This is an overview put together for you after collecting a lot of information during Baselworld and reading various publications afterwards.
Estimated? Yes!
Guys, all pieces sold and the turnovers mentioned here are unfortunately estimated, since no one really tells you his correct figures.
But if YOU are in the position to give me better or more reliable figures, you are more than welcome to do so. Maybe you have better access than I have and you can help me to accomplish or correct these figures.
First you always read the estimated watches sold in pieces (p) and then the estimated turnover in million Swiss francs (MM/CHF) or for the two German brands mentioned in Euro (MM/Euro).
The changes made 09.06.2013 are marked in green
The changes made 06.08.2013 are marked in blue
These are the Richemont brands, including the one producing in Germany:
Vacheron Constantin … 23.000p / 600 MM/CHF
Baume & Mercier … 100.000p / 120 MM/CHF
Jaeger-LeCoultre … 72.000p / 680 MM/CHF
A. Lange & Söhne … 5500p / < 150 MM/Euro
Cartier … 450.000p / 2.280 MM/CHF
Officine Panerai … 70.000p / 300 MM/CHF
IWC … 90.000p / 580 MM/CHF
Piaget … 24.000p / 500 MM/CHF
Van Cleef & Arpels … 3500p / 60 MM/CHF
Montblanc … 90.000p / 230 MM/CHF
Roger Dubuis … 4500p / 50 MM/CHF
These are the Swatch Group brands including the two producing in Germany:
Breguet … 30.000p / 720 MM/CHF
Harry Winston … 5700p / 95 MM/CHF
Blancpain … 22.000p / 230 MM/CHF
Glashütte Original … < 10.000p / < 100 MM/Euro
Jaquet Droz … 2000p / 38 MM/CHF
Omega … 800.000p / 2.300 MM/CHF
Longines … 1.000.000p / 1.200 MM/CHF
Rado … 140.000p / 440 MM/CHF
Tissot … 3.400.000p / 1.010 MM/CHF
ck watch & jewelry … > 1.000.000p / 162 MM/CHF
Balmain … 90.000p / 27 MM/CHF
Certina … 650.000p / 150 MM/CHF
Mido … 120.000p / 90 MM/CHF
Hamilton … 120.000p / 100 MM/CHF
Union Glashütte … ? p / ? MM/Euro
Swatch … 16.000.000 / 740 MM/CHF
Flik Flak … 100.000p / 16 MM/CHF
These are the LVMH brands:
TAG Heuer … 720.000p / 990 MM/CHF
Zenith … 33.000p / 130 MM/CHF
Hublot … 35.000p / 350 MM/CHF
Bulgari … 18.000p / 125 MM/CHF
Louis Vuitton watches … 23.000p / 60 MM/CHF
These are the PPR/Kering brands:
Girard-Perregaux … 13.000p / 75 MM/CHF
Jeanrichard … 1500p / 6 MM/CHF
Gucci … 60.000p / 160 MM/CHF
Some of the independent Swiss brands:
Alpina … 8000p / 6,7 MM/CHF
Frederique Constant … 112.000p / 85 MM/CHF
Armin Strom … 500p / 4 MM/CHF
Audemars Piguet … 30.000p / 600 MM/CHF
Bell & Ross … 55.000p / 70 MM/CHF
Breitling … 157.000p / 350 MM/CHF
Carl F. Bucherer … 50.000p / 100 MM/CHF
Chanel … 23.000p / 130 MM/CHF
Chopard … 85.000p / 650 MM/CHF
Christophe Claret … 100p / 18 MM/CHF
Corum … 20.000p / 77 MM/CHF
De Bethune … 340p / 11 MM/CHF
Eterna … 6000p / 5 MM/CHF
Greubel Forsey … 107p / 19 MM/CHF
La Montre Hermès … 95.000p / 155 MM/CHF
Maurcie Lacroix … 90.000p / 90 MM/CHF
MB & F … 122p / 12 MM/CHF
Montres F. P. Journe … 900p / 13 MM/CHF
Oris … 60.000p / 75 MM/CHF
Parmigiani Fleurier … 5000p / 150 MM/CHF
Patek Philippe … 50.000p / 1.050 MM/CHF
Raymond Weil … 150.000p / 75 MM/CHF
Richard Mille … 2552p / 112 MM/CHF
Rolex … 600.000p / 3.200 MM/CHF
Tudor … 120.000p / 150 MM/CHF
Ulysse Nardin … 27.000p / 250 MM/CHF
Any thoughts about updating this article?
Hi Alexander
Do you have any figures to NOMOS Glashuette?
Thanks a lot in advance and thanks a lot for all the information!
Berkant
Hi Alexander
Do you have any figures to NOMOS ? Would be very helpful. Thank you.
Berkant
Dear Alexander,
do you have any information how much of the 1,2 bill produced watches are wrist watches? Or any statistic? Mayby also an analyse about pcs/price segment.
Thanks a lot!
Cheers,
Carmen
Carmen, please have a look at my latest post about the FH facts and figures. This should help and give you a hint…
do you have an updated list?
Hello Alexander!
Thank you a lot for this list, and for your great blog. Very good work. It helped me alot.
Do you have any new watchmakers revenue that you would like to share?
Cheers,
Pierre
Alexander, do you think that the quality of some very high end watchmaker’s quality suffers from high numbers produced, for example PP?
dear mr alexander
can you kindly suggest for me a sight where i can find the swiss wrist watches figures in all continents as well as in all countries if possible
many thanks
Find these figures here: http://www.fhs.ch/en/statistics.php
Hi Alex
If Bell&Ross is generating 70mm CHF by 55k pieces, then they are selling at 1,200 CHF/piece on average. That is quite against my impression though. Most of their models are selling above 30k CNY which is around 4.5k CHF in China. Or maybe they just ripped us good.
Regards
Bruce
You aren’t taking into account wholesale business.
i love it so much , thank you Alexander
Hi Alexander,
First of all, congratulations for your interesting website. It does stand out from other watch blogs.
Since you encourage us to correct your estimated numbers, here is what I learned through various executive contacts inside the Swiss watch making industry. Let’s also point out that above mentioned figures are based on ex-factory price, not recommended retail price.
– Swatch (the brand): 12 mio instead of 16
– Tag Heuer: their sales did not reach 600k in 2012
– Certina: just above 200k in 2012
– Mido: they sell a large portion of their production in Asia, just over 350 k in total last year
– Cartier: I have no exact numbers, but since they are number 2 in the top 5 Swiss watch brands in terms of turnover (1.Rolex 2.Cartier 3.Omega 4.Longines 5.Tissot — all over 1000 mio turnover in 2012) I would revise their figures accordingly. The same is valid for Patek since there were only 5 brands reaching 1 billion in 2012.
– Tissot: over 3.5 mio watches in 2012 — the 4 mio threshold should be crossed in 2013
Adam, first thank you for your compliment! And then THANK YOU for your input! That´s great news and it offers another perspective from “outside” for those who follow the blog. Real great since you for sure know how difficult it is to get accurate figures… 🙂
Thanks Alexander, very interesting. If I add up your revenue estimates for Richemont’s ‘specialist watchmakers’ it comes in a bit light of the company’s own reported revenues for this segment. If you had to increase any of your estimates for the Richemont brands, which ones would you increase? thanks 🙂
Hello Alexander,
I’m doing a project on the watch industry and i can’t find any number or figures! I want to trust yours but the Flik Flak figures seem poorly accurate ($165.82 of average price? Surprising!)
Also, does the turnover take into account the sales in every country of the world? Or only domestic ones?
Thanks!
Joanna
Can U help me with Seculus brand turnover? Thank you.
Sorry my friend I can not help you… no idea …
no problem, thank you
Most seem to be correct (afaik) … but Rolex … 600K ? must imo be close to 1 million
I think even 600K is quite optimistic… The figure corresponds to the watches sent to the COSC, but I don’t think they are then all sold …
Can’t find the 2012 results but rolex got 750.000 cosc in 2011
Recently less and one has to be careful, since not all watches put to COSC are sold or totally new …
Alexander,
Coincidence 🙂 Mr Dowling just posted the COSC numbers on TZ.
798,935 for Rolex in 2012.
I personally have no doubt that the COSC figures are correct, but I don´t think Rolex has sold that much watches last year. I have got to much information indicating me that it was much less. Not every Rolex movement checked by COSC is automatically sold in a watch the same year or recently fabricated. As a manufacturer you can resend “old” movements to COSC and you can even send the repaired movements coming from the after sales service to COSC – if you understand what I mean … So I recommend you to consider the COSC figures to be correct and in effect less watches being sold …
Alexander, thank you for these figures, very interested indeed, great work!
@ Lars + Nasser: As these are turnover figures, you have to be carefull comparing average prices. As some brands have subsidiaries and even their own retail stores, their margin per unit sold and consolidated turnover is higher as those which sell only ex-factory. Knowing this caveat, it can still be a factor to double-check the accuracy of the list.
The figure for IWC seems to be rather on the low side with only 90’000 pcs. And Flik Flak’s “average” price of over 160 CHF is definitely too high. Then the comparison of Breguet and Patek seems a bit off, Breguet selling at a higher average than Patek. Is this due to the fact that Breguet’s distribution network is more consolidated than Patek’s?
Again, I love this list, gives you lots of food for thoughts.
Thank you for the comments! I did receive several emails helping me to adjust some of the figures here. So guys, if anyone of you is having better figures than I have, please send me an email and give me an update …
Hi Alexander,
Thank you very much !
Do you have an idea for Jacob&co ?
Best regards
No, sorry…
Do they sell or just show (off)? They came for nowhere and had such a soww-off booth in Basel this year ….
But may-be I do them wrong and someone can enlighten me …
Alexander, thank you for your efforts. I enjoy your insights into the shadow world of the Swiss watchmakers. The gnomes make it as difficult as they can for us to see how the industry is operating – your research is the ray of sunshine parting the clouds of obscurity.
These production figures and gross income levels beg the question; if everyone is doing so well and selling everything they can produce, then why are the manufactures abandoning independent retailers in favor of private boutiques? Those who enjoy timepieces, and those who are serious collectors, have established relationships with their local sellers that often date back over many years, or even generations. Yes, those relationships may provide some price discounts – but they also provide extensive free advertising and they move a lot of product.
Bennahmias at Audemars is talking of slashing their independent retailer relationships over the next 18 months in favor of his boutique distribution model. Vacheron and Jaeger are doing the same, as is Zenith. Jaeger has even added an on-line boutique to sell exclusively to the US – at ‘suggested’ retail prices of course. Zenith is a special puzzlement, as its sister brand Vuitton is sold only in boutiques which should show LVMH just how ineffective this limited marketing can be.
What these makers lose sight of is that they are not going to place a boutique on every street corner, and all the sales they might have through neighborhood contact will dry up under their restrictive marketing. As a friend of mine (and a dealer who I buy from) has said, there is not going to be a Jaeger boutique in Billings, Montana and those who live there are not going to travel to Beverly Hills, California just to purchase a watch. They will buy from those brands that are smart enough to maintain the local contact and availability.
Thierry Stern gave an interview recently where he came out solidly in support of Patek’s independent retailers. He would like to make Patek more of a showpiece in some of the larger outlets but he clearly disavows the move toward boutique sales. Methinks the Stern family have a much better understanding of their industry and the customer than many of these other companies.
I would enjoy hearing your thoughts on this. Thank you again for all your insight and hard work.
Thanks for your comment!
I agree with you and I also think distribution should be a perfect mix in between retail and boutique. But reality teaches us, that the industry tends more to own boutiques. The purpose of doing this is clearly to control the distribution with the side effect that you have bigger margins and almost no discounts are given. I have to tell you that many retailers do a wonderful job, but some have pushed things over the limits. These guys did not realise when it was enough… A luxury good needs to be controlled also on the distribution channels. And since a watch is quite small and mostly quite expensive a lot of these watches land on parallel markets. But there they should not be. Actually we see the trend to boutiques and to to distribute through huge chains like Wempe and Bucherer in Europe. The next phase will be sails through Internet. Everyone is ready and everyone waits until the other one does the first step. We will see who in the end starts selling through the Internet. This will be the bad boy of course, but everyone will follow then being of course innocent. 🙂
I am lucky to live in Vienna where we have only a view boutiques yet and still strong retailers selling the same brands. So you choose where you buy and to whom you talk…
All the best my friend and thanks also for your compliments. I (we= Ebner Publishing in New York) will do everything what I (we) can to bring all the insides and stories about watches and the industry to you where ever you might be. By the way, I am really enjoying what I do. I had the chance to turn my hobby to my profession and so I never really work. I just have fun … :-)))
Alexander
great list a good work
it is very good for orientation
like the forbes list is orientative everything what they say-I mean the companies
it is very easy to see the big players in the game
I envy you because your hobby involves your job
i am yet dependent on my job and I am a nerd because it is a bug under my skin about watches
You have all my spiritual support alex
Great list. Thanks for your work.
I just put the data in a list and sorted it and added a field for the average prive per brand. You can see the results here: You can share this link or use it in this article.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ArVWHkLamV4cdEJsN0VwYmk3NGdPNy1sbEVqZ214eXc&output=html
Cheers
Lars
interesting the average prices for the various brands. do you think Breiltling is accurate – seems a very low average price?
Best Regards
Eric
Glycine?
6500 p … 4 MM/CHF
I reckon the figure is around 7MM/CHF if we multiply the average cost of a watch in their range ($1200-1300) with the total sales figure.
Vulcain?
Will look for the turnover of Vulcain
3000p … 3 MM/CHF
Hi Alexandre,
Here is few updates according to data I’ve collected through executive contacts in brands:
Hublo: They produce on average between 33’000 and near 40’000.
In 2012 they produced 33’000 watches with an average price of 23’000 CHF/unit.
Tudor is not an independent brand as it belong to Rolex group.
Interesting Update for Hublot. Thank you! Of course I know that Tudor belongs to Rolex. I wanted to show the figures of the two brands and they are still too high … 🙂
Thank you, Alexander! Excellent job. 60.000 for ORIS is very interesting. Do you know data for Titoni, Victorinox and EPOS in mid-range segment?
Victorinox … 480.000p / 130 MM/CHF
Titoni … 180.000p / 65 MM/CHF
Thanks a lot!
Festina group, Edox, Atlantic ?
Festina … ??p / 250 MM/CHF (in total the group produces some 4.500.000 watches, among them estimated 100.000 mechanical movements.)
Edox … 100.000p / 40 MM/CHF
Atlantic … <80.000p / <9 MM/CHF
Thank you, Alexander!
Interesting overview, very impressive work!
But on which time period refer theese figures?
Congratulations for your Blog and your connections, I mostly check it once a day!
2012, but the fiscal year of some of the brands/groups does not end in December but e.g. for Richemont in March. These figures estimate more or less the period in-between the last and this Baselworld show … The figures are a kind of a summary of what I heard and read …
Very intersting table! Richard Mille figures do not match. Impossible that one piece on avarage costs chf 438’800?? In comparison Ulysee Nardin very accurate and close to reality.
Never did anyone bring out a comprehensive table like yours. Well done!
BTW – your blog and daily updates are excellent and well written. Cheers Thomas
Thank you for your feedback! As I wrote I have been collecting information in Basel and reading various publications recently. Of course figures are also mentioned elsewhere, but still these figures are always estimates.
I’ll double check the Richard Mille figures and come back to you
Thomas, I just came back to the office and I now saw what´s wrong with Richard Mille. I by mistake added a “0” to the RM turnover. Now is correct. Sorry for the misleading information and thank you for your input! Alexander
Alexander, many thanks for your reply and update. Also just heard the Interview with with your friend from Singapore. Not surprised about which watch was the most impressive one at Basel. Surprised that none of you mentioned the watch you presented I went through your articles but can not find it. the dutch guy with a watch were everything is liquid inside and no buttons. To me one of the nicest watch and a real invention. Besides the new Omega antimagnetism! Cheers Thomas