Ap to no longer genderized watches

[joekim13]

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/10/aude...y-watches.html

What's everyone's take on this? The video interview is actually really telling of how she is going to run the company.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/10/aude...y-watches.html

I also don't agree w some statements that by 2030 45% of woman will purchase a mechanical watch not gift but purchase .. watches are not on the priority list from what I've seen for most woman (unless it's a gift) usually below bags / purses and traditional jewelry.

"We want to reflect the society and the clients that buy the watches"

"They do not want to be genderized"

[gretch6364]

Waiting for my pink dial 43mm ROO! Or baby blue…

[lucasalce]

I find it very interesting they intend to increase production of high complications by double digit %.
Must be a huge waitlist for the Code universelle or sonneries.

In the US of A, I can see increase in women buying watches on their own.
I find it hard to beleive it will increase for other markets.

[ButtButt]

I can see the women market growing in the next few years. My wife recently got her first AP and loves it so much she's already looking for the next one. The last few times I've been at the boutique or house I've seen women there by themselves shopping for a new watch.

I do find it funny how she claims other companies raised their prices too fast the past few years when AP has been raising them just as much. Hello pot meet kettle.

[apandy305]

This is truly Sad, after watching that horrific Hodinkee interview with Ginny I have lost faith in the brand. I'm happy that they are welcoming women but there is a way to do it that doesn't seem so forced. I love the designs and quality which, for the most part, is still there but everything is starting to feel so feminine. Maybe they figure the male AP customer will never leave them and that business is forever baked in, but I wouldn't be so sure. There are a lot of people I know who are becoming turned off.

[Slackergirl]

Thanks for sharing. Interesting video. For me personally I like her outlook going forward for AP. Recently just purchased my first AP and one of the things on the follow up survey I mentioned was how much I appreciated not being told "these are the women's watches". Really enjoyed my first visit to an AP House and felt the salesperson did a great job of showing me everything I was interested in and a few I had not thought of too seriously. Just found the initial experience and follow up purchase very enjoyable and can't wait for my next purchase. If AP wants to increase the women's collectors numbers I am here to help

[0nly5iv3Digits]

lol what are they employing swamis now?

[INC]

This probably wasn't the best TIME to coming out with such an idea.

[In-N-Out]

AP has been positioning most of their pieces as unisex for quite a while now, so nothing too surprising here. I do hope they release more classy and elegant pieces for both men and women. the Bucci models are beautiful. so is the 37 turquoise. some more of that would be nice.

I don't know if this is good or bad long term for the brand, but I have a feeling that AP would like to be more like Rolex or Cartier when it comes to brand awareness for women. 99% of women know what Rolex/Cartier is, while perhaps only 10% have heard of AP.

ultimately, as long as they don't grow production too much every year, I think a 5% increase (with most of the incremental volume going to "ladies" pieces) would be great for the brand. in 15 years, assuming they are still at 50k/year currently, that would put AP at 100K pieces a year. sounds like a lot, but rolex will likely be pumping >1.5M at that point.

in terms of attracting new clients for the next generation, the more that women want AP, more men will likely want something from AP too.

[John Doyle]

Rumor has it that the restrooms in AP offices and headquarters are now also Unisex - no more distinction between male and female restrooms.

Great move forward?

[subtona]

Bud light anyone?

[INC]

They will wake up soon.

[1William]

Just another reason to not buy. Like the long list I have was not good enough.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by subtona

Bud light anyone?

[Ashj52]

I like the idea of watches being non gender specific!

[supernova]

I think the non gender thing makes sense, just refer to the watches by their sizes and let the customer decide which they like. For example there has always been debate on whether the 37mm RO are a men or women’s size, doesn’t matter! Same for other brands, I see plenty women wear Rolex professional 40/41mm watches and also men wear 34mm DJs, no point confusing customers with the gender labelling.

Also seeing female customers as a source of future growth in the luxury watch space also makes sense, nothing earth shattering or woke to me.


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[Vivalas]

Originally Posted by INC

They will woke up soon.

FTFY

[Dan Pierce]

The $#it people get upset about boggles my mind.
dP

[BraveBold]

Originally Posted by INC

They will wake up soon.

???

I don’t follow this comment. Did you watch the video or read the summary? Why will they “wake up” precisely?

[BraveBold]

Originally Posted by Dan Pierce

The $#it people get upset about boggles my mind.
dP

Right? It is absurd.

I watched the video and she was very rational in her explanation for that decision.

I too find the categorization of watches by gender, at least in many cases, an anachronism. My wife is petite and prefers smaller watches - but she absolutely has tried on larger watches that appeal to her. It is also clear that many watches appeal across men and women… and it goes the other way too. I have an Omega PO in 39.5mm. It appeals to me more than the 43.5 and fits my 7 inch wrist perfectly. Omega classifies it as a ladies watch!

We see “men’s” watches with diamond dials sold at the highest price points and women wearing 41mm watches…

She also acknowledged that some watches are designed with a more feminine take / inspiration but also that men often now purchase dial colors traditionally targeted at women.

So why would someone alienate a huge potential customer category (in both directions) and artificially segregate their product to their own detriment?

If I am Rolex do I need to adjust strategy? No… I see little segmentation other than ladies DJ. The rest appear size driven. AP is just categorizing by size too…

[77T]

Originally Posted by BraveBold

I don’t follow this comment. Did you watch the video or read the summary? Why will they “wake up” precisely?

I don't know exactly what he meant, or it was a play on words as another pundit reposted.

But I do think AP taking a frontal approach in a presser or articles isn't helpful from product positioning or brand perspectives. Size can be segmented, but also dial color, motif, and gemset styles.

Take Rolex's approach for instance - there is a definite model "Lady DJ" that is limited to DJ 28 size. See the screenshots I posted below. There are over 100 more examples when searching "Lady" on Rolex.com - including up to 36mm.

These are tagged "Lady" for SEO purposes.







For AP, searching by tags on their website like Lady, Woman, and Women's return no results.




But if you simply filter by size and click Small then you get a slew of colorful, playful, and sparkly AP watches in smaller size ms are slanted towards a lady's discerning eye.

And to AP's credit, they respect that women racers like chronos while Rolex ignores them.




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[Cru Jones]

Originally Posted by Dan Pierce

The $#it people get upset about boggles my mind.
dP

Exactly. It's pretty amusing to see how who actually are the most sensitive people....

Originally Posted by BraveBold

Right? It is absurd.

I watched the video and she was very rational in her explanation for that decision.

I too find the categorization of watches by gender, at least in many cases, an anachronism. My wife is petite and prefers smaller watches - but she absolutely has tried on larger watches that appeal to her. It is also clear that many watches appeal across men and women… and it goes the other way too. I have an Omega PO in 39.5mm. It appeals to me more than the 43.5 and fits my 7 inch wrist perfectly. Omega classifies it as a ladies watch!

We see “men’s” watches with diamond dials sold at the highest price points and women wearing 41mm watches…

She also acknowledged that some watches are designed with a more feminine take / inspiration but also that men often now purchase dial colors traditionally targeted at women.

So why would someone alienate a huge potential customer category (in both directions) and artificially segregate their product to their own detriment?

If I am Rolex do I need to adjust strategy? No… I see little segmentation other than ladies DJ. The rest appear size driven. AP is just categorizing by size too…

x2!

A watch is a watch. Why categorize by gender? It's really pretty simple.

[INC]

Originally Posted by 77T

[...]or it was a play on words as another pundit reposted.

^^ this.

You are right, I did not wanted to talk about politics, but the changes.

What I see is, that in the last two weeks there significant changes, which was not predictable earlier. Like Zuckerberg's 180° turn, or Mc Donalds which ending the DEI, and so on, you know these much more then me. FROM this aspect, I think, AP "missed the point", as it was not the best timing to play a gender game.

TBH, I think, it is not in itself a bad idea to remove the borders between some models. For example, if one, who have a smaller wrist can purchase a former ladies RO now as a "unisex" model, it could be good. Also, as it was discussed several times, nowadays even the womans wearing larger watches then ever in the history. And to be honest, sometimes they look really good on them.

HOWEVER:

Most of the times, the men are usually likes to feel, that they are men. From this aspect, if a watch will be too "girly", than it may loose several male customers. Let me remind for the former converastions about even the "white dial", which was not really a loved by the men, exept some special models, which is mostly the Explorer and the Daytona. And these are the men!

But a WOMAN likes to be treated like a WOMAN. In my experience, they REALLY like that, what was made FOR THEM. Even if they want to say no, but usually they like the girly things better, and really enjoy to be treated like a woman and not as an "unisex person".

Based on this, if there will be NO PRODUCT LINE for them does not seems to be a good business strategy even TODAY and not for tomorrow. Maybe it would be good for the future, but I think, they missed the goal to do this about a year ago. To start a non-gender based selling TODAY, when this ideology is going out of fashion is not looking a good strategy for me, because what is going to be out of fashion, that the ladies will surely not like.

[BraveBold]

There are cars and car trims that may appeal more to men or women. Imagine if there was a “ladies” section in the Ferrari dealership - would any men have purchased a Ferrari California?

My wife prefers smaller watches - fits her better. But when looking at watches she has tried on any of a number… and the gender distinction is not limiting. It is not a politically timed move (well timed or not) and so hopefully this discussion falls outside that silliness.

Originally Posted by INC

^^ this.

You are right, I did not wanted to talk about politics, but the changes.

What I see is, that in the last two weeks there significant changes, which was not predictable earlier. Like Zuckerberg's 180° turn, or Mc Donalds which ending the DEI, and so on, you know these much more then me. FROM this aspect, I think, AP "missed the point", as it was not the best timing to play a gender game.

TBH, I think, it is not in itself a bad idea to remove the borders between some models. For example, if one, who have a smaller wrist can purchase a former ladies RO now as a "unisex" model, it could be good. Also, as it was discussed several times, nowadays even the womans wearing larger watches then ever in the history. And to be honest, sometimes they look really good on them.

HOWEVER:

Most of the times, the men are usually likes to feel, that they are men. From this aspect, if a watch will be too "girly", than it may loose several male customers. Let me remind for the former converastions about even the "white dial", which was not really a loved by the men, exept some special models, which is mostly the Explorer and the Daytona. And these are the men!

But a WOMAN likes to be treated like a WOMAN. In my experience, they REALLY like that, what was made FOR THEM. Even if they want to say no, but usually they like the girly things better, and really enjoy to be treated like a woman and not as an "unisex person".

Based on this, if there will be NO PRODUCT LINE for them does not seems to be a good business strategy even TODAY and not for tomorrow. Maybe it would be good for the future, but I think, they missed the goal to do this about a year ago. To start a non-gender based selling TODAY, when this ideology is going out of fashion is not looking a good strategy for me, because what is going to be out of fashion, that the ladies will surely not like.

[Steele]

Originally Posted by 77T

I don't know exactly what he meant, or it was a play on words as another pundit reposted.

But I do think AP taking a frontal approach in a presser or articles isn't helpful from product positioning or brand perspectives. Size can be segmented, but also dial color, motif, and gemset styles.

Take Rolex's approach for instance - there is a definite model "Lady DJ" that is limited to DJ 28 size. See the screenshots I posted below. There are over 100 more examples when searching "Lady" on Rolex.com - including up to 36mm.

These are tagged "Lady" for SEO purposes.


For AP, searching by tags on their website like Lady, Woman, and Women's return no results.


But if you simply filter by size and click Small then you get a slew of colorful, playful, and sparkly AP watches in smaller size ms are slanted towards a lady's discerning eye.

And to AP's credit, they respect that women racers like chronos while Rolex ignores them.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The 37mm ROO honestly I didnt think it would look good on me, as the wifey has a 37mm RO music edition that is to SMALL IMHO but to my Surprise the 37mm ROO fits like my Daytona here it is side by side with my 39mm RO

My wrist is just a touch under 7 inches

[Verticalforce]

I guess they need some male models now for Royal Oak Mini

[INC]

Originally Posted by BraveBold

There are cars and car trims that may appeal more to men or women. Imagine if there was a “ladies” section in the Ferrari dealership - would any men have purchased a Ferrari California?

If you would know Ferrari, then you would not ask such a question. Do you remember what happened to Kim Kardashian when she was dishonest to their tradition? I was talking about women and watches.

You know, the girls usually only know about watches as much as their own Ferrari experience. However, they really like jewelry. That's why they do not mind if a bracelet sometimes has a watch mechanism too, because they can mostly live with the fact that a bracelet is not entirely encrusted with diamonds. And now tell me, do you seriously think that in the world of men we think the same way? Or even that if we want to look for watches, then we will like if they put them in front of our noses, saying "why can not we buy them"? Or... "Buy these first, if you want a rare model?"

Are you sure you want to walk this way?

[BraveBold]

Originally Posted by INC

If you would know Ferrari, then you would not ask such a question. Do you remember what happened to Kim Kardashian when she was dishonest to their tradition? I was talking about women and watches.

You know, the girls usually only know about watches as much as their own Ferrari experience. However, they really like jewelry. That's why they do not mind if a bracelet sometimes has a watch mechanism too, because they can mostly live with the fact that a bracelet is not entirely encrusted with diamonds. And now tell me, do you seriously think that in the world of men we think the same way? Or even that if we want to look for watches, then we will like if they put them in front of our noses, saying "why can not we buy them"? Or... "Buy these first, if you want a rare model?"

Are you sure you want to walk this way?

I assure you I have forgotten more about Ferrari than you’ve ever learned lol.

The rest of your post… well, I cannot follow it. That’s all I’ll say…

Have a great day.

[llngoc]

Originally Posted by lucasalce

I find it very interesting they intend to increase production of high complications by double digit %.
Must be a huge waitlist for the Code universelle or sonneries.

In the US of A, I can see increase in women buying watches on their own.
I find it hard to beleive it will increase for other markets.

My wife forces me to buy watches. Especially if it is AP or FPJ...

[Il-Re]

Originally Posted by supernova

I think the non gender thing makes sense, just refer to the watches by their sizes and let the customer decide which they like. For example there has always been debate on whether the 37mm RO are a men or women’s size, doesn’t matter! Same for other brands, I see plenty women wear Rolex professional 40/41mm watches and also men wear 34mm DJs, no point confusing customers with the gender labelling.

Also seeing female customers as a source of future growth in the luxury watch space also makes sense, nothing earth shattering or woke to me.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I get it, I remember around 9 years ago I tried on the 15450 37mm, I actually thought it looked really good on my wrist (slimmer days), the sales lady said it is a ladies model and I should try on the 15400 41mm. Despite my own instinct, when she said it was a ladies model it did put me off.