(<em>via 9to5Mac reader Felix</em>)
Apple Watch signage in Apple Stores has been going up all around the world since last week, but the Basel Apple Store in Switzerland appears to be especially decked out with Apple Watch promotional material. Switzerland isn’t among the 9 countries where the Apple Watch will be made available on April 24th, but the Basel location is the center of attention for the watch industry this week with BaselWorld, a watch and jewelry trade show, kicking off tomorrow.
We’ve already seen a few of the Apple Watch competitors from Swiss watchmakers launching luxury smartwatches including hardware from Frederique Constant and Alpina and Swatch says it will have its own Apple Watch competitor come to market this year, and we’re expecting to see a whole lot more competition tomorrow.
With Apple offering its Watch at price points ranging from as low as $349 all the way to $17,000, the Swiss luxury watch market has become an area of interest for the company ahead of the Apple Watch’s launch next month.
Jony Ive, in a moment of confidence told by The New York Times last year, reportedly described that existing market once the Apple Watch debuts saying “Switzerland is in trouble.” The Apple Watch has prompted a mixed response from existing Swiss watchmakers however.
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I’m pretty sure Jony’s quote was ‘Switzerland is fucked’
Its about time
At least they still have the chocolate industry.
And Banking, Chemical, Pharma, Insurance, Food. Not bad for a country of 7 million and the size of a large lake. And we’ll keep on owning the luxury watch market. Or do you seriously think anyone will replace a timeless masterpiece with an Apple Watch? If you got nothing constructive to say, stfu.
Agreed. But lets not feed the trolls…
I still think luxury watches aren’t going to take THAT big a hit. Daily-wear sales and brands like TAG are going to suffer enormously, but the super-luxe makers will continue to produce collector’s items.
People who own a luxury watch don’t own just one watch, and there are times to leave your Apple Watch behind, too.
There are plenty of situations in which attending to your notifications is poor etiquette. Whether it’s a formal dinner or just a date, you still should be paying attention to present company, and not your bleeps and dings. An occasion like that is also the prime moment to make a style statement of individuality that Apple will *always* be too mass-market for. The expensive edition versions are just a different colour to the other mass-market watches, they say nothing about the wearer’s personality.
A moment googling strange watches will show you an amazing array of very expensive watches which watch-lovers can wear when the mood strikes them — knowing that they’ll outlive the wearer.
Swatch should sell their assets immediately if they’re not happy catering solely to the collector’s market, given that with custom bands, you can make your Apple Watch look like anything, but that doesn’t mean the whole industry is going to fade away.
Watch enthusiasts are a thing, and actually a shrinking market is likely create more enthusiasts as automatic watchmakers focus on unique styling.
Switzerland got the iPhone 6 on launch day even though it wasn’t officially a launch country. And I think for the watch, it would be appropriate to get the ball rolling sooner than later.