Commit TV Yagi Column ~It's too late to ask now!! "The Relationship Diagram of Luxury Watch Brands" [Part 1]~

Good evening everyone.

There are many luxury watch brands, from brands that all watch lovers aspire to own, such as Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Patek Philippe, to brands that are only known to a select few. Among these brands, there are long-established brands that have been in business for many years, but many brands that have found it difficult to maintain business independently in these rapidly changing times, and have joined large capital groups to cooperate in terms of technological development and sales in order to maintain business.

So this time, we will look at which group each brand belongs to. I would like to introduce this as a "Correlation diagram of luxury watch brands ." In the first part, I will explain the "World's Three Largest Groups" to which some of the leading brands in the luxury watch industry belong, so please enjoy reading it.

Correlation diagram of luxury watch brands as of 2022

The watch industry can be roughly divided into three groups: the " Big Three Global Groups " that have multiple brands, " independent brands ," and the " Academy of Independent Watchmakers (AHCI) " that is made up of watchmakers who do not belong to a company. Each group, as well as each brand, has its own characteristics and trends, so we will explain them in detail.

The world's three biggest groups

『 Swatch Group 』

The Swatch Group is the largest group in the watch industry, overseeing luxury watch brands such as Breguet, Omega, and Blancpain. It has a longer history than the Richemont Group and the LVMH Group, and is characterized by its focus on watch manufacturing and sales rooted in the traditions of the Swiss watch industry.

◆History leading up to the formation of the group

The Swiss watch industry, which was damaged by the Great Depression that occurred in 1929 , formed several groups to survive. These included the SSIH , which was formed by the Swiss Banking Association and Omega in 1930 , and the ASUAG , which was formed by the Swiss Banking Federation and Longines in 1931 .

In 1969 , the so-called "Quartz Shock" caused by the release of quartz watches by Seiko led to the merger of SSIH and ASUAG in 1983. Furthermore, ETA, which had integrated Ebauches SA, and Swatch also merged, and in 1998 , the Swatch Group was formed.

The Swatch Group, which owns a variety of watch brands, categorizes them into four ranges based on price range and purchasing demographic. Below are some of the four ranges and brands.

★Prestige & Luxury Range
[Breguet] / [Blancpain] / [Harry Winston] / [Omega]...

★High range
[Longines]/[Rado]...

★Mid-range
[Tissot] / [Mido] / [Hamilton]...

★Basic range
[Swatch]…

As mentioned above, the Swatch Group has a well-balanced lineup ranging from low to high price ranges. And having ETA , one of the world's largest movement manufacturers, under its umbrella is one of the Swatch Group's greatest strengths.

ETA is a manufacturer of inexpensive, high-performance movements, and supplies movements to many watch brands. Of course, they also supply to other groups, and it can be said that they have established a strong position in the movement industry. However, there is currently a problem with ETA's movement supply , and brands that use ETA outside of the Swatch Group are experiencing problems. We will go into more detail in the second part, so please take a look.

Sales in 2021 were 7.31 billion Swiss francs (approximately 970.7 billion yen), a 30 % increase from the previous year, which was in the red due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, turning the company into a profit-maker.

『 Richemont Group 』

Founded in 1988 , the Richemont Group owns many luxury brands. In addition to brands with strengths in jewelry such as Cartier and Piaget, the group also owns historic brands in the luxury watch industry, such as Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Söhne, and Jaeger-LeCoultre.

The Richemont Group also has its own characteristics in each field and is made up of the following four divisions.

★Jewelry Maison
[Cartier]/[Van Cleef & Arpels]...

★Specialist Watchmakers
[Vacheron Constantin] / [A. Lange & Söhne] / [Jaeger-LeCoultre] / [Panerai] / [IWC]...

★ Apparel
[Chloe]/[Dunhill]...

★Online distributor
[Watchfinder]…

The movement manufacturer is Van Flieger. Since they do not have as much market share as ETA of the Swatch Group, the brands of the Richemont Group are actively developing their own movements.

The Richemont Group is made up of four divisions: jewelry, watches, writing instruments, and clothing. Luxury watches account for roughly half of the group's sales, which shows the strength of the watch brands that belong to the group.

Sales in 2021 were 13,545 million Swiss francs (approximately 1,748.1 billion yen), down 7.6 % from the previous period, but have achieved a V -shaped recovery, led by jewelry sales in the Asian market.

『 LVMH Group

The LVMH Group is the world's largest brand group, and in addition to watch brands, it also owns many fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton and Dior. Luxury watch brands include Hublot, Zenith, Chaumet, and Tag Heuer. In addition to the fashion and watch sectors, the group also operates in the wine and perfume businesses, making it one of the largest corporate groups in terms of the variety of genres and brands under its umbrella.

The LVMH Group is divided into six businesses, all of which are luxury brands.

★Fashion & Leather Goods
[Louis Vuitton] / [Dior] / [Fendi] / [Givenchy] / [Celine] / [Loro Piana] / [Loewe] / [Berluti] / [Marc Jacobs] ... etc.

★Watches & Jewelry
[Hublot] / [Zenith] / [Tag Heuer] / [Bvlgari] / [Chaumet] / [Tiffany] … etc.

★Wine & Spirits
[Moet & Chandon] / [Dom Pérignon] / [Hennessy]…etc.

★Perfumes & cosmetics
[Parfums Christian Dior] / [Parfums Givenchy] / [Benefit]…etc.

★Selective Retailing
[Bon Marché] / [Sephora] / [DFS]…etc.

★Others
[Royal Van Lent (luxury yacht manufacturer)] / [Les Echos (French economic newspaper)] … etc.

In 2011 , it acquired Bvlgari, and in 2021 , it acquired Tiffany, strengthening its jewelry division. In addition, it is the only one of the world's three major groups to focus on the smartwatch business, which differentiates it from the rest.

Sales in 2021 reached 64.215 billion euros (approximately 8.26 trillion yen), an increase of 44 % from the previous year and 20 % from 2019 , showing outstanding growth among the world's three largest groups.

summary

What did you think of the introduction to the world's three largest groups in Part 1?

As you can see, the Swatch Group has many watch brands, the Richemont Group has many jewelry and watch brands, and the LVMH Group has many fashion brands under its umbrella. I hope you now understand the characteristics of each group and the position of their brands.

If you keep this "High-end Watch Brand Correlation Diagram" in mind, you will find the topic of watches even more interesting. In the second part, we will mainly introduce "Independent Brands" and "Academy of Independent Watchmakers (AHCI)", and also talk a little about future market trends in the watch industry, so don't miss it!

I hope that after reading this article, you will become at least a little interested in the watch industry.

see you!!