What’s happening on March 26th then?

I am getting to that age...

Funny I heard the MoonSwatch called the

Swatchmega

on Instagram today 😁😁

Omega Moonwatch Sales Surge After Cheap Swatch Version Goes Wild - Bloomberg

Interesting numbers...

“increased sales in Omega stores by more than 50%”

“Hayek said sales of all Speedmaster models have ‘risen by double digits,’ since the MoonSwatch debuted”

those two quotes when compared maybe raise some interesting sub-questions. article does go on to say that other lines, incl’d seamaster and connie, are up, too. but for overall sales to be up 50% is … a little unbelievable.

If Swatch Group has discovered the secret to turn the unavailiablity of a plastic $260 Swatch watch into a sale of a $7,000 Omega Speedmaster they have hit upon the marketing scheme of the century. Count me sceptical of the cause and effect that Swatch & Omega are putting forward.

Well, unless Hayek is lying it’s difficult to imagine there’s another cause for that kind of jump in sales. Since Swatch doesn’t break out sales for individual models, we don’t know what base that increase is coming off of. But I’m not that surprised enough people were drawn to the $7K version to have a significant impact on sales. That’s what effective marketing can do.

This is the real takeaway for me, that predictions that this would kill Omega were nonsensical.

Not ignoring but instead just moving past the real take-away noted by Archer and and savka immediately above:

Do you believe that effective advertising is ineffective in creating sales?

Otherwise, I can’t understand what you’re surprised about. The MoonSwatch created a brand attention to Omega that would require probably tens of thousands of magazine ads, or thousands of Tv commercials, to replicate.

And the message of all those “ads”? Not only does there exist a watch that’s synonymous with space travel, there are tens of thousands of people ravenous to get their hands on even a cheap, if cute, version.

It’s a pretty good marketing message (if only to the hype horde), and it was being blasted on every media outlet (if only those to which the hype horde pays attention).

I don’t see this converting to sales as at all surprising.

Which is why for the past 10+ years luxury brands have been doing non-stop high-low collaborations, ad nauseum.

This could have already been posted or could be behind a paywall I guess in the end it’s all moot anyway
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...es-surge-after-cheap-swatch-version-goes-wild

Wow, A 50% surge in turnover in 4 months that would be huge.
However the conclusions overall don’t surprise me as some of us had already predicted exactly the double whammy they’re talking about:
1/ increased attention to the Speedie,
2/ proof to the gen Z that a funky accessory plastic watch can be much cooler than an I watch.

Worth retaining the article for posterity:
By
Andy Hoffman

8 juillet 2022 à 06:00 UTC+2Updated on8 juillet 2022 à 08:29 UTC+2

Sales of the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch have surged in the wake of a wildly successful collaboration with plastic timepiece pioneer Swatch that’s introduced the iconic chronograph to a wider public.

The Speedmaster Moonwatch model, which retails for about $7,000 and is lionized for being the first watch worn on the moon, increased sales in Omega stores by more than 50% since the launch of the $250 MoonSwatch in March, Swatch Group AG CEO Nick Hayek said in an interview at the company’s headquarters in Biel, Switzerland.


Nick Hayek at the Swatch Group AG headquarters in Biel, Switzerland.
Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg
Hayek said sales of all Speedmaster models have “risen by double digits,” since the MoonSwatch debuted. The original Moonwatch is a hand-wound model featuring a black dial and hesalite glass, though the brand also sells variants with automatic calibers and ceramic or gold cases, topped off with more expensive sapphire glass.

The MoonSwatch, a quartz-driven timepiece in a ceramic and bio-plastic composite-case, borrows key design elements from the Speedmaster and caused a global retail sensation when it was unveiled in March. Thousands of eager customers thronged stores in the hope of getting hold of the model, which comes in a variety of colors based on celestial bodies of our solar system. The watch quickly sold out, and demand continues to outstrip supply at the 110 Swatch boutiques where the timepiece is currently sold.

Omega is the largest and most important unit within the Swatch stable of brands, which also include high-end manufacturers Breguet and Blancpain, as well as the more affordable Longines range. While the Moonwatch, first worn by Neil Armstrong and his fellow astronauts on their Apollo mission to the moon in 1969, has long been a mainstay of Omega’s offering, the brand remained behind Rolex and dropped below Cartier in the ranking of the biggest watch makers by revenue last year, according to Morgan Stanley estimates.

Mobile Vendors
Hayek has said the MoonSwatch won’t be sold online, but the model will soon appear at more points, including mobile locations in Europe. Swatch will add an additional 25 stores selling the MoonSwatch in July and August, including new locations in Switzerland, Thailand, Malaysia and the U.S.

It will also roll out 11 flexible retail locations during the summer to sell the 11 different MoonSwatch models.


Customers queue outside a Swatch store at the launch of the MoonSwatch in London, UK.
Photographer: Yui Mok/PA Image/Getty I
It’s also helped bring new customers to Omega’s luxury-priced models, which include the Seamaster and Constellation family of watches.

“What they did with the Swatch version of the Moonwatch was genius,” Brian Duffy, the chief executive of retailer Watches of Switzerland, said in an interview. “It has undoubtedly positively impacted sales demand.”

Swatch has been pushing to increase production of the MoonSwatch at facilities in Switzerland. The process is largely automated and some plants are running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Hayek said. He wouldn’t provide specific production numbers for the MoonSwatch, or how many have been sold.

Oliver Mueller, a Swiss-based consultant at Luexconsult in Aubonne, Switzerland, who tracks the watch industry, estimates that about 150,000 MoonSwatch models have been sold since the launch.

(Updates with industry estimate in final paragraph. A previous version of this story was corrected to adjust the increase of sales in the first paragraph.)

The frenzy for the MoonSwatch has revived interest in the Swatch brand, according to Hayek, particularly with younger consumers who didn’t see the marque as the cool provocateur that previous generations may have.