The Apple Watch outsold the whole Swiss watch industry last year

[midian182]

What just happened? It’s safe to say that smartwatches aren’t the fad some people thought they would be. In fact, the most popular of these devices—the Apple Watch—sold more units in 2019 than the entire Swiss watch industry.

Apple doesn’t report official sales figures for the Apple Watch, so Strategy Analytics collates data from retail partners and vendors to come up with estimates. It states that the wearable shipped 31 million units worldwide in 2019, 10 million more than all combined Swiss watch brands, which include Swatch, Tissot, and Tag Heuer.

It’s estimated that the Apple Watch saw 36 percent growth last year compared to 2018 when 22.5 million units were shipped. The Swiss watch industry, by contrast, declined 13 percent in 2019, falling from 24.2 million to 21.1 million.

Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, writes that while analog wristwatches remain popular among older consumers, younger buyers prefer smartwatches.

Some Swiss watch brands have entered the smartwatch market, most notably Tag Heuer with its Connected and Connected Modular 41, and Montblanc with its Summit 2, but they’re all double or treble the price of the Apple Watch, and can’t match the device when it comes to software and features.

The Montblanc Summit 2 - yours for $995

Things have come a long way since 2017 when just 14 percent of executives in the Swiss watch industry considered smartwatches to be a threat to sales, while 72 said they’d have no effect at all. The remaining 14 percent saw the wearables as an opportunity.

Last month, a study from the Pew Research Center showed that around one in five (21 percent) of Americans now regularly wear a smartwatch or fitness tracker.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83898-apple-watch-outsold-whole-swiss-watch-industry-last.html

 

[yRaz]

Mechanical switch watches are not under threat, they're still highly collectable and hold their resale value. An Apple watch is essentially worthless after two years while a $50,000 Rolex will continue to be a $50,000 rolex

 

[dangh]

I'll take any proper Swiss watch over Apple watch anytime.

 

[Nobina]

I like to **** on Apple for having overpriced products but in the wrist watch world they're like Earth compared to the Sun. "Luxury" watches markups are out of this world.

 

[yRaz]

I like to **** on Apple for having overpriced products but in the wrist watch world they're like Earth compared to the Sun. "Luxury" watches markups are out of this world.

You don't understand the engineering that goes into some of these watches. In some mechanisms they have tolerances of several thousand atoms in order to keep time properly. Engineering things in excess of 1/10,000th of an inch is extremely difficult. One component could take days to make only to be thrown out because it isn't up to spec. Years of labor could go into a single watch when adding up all the components. Rolex might make $10,000 on a $50,000 watch. What's amazing about that isn't Rolex making $10,000, its that the cost to manufacture something on your wrist is $40,000

 

[JKnight]

Those Swiss watches will never go out of style and outlast the Apple watches.

 

[brucek]

Personally I would not "invest" in $50,000 rolexes. There may still be older people who think they are fashionable but I think this is a product category whose relevance is declining to successive generations. And that's despite today's wearables offering only so much functionality.

If ten years from now the old fashioned watch not only costs a ton and makes you look like a dinosaur, but also occupies space on your wrist that you actually need for future functionality that is as central to that era's modern life as a smartphone is now, they're really toast.

 

[Nobina]

You don't understand the engineering that goes into some of these watches. In some mechanisms they have tolerances of several thousand atoms in order to keep time properly. Engineering things in excess of 1/10,000th of an inch is extremely difficult. One component could take days to make only to be thrown out because it isn't up to spec. Years of labor could go into a single watch when adding up all the components. Rolex might make $10,000 on a $50,000 watch. What's amazing about that isn't Rolex making $10,000, its that the cost to manufacture something on your wrist is $40,000

I don't doubt it's difficult. It all seems like a gaint waste of time and resources for some snob to show off his wealth.

 

[cliffordcooley]

What's amazing about that isn't Rolex making $10,000, its that the cost to manufacture something on your wrist is $40,000

I'm sure Rolex is glad someone is drinking the cool-aid.

 

[yRaz]

I'm sure Rolex is glad someone is drinking the cool-aid.

I can't afford luxury watches, but the engineering behind them fascinates me endlessly. I used Rolex as a brand everyone would recognize, there are plenty of others that are far more impressive than a Rolex.

There is an art in the engineering of these watches. Certainly, people use them to flaunt wealth, but people who collect them and are into watches aren't in it for flaunting wealth.

I guess my point is that most of the people who still buy watches are collectors. We haven't need to wear a watch for over 20 years now so the market has already bottomed out