Report: 7% Increase in Interest for Haute Horlogerie, Led by BRIC and Asian Markets

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak,
such as this 'City of Sails' piece,
is the most sought-after
haute horlogerie
watch model in the world.

Is there a slowdown in the luxury watch market? Maybe. But global interest in luxury timepieces (haute horlogerie) not only remains strong but actually increased by 7 percent in 2012, according to the preliminary results of a global report.

Luxury industry market intelligence firm, Digital Luxury Group, recently released the results of the haute horlogerie category (18 brands) of the WorldWatchReport, based on an analysis of watch-related search queries typed into major global search engines. Among the findings:

1. Compared to the previous year, the highest-end category of luxury watches, haute horlogerie, experienced a 7% increase in brand interest. “This marks the third year in a row that the online interest of this highest-end segment of luxury watches has increased, showing the continued strength of haute horlogerie within the overall market,” said Florent Bondoux, DLG head of Strategy & Intelligence.

2. Of the 20 markets analyzed in the study, nearly half (47%) of global interest for haute horlogerie stems from Brazil, Russia, India, China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Mainland China on its own compromises 31 percent of the global demand or twice as much as the U.S. market.

3. There’s a downward trend in mature luxury watch markets with the U.S. down by 10.6 percent and Japan down by 11.7 percent in its share of global demand. While relative share of demand has progressively shrank in the past three years in most established markets, for the first time since the report’s launch in 2004, there was an absolute decline in domestic demand in the U.S. and Japan.

4. Patek Philippe remains by far the leading haute horlogerie watch brand with 23.6 percent of brand interest share. Jaeger-LeCoultre takes the second spot with 12.7 percent, closely followed by Vacheron Constantin at 12.6 percent, Audemars Piguet at 9.2 percent and Breguet at 7.7 percent.

5. Along with Richard Mille, Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe also record the highest growth rates in brand interest year-over-year, with 26 percent and 10.2 percent, respectively. Founded in 2001, the Richard Mille brand is the fastest growing haute horlogerie brand (61% over last year), followed by Vacheron Constantin (26%), and Patek Philippe (10.2%).

6. Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak, reinforcing its leading position of last year, continues its reign as the most sought-after haute horlogerie watch model, increasing its online interest by 5 percent over the last year, likely an effect of the increased communications surrounding the icon’s 40th anniversary. Though the Royal Oak leads globally, local preferences arise for other models in markets such as Japan (Girard-Perregaux’s 1945), China (Vacheron Constantin’s Overseas), and Russia (Blancpain’s Leman).

Haute horlogerie brands tracked in this preview report were: A. Lange & Söhne, Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Bovet, Breguet, De Bethune, Frank Muller, Girard-Perregaux, Glashütte Original, Greubel Forsey, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Jaquet Droz, Parmigiani, Patek Philippe, Richard Mille, Roger Dubuis, Ulysse Nardin and Vacheron Constantin.

The full edition of the WorldWatchReport, which this year will cover more than 60 watch brands in 20 markets worldwide, will be available in April.

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China is Number 1 In Luxury Watch Demand

Omega is a favorite luxury watch brand in China.

China has surpassed the U.S. as the country with the highest demand for luxury watches based on Internet searches, according to a survey released Wednesday.

China represents 23 percent of all watch-related searches, according to the WorldWatchReport, published by Digital Luxury Group. Gaining the most attention in China is Omega (20.2 percent of searches there), followed by Longines (18.9 percent) and Rolex (10.5 percent).

It is the first since the survey began in 2004 that the U.S. wasn’t number one based on these digital criteria.

In addition to the growth witnessed in China (up 7.8 percentage points), countries such as Japan (3.5 pp), India (0.6 pp), and Russia (0.5 pp) saw significant increases over last year, according to the survey. Most western markets remained stable or even saw market share drops, such as in the U.S. (down 9.2 pp), Germany (-1.7 pp), and Italy (-1 pp).

I don’t understand how exactly this virtual demand translates into real demand much less actual sales, but it no doubts shows that Asian consumers have an extremely strong interest in luxury watches and that luxury watch brands moving into China are doing the right thing.

Rolex and Omega are the top two brands in demand, but the lead that Rolex held over Omega in prior years is narrowing. The difference in demand between the two brands is 2.3 percentage points, against 8.4 in 2009—mainly explained by Omega gaining market share in China while Rolex reinforced its positioning in the stagnant West, according to the study.

Among the more than 1,300 individual watch models tracked by the WorldWatchReport, the top three models are Omega’s Seamaster, Rolex’s Submariner and Rolex’s Daytona, according to the survey.

Global searches related to counterfeits and replicas experienced a decrease, representing 1.85 percent of total luxury watch searches compared to 4.5 percent last year. Among the 40 brands analyzed, the demand for replica sport watches is the highest, with Rolex representing 51 percent of the total demand for counterfeits worldwide, followed by Breitling (9 percent) and TAG Heuer (5.3 percent).

The WorldWatchReport measures and benchmarks more than 50 digital indicators to analyze the performance of 40 luxury watch brands across 20 international markets.