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Daniel Kellenberger
![With the Swatch, Hayek's Swatch Group once launched the lifeline for the beleaguered Swiss watch industry.]()
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With the Swatch, Hayek’s Swatch Group once launched the lifeline for the beleaguered Swiss watch industry.
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Pius Koller
![The cheap plastic watch from Switzerland conquered the world.]()
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The cheap plastic watch from Switzerland conquered the world.
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Thomas Meier
![Since then, habits and trends have changed.]()
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Since then, habits and trends have changed.
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Thomas Meier
![The Swatch Group has now also presented its own Tissot smartwatch.]()
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The Swatch Group has now also presented its own Tissot smartwatch.
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Keystone
![Despite assurances from Swatch headquarters, the good old days seem to be over for good and will hardly ever return.]()
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Despite assurances from Swatch headquarters, the good old days seem to be over for good and will hardly ever return.
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Who doesn’t already have a version of it on their wrist: a fitness band, a smartwatch or a tracker to measure heart functions, daily output, calorie consumption and much more besides time. Many so-called smart watches have long since built in the necessary technologies. Digital timepieces like Apple Watch are becoming personal trainers who try to do so much more than just display time and try to impress with design.
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The makers of the Swiss cult brand Swatch seem to have slept through this trend, which began years ago. The evidence that supply no longer meets demand is in sales. The cheap plastic watch once saved the Swiss watch industry. But although Swatch is still trying to impress with trendy designs and good prices, the competition and new habits make the former cult brand look old.
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Even before the economic breakdown of the lockdown, the Vaudois watch expert Oliver Müller said the «Handelszeitung»: “Today the Swatch brand is dead.” In the same breath he continues: “Nick Hayek will never admit it.” Hayek (65) heads the Swatch Group, which his legendary father Nicolas (1928-2010) took over. That went well as long as the iconic plastic timepieces could still set trends and were unrivaled.
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Downward spiral
It’s not just that traditional customers have aged with Swatch, as the “SonntagsZeitung” analyzes. Changed habits also affect the brand. The new cell phone is cooler than the colorful watch. The smartwatch also shows health functions, weather reports, personal messages and much more. At a price segment in which the more expensive Swatch watches are located.
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It is unclear how many Swatch watches are still sold each year. The group does not disclose detailed sales figures. According to estimates by Bank Vontobel, sales of Swatch watches fell from around 720 million francs in 2012 to around 400 million last year.
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More than ten million units were sold in each of the 1990s. According to Hayek, there are currently five million a year. A number that watch expert Müller considers exaggerated. He speaks of two million more – a number that Swatch immediately denied. And that was before the riots in Hong Kong and the coronavirus pandemic that crippled Swatch’s main sales market.
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Swatch-Chef Nick Hayek: “Catastrophic!”(02:00)
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Hayeks Smartwatch
Online trading is supposed to save Swatch and thus also help the ailing group. Swatch is not close to the end, says financial analyst René Weber from Bank Vontobel, who is known to be an expert on the watch industry. However, given the smaller number of shops, it is all the more important to promote electronic commerce.
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In May, an outwardly unfazed Hayek affirmed: “People always want to consume.” In the Far East in particular, there is a lot of catching up to do and sales figures will pick up in the second half of the year. However, Hayek recognized the general downward trend years ago. Under increasing pressure from the competition, the head of the Swatch Group made a promise in 2016 to deliver a Smartwach.
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He kept his promise this March with the Tissot T-Touch Connect Solar. The corona crisis delayed the start of sales. The watch is now in stores for almost CHF 1,000. Hayek’s Smartwatch, which is said to have cost 35 million francs to develop, is a hybrid watch that still has a normal dial and hands. The smart T-Touch can hardly be compared with smartwatches like the Apple Watch. (kes)
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