The Breitling Watch Source Forums

we discussed this before and had heard lots of rumors in the early summer, but some firm data emerge about the market slowdown (a rather mild way to put it according to some).

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/09/2 ... Q520140929


I had missed the official announcement & just stumbled upon it today, thought I'd share.

Biver has apparently for now and until further notice scrapped the new (and true) inhouse chrono caliber CH80 production, although TAG had built a huge new factory that was ramping up production; job losses amount to about 15%.

Bad for the workers, but as I read it if demand in Hong Kong and China slow maybe watch prices would eventually drop.

Since buying my SteelFish and Omeag PO and my wife's Cartier close together back in 2011/2012 I can't hardly justify the prices of a new low-ish-end watch from the likes of Breitling/Omega/Cartier. I know there are a lot of global factors at play with exchange rates and the like. Dealer discounts are on the decline too, from my point of view in about 3-4 years watches went from 2,500/4,400 to $5K and beyond quickly.

Hong Kong has long been the largest export market so no surprise that is causing pain. The Chinese slowdown has been indicated for sometime but many firms didn't want to believe it. Very sad for the impacted employees but I think that this is a result of many brands expanding too far, too fast after the recovery a few years back. This is one storm that Breitling may be well positioned to survive relatively I tact as their slow recovery hasn't allowed them to overreach.