Messages: 41199 Location: Washington, DC
Registered: November 2003
INDUSTRY NEWS - Surprises on the Swatch Group Annual Report
Thu, 31 January 2019 09:32
The 2018 Swatch Group annual report has been released, and some of the more interesting highlights are as follows:
Production companies in the Habillage sector (cases, dials, watch hands, etc.) worked at or even above capacity limits, which led to significant delivery delays, mainly for products for Omega and Longines.
Record number of 212 new patent applications in 2018. Creation of over 1 700 new jobs, mainly in Switzerland.
Omega is celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the moon landing with various additional product launches on this theme. Additionally, in the second half of 2019, the special editions "minus 1" for the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo will be launched in Japan.
The high demand for the Longines V.H.P. (Very High Precision) collection could not be adequately served in the last quarter of 2018 due to production bottlenecks. Elimination of these bottlenecks will have a very positive impact on the development of the brand in 2019.
Blancpain ended 2018 with record sales. The product Fifty Fathoms is one of the drivers of this success. The brand appeals ideally to the millennium generation, and strong growth is also expected in 2019.
Tissot will introduce its smart T-Touch with its own operating system during the course of 2019.
In February 2019, Swatch will launch the first Sistem51 products with the patented Nivachron balance spring with antimagnetic properties.
In future, all mechanical watches for Swatch Group brands will feature antimagnetic properties, either with the silicon balance spring or the Nivachron balance spring, both patented inventions. This means a substantial quality improvement in terms of precision and reliability. As a result, Swatch Group brands gain a clear advantage over many well-known brands in the Swiss and international watch industry which do not have similar antimagnetic quality characteristics.
This improvement, which will be backed up by a longer guarantee period, will translate into clear market share gains in 2019 and beyond.
- Jorge Merino