2020 VISION
Predictions for the year to come…
SERVICE STANDARDS
For some time, the watch industry has neglected the ownership side of the business, preferring to focus on sales. The cost and frequency of servicing your timepiece (upwards of £500; roughly once every five years) is rarely discussed and hasn’t improved in years; as more watches have been pumped into the world, services have taken longer to carry out. The answer is to make watches capable of going longer without maintenance, and to increase manufacturer’s warranties. Some of the recent technological advances should yield progress on this front, and it was encouraging to see Jaeger-LeCoultre (above) increase its warranty to eight years. I hope others follow suit; the warranty should cover the first regular service.
SMARTWATCH SLIDE
Since its introduction in 2014, the Apple Watch (pictured) has not had the destructive impact on the Swiss watch industry that many predicted. But it has been a phenomenal success, and 2019 looks like it will be the year that Apple Watch sales outperform the entire Swiss watch industry by value. At the same time, I predict that Swiss firms will quietly drop their own smartwatches; the initial enthusiasm for TAG Heuer’s Connected and Montblanc’s Summit seems muted at best. It’s hard to get excited about chunky, short-lived designs with unremarkable specs when brands want to build their reputations on peerless quality and craft.
ROLEX WILL BE ROLEX
Taking a broad view, the past few years in watches can be characterised thus: most brands have hugely diversified their ranges, offering more metals, colours, shapes and sizes than ever and numerous new designs. A few – Rolex, Patek Philippe – have offered the same limited selection of models with subtle upgrades and variations. Which approach has been more successful? I predict that Rolex will continue to frustrate and titillate buyers with its Henry Ford attitude to choice and Machiavellian limits on production, shrugging off its critics in the way that only the world’s most trusted brand (according to magazine) can. Oh, and I foresee a new Submariner. Because one of these years I will actually be right.