While women mostly spoil themselves with handbags and jewelry for their opulent amusement, today’s executive men indulge in luxurious timepieces. Sporting lavish watches allow successful men to adorn themselves with complicated, sumptuous, and yet rather masculine pieces of ‘jewelry’. The range of accessories for women is much wider than that for men, leaving watches to act as the chief decorative means for men to express themselves in a classy way.
Top luxury watch brands around the globe all face the same problem: how to meet the consumer demand. The perpetual obstacle lies in managing how to deliver all the plush watches customers have ordered in a timely manner. This dilemma involves the fact that top brands’ strategies follow the basic rule of supply and demand — and the less there is available of a watch, the more people will desire to own it. As the Middle East’s General Manager of TAG Heuer, Eric Vergnes noted, his brand “cannot supply enough to our markets[, as] there is already a long waiting list!” Limited editions and availability leave tasteful customers yearning to be exclusive, whether or not enough watches are actually available does not stop the orders from flying in.
Evidently, their strategy is working exceptionally well. The global luxury watch market is believed to be valued at around $28 billion, according to Swiss bank Vontobel. The luxury watch industry continues to flourish in the Middle East, and especially in the Gulf region. In 2007, the Middle East and other emerging markets accounted for roughly 20% of Swiss watch exports, helping to raise sales for Swatch Group and Richemont. Although rather secretive with sales figures, for the last five years leading luxury brands’ sales in the Middle East are believed to be witnessing double-digit growth, as noted by the Managing Director of luxury watch distributor Atamian Hagop Est., Mher Atamian. On a per capita basis, the Middle Eastern luxury timepiece industry is said to account for nearly as many watches as some of the world’s biggest markets.
At present, and unsurprisingly, the two largest markets for the ritzy watch industry in the Middle East are Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Between them, these Gulf states account for around 75% of the regional luxury watch market. Throughout the region, TAG Heuer reported a growth of 45% sales increase, and to date “are enjoying a 100% growth versus last year at the same period”, highlighted Vergnes. The GM also added that even though the Middle East is still a small region “in TAG Heuer worldwide turnover, the share is growing and should become really important after a couple of years.”
As one of the world’s largest exhibitions for luxury watches, BaselWorld closed this year’s edition after witnessing its largest-ever attendance and bold commerce results. Displaying their affluence across the globe, the number of Middle Eastern patrons increased from last year’s fair. The beefed-up strength of the exhibition emphasizes the vivacity of today’s global luxury market.
The oil rich countries and their neighbors definitely possess a vast spending power, allowing them to spoil themselves in plush items dripping with diamonds, gold and platinum, to their pampered hearts desire.
The Middle East market
Like other luxury brands, TAG Heuer is “doing extremely well in the region,” said Eric Vergnes. Due to its Swiss heritage, he trusts that TAG Heuer delivers the “highest quality level” of watch making while possessing a “strong brand identity.” Vergnes believes the Middle East is “a huge and growing market: not only the Middle Easterners are keen on purchasing nice pieces, but thanks to the strong development of tourism in high end shopping destinations — such as Dubai — we enjoy a fast growing demand from tourists.”
Similarly, Bernard Fornas, President and CEO of Cartier International, maintains that the “Middle East is a very important market for Cartier … [I am] very comfortable coming to the region. It holds a lot of promise and is one of the best performing regions in the world.”
According to Vergnes, “people in the Middle East have a strong taste and knowledge for luxury goods. As such, we are selling to a wide scope of customers, not only high class patrons but also numerous people looking for qualitative and exclusive models.” He added that, “consumers have become more and more connoisseurs, or watch collectors: from one piece in the past, it is no longer seldom to find people who like to buy nice pieces as often as they can afford it.”
Fornas of Cartier feels “at home” in the Middle Eastern market and pointed out that Cartier has “dramatically increased the desirability of the brand in the Middle East, a region noted as much for its economic prowess as its taste for up-market luxury goods.” Further, Fornas mentioned Cartier’s robust presence in countries such as Qatar, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait, asserting that “Cartier has both the muscle and structure to make further deep inroads in the region.”
The finer things
Many watch collectors and admirers specifically look out for a tourbillon, a special addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement. The first tourbillon was invented in 1795 by Abraham-Louis Breguet, in order to counter gravity’s effect on timekeeping; it does so by mounting the escapement in a revolving confinement, to counterbalance the effect of gravity when the watch is turned. While old technologies are improved, leading brands find themselves competing against one another, striving for revolutionary innovation of ancient watch making traditions. Originally crafted for the traditional pocket watch, the tourbillon is now popular in most luxurious wristwatches.
At Geneva’s annual watch trade fair (known as Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie), Jaeger-LeCoultre displayed a tourbillon timepiece retailing for a staggering $639,692. While most tourbillions are now found in wristwatches, some lavish brands are still producing classic pocket watches.
However, for most high class patrons, such a high price tag is usually not ideal. Most watch collectors and appreciators purchase more ‘affordable’ luxury timepieces, with the average price ranging between $5,000-50,000.
Crème de la crème
The most globally distinguished watch brands are Rolex, Patek Philippe, TAG Heuer, IWC, Chopard, Breguet, Hublot, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega, Girad-Perrègaux, Bvlgari, Cartier, Audemars Piguet, and the list goes on. It seems the palatial watch industry is crowded with over 25 eminent brands, but Rolex continues to be the international favorite. One of its most expensive masterpieces is the Royal Oyster Perpetual Day-date Special Edition for men. This watch is valued at around $250,000 as is made up of platinum and intricately cut diamonds. This specific timepiece boasts a 39 mm platinum case, a bezel set with 42 baguette diamonds, a diamond meteorite dial, and an oyster 20 mm bracelet set in 71 baguette diamonds. While each brand has its own DNA, there are a quite a few that have developed a uniqueness to make them stand out amongst the crowd.
Patek Philippe prizes its marvelously upgraded Star Caliber 2000, a captivating pocket watch that took eight years to develop and design. The brand boasts that this model has “added a new luminary to the horological firmament.” Joining the most renowned timepieces around, the Star Caliber “presents a totally new combination of stunning complications for which six patents have been filed, elevating its status to unprecedented levels of complexity.” You would think the functions of a pocket watch are rather basic, but with over 1,000 parts and two faces, Patek Philippe’s Star Caliber 2000 proves otherwise.
This watch synchronizes time with the perpetual calendar, facilitating the reading of local time as well as actual solar time. What’s even more fascinating is this pocket-sized timepiece’s capability to indicate the times of sunrise and sunset, tracking the celestial chart, leap year cycle, season, and even the phases of the moon. This masterpiece is available in platinum as well as three variations of sumptuous gold — white, yellow, and rose — with the former case weighing 364 grams and the latter 280g.
TAG Heuer recently launched its Grand Carrera in the Middle East, holding an average price-point of $4,455, with Vergnes swanking that this model “is a beautiful evolution of our iconic Carrera model, born in 1964. The latest models are bolder, with many design evolutions, beautiful details and innovations such as the RS (rotating system) inspired by GT cars.” Some of the brands’ popular models include the Carrera tachymeter and the Aquaracer Chrono. TAG Heuer also accommodates its feminine patrons through one of its best selling pieces — the 32 mm Aquaracer — which possesses a dial soaked in diamonds as well as a bezel embellished with more diamonds.
Trends
Finding revolutionary designs and fine aesthetically pleasing details tops the criteria for most luxury buyers. Vergnes holds that trends formulate from the consumers’ search “for innovative designs and functions that [have] remained faithful to the heritage and exclusivity of the brands.”
Specific trends are characterized by red and pink gold frames which are rather popular for ladies, as Verges of TAG Heuer underlined that his brand’s “limited editions such as diamonds or rose gold pieces are extremely popular” in the region. Most men flock to bold, large sports timepieces, the latest trend being towards larger pieces, for both men and women. In Verges’ words, “Women tend to like larger watches with diamonds at night, and borrow their husbands’/boyfriends’ large chronos during the day.”
In short, the luxury watch industry of the Middle East has and will continue to flourish. Whether your luxury price tag is defined by $1,000 or $100,000+, patrons of our region indulging in extravagant items have a lot to choose from. Keep track of time as, in such a luxurious age, time is money.
