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Cameroon and watchmaking: the reign of counterfeiting
Didier Planche
Cameroonians are potentially good customers for jewellers and watchmakers. They like quality and anything that shines in order to make a good impression. Unfortunately, their purchasing power is low and counterfeit products “Made in China” are swamping the market, thus giving rise to their reluctance to acquire so-called authentic Swiss or European watches. Not to mention guarantees that are never respected…
Like the majority of export activities, Swiss watchmaking exports are not very significant on the African continent since this continent represented just 1% of its total export sales in 2006, both in terms of value and number of units. Last year, 325,202 watches were exported to Africa totalling 133.5 million Swiss Francs (USD 107 million), compared with a total of 24.8 million units sold world-wide for a value of 12.7 billion (USD 10 billion). Last April, 24,687 Units were purchased in Africa (+14.7% compared with 2006), representing a total of 9.3 million Francs (USD 7.5 million).
Figures for 2006: 187 units sold to Cameroon
On the honours list for the sale of wristwatches in 2006, the prize winners were South Africa (90,233 units), followed by Egypt (54,456), Morocco (53,920), Algeria (40,164), Libya (32,565) and Tunisia (24,249). On the other hand, positions on the list differ in terms of value, for while South Africa would still head the list with 31.7 million Francs (USD 25.5 million), followed by Egypt with 30.0 million (USD 24 million) and Morocco with 27.5 million (USD 22 million) these three African countries would then be followed by Libya with 13.7 million (USD 11 million), Algeria with 3.1 million (USD 2.5 million) and Tunisia with 1.9 million (USD 1.5 million).
In this honours list for the export of Swiss wristwatches, the image of Cameroon (Central Africa) is rather that of a poor relative, with 187 units sold in 2006 for a total of 20,833 Francs (USD 23,000) …
Most outlets are dusty street stalls
In Douala, the economic capital of the country with some 2.5 million inhabitants (Yaoundé is the political capital), a handful of jewellery and watch shops are established in the centre of town in the district of Akwa, in particular close to two or three major hotels and restaurants, as well as in the commercial and banking district of Bonanjo and the residential district of Bonapriso. Most of the shops, however, are situated in the working sub-districts of the capital where the bourgeois or well-off classes or rare tourists seldom go. They most often resemble decrepit, dusty stalls totally unlike the sparkling boutiques like those established in Geneva or Paris. Mostly, they belong to Cameroonians but are tended by Senegalese who, by ancestral tradition keep the culture of jewellery going and are expert in the artisanal work of the goldsmith.
In view of the low purchasing power of most Cameroonians, (the minimum monthly salary in the official economy being limited to about 100 Swiss Francs (USD 80)), these stalls have few customers with just two or three scant dozen odd units, except of course for jewellery or watch shops worthy of the name that can be counted on the figures of one hand.
Forget the guarantees
While the choice of watches on display in the jewellery or watch shops in Douala is rather limited, it is also the low volume of sales that, far from occurring daily, inevitably has an influence on the capacity of traders to invest in a wide variety of models. What is more, sales are all the fewer since rich Cameroonians purchase their watches abroad during their frequent trips to Europe or elsewhere. Their choice is above all governed by their lack of confidence in their compatriots, whom they consider, often rightly, to be past masters of forgery …
Besides, the small jewellery or watch shops that offer such Swiss brands as Longines, Omega, Rolex or ETA, for example, as well as the omnipresent Cartier, Gucci or Dior and a host of perfectly unknown brands that range in price from 50 to1, 500 Swiss Francs (USD 40 and 1,200), do not provide any guarantee to their customers, since most of these units come directly from … Dubai or China!
It is all about “image”
In other words, counterfeit products dominate the market, not to mention smuggled watches and all those whose origins are shrouded in mystery and which are sold cheaply by illicit street vendors. This amply justifies the mistrust of Cameroonians, even though a few jewellery or watch shops with a good reputation work in accordance with the rules of good practice with watch manufacturers and offer their customers all the guarantees and certificates they might want.
In matters of taste, Cameroonians appreciate gold but prefer plated and steel products because of their cost. While they use watches as working tools, they also consider them to be jewellery that they love to show off at society evenings or in fashionable nightclubs in order to demonstrate their apparent wealth or rank in society. They are show-offs by nature and love anything that shines, attracts attention or arouses envy, just to create an image and impress bystanders. In this respect, watches will always have a fine future in Cameroon, on condition however that the purchasing power of the inhabitants improves, and above all that the plague of counterfeiting is genuinely eradicated to restore the confidence of rich Cameroonians, who do not count the cost of adornments of all sorts. But from good intentions to the application in fact by governments, there is an abyss in Cameroon and even in the entire African continent. As for me, I am hanging on to the “genuine” Swatch on my wrist… ■
