Why is the UK “bottom” in the watch industry list of purchasing Countries?
In Western Europe there are five Countries “similar” in the amount of population, land extension and economic growth. These are: France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain. France is the biggest (land wise) with over 61 million inhabitants and Great Britain is the smallest with almost 61 million inhabitants. Germany has the largest amount of population with over 81 million inhabitants.
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Before we look at the manufacturing and purchasing power and trends of these countries we should though look back at the history of watchmaking.
Axiomatic is the notion that the best-made watches come from Switzerland but it has not always been that way as English horology was once considered the highpoint of the art and held this position for hundreds of years, at a time when Swiss watch making was virtually non existent and certainly centuries away from achieving its currently held status. This golden period of English watchmaking was spanned by makers such as Tompion, Harrison, Mudge, Graham, Earnshaw and Arnold.
Lets go back even further.
Time devices were made and were available well before Christ was born. Different cultures invented different clocks to tell the time (China built a water one, for example). By the 10th century, several types of pocket sundials were used. One English model even compensated for seasonal changes of the Sun’s altitude. Around 1365 Giovanni da Dondi, Professor of Astronomy at Padua (Italy), designed and built the Astrarium, a highly complex astronomical clock and planetarium and he constructed it only 60 or so years after the very first mechanical clocks had been built in Europe. He inspired several modern replicas, including some in London’s Science Museum and the Smithsonian Institution. Other notable examples from this period were built in Milan (1335), Strasbourg(1354), Lund (1380), Rouen (1389), and Prague (1462).
One of these clocks was the Wells Cathedral clock part of the group of famous 14th to 16th century astronomical clocks to be found in the West of England. The surviving mechanism, dated between 1386 and 1392, was converted to pendulum and anchor escapement in the 17th century, and was installed in London’s Science Museum in 1884, where it continues to operate. The dial represents a geocentric view of the universe, with the Sun and Moon revolving around a centrally fixed Earth. It is unique in having its original medieval face, showing a philosophical model of the pre-Copernican universe.
Sometime around 1510, Peter Henlein of Nuremberg (Germany) is credited with the invention of the first spring-powered clock, while Galileo Galilei is credited with inventing the pendulum-clock concept, as he studied the motion of the pendulum as early as 1582. However In 1656, Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch scientist, made the first pendulum clock, regulated by a mechanism with a “natural” period of oscillation.
Around 1675, Huygens developed the balance wheel and spring assembly, still found in some of today’s wristwatches while, in London, in 1671 William Clement began building clocks with the new “anchor” or “recoil” escapement. Around 1715 George Graham (born on 1673 in Cumberland and died and buried in Westminster Abbey in 1751) made his greatest innovation with the invention of the dead beat escapement. By 1721, George Graham improved the pendulum clock’s accuracy to 1 second per day while John Harrison refined Graham’s temperature compensation techniques and developed new methods for reducing friction. In 1761, John Harrison built a marine chronometer with a spring and balance wheel escapement that won him the British Government’s 1714 prize. A mechanical escapement for precision pendulum clocks was invented and patented by German instrument maker Sigmund Riefler in 1889 while it is suggested that the first wrist watch was invented by the Polish born watch maker Antoni Patek in the late 1800.
There is much more to past British watchmaking glories but unfortunately such traditions have been, somehow, forgotten. British and American watchmakers ruled well before the Swiss watch industry took the business seriously at the end of 1800.
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Lets now go back to the above mentioned five Countries. They all produce and export watches but their tradition is different.
Italy produces over 180 brands mostly for their own market although several have become internationally famous brands that are sold all over the world. These include names like Panerai (now part of the Richemont Group), Breil, Gucci (owned by PPR), Bulgari, Locman and many more. Italy is very fashion conscious and Italian watchmakers will regularly come up with appealing watches. Although often made in China with Japanese or Chinese movements they will have interesting designs and affordable prices. For example Italians “invented” the plastic Rolex look-alike that was on everyone’s wrist a few summers ago. Last summer saw a coloured rubber band with a small oval digital watch being all the rage.
Germany does not produce as many makes as Italy but they are much more up market with their models and technology. Some of the German brands include: Tutima, Sinn, Sothis, Botta, Bunz, Hanhart, Stowa, Wempe and Junghans.
With France, straightaway Cartier comes to mind (now part of the Richemont Group) but also B.R.M., Dior, Michel Herbelin, Bell & Ross, Chanel, Alain Silberstein, Cacharel and a few more. Similarly to the Italian market the big aim in France is to make fashion watches. A couple of “fashion” manufacturers are the Pierre Lanier Group and Clyda.
In Spain the Munreco Group is almost king with brands like Viceroy and Sandoz. Other major contenders to the Spanish market but also strong in exports are Festina (Spanish since 1984), Valentín, Geresa and Diarsa. New and interesting brands are Pita and Extetico. Haute Horlogerie is not a tradition in Spain but it is catching ground.
Lets then consider Switzerland exports to the five Countries. We know that the amount of population in Great Britain is similar to the population of France and higher than the Italian population. How come then that Swiss statistical export figures place Great Britain almost last? In 2009 the Swiss exported 571 (CHF million) to France, 544 to Italy, 452 to Germany, 301 to UK and 174 to Spain.
Does this mean that Great Britain still produces and sells British made watches?
Unfortunately the answer is – no!
There is a sort of entrepreneurial streak in the English businessman and the feeling in the UK is that there is no point in staying behind while the rest of Europe is popping up new brands almost on a daily basis.
Old British brands, somewhat well established are: Sekonda, Accurist, Zeon, Dunhill and Rotary (Swiss but predominately a British company). Newly popped-up brands include: Bremont, Backes & Strauss, IWI, Christopher Ward, RLT, Roger W. Smith, Dent and Tateossian (to name a few).
We need though to look at British retail, rather than manufacturing, to understand what is happening.
There are three major shop chains in UK that control most of the distribution of watches and jewellery; they are: Aurum Group Ltd. (Goldsmiths Jewellers – with over 170 shops nationwide, Mappin & Webb and Watches of Switzerland), F. Hinds (with over 100 shops nationwide) and the Signet Group with shops like H. Samuel (with almost 350 shops nationwide), Leslie Davis and Ernest Jones. There are also some smaller chain retailers and circa some 3,200 independent retailers.
Most of the independent retailers are the product of a time capsule dated around 1980. For three decades they have been selling Seiko, Lorus, Pulsar, Casio, Sekonda and Accurist. To follow their example, on line stores like Argos, sell similar brands.
Comparing to other European Countries, in UK the Internet plays a very big part on sales. In 2009, weekly March retail sales reached 5,030 millions, of which almost 172 million came from the Internet (source – Office for National Statistics).
F. Hinds strategy is to sell low grade watches while Goldsmiths also sells brand names like Oris, Breitling, Omega, Tag-Heuer and British make Bremont. Shops like Mappin & Weeb and Watches of Switzerland and in-store shops at Selfridges and Harrods will sell a variety of the world major brand names (but we must remember that the brands they represent are still less than 20% of the brands out there).
Undoubtedly there is a choice but it is a limited, very boring choice. Every High Street is a repetition of all others.
The problems are the retailers unwillingness to change and the customers “poor knowledge” of brands and their quality. The majority of the public will recognise names like Cartier, Omega, Rolex, Breitling and Tag-Heuer but only a very small group may recognize names like Vacheron Constantin, Ulysse Nardin, Breguet, Jaeger LeCoultre, IWC and Parmigiani (a shop-keeper, friend of mine, was once offered a Parmigiani watch but thought that someone was playing a joke on him, so similar the name is to the Italian cheese Parmigiano).
Most of the new British brands sell over the Internet as most retailers are afraid to make changes and, generally, to take on brands that are not already known by the public at large. The City of London, footballers and personalities do, somehow, create trends and there are a few shops that sell Hublot, Jacob, Franck Muller and Panerai, top end brands. This is because we live in a consumerist society and we feel the need to show each other who we are with what we have, wear and drive. Very much so when we see the amount of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins, Bugattis, Bentleys, Maybachs and Rolls Royces actually sold and driven in UK. Some of us copy the identities of people we admire. The British believe that famous brand names confer status that becomes our when we carry the brand and this is why Rolex is highly considered by the British public.
It all translate in poor choice for the consumer. The big chains define the available choice that the British public has and the British media, even the specialised magazines, doesn’t help covering the usual suspects and very little more.
The UK director of the Swatch Group in an interview stated that he was wearing the Tissot T-Touch (retail price around £ 500) as it was one of the best watches from the Group. Surprising when the Swatch Group via brands like Blancpain and Breguet actually make serious pieces of horological art fetching six figures prices.
Some courageous dealers that work only via the Internet are proposing interesting brands to the public but their clients will be a limited number formed mainly by aficionados, serious collectors and interested Forum readers.
To sum it up the reason that the UK is almost bottom on the sale of watches is to be found in a combination of factors:
1) an unwillingness to accept changes;
2) little aspiration to be fashion conscious;
3) a lack of desire to find out about the industry and who the players are;
4) a controlling mannerism from retailers;
5) standing out from the crowds is mostly seen as a success by the manufacturers rather than the public.
I suppose it takes courage to make changes and it also true that hundreds of Swiss and foreign firms do not succeed in the UK market because they fail to understand that the Green Isles are still different from the rest of Europe, sad as even the “local” brands find it difficult to have a patriotic support.
Max Procaccini 