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Success in the sand
Events

Success in the sand

Monday, 21 November 2016
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Christophe Roulet
Editor-in-chief, HH Journal

“The desire to learn is the key to understanding.”

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4 min read

As the watch industry faces continued gloom, certain brands seem almost embarrassed to admit that they’re doing very nicely thank you. Three of them were in Dubai for Dubai Watch Week.

Just as a picture paints a thousand words, certain images speak for themselves. Asked about Panerai’s tremendous appeal for a Middle Eastern clientele, regional director Milvin George pulls out his cellphone and shows a photo taken at a get-together with some of the brand’s best customers during Dubai Watch Week. On it, spread across a white-clothed table, are some five dozen Panerai watches, like so many pieces in a horological puzzle. “This guy came with a briefcase full of watches,” says George. “He then took great pleasure in showing off his collection which, if the other guests are anything to go by, is nothing out of the ordinary.” Enough said about the mindset of these “Pamerati”, the brand’s fans in the Emirates who have nothing to envy the most die-hard Paneristi, and who have made the region something of a favourable market for the brand in otherwise troubled times for Swiss watchmakers.

Panerai Luminor 1950 Equation of Time 8 Days GMT Titanio
Panerai Luminor 1950 Equation of Time 8 Days GMT Titanio

“As you know, Panerai was bought over in 1997 and relaunched worldwide as of the following year,” says Milvin George. “This means we have a longstanding presence in the Middle East, where we now operate 11 Panerai boutiques along with a network of some twenty retailers. There’s a genuine desire for luxury in the region. It’s not unusual to see a customer leaving one of our stores having purchased two or three watches. Panerai appeals to them because, as they always like to point out, it has the best of Europe, namely Swiss technology matched with Italian design that comes packaged in these big sizes. They love it! For someone in traditional Emirate dress, a watch is an excellent means of distinction, of expressing who you are, even. Also, Panerai approaches watchmaking from an original angle, with its unique background linked to Italian naval combat divers. It’s about exclusivity, and that’s what hits the mark.”

Stephen Forsey, Greubel Forsey
Stephen Forsey, Greubel Forsey
Solid growth

Exclusivity is something Greubel Forsey knows well, and key to the brand’s success this year as Stephen Forsey implies, with characteristic British reserve. “Even though markets are complicated, to say the least, 2016 will be a good year for us. Better than last year in fact, although we prefer not shout it from the rooftops. Our philosophy is the same as ever. The difference is, we never tried to cash in on growing demand when watch sales were on a roll. We wouldn’t have been able to keep up anyway. Instead, we stuck to our guns and, proof of our authenticity, carried on producing around a hundred watches a year. This year that figure should be 105, to be precise, with the new Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision in platinum with salmon dial and Grand Feu enamel indexes that we’re showing at Dubai Watch Week. In addition, we never lose sight of our network, with 40 points of sale in 35 countries. The network is important as collectors want somewhere they can meet us. Plus there are still so many watch fans who, because of our small output, don’t know about Greubel Forsey that we need to be putting in every possible effort to make ourselves more visible.” Should he need any encouragement, Stephen Forsey can count on a solid 15% growth this year and creativity boosted by a consistently strong R&D budget pushing a dozen or so projects.

Edouard Meylan, H. Moser & Cie
Edouard Meylan, H. Moser & Cie

If there is one brand that has continued to push ahead, that brand is H. Moser & Cie, which is beginning to reap rewards after a four-year turnaround. In fact this should be its first year in the black. “It has been a longer, more complex task than expected,” comments CEO Edouard Meylan. “First we had to rethink our production tool in order to stabilise quality and get back to positive margins. Working on this new basis, we also had to change how H. Moser & Cie is perceived by going against the image of a classic, traditional, safe brand and chipping away at certain watchmaking dogmas with offbeat, provocative communication. Once again, the efforts we’ve made are beginning to pay off. Someone even asked me how the brand was planning to respond to Donald Trump’s election. As though we were bound to have something up our sleeve. It’s a good sign!” Helping fuel this strategy are sell-out rates (sales to end customers) which have rocketed 45% since the start of the year. In the short term, two subsidiaries should see daylight, with one in the United States and another in the Middle East. Says Edouard Meylan, “It’s at times like this, in a downturn, that we need to be investing and going in with guns blazing, even if this means dropping back into the red.” Or not!

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