Frédérique Constant was among the first Swiss watchmakers to offer a smartwatch. It unveiled its Frédérique Constant Horological Smartwatch at Baselworld 2015. It turns out that this move helped the company grow last year even as the Swiss watch industry contracted.
“Last year we grew while the whole industry went down. And I must say it’s because we had success with the Horological Smartwatch – without it we would have shrunk slightly too. But because of the new category we added we were able to grow,” CEO Peter Stas told Wareable last week at Baselworld 2016.
Stas revealed that Frédérique Constant sold about 40,000 Horological Smartwatches in 2015. Sales could top 100,000 units this year thanks to plans to offer both a ladies version and a new model about which he would say little. While it’s not clear if this will be another smarter watch or a full-fledged smartwatch, he did confirm that the company is building a “stronger software team” in Switzerland to develop new applications to meet new “Swiss Made” regulations.
Stas also took a shot at the competition, describing the Tag Heuer Connected smartwatch as “a big mistake” as it offers essentially the same functionality as other Android Wear manufacturers are offering at a fraction of the cost. “That’s not what makes the Swiss watch industry strong,” Stas warned. “”We feel our implementation retains the DNA of what makes us strong: a beautiful dial and sculpted hands, and individuality. Here in Basel you might see 5,000 different watches, but Android is only Android and Apple Watch is only Apple Watch.”
With many smartwatches on the market today offering very similar functions, it will be interesting to see what Frédérique Constant will do to maintain its uniqueness.
The Frédérique Constant Horological Smartwatch was the first smarwatch to be auctioned by the prestigious Only Watch auction when it went up for bidding last November.
Source : Wareable