Coco Chanel once said that fashion "is not only in clothing." The fashion industry often obeys her advice, thus expanding its business to sectors beyond its famed name. Chanel is one of the first fashion brands to enter the watch industry, launched in 1987 Première series. Other brands, from Hugo Boss to Calvin Klein, followed suit.
To demonstrate its commitment to the development of the watch business, Chanel acquired Châtelain in 1993, a watch assembly plant located in the Swiss watch center La Chaux-de-Fonds. Chanel increased the number of Swiss employees from about 200 to 360. Its one factory opened in 2012 brought its plant area to double from 8,000 square meters to 16,000 square meters.
Recently, this mysteriously-known brand has allowed journalists to enter its factory - a sleek, rectangular building on a windward slope outside La Chaux-de-Fonds. Other watchmakers, such as Breitling, Tag Heuer and Patek Philippe, also have factories in La Chauxde.
Nicolas Beau, director of international watch for the private label, says greater openness is partly a response to customers' growing desire to know the origin of the watches.
"In high-end areas, in particular, customers want to know where the watches they are wearing are made, and we think it's very important to let people know that their watches are made to the highest Swiss standards," said our manufacturer A very important part of our product. "
Chanel did not disclose its watch production, nor did it disclose sales and profit figures for its watch division. Analysts estimate that the company produces between 25,000 and 30,000 watches a year and generates between 100 million Swiss francs (about 114 million U.S. dollars) and 120 million Swiss francs, but most analysts admit that this is only Rough guess.
However, Bo said the impact of Chanel and other global fashion brands on the watch industry goes far beyond what these relatively small figures show - last year Swiss watches exported a total of up to 21.8 billion Swiss francs.
"I think we helped create a new market, and for a while, ladies' watches were only miniature versions of men's watches, and now people understand that you need to design watches that are tailored specifically to women," he said.
A similar view was expressed by Laurence Nicolas, director of watch and jewelery business at Dior. She said: "We are a very small company and we do not want to be self-reliant, we are just a sea of ​​people in this huge, masculine market, but I think the beauty and beauty we have introduced has changed the industry's habits." Market share, the impact of these new entrants will be reflected in the lower end of the tabulation series of products.
Stéphane Linder, who took over as CEO of TAG Heuer last summer, said: "Chanel has had a huge success selling watches with an average price of CHF 3,000 to 5,000 but excluding these watches , Other fashion brand watch prices are mostly between 200 to 500 Swiss francs.
Most analysts agree. Rene Weber, an analyst at private Swiss bank Vontobel, said: "They are a bit of a threat, but not at the high end."