Rolex is in trouble. Apple is taking over

[GONZO2LR]

I heard Apple started watch wearing....that's why wearing a watch is popular...

[Jack T]

The article makes some good points about lack of innovation, the customer buying experience and non differentiation among Swiss brands. Who in 1971 foresaw the sea change that was coming? It didn’t take long, and it won’t take long again.
A big difference, not really addressed in the article, is that Apple and the top 25 Swiss watch makers aren’t really selling the same product. Not different segments or tiers, they are selling an entirely different product.

All the harrumphing on this thread is from people who are collectors, aficionados, enthusiasts, people who are committed to mechanical watches...not for telling time but for fun, for nostalgia, for camaraderie. Apple is paying us no mind, we represent a statically insignificant portion of the target audience.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a dozen or more watch companies disappear in the next 5 to 7 years. Actually, I’d be surprised if they don’t.

[Flyfisher]

If a Rolex were purchased to tell time as its primary purpose, it might be in trouble from the new tech. Much cheaper tools out there for that, and probably easier maintain. If you need a tool to tell time, a smart phone or watch is a better tool.

But that is not why Rolex sells every watch it produces and has a backlog of months, if not years, of orders.

[Liga]

Originally Posted by Krash

Are you responding to someone else? Your post doesn't seem to match with what I am saying.

I love the Apple Watch but not nearly as much as my Rolex or Omega watches.

Oh. Sorry. Not intended to offend you. But it sure does look that way.

I was agreeing with you. But didn't say it very well.

[Shadow Puppets]

Originally Posted by CastorKrieg

I don't have Apple Watch because then I would have to put away my mechanical watches - what's the point?

I only wear mine whilst working out.

But know a few people who wear mechanical on one wrist and smart on the other.

[zengineer]

I could strap a tangerine to my arm but that wouldn't make it a watch.

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[polaris72]

Funny

[CashGap]

Fords and Horses are NOT competitors!

[oxblood]

How long has the Apple watch been out?? This has already been disproven... especially with Rolex.

[Krash]

Originally Posted by Liga

Oh. Sorry. Not intended to offend you. But it sure does look that way.

I was agreeing with you. But didn't say it very well.

It's all good.

[DougFNJ]

I look at the Apple Watch the same way I looked at my old Casio Databank back in the day, followed by G-Shocks. They are gateway drugs. It gets you used to something on your wrist, and then you want more.

I’ll argue that Apple Watch saved the watch industry. There was a generation of kids that just used cell phones to tell the time and had no interest in watches until smart watches came along.

The industry is just fine, the market the way it is between AD’s and the grey market charging 30-80% premiums over retail.


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[kultschar]

Hilarious

[RyanJ]

Are people really comparing Apple to Rolex? It really is an incredibly silly comparison.

"Rolex stores are empty, Apple's has plenty of watches..."

That statement completely means nothing. Please do not try to compare Apple watch sales to Rolex watch sales. Rolex would be a rounding error when compared to Apple.

One is an electronic device that also tells time while the other is a wrist watch. They are really 2 different things.

[sgwatchguy]

Most people commenting without reading the article. Nothing new.

The writer is spot on. And OP has a clickbait title, which always works on TRF.

99% of the Swiss watch production is junk. And Apple is taking over the world. Rolex isn’t going anywhere though.

[Nikrnic]

Rolex in trouble? Is this the meaning of Bubble? The only ones in trouble are Rolex customers looking to buy a Rolex, at msrp that is. One thing for sure, there are enough Apples for everyone.

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[FORTN]

Ridiculousness

[1665fan]

My apple dealer wears a Sub....my Rolex dealer wears a Sub.....enough said

[Cagwolf]

This is hilarious, Not a chance they are not in the same bracket.

[JSCP]

Apple watch is not watch

[powerfunk]

When I recently asked owners of several Swiss luxury watches how often the brands communicated with them since the purchase, the answer was never. Not once. This is alarming. Even embarrassing.

LOL this is written from such a zoomer-marketing-major perspective. Why does Rolex need to "communicate with me" about the watch I bought? The author is just stating modern marketing conventional wisdom without justifying it at all. Typical college professor nonsense.

[CHRONOLEX]

Has been a humorous thread to follow today - thanks

[Jack T]

The author of the article is an expert in presenting himself perceived as an expert.

[Lew Archer]

Originally Posted by Jack T

The article makes some good points about lack of innovation, the customer buying experience and non differentiation among Swiss brands. Who in 1971 foresaw the sea change that was coming? It didn’t take long, and it won’t take long again.
A big difference, not really addressed in the article, is that Apple and the top 25 Swiss watch makers aren’t really selling the same product. Not different segments or tiers, they are selling an entirely different product.

All the harrumphing on this thread is from people who are collectors, aficionados, enthusiasts, people who are committed to mechanical watches...not for telling time but for fun, for nostalgia, for camaraderie. Apple is paying us no mind, we represent a statically insignificant portion of the target audience.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a dozen or more watch companies disappear in the next 5 to 7 years. Actually, I’d be surprised if they don’t.

Well said, sir.

What I would be concerned about, were I a CEO of any luxury watchmaker, is the middle school kid today, raised on iPhones and such. When they are old enough, wealthy enough, to buy Rolex, Omega, Patek, etc...will they?

I was hooked on watches in childhood. Watches are largely absent on kids today. My fourteen year old daughter has absolutely no interest in them. So, I wonder whether today's kids will look at wristwatches as we look at pocket watches. Relics of the past, however well made.

No industry can take for granted that its appeal will last.

[Kyle3130]

Originally Posted by MONTANTK

Apple Watch and Rolex are not even in the same market. I’d be willing to bet that 95% of Apple Watch sales are to people who either can’t afford a Rolex or have no interest in watches

This for sure! Every time I interact with an Apple Watch owner, they have no interest in mechanical watches at all.

[Orangeface]

An Apple Watch is for daytime. (They had to call it a watch cuz it goes on the wrist and also tells time). I use and enjoy my Apple Watch.

A Rolex is for anytime, especially evenings that I proudly take my wife out - or will again soon, and used to, anyway. I value and appreciate my Rolex watches.

One increases in value every year. One doesn’t. And only one will last more than a lifetime.

Rolex has nothing to be concerned about.

[teck21]

Originally Posted by Lew Archer

Well said, sir.

What I would be concerned about, were I a CEO of any luxury watchmaker, is the middle school kid today, raised on iPhones and such. When they are old enough, wealthy enough, to buy Rolex, Omega, Patek, etc...will they?

.

What would not change though about human behaviour is the need for group identification, and there will always be room for a group that uses wealth as its measure for differentiation.

But your point is still pertinent in that whether luxury watches will be used as a marker of identification for this group in the future is uncertain.

It could be replaced by the conspicuous need to philanthropise rather than the conspicuous acquisition of antiquated timepieces which are useless as tools.

Or perhaps one day a genuine luxury smart timepiece will arise?

Whatever it is, Rolex may have decided that the key to survival going forward is to go small.

Sell fewer rather than more, with the accompanying implications for accessibility.


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[peterskinner]

Have people not noticed how many of the younger generations are turning away from traditional watches? As they age will they switch to Rolex? Nothing lasts for ever, and that might include the luxury watch market. We just can’t know at the moment. Things are good now, but.......

[Gab27]

This is the silliest thing I've read in a very long time. Mechanical watches should have already gone completely extinct by this line of thinking. I love Apple products and I see a lot of similarities between Apple and Rolex (especially with respect to industry influence), but the Apple Watch really isn't comparable to a mechanical Rolex watch.

[Boaters]

Originally Posted by samson66

Yeah all those Rolex watches sitting and collecting dust in the display cases. Their days are numbered for sure.

Well said

[Bitmover]

This article is spot on, you can choose not to believe it but you would be wrong. For most people, I think wearing an Apple Watch makes them much less interested in a mechanical one.

Is Rolex in trouble now? Of course not, but I don’t see a world where the company outlasts Apple.

I wear a Sub on my left wrist because it makes me happy and an Apple Watch on the right because it keeps me healthy, I hope I never have to choose between the two.