Ravi Speaks:-
“WRIST-WATCHES LOSING DEMAND”
That time the craze for wearing the wristwatch had gone so high in the minds of the students of my age that we felt it to be a signature status. That mishap touched me so badly that I did not see that movie “Pratigya” for the rest of my life although there were many occasions for the same later.” Seiko” was the watch and it was automatic-which was a big thing those days around 45 years back.
Looking to my craze for the wrist watch-my mother later in the year 1977 purchased HMT-watch for me and that was to be manually maintained. It had a white dial and the numbers were very big. It looked good and I kept it till I came into my post-graduation. Those days the wristwatches were the real fashion amongst the people.
When the noun “watch” showed up in Anglo-Saxon times, it referred to wakefulness, especially keeping awake for guarding or observing. That sense of wakefulness probably led to the use of a “watch” for a timepiece. The first wristwatch was made by the Swiss watch manufacturer Patek Philippe in 1868, according to Guinness World Records
Although it is said that the ladies were the first rather from the beginning, wristwatches were almost exclusively worn by women, while men used pocket-watches up until the early 20th century. The concept of the wristwatch goes back to the production of the very earliest watches in the 16th century.
Gents have been wearing the most common watch sizes for classic, everyday watches range from 42mm to 46mm. These sizes are just generous enough to make a stylish statement without being too bold or oversized. Most often, sports watches range from 40mm to oversized 54mm. However, ladies preferred wearing the smaller dial watches.
Something very unique about the “TIME”. It was not measured in hours and seconds in earlier times. The measurement of time began with the invention of sundials in ancient Egypt sometime before 1500 B.C. However, the time the Egyptians measured was not the same as the time today’s clocks measure. For the Egyptians, and indeed for a further three millennia, the basic unit of time was the period of daylight.
I have seen people wearing the costliest watches like those of ROLEX, TISSOT, RADO, and so on. In fact the wristwatches at one stage somewhere in the early twenty-first century were the status symbols of the rich people. We also used to judge the people about their standards by watching on their wrists and derive at the conclusion about that person’s standing.
There have been stories of the royal people wearing gold and diamond-studded wristwatches also. Even today the costliest watch as per the Guinness records is the Swiss Watch made of platinum with diamond studded in the central dial. This watch is made by the Patek Phillipe company and costing 55 million dollars.
But now things have changed drastically. The people’s thinking also has made a big change with the advent of even faster Smart-Mobiles. Generally speaking, I don’t find all the people wearing even the wrist-watches nowadays. They get the time from their mobiles and are so well connected digitally that they hardly need the watch to be kept along with them.
Still, some conservative and disciplined people make it a must that they have to wear their wristwatches despite having mobiles with them. They normally belong to the earlier sixties and seventies era-when they took birth.
This change has given a bigger dip in the demand for wristwatches. However, there is still a certain section of wristwatch crazy people who still go for the best one and go on changing their models as well. For them, the first craze is a Swiss-made watch. For the premium price that they’re worth. With the most top-quality components, a watch with accurate time-telling abilities that can last centuries is worth it. These watches aren’t for everyone; they’re tailored only for those who can afford them, and those who desire perfection.
As per the latest report, the COVID pandemic also has given a very big dent to this wrist-watch segment. There was a dip of almost 43% in the sales of overall watches due to the Pandemic.
After the pandemic so far following is the down-trending data of the Swiss and other leading wrist watches’ companies.As per Business News: – “Every single Swiss watch market was down by double-digits; all but two were down by more than 50%. China moved to #1 in the export ranking, down a mere 16%. Hong Kong, down 83% moved up to #2. The USA, which had held the top spot every month since last August, fell to #3, down 86%. Italy (-95.8%) fell to #16; the U.K. (-96.4%) fell to #15.”
There has been a massive shutdown of the stores around the world and the net result is a very disturbing dip.
Now with the coming of Smart-Watches, of course, the wristwatch segment is compensated but it is a very small proportion-where the smart wristwatches are being purchased and that component is in no way showing any marked improvement in the overall wristwatch segment.
Most importantly with the major changes happening in our day-to-day use of gadgets which also give us the time update-may it be the Mobile itself-I am afraid the once upon a time craze of wristwatches would not be coming again anymore. I don’t know as to how others think about it but I am of the firm belief that wristwatches may slowly be replaced with the new emerging gadgets-which we may not have to necessarily wear on our wrists.