OPINION: More watches engineered for women, please

Barbara Palumbo

Editor’s Note: It was a chance meeting in the foyer of the Hublot booth at Baselworld 2016 that connected our team with journalist and founder of new blog ‘What’s On Her Wrist’, Barbara Palumbo. Since then we’ve stayed in touch, and Barbara’s written a couple of posts on WOHW that have resonated with us. When we first launched Time+Tide with a broadsheet publication – non-digital, hand-stitched – at Baselworld 2014, we commissioned a story about the future of luxury women’s watches, citing the interesting fact that there will be more female than male millionaires in Britain by 2020. Barbara takes this thought to the next level, two years later, in this opinion piece.  

RE-ENGINEERING WATCHES FOR WOMEN – Why it’s high time the watch industry changed tack

Despite what the ‘manstream’ media (I have waited for ages to use that term) might be saying, let it be known that Baselworld 2016 was most certainly the year of the woman. And why not? Statistics recently posted by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry reported a decline of 3.3% compared to 2015. And while that’s borderline frightening news for the Swiss watch industry it’s also a wake-up call for them to go after a market that’s been largely untapped until now – the female self-purchaser.

According to the infographic that appears through this story from Business Insider, 85% of total purchases are made by women. They also state that two thirds of consumer wealth in America (the Swiss watch industry’s second largest market) will belong to women in the next decade. Oh, and get this: 50% of the products marketed at men are purchased by women, largely because a staggering 91% of women believe that advertisers don’t understand them.

Walking through the main floor of Baselworld’s Hall 1 you would have seen that while women were the minority of the showgoers (but the majority of the deep neckline wearers and booth greeters), many in attendance were donning men’s watches. Why? As the infographic states, it’s because those watches were the only ones marketed.

I chose not to set any appointments with brands at Baselworld that weren’t listed on the show’s website as also selling ladies’ watches. Each person I set a time with listened to my three-minute explanation of who I was, what this blog was going to be about, and what I’d be looking to see in terms of product in said meeting. To say that an overwhelming majority of PR people, marketing directors, and production assistants were relieved to hear that a watch blog was going to center on women would be an understatement. “It’s about time. There is not a lot of press for women’s watches” said Xavier Mettaz, Director of Production at luxury jewelry and timepiece house, Jacob & Co. Aurélie Picaud, manager of Fabergé Timepieces, stated, “This is so exciting that you’re doing this. It is really needed.” And the enthusiasm about the idea didn’t end there, with brand managers scurrying to show me what they had just released in terms of new digs for ladies, and with many of those digs containing mechanical movements (both automatic and manual).

To say that an overwhelming majority of PR people, marketing directors, and production assistants were relieved to hear that a watch blog was going to center on women would be an understatement.

One of my favorite moments of the trip came during my sit-down with Maurice Lacroix’s Product/R&D Director, David Sanchez. “Barbara, right now, 80% of the watches we produce are men’s and 20% are women’s. Do you know that 55% of Swiss watches sold are women’s watches? It’s not the greater profit or higher price point I’m talking, just volume.” David then proceeded to show me a brand new ladies mechanical (don’t rub your eyes, indeed I used the word “MECHANICAL”) square wheel watch from the Maurice Lacroix “Masterpiece” collection and my heart jumped into my throat.

At 43mm, the case was somewhat larger than what I would normally prefer, but the deep red hand-stitched crocodile strap, mother-of-pearl face (model differed from the one pictured), diamond SS bezel, and hand-wound in-house ML 156 movement pulled me in. The watch’s functions include a 45-hour power reserve, with the small seconds by square wheel (at 6 o’clock) and the power reserve hand at 3 o’clock. The piece also comes with a domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, thirty-four jewels, square-shaped and clover-shaped wheels highlighted by a circular opening on the movement bridge itself, and decorated with a sandblasted background. It won me over, as did the company, which I had not realized is not part of a larger watch group until my talk with David.

The final word should be left to David: “For 2017, we’re looking to change [our split of male / female timepieces] to 60% men’s and 40% women’s. And then, who knows, maybe someday it is split evenly.”

The times, my friends, they thankfully are a changin’.

Barbara Palumbo is the founder and editor of Adornmentality.com and whatsonherwrist.com Barbara is a twenty-year veteran of jewelry industry and has written for various blogs and publications throughout her career.