Extremely thin watches — which come with a higher price tag — are trending. Piaget presented the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon, which is 2mm thick. The limited run of 15 will each be priced at €725,000, the highest price in the history of the house for a watch (excluding jewellery watches that incorporate precious stones). “We see more and more demand for high-ticket watches,” says Benjamin Comar, CEO of Piaget. Bulgari unveiled the Octo Finissimo Ultra Cosc, the slimmest mechanical watch ever designed with a thickness of 1.7mm, a new world record. It’s being produced in a short run of 20 pieces, each priced at around €600,000.
Finding a sweet spot
That said, there is still strong demand in the space that sits above aspirational, but below ultra-luxury. “A large number of watchmakers have defined their price range above CHF 20,000 (€20,600), so there is now a demand for ranges between CHF 10,000-20,000 (€10,300-€20,600), from wealthy clients who find that the others have become a little too expensive,” observes Vigneron.
Breitling CEO Georges Kern echoes the sentiment: “We are in a very sweet spot between CHF 5,000 and 20,000 (€5,100-€20,600).” Nonetheless, he points out that Breitling’s average price has risen from CHF 4,500 (€4,600) seven years ago to CHF 7,200 (€7,400). Ultra-luxury doesn’t necessarily warrant success. “If you look at the entry price points, brands like Tissot are very successful. If you’re good in the lower segment, you will sell, if you’re good in the mid segment, you will sell. And I can give you dozens of brands in the super-luxury space that are totally failing, so it’s not that we all have to rush into this,” says Kern.
Moving beyond gender stereotypes
Genderless watch designs are here to stay, executives agreed.
“The segmentation that we knew in the past — women who wanted a small watch with diamonds and quartz — is completely obsolete,” Tag Heuer’s Tornare says. “Today, of course, there is still a clientele, but there are also more and more women who want watches with complications, who want beautiful chronographs with a real movement. It’s time to put an end to these segmentations. We make beautiful watches. There are markets where men wear 36mm watches with diamonds. On the other hand, women wearing large watches has been a trend for a few years now.”