El Primero coming on strong in 2010, 1/10th second at a time…

Zenith is not a watch I cover much on this blog mostly because I find their watches in recent years to be much less than impressive.  Seems this is changing a bit with new Zenith CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour, on board since mid-2009.  I dare say that he may have a winner on his hands with this new Zenith El Primero Foudroyante 1/10th Chronograph.  I think that this watch just goes to show that if you stick with what you know and do best, well, good things will happen:

The movement of this watch has been designated the “El Primero 4052 B automatic calibre” and it has what is known as a “foudroyante” function, in this case a 1/10th second.  If you are not familiar with the term, “foudroyante” is also known as a “Jumping Seconds” function and on this watch it works like this:  the foudroyante hand (the primary/red hand on this watch) makes a complete rotation in just 10 seconds as opposed to 60 with a normal seconds hand.   This explains why on the outer edge of the dial you see 10 seconds instead of 60 which enables readings to within 1/10th of second.  The watch consists of a 42mm diameter case and will be available in rose gold or stainless steel.  Water-resistant to 100 meters, and sapphire crystal on top and bottom.

As an aside, if you want some good watch history, you should read up on the El Primero movement – it is legendary!  First introduced on January 10, 1969….been in many popular/famous watches ever since!

BASELWORLD 2010 is coming soon.  You can see all the hot new pre-releases on Perpetuelle.com’s Official Baselworld 2010 Forum right now!  And many many more when the event starts on March 18th.  Just click here!

Challenging Environment for LVMH Watches; Outlook Still Murky as Consumer Demand Remains Uncertain and Retail De-Stocking Continues

LVMH, a world leader in luxury goods, recently reported its results for the first half of 2009.  In keeping our savvy readers here at First In Watches informed on all things watches (leading luxury and/or high-end watches, that is), we offer here our quick review and analysis of  LVMH’s watch division performance.

As a quick refresher, LVMH is owner of the following watch brands:  Tag Heuer, Hublot, and Zenith.  It also received very limited watch revenue contribution from its jewelry brands, Dior and Chaumet.

First let’s allow the figures to speak for themselves:

LVMH  “Watches and Jewelery” Division Results

Ouch! LVMH attributes the sales decline primarily to destocking across the retail sector – which is not surprising as all retail has experienced this.  Softer demand is also a factor – remember, Swiss watch exports were -37% in the 1H, with the U.S. market down 57%.  Profit margins are also (and not surprisingly) being crunched.  According to Jean-Jacques Guiony, LVMH  CFO, this was in part a result of order cancellations.  Double ouch!

A closer examination of the figures indicates that some of LVMH’s brands are faring better than others.  LVMH reports (and we read between the lines):

• Market share gain at TAG Heuer – “successful Aquaracer 500 launch; success of 40th Anniversary Monaco” (read:  although our sales are down we are doing better than our competitors)
• Good resilience at Hublot – “success of Big Bang line; new manufacture in Nyon”  (read:  Hublot is faring much better than most in this environment; there are high hopes on Hublot’s new movement coming in 2010 (as JC Biver revealed to us in our Baselworld Interview))
• Zenith – refocus on classic lines (read:  Zenith has completely lost its way and it’s time to get back to basics)

 The outlook for the remainder of 2009 was also very cautious – consumer deman is uncertain, and inventory de-stocking at the retail level is still stabilizing. 

If you have any thoughts of your own on LVMH watch brands, feel free to leave a comment.

Only Watch is a charity auction of unique watches created by many of the most important watch brands in Switzerland. This exceptional event is held every two years in Monaco during the Monaco Yacht Show and is under the patronage of HSH Prince Albert 11. All the proceeds from Only Watch go to support research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The next Only Watch auction is organized in close collaboration with Patrizzi & Co and the Monaco Yacht Show, and will take place on 24 September 2009.

Participating brands include Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, BNB Concept, Bovet Fleurier, Breguet Montres, Cartier, Corum Montres, De Bethune, Delacour, Franck Muller, Frédérique Constant, Glashütte Uhrenbertrieb, Hermès, Hublot, Jaquet Droz, Louis Vuitton, Maximilian Büsser & Friends, Mont Blanc, Omega, Patek Philippe, Piaget, Richard Mille, Swatch, Tag Heuer, Tourneau Timepieces, Ulysse Nardin, Urwerk, Vacheron Constantin, Van Cleef & Arpels, Zenith International.

Below is a mosaic of their “pieces uniques”  – you can view larger images and a quote from each respective brand about their 2009 “Only Watch” contribution HERE.