New Target for the watch industry… Women
Women have become a new target for high-end watch manufacturers, as their behavior is changing from simply wearing fashionable or jewelry watches to timepieces with more complicated functions and movements And as they prepared yesterday for this month’s major exhibition of watches in the Siam Paragon shopping complex, a group of men involved in high-end retailing and haute horlogerie shared their thoughts about women taking a larger share of what was once a predominantly male-oriented industry.
Kriengsak Tantiphipop, executive chief marketing officer for Siam Paragon, said the trend was gaining strength not only in Thailand, but also worldwide. Women these days are more concerned about what is inside a watch and are becoming watch collectors, like men.
“Women have been wearing more complicated watches for a while, but they were watches for men, and the dials were too big,” he said.
Narun Thamavaranukup, vice president of Blue River, the sole distributor of five high-end watches, including Patek Philippe and Chopard, said many manufacturers previously focusing mainly on men’s watches were paying greater attention to the new target and producing more complicated women’s watches with smaller dials.
As a result, the market for high-quality watches now has a clear division between men and women.
Women’s watches still feature jeweled masterpieces, but they also include ones with complex functions, such as tourbillions, power reserves, perpetual-calendar watches and chronographs.
Kriengsak said the proportion of men and women buyers in the market for high-end watches, which is estimated to be worth Bt12 billion, should be 70:30. Narun disagreed, saying the proportion was more like 50:50.
In terms of market growth, women’s watches are experiencing high growth, while the men’s-watch market appears to be stable. But the men’s-watch market has developed over many generations and has a wide base.
Women’s watches, which are commonly decorated with jewels, tend to fetch higher prices than those for men. If, on the other hand, jewels were not part of the deal, women’s watches should cost less than men’s models.
Narun pointed out that another factor helping drive the growth of women’s watches was the fact that women liked to have a variety of watches to wear on different occasions. What’s more, women like to spend money more than men do.
Both Narun and Kriengsak concluded that the men’s-watch market will maintain its majority in the high-end market, because manufacturers will continue to launch new models with more and more complicated functions and movements.
A renowned Japanese watch brand is also focusing on the women’s market and has hired a Hong Kong singer and actor as a presenter. It is offering women’s watches at prices ranging from Bt5,000 to Bt60,000, said Purij Mahadumrongkul, managing director of Muang Thong Seiko, sole distributor in Thailand for Seiko watches and clocks.
Siam Paragon’s Kriengsak predicts women’s watches will be one of the highlights of Bangkok World Watch and Jewelry 2007, to be held in the shopping complex from next Wednesday to August 26. The exhibition will cover 14,000 square meters and feature 180 watch brands, up from 160 last year. The accumulated value of the watches on display will be Bt3 billion.
Kriengsak expects 100,000 visitors at the event and believes it will experience cash flow of Bt300 million, up 10 per cent from last year. The current “strong appreciation” for quality timepieces should see prices 10-15-per-cent cheaper than normal.
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