New times for the Swiss watch industry

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When we think of Switzerland, we always think of high-quality watches. But the traditional watch industry is not going through its best moment, as both the Apple Watch and Android Wear watches have surpassed them in sales.

The term "Swiss Made" is not just a product label for a place of origin, it is something more important. It is a mark of quality recognised throughout the world.

Luxury watch
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Today, a large majority of luxury watches come from Switzerland . To get to this point, they have followed a strategy over time. This was taken from the 80s , when they focused on an emerging market: the Chinese.

In terms of craftsmanship, sometimes it's just a subtle switzerland number data difference that sets one manufacturer apart from another. Most people don't make a decision for or against a watch brand based on a set of objective criteria, but rather on factors such as the public image associated with a Swiss watchmaker like, say, Rolex . But there was one thing these manufacturers hadn't counted on: the emergence of smartwatches.

Android Wear and, above all, WatchOS have put them in the background
In the last quarter of 2017, market research firm Canalys found that more Apple Watches were purchased than Swiss watches . Two million more, to be exact. This news is quite problematic for all Swiss brands.

The figures are based on market data, but they point to a trend . In the first quarter of 2016, Apple sold 1.5 million watches, compared to 5.9 million in Switzerland. The following periods remained at almost the same level until the launch of the Apple Watch 3 in September 2017, just in time for the Christmas shopping season.

The release of a new phone (iPhone X, 8 and 8 Plus) and a new watch at the same time provided the perfect backdrop for buyers, who pushed the number of Apple Watches sold beyond the sales figures for Swiss watches.

Swiss brands (Swatch, Omega, TAG Heuer, Zenith, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Breguet, Rolex and Patek Philippe) have one mission left : reinvent themselves or continue as they are . Many of them have decided to jump on the smartwatch bandwagon and, for example, Frederique Constant has presented what they call "the 3.0 watch", a watch with features from both worlds, with analogue hands, notifications via app and a record of our activities. It has a battery life of 25 months, the same as the day of the Apple Watch 3, or two days.