It was only a few days ago that Apple officially announced the pricing and release date of the Apple Watch and safe to say there were mixed reactions about the wearable and its price. The Apple Watch is priced significantly higher than its competitors but that’s because Apple is trying to position it as a premium product, so now that it’s all out in the open, do watchmakers have something to fear?Speaking to Bloomberg, Swatch’s co-inventor Elmar Mock thinks that Apple is on the right path and that the company will no doubt put a fair amount of pressure on the watch industry and jobs in Switzerland. According to Mock, “I do expect an Ice Age coming toward us.” He later recalls how Swiss watchmakers failed to anticipate the demand for quartz watches and he believes that the industry is repeating their mistakes again.
“So far I see watchmakers in this country making the same mistakes as back then. We’ve seen a lot of arrogance in the Swiss watch industry in the past few years, calling the smartwatch a gadget and not taking it seriously.” Swatch for their part has done their part by announcing a smartwatch of their own.
Luxury watch brand TAG Heuer has similarly announced smartwatch plans too, but are they too late? We reckon probably not but according to Mock, “I just hope the top managements of the companies will react accordingly. Apple won’t die if the smartwatch isn’t a success. But in the next two to three years, a part of the Swiss watch market will suffer strongly.”
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