Actu: Is Time Running Out for the Swiss Watch Industry?

Citation :

GENEVA—You’re 25 years old, basking in the glow of your first big job promotion and a hefty raise. Why not splurge on a big-ticket item?

Your father might have bought a fancy Swiss watch. But the thought doesn’t occur to you—for most of your life, you’ve used your cellphone to check the time. Instead, you book a getaway to Costa Rica, which you document extensively on Instagram.


Swiss watchmaking executive Jean-Claude Biver wants to change that thinking. From his perch at luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the 68-year-old has seen younger generations drift away from his centuries-old industry. He is on a mission to get them interested in watches, before it’s too late.

“It’s the first time we have young people not buying watches,” says Mr. Biver, who leads LVMH’s watch division. “Time is everywhere. Why should these kids buy something for the wrists that tells them the same thing they get everywhere?”

Executives across Switzerland’s watch industry have been wrestling with the same question. How can they convince young consumers that mechanical timepieces are relevant—let alone worth the price of a car? At the same time, the tradition-bound manufacturers are fending off Apple Inc. and other tech companies that are disrupting the market with wrist gadgets that track your workouts and organize your social life.

The perils facing the Swiss industry have been laid bare by a sharp downturn starting in 2015. Chinese consumers, who drove a two-decade boom in the watch business, reined in their spending. That exposed watchmakers’ growing disconnect with clientele in the West. Swiss watch exports globally fell 13% between 2014 and 2016. Last year, exports rose 2.7%, but still lagged well behind the luxury sector as a whole.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-time-running-out-for-the-swiss-watch-industry-1520867714