Comments:
Let me know when the ball stops rolling - I'll opine then. For now, it's just clickbait for the watch biz press.
A bit of clickbait never harmed 😂
If there is no substance behind the use of this kind of clickbait could be a tad worrying, though - indicating that JLC does not find sufficient traction without 🤷🏻♂️😉
Remember that in 2001, JLC was sold for the highest price of any brand to date....
from Mannesmann in Germany to Vendome (Richemont). The price was 3.02 billion (!) Swiss Francs. Fortune magazine in November 2001 said, "To sweeten the deal, Mannesmann 'threw in' A Lange & Sohne and IWC."
Vendome wanted JLC's movement making abilities in order to get off Swatch Group and they cloned the factory to create "Val-Fleurier" the Richemont think tank for movement develpment.
Frankly, if JLC went private with a very long-term goal of building the brand and marketing it into what it SHOULD be, this could be very good for the brand. Let's hold our breath anther day and see.
-Dean
If the info was correct…
The current touted valuation of 1 billion would amount to a monumental value destruction over the past 25 years 😱
Let’s see if there is anything behind it 👍🏻
I think the valuation is pretty optimistic and the brand is a bit of a turnaround
The cost structure of the brand will be very different on a standalone basis.
I’ll ping a few bankers to get info later. I wonder what it actually transacts for. My guess is a lot less.
As an owner of one JLC watch and someone who likes the company, I personally feel that…
…JLC have a stuffy, old-fashioned product catalog.
Yes, the Reverso is their iconic watch but with its case shape it is a niche product that looks very dated with its Art Déco design (compared to the Cartier Tank that looks timeless, in part due to its golden ratio proportions).
The Polaris is nothing special and takes the most boring of boring 1960s/1970s design elements.
The Master series has had zero continuity in terms of design identity over the past two decades.
I fear that JLC is already a dead brand despite the watchmaking prowess it has to offer.
The other issue is that JLC, perhaps due to their legacy as movement supplier(?), also don’t have any iconic watches in their back catalogue over the past decades that could become a future commercial success.
So, the only way forward is to keep being highly technically competent, cherishing (but not milking) the Reverso and finally coming up with a line of round watches that actually stands out and has personality.
Perhaps their Richemont friends from Cartier can help them come up with a new iconic design that can become a commercial hit and stand the test of time. JLC is in dire need of such instant classic (for example like the Ballon Bleu at Cartier).
I wish JLC all the best but I have no hopes for them.
I hope to be proven wrong!
Some more round iconic lines would certainly be helpful 👍🏻
Let’s see what Jerome Lambert manages over the coming years 👍🏻
Not so sure…
At best I would say it’s too early to tell. As a customer (of primarily service these days) I find it’s gone truly down the drain. Much of what would be solved in the boutique in the past now requires a trip to Switzerland (even for truly trivial things) and the quality of advice received in the boutiques has taken a tanking.
But as said, possibly too early to tell where the journey will end.