we are old-timey gentlemen types from the 1940s/50s/60s sort of like "Mad Men" style. The buyers like to feel like they are part of that mythos and history when they strap on these expensive, obsolete pieces of jewelry. So the ultimate answer is Male Vanity, Ego, and Imagination will keep mechanical watches going.