Timely Trends: 2010 Watches

mike lewis

• July 13 2009
• 7 comments

With an average sales price of more than 130 dollars (source: ActionWatch), watches tip the scale as the highest ticket accessory item for today’s industry retailer. With a small footprint, time pieces are keeping revenues ticking upwards as the fourth strongest accessory category, accounting for 12 percent of core retailers’ accessory revenue. In our eternal quest to help increase retail sales, Transworld Business caught up with 11 industry watch manufacturers to get the skinny on brands and styles to look for when putting together your 2010 buys.

Follow your arrow HERE for a window on the future of your watch case in our 2010 Watch Preview.

Body Glove - Michael Cohen, Designer

• It seems like more color is being shown this year and brands seem to be pushing the retail prices higher, which helps the entire category.

Body Glove watches has really started to find its stride and style with more value driven price points and performance driven styles. We added an entire range of digital models to the mix and also added new analog models with lower retail prices.  On digital models our average retail will be $50 and for analog, it will be about $100.

Casio - G-Shock & Baby-G -Mr. Shinigori Itoh, VP Timepice Division, Casio America, Inc.)

[Look for] a combination of color, solar power and Atomic Timekeeping Technology; all encased within shock resistant and 100-200M water resistant cases. We also pursue to develop G-Shock and Baby-G with eco-friendly concept models.

Though we’re ultimately an electronics manufacturer, we operate in more of a fashion/lifestyle arena, which allows us to provide better margins for our retailers.  Mostly, we work on key account pricing.At almost all of our Premier retailers, we are the only watch brand that is up.  Sure we battle the economy as everyone else, but our dedication to the introduction of new, relevant products, informative advertising and a keen eye on costs, helps us succeed.

Flüd - Doug Cohen, CEO

Next year we’ll be playing with digital technology a bit more. Although we’ve only been in business for about 18 months, our customers have expected the unexpected from us, aesthetically speaking. Fresh designs that sometimes give an ode to yesteryear (like the Table Turns and Boombox models) is kind of what people know us for, but we can also have a very digital view of what yesteryear was like as well.

Freestyle - Chad LaBass, Marketing Director

With over 25 years of history behind us, we will continue to resurrect gems from the past and incorporate them with some newer materials and technologies.   We are developing a comprehensive water resistancy standard dubbed Surge Seal Technology to assure products are the most durable on the market.

Nixon

This year, Nixon says its mantra will be: “More focus.  Less clutter.”  They will also be concentrating on the “delivery of necessary information in unique and clean designs.” The Nixon crew will also be building on its successes from 2009, which include: “The continued growth of our Elite Swiss Made program including models like the Ceramic 51-30 and The Regent.  Nixon’s Rubber Player LTD Program and The Time Teller P were also quite successful in 09 as well.”

Normal - Shayne Ivy, Creative Director & Matthew Newell, Owner, President

Our number of SKUs will be rapidly expanding as we continue to sell out of our current line way in advance of projections. The kids love this shit!

Oakley

This year celebrates the 10th anniversary in a heritage of timekeeping innovation. A decade of Oakley invention has made technology a work of art that turns instruments of performance into objects of desire. The legacy continues with uncompromising standards in design and craftsmanship that challenge the limits of possibility in the measure of moments.

Each timekeeping instrument matches Swiss Made precision with the peerless design language of Oakley sculpture. The company strives to bring the time-honored heritage of Swiss watchmaking to new milestones of possibility by letting imagination shape technology with unparalleled aesthetics. The Oakley timepiece collection is recognized for its standards of excellence, and each instrument is crafted with uncompromising authenticity and the styling of unrivaled design.

Quiksilver - Jason Shelton, Director of Sales, Accessories, & Wetsuits

Quiksilver will be re-focusing on its core surf watch business in 2010.  We will be launching a complete new range of products which will include an update to our best selling tide watch The Moondak, called Addictiv.  In addition, Quiksilver will set a new standard in technical surf watches with the launch of its latest tide system, Deep X, coming Holiday 2010. You will see a renewed commitment to our core surf watch business and less emphasis on high end fashion watches.

Rip Curl - Justin Bernier, Junior Product Manager -Watches

We’re very excited about the release of our new generation of the Tidemaster watch, the TM2 with digital tide technology - a state-of-the art update to our celebrated Tidemaster line. TM2 takes the proven look and feel of our Tidemaster to the next level with more function, ease-of-use, and accuracy than anything before it.

Over the last year and a half we’ve seen a lot more interest in the fashion side of our watch business and we expect that to continue in the year ahead.  As for the size of orders and sales channels; we have noticed that retailers are more in tune with the styles that are driving their business and are booing fringe styles more conservatively.  Our sales distribution will continue to be within the same channels we’ve been working in for the past few years.

Storm - Erin Williams, Brand Manager

I believe we will see less of the rose gold that saturated the mainstream market in previous seasons and more masculine pieces for men that will display the technology that the watch features. We will see more men’s timepieces that allow you to see the inner movement of each piece, while women’s watches will become more jewelry oriented.

For us, you will see less “flashy pieces” and more technically advanced timepieces. Keep your eyes peeled for what we have in store for you.

Vestal - Scott Klamecki, Vestal Sales Manager

Next years new watch trends were spawned with both luxury and frugality in mind. The luxurious side will consist of big, heavy, steel time pieces with starkly decorated large dials. On the other hand, we’ll also be focusing on other trendy and affordable timepieces targeting a more fun “fashion forward” crowd.

Vestal has a few new styles in the works for 2010 as well as new colorways and materials to existing watch styles.  We will be condensing our softgood line to include only the best of the best.