Our Vision of SIHH 2010...

Premiere World Watch Report 2010

BRIC Markets account for 12% of global demand for luxury watches. Amongst BRIC Markets, India accounts for 14% of searches for luxury watches Rolex, Omega, TAG Heuer and Cartier are leading brands in BRIC Markets Indian origin brand ambassadors rank in searches from BRIC Markets

BRIC Markets (including Brazil, Russia, India and China) already account for more than 12% of the global demand for luxury watches even as the global demand for the 10 “Haute Horlogerie” brands increased by 14% over one year. These are the findings of The Premiere WorldWatchReport 2010, which was launched on the opening day of the SIHH in Geneva.

Also, 14% of the searches for luxury watches happen from India, the report says. In India, there is a lot of interest in brands such as Omega, Rolex, Tag Heuer, Cartier, Rado,  Longines, Breitling, Bvlgari and Chopard.

When looking at the BRIC markets only, TAG Heuer’s “Carrera” is ahead of Omega’s “Seamaster” – the global most searched model - and TAG Heuer’s “Formula 1” is more searched for than Rolex’s “Daytona” – which ranks 4th in the global ranking as well. Blancpain and Breitling are the only brands challenging the four leaders (Rolex, Omega, TAG Heuer and Cartier).  In terms of searches for brand ambassadors for haute horlogerie brands in the BRIC Markets, Aishwaray Rai is n°1, probably with a high search volume coming from India. Sachin Tendulkar (Audemars Piguet), is ranked 2nd; Preity Zinta (Chopard) is ranked 3rd and Abhishek Bachchan (Omega) is ranked 13th in the Top 15 list.

The 6th edition of this market study published by IC-Agency, a company specializing in luxury digital marketing, deciphers queries entered into search engines throughout the Internet from millions of prospects for 25 luxury watch brands. The survey covers 10 key markets, including – for the first time - BRIC markets Brazil, Russia, India and China as well as the top export markets United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany.

Among the main trends revealed by the 2010 report: The most in-demand “Haute Horlogerie” models in 2009 are Jaeger-LeCoultre “Reverso” (8.2%), Audemars Piguet “Royal Oak” (7.1%) and IWC “Portuguese” (6.3%). Facebook becomes a key platform for watch brands, gathering more than 300’000 watch enthusiasts The market study is carried out by IC-Agency and published in partnership with Europa Star "the most influential watch magazine", with the precious support of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie. It will be officially released during BaselWorld 2010.

In terms of weighing of global markets in brand searches for haute horlogerie brands, the US is still the No. 1 market, except for Franck-Muller for which it is UK. Germany, the biggest market in Europe in terms of Internet users, shows a strong interest for “Haute Horlogerie” brands, especially for Jaeger-LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet and IWC, with respectively 32.4%, 28% and 25.1% of market share.

Globally, the best performing brands are Blancpain (+115%), Jaeger-LeCoultre (+114%) and Audemars Piguet (+81%), while Zenith is slowing down with a 51% decrease in web searches. Blancpain “Flyback”, Zenith “El Primero” as well as IWC “Pilot” and “Spitfire” now enter the Top most searched models.

Facebook becomes a key platform for watch brands, gathering more than 300’000 watch enthusiasts: Average of 440% increase of new Fans for all 25 watch brands over one year. Hublot is the #1 brand on Facebook with +55’000 Fans, followed by Cartier (44’500 Fans) and TAG Heuer (36’600 Fans). More than 300’000 people are Fans of prestigious watch brands, an increase of 440% over the number of watch enthusiasts registered last year. Hublot explodes from 1’615 to more that 56’300 over one year. 12 out of the 25 brands officially manage their own Fan Page (Baume & Mercier, Breguet, Bulgari, Ebel, Girard-Perregaux, Longines, Montblanc, Omega, Piaget, Rado, Raymond Weil and TAG Heuer.)

In terms of weighing of global markets in brand searches for Women’s Jewellery brands, Italy remains the 1st market for Bulgari searches, but US increases from 10 to 25%; the US still has the highest share of search volumes for Cartier, Chopard and Piaget, but the gap with China is closing regarding Piaget.

Globally in terms of searches for brand ambassadors, Tiger Woods is now n°1, without a doubt a consequence of his recent private life’s exposure. The Olympic Games effect is now over, reflected by Michael Phelps’s fall from 1 to 9. Audemars Piguet, Montblanc and Chopard make their entrance in the Top 15. Interestingly, Tiger Woods only ranks 13th in BRIC Market searches. Focused on 10 top luxury watch industry markets and new markets 2010, the study analyzes 25 luxury watch brands, sorted in 4 categories (same scope as 2009):

Haute Horlogerie: Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Breguet, Girard-Perregaux, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Franck Muller, Zenith
Women’s / Jewelry: Bulgari, Cartier, Chopard, Piaget
Prestige: Breitling, Hublot, Omega, Rolex, Tag Heuer
High Range: Baume & Mercier, Ebel, Longines, Montblanc, Raymond Weil, Rado

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