Swatch, the world's biggest watchmaker, has also purchased such top-end companies as Breguet and Glashuette, while making its other brands more elaborate.
For instance, Longines has added more jewels and steel to its watches, whose prices average 1,000 Swiss francs (US$628) to 1,500 francs. It's sold out of 150 new diamond-encrusted models with designs dating back to the 1920s. Price: between 16,000 and 19,000 francs. The company forecast this year's sales will grow more than 10 percent after its "historically best year" last year.
"We are gaining customers," said Walter von Kaenel, president of Longines, in an interview. "We didn't lose market share." At Cie Financiere Richemont AG's IWC, Chief Executive Georges Kern said he could have sold five times as many of its new 10,000-euro (US$9,100) Big Pilot's steel watch, which has a seven-day power reserve and glass that protects against a drop in air pressure.
Patek Philippe said demand for its watches, which have an average price tag of between FF15,000 and FF25,000, is 2.5 times manufacturing capability. As a result, the 163-year-old company will produce fewer steel watches and focus on higher-priced gold models this year. It expects sales will rise more than 10 percent.
For those who can't wait, there are always antique models. A Patek Philippe watch from 1939 that shows the time in 42 cities recently sold for 6.6 million francs at an auction.
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