Luxury watch brands represent the main one industry which has fought harder than every other from the Internet wave. Watches today continue to be built the same way they where centuries ago; machines have not replaced people, and several of work haven’t been reduced. Craftsmanship continues to be revered, if you are being likely to be paying a lot of money for a watch, you want to know that nothing about its process continues to be led to.
So really exactly what the Internet represents, speed, right-away results, immediate gratification, instantaneous communication goes against the posh watch business. However, these brands are starting to realize when they want to stay alive and compete within the global economy, they too must have websites, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts in order to stay connected, show their services and contact potential buyers.
Nowadays it’s way easier to find any type of watch for sale through an online retailer than to find a real boutique. This is good news for us, the consumers, because it means prices boils down and we can compare several choices and prices online before choosing the one which best suits our needs. All luxury watches, such as Cartier watches, Audemars Piguet, Breitling, TAG Heuer, Michele watches, essentially become discounted watches once they go online. This is because a lot supply online forces prices to come down. So you can get a fresh, genuine designer watch (with serial number and warranty), but you pay much less than you would should you walked right into a brick and mortar retailer. Although this might be towards the dismay of the brands, it works to our benefit. And, if the brands pause and think about it, it isn’t really as bad because they would have initially thought; at least they’re selling something rather than nothing. Even jewelry watches, ones produced from gold and adorned in diamonds along with other sparkly stones, can be found at a lower price when looking online.
Different ways that the luxury watch industry has gone “live” so to speak is by launching iPhone applications. Not every companies did so, but about ten or so have. Some apps are superior to others; but the idea would be to offer something fun and interactive for watch enthusiasts.
IWC and A. Lange & Sohne, both owned by the Richemont Group, just launched such apps available for download if you have the popular Iphone.
IWC (International Watch Company) has a loyal group of followers; those that know and love IWC watches have elegant, understated taste. On its new app, the whole IWC collection can be obtained and there’s an interactive “play area” for fans; where users can simulate fitting an IWC watch.
In A. Lange & Sohne’s app, the focus is on its recently released Zeitwerk timepiece, which combines a jumping hours and jumping minutes complication. To explore the complexity of this watch, users can disassemble areas of it, as well as see news and pictures of other Sohne watches.
2009 is proving to become the entire year that makers of luxury watches determine a new way to market many and “a la iPhone” seems to be the venue of preference.
Bell & Ross, Breitling, Piaget and Jaeger-LeCoultre have come out with their own iPhone applications, each offering more complex features compared to last.
Here’s a overview of what each application offers:
Bell & Ross was the first luxury watch brand to release an apple iphone app and it is the standard.
Of course the app tells time, that goes without having to be said and provide the functionality of being able to shake the telephone to recharge the automatic winding feature from the watch. There are numerous Bell & Ross watches that can be downloaded, with a choice of different colors and designs.
Bell & Ross specifically creates high-end watches for professionals such as air force pilots, offshore divers, and anti-mine military squads amongst others. The inspiration for that functional design of their watches is obtained from the main one main instrument that all these professionals rely on the most: the dashboard which functional priority takes precedence over design. In other words: “the essential is never compromised by the superfluous.”
Breitling was next up and when compared to iPhone applications that came after it, is also pretty basic in the offerings.
Breitling’s approach is diverse from Bell & Ross’s in that the app promotes a single watch rather than the whole brand. The Breitling app focuses on one watch; the business’s newest chronograph called the Chronomat BO1.
The app gives an extremely detailed and precise description from the Chronomat BO1, including technical data, video and 360� views from the watch. A unique configurator enables hundreds of possible customized versions from the model to be visualized. A point-of-sale location-tracking system enables the individual to locate the closest authorized Breitling retailer. Using the discharge of Piaget’s iPhone app, things start getting interesting.
The Piaget app is especially for one watch; the Polo FortyFive Chronograph GMT. This can be a new kind of watch out for Piaget to create and something that Piaget wants individuals to see. The PoloFortyFive is a luxury sports watch that’s named after the 45 minutes that the polo match lasts and showcases exactly what is a “first” for Piaget – combining titanium, injected rubber and steel. The 45mm sized case is created from titanium and has a sporty silver dial, index markers, along with a rubber strap with steel hinges. The automated movement is manufactured in-house having a flyback chronograph and second time zone GMT function, sweep seconds, and big date complication. The bracelet is constructed from stainless, titanium and rubber.
Piaget recently gave one of these Polo 45 Chronographs to Fernando Torres, the well-known Spanish soccer player who plays for both the Liverpool and Spanish national teams, to facilitate the look that Piaget may also make a great sports luxury watch.
Such as the actual watch, which is quite handsome and classy, the iPhone app provides the user a stylish method of seeing what the time is, while also having the ability to measure independent intervals of time. The app actually mimics the flyback function of the watch and permits the consumer to start a brand new time sequence without needing to stop the central chronograph hand.
As with other luxury watch brand apps, there is a “localization” feature which allows users to locate the closest Piaget boutique.
The last app to become reviewed here’s by Jaeger-LeCoultre. Jaeger definitely takes this whole iPhone application concept to new levels.
On Jaeger-LeCoultre’s website the app is described as: “Driven through the passion for horological technologies and faithful to its avant-garde spirit, Jaeger-LeCoultre is opening the very first iPhone watchmaking initiation school.”
Yes. You can actually take classes on the web and learn how Jaeger assembles some of its most well known watches, such as the reverse Squadra model. You will find six classes to choose from. During these classes the consumer will become familiar with as well as reach practice certain techniques like assembling a chronograph mechanism, decorating and jewelling a movement and polishing, engraving and gem-setting the situation.
The very best and most enticing part of the Jaeger-LeCoultre app? Should you download it, take the class and prosper, you will be entered into a drawing where one winner gets selected and then sent on a holiday to Switzerland to see the Jaeger manufacture.
