The pandemic hits the industry's innovators

By: Erik C Andersson

For a year and a half we have lived with a pandemic that has led to to major changes on both an individual and a societal level. Even if things are brightening in the wake of vaccinations and better preparations, the pandemic year 2020 has taken its toll. In the watch industry too. Eqotime’s Erik C Andersson reflects in his column on what consequences the pandemic has had for the watch industry’s innovators.

We are mourning yet another loss, as the watch industry's most experimental manufacturer threw in the towel following the strained pandemic year 2020. The manufacturer, HYT challenged the norm for how watches can be used. Primarily by presenting time with the help of coloured liquids driven by mechanical pumps in miniature. For nineteen years HYT was a brand that showed that an archaic industry can feel fresh. It also showed that mechanical does not have to mean traditional.

In February last year another creative manufacturer disappeared from the range of indie watches. RJ Romain Jérôme, who had made themselves known for their playful aesthetic. Their creations were inspired by comic drawings and nostalgic arcade games. Shortly afterwards Dominique Renauld fell, a brand that distinguished itself through complex and very original movements.

A hard blow for the industry

That these brands are hit by financial problems is of course not solely the pandemic's fault. It is tough to keep alive a company that relies on costly R&D. Especially in an industry with ever more price-conscious consumers. What is certain, on the other hand, is that a worldwide crisis makes the difficulties even more serious. The fact is that the entire Swiss watch industry lost a staggering 33% of the number of exported products. Which places the figures for 2020 at a level comparable to those during 1939. The total value of exported watches fell at the same time by about 21%, which is close to the figures that followed from the quartz crisis.

The need for rituals

Watch nerds are, as you know, dependent on the ritual around window shopping and the poke-feel-evaluate that precedes a purchase. For indie brands this physical contact is invaluable. Primarily because very few want to lay out large sums on a watch they have never seen in reality. That the prevailing pandemic laws deny buyers this valuable channel of communication unfortunately exposes the brands' fragility. When production halls close and shops are boarded up, small players continue to end up in a tight spot. And with every buried manufacturer the credibility of those that remain decreases. I hate having to say it.

Personally I become hesitant about spending large sums on a brand that risks bankruptcy. If not in this shift of the world situation, then in the next. At the same time the sale of products from the big companies continues via the net, albeit in a more cautious spirit. The greater part of the trade in Rolex watches took place online already before the pandemic and will continue to do so afterwards as well. LVHM, Richemond and Swatch bide their time. But imagine standing there with a newly bought HYT that suddenly has no service centre, how affected does the second-hand value become then?

The necessary innovation

Unlike many other competition-Darwinist events, this one will not benefit the consumer. The watch giants step out on the other side with larger market shares than before and continue to place their cards on old recipes. I fear that the market will be a duller place without norm-breaking indie brands. It is after all they who drive our niche industry forward. Without innovations and surprises, existing consumers will certainly stay put, but it will be difficult to attract new ones. A relative of mine is born after the turn of the millennium. She barely knows how to read the time if it does not happen on a digital screen. How is she ever going to justify buying an arm-worn steel cylinder? A cylinder that, despite costing thousands of kronor, does not differ from the one her grandfather used in the 40s? We need the avant-gardists who think anew, otherwise ironically enough the stable manufacturers can become the industry's long-term downfall.

/Erik C Andersson

Erik C Andersson is, besides being a writer at Eqotime, also part owner of his own micro brand E.C.Andersson Watch Co. Something that makes his opinions subjective and to some extent an interested party. But it also makes him industry-knowledgeable and relevant as a guide in the indiependent world.