WATCH MARKET

OWNERSHIP

Watch Groups

The 1970s quartz crisis resulted in a lot of independent watchmakers at the time closing down and the consolidation of the Luxury watch market by one Swiss Company that managed to take advantage of this crisis. The success of the Swatch quartz watches resulted in the Swatch Group which now owned a plethora of the biggest watch company. The Swatch Group is not alone though as there are a few other players who currently control the market. A lot of these groups have strategically positioned the offerings of their brand in the various different segments to allow less competition between their own brands and infiltration to a larger consumer base. Below is some background of the big group that control the watch market and their brands per positioned segment according to the above.

 

Swatch Group

The Swatch Group was founded in 1983 by Nicolas Hayek in order to cope with the quartz crisis and save the Swiss watchmaking industry. As off 2018, it employs more than 37,000 people in more than 50 countries. The Swatch group, based in Bienne Switzerland, is arguably the most powerful and influential group in the watchmaking industry. This is not just due to the large number of watch groups it controls but also due to being the owner ETA, the largest Swiss watch movement manufacturer in the world. It has a position of strength over all other movement manufacturers for two reasons:

  1. Its sheer production numbers result in huge economies of scale (ie: lower cost per movement due it’s large production numbers) meaning that other movement producers cannot compete with ETAs pricing (especially it’s sought after mechanical movements)
  2. The legacy of ETA which was the main movement historically (it was originally created by Eterna in 1856) and has over the decades been considered a workhorse movements and this resonates strongly with collectors who greatly respect the ETA brand

The strength of ETA is very relevant as it does not just supply movements to the Swatch Group brands but a number of others outside the group who are unable to produce their movements at affordable prices (note: this is expected to stop in the summer of 2020 as ETA will no longer be allowed to sell outside of the group). The group watch brands include:

  • Swatch (1983) – Consumer Brand: Founded by the Swatch Group founder, Nicolas Hayek
  • Omega (1848) – Luxury Brand: Founding member of SMH (1983), later renamed Swatch Group
  • Longines (1832) – Quasi-luxury Brand : Founding member of SMH (1983), later renamed Swatch Group
  • Rado (1917) – Quasi-luxury Brand: Founding member of SMH (1983), later renamed Swatch Group
  • Certina (1888) – : Founding member of SMH (1983), later renamed Swatch Group
  • Hamilton Watch Company (1893) – Enthusiast Brand : Founding member of SMH (1983), later renamed Swatch Group
  • Mido (1918) – Quasi-luxury Brand: Founding member of SMH, later renamed Swatch Group
  • Flik Flak (1987) – Kids Brand: Founded as a subsidiary of the Swatch brand
  • CK Calvin Klein (1968) – Consumer Brand: Swatch bought the rights of CK Calvin Klein watches. He then acquired the rights to start using Calvin Klein in 2014
  • Balman (1945) – Consumer Brand: Swatch bought the rights of Balmain Watches in 1995
  • Union Glashutte (1893) – Quasi-luxury Brand: Part of the Swatch Group since 2000.
  • Tissot (1853) – Enthusiast Brand: Part of the Swatch Group since 1983
  • Swiss Timing (1972) – Handles Swiss events for the Swatch Groups
  • Leon Hadot – Entry-level luxury Brand: Relatively new brand to join the Swatch Group
  • Blancpain (1735) – High-end luxury Brand: Part of the Swatch Group since 1992
  • Glashutte Original (1845) – High-end luxury Brand: Part of the Swatch Group
  • Harry Winston (1932) – High-end luxury Brand: Part of the Swatch Group since 1913
  • Breguet (1775) – High-end luxury Brand: Part of the Swatch Group since 1999
  • Jaquet-Droz (Born 1721) – Part of the Swatch Group since 2000

 

Richemont

Richemont is a Swiss-based luxury goods company founded in 1988 and a leading player across the watch luxury market. As of 2017 it is the third-largest luxury goods company in the world. The Richemont group brands include:

  • Baume (2018) – Consumer Brand: Incorporated by Richemont Group in 2018
  • Baume & Mercier (1830) – Entry-level luxury Brand: Joined Richemont Group in 1988
  • Cartier (1847) – High-end luxury Brand: Joined Richemont Group in 1988
  • Montblanc (1906) – Entry-level Brand: Joined Richemont Group in 1988
  • Dunhil (1893) – Consumer Brand: Joined Richemont Group in 1988
  • Piaget (1874) – Ultra luxury Brand: Joined Richemont Group in 1988
  • Vacheron Constantin (1755) – Ultra luxury Brand: Joined Richemont Group in 1988
  • Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewellery Co – 50% owned by Richemont Group
  • Van Cleef & Arpels (1896) – Jewellery Brand: Joined Richemont Group in 1999
  • Officine Panerai (1890) – Luxury Brand: Joined Richemont Group in 1997
  • Jaeger-LeCoultre (1833) – High-end luxury Brand: Joined Richemont Group in 2000
  • IWC Schaffhausen (1868) – Luxury Brand: Joined Richemont Group in 2000
  • Buccellati (2011) – Jewellery Brand: Joined Richemont Group in 2019
  • Lange & Sohne (1845) – Ultra luxury Brand: Re-launched in 1990 and joined Richemont Group in 2000

 

LHMH

LVHM Moet Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE, also know as LVMH, is a French multinational corporation specialising in luxury good whose largest shareholder is Christian Dior with 40.9% of it’s shares. In November 2019, LVMH acquired Tiffany & Co from approximately $16.2 billion, the luxury industries largest ever acquisition. While LVHM has owns a more than  twenty companies in the Wines and Spirit industries (e.g. Dom Perignon and Hennessy), a similarly large amount in Fashion & Leather Goods (e.g. Givenchy, Fendi, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior), a number of Perfumes & Cosmetics brands as well as a lot of other operations, it is also a very influential player in the Watch & Jewellery business. The group watch brands include:

  • Bulgari (1884) – Luxury Brand: Joined LVMH Group in 2011
  • Hublot (1980) – High-end luxury Brand: Joined LVMH Group in 2008
  • TAG Heuer (1860) – Entry-level luxury Brand: Joined LVMH Group in 1999
  • Tiffany & Co (1837) – Jewellery Brand: Joined LVMH Group in 2019
  • Zenith (1865) – High-end luxury Brand: Joined LVMH Group in 1999
  • Chaumet (1780) – Jewellery Brand: Joined LVMH Group in 2019
  • Fred (1936) – Jewellery Brand: Joined LVMH Group in 1996

 

Kering Group

Kering Group is a French multination corporation specialising in luxury good. I owns a number of luxury brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Bottega Veneta amongst others. In is also influential in the watch industry with it’s ownership of a number of watch brands. These are:

  • Gucci (1921) – Enthusiast Brands: Joined Kering Group in 1999
  • Balenciaga (2001) – Consumer Brands: Joined Kering Group in 2001
  • Yves Saint Laurent (1961) – Consumer Brands: Joined Kering Group in 1999
  • Boucheron (1858) – Jewellery Brand: Joined Kering Group in 2000
  • Girard-Perregaux (1791) – Premium Luxury Brand: Joined Kering Group in 2011
  • JeanRichard (1905) – Quasi-luxury Brand: Relaunched by Kering in 2012.
  • Ulysse Nardin (1846): Premium Luxury Brand: Joined Kering Group in 2014

 

Fossil Group

Fossil Inc is a US company based in Texas which mainly focuses on fashion watches, Fossil makes watches under its own brand name “Fossil but also holds licenses for a number of other Fashion Brands all positioned in the consumer sectors. These licenses include Burberry, DKNY, Emporio Armani, Armani Exchange, Columbia Sportswear, Diesel, Karl Lagerfel, Tory Burch, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Skagen Designs, Michel, Marc Jabocs, Adidas, Zodiac and Relic.

 

Franck Muller Group

Franck Muller is a Swiss Luxury group headquartered in the town of Genthod outside Geneva. While Franck Muller is by far the group biggest seller, there are a number of other watch brands associated such as Pierre Kunz, European Watch Company, Rodolphe and Pierre Michael Golay. The group also has license agreements with Smalto Timepieces and Roberto Cavalli while it has a long standing partnership with Backes & Strauss, the older diamond company in the world.

 

Festina Group

Festina Group in a is today an international company based in Barcelona Spain specialized in watches for the general market. The group owns Festina which is it’s flagship brand, Perrelet and L.Leroy which are it’s higher market brands and Jaguar, Calyptso, Lotus and Candino whixch was Consumer brands just like Festina.

In addition to the watch companies, Festina group also owns Soprod, one of the main producers of Swiss-made mechanical and quartz watch movements after ETA and Sellita.

 

Seiko Group

The Seiko Group is a massive, publicly held conglomerate based in Japan that makes many types of products including watches and movements. The flagship brand of the group is Seiko and Orient another very reputable brand, both operating in the Consumer Brand level making some of the best value for money watches in the market. Grand Seiko is the groups upmarket brand completing with the best Swiss producers. Other less reputable brands in the Seiko group include Pulsar, Lorus, Alba and Credor.

 

Movato Group

Movado is a Group offering Consumer Brands from New Jersey. It’s brands include Ebel, Concord, Movado ,ESQ by Movato while it also has licensing rights with various brands such as Coach, Hugo Boss, Juicy Couture, Tommy Hilfinger, Lacoste and Scuderia Ferrari.

Citizen Group

Citizen Group is a major vertically integrated company, with its business principally in watches, machine tools, components and electronics with a number of international brands. These include:

  • Citizen (1930) – Consumer Brand: Groups flagship brand
  • Bulova (1875) – Consumer Brand: Joined Citizen Group in 2008
  • Frederic Constant (1988) – Quasi-luxury Brand: Joined Citizen Group in 2016
  • Alpina (1883) – Enthusiast Brand: Joined Citizen Group in 2016
  • Ateliers de Monaco (2008): Joined Citizen Group in 2016
  • Arnold & Son (1998 relaunched): Joined Citizen Group in 2016
  • Campanola (2016)
  • Q&Q (1976)
  • Angelus (2015 relaunched): Part of Citizen Group

In 2012, Citizen moved into Swiss manufacturing, buying the movement-maker Manufacture La Joux-Perret which now allows it to produce high end Swiss movements.

 

Timex Group

Timex Group in a US based company which produces a number of consumer Brand watches under licensing agreements including it’s own Timex watch brand. These brands are Nautica, GC, Guess, Salvatore Ferragamo, Versace, Versus and Ted Baker.

 

Rolex

Established in London in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf, Rolex has become one of he most recognizable brands in the world and by far the highest revenue generating watch firm. While Rolex is an independent company, it also has a subsidiary, Tudor, which is said to have been created by the founder of Rolex with the instruction of providing a watch of the best possible quality but at a more affordable price than Rolex.

 

Independent Brands

In addition to the Groups above, there are a lot of other brands who have resisted the temptations of being acquired and remain independent till today. A few of the most important such brands are:

  • Patek Philippe (1839) – Ultra luxury Brand
  • Hermes (1837) – Luxury Brands
  • Audemars Piguet (1875) – Ultra luxury Brand
  • Breitling (1884) – Luxury Brand
  • Chopard (1860) – Premium luxury Brand
  • Oris (1737) – Quasi-luxury Brand
  • Bell & Ross (1992) – Entry-level luxury Brand
  • Fortis (1912) – Quasi-luxury Brand