Swiss Get Smart to combat watch Apple and other smartwatches

Last month, Frédérique Constant, a manufacturer of fine Swiss watches, launched its range of smartwatches in India. Priced at Rs 60,000 and more, sales of the SmartWatch watch, as it is called, is expected to be fairly quiet. Instead, the watch flew off the shelves, even catching her by surprise importer. "We are completely out of stock," says Yashovardhan Saboo, CEO of Ethos Watches, which imports and sells watches through a chain of stores across India. "We have asked for more, but until the time you have taken the product out of our website.

It took some time for the Swiss smartwatches even look like a line of business. Smartwatches have been around for some time, but the Swiss did not realize until the clock Apple announced. In fact, at Baselworld 2014 (Baselworld is the show where the watchmakers from around the world showcase their latest), a watch company announced that it would release a SmartWatch. People who attended the opening were treated to the launch of a regular mechanical watch. "Swiss watches have always been smart," the CEO said and the crowd laughed and applauded.

It is not entirely true. Back in the 1970s, the Japanese showed they were smarter than the Swiss. Japanese companies, mainly Seiko launched the quartz clock and completely changed the world of watchmaking. Japanese quartz watches were cheap and accurate, and quickly became popular. The effect on the Swiss watch industry was devastating. Almost 60,000 people lost their jobs and many watchmakers closed or merged with others. It took time for the industry to recover. Some Swiss companies introduced quartz models themselves, while others were positioned as luxury watchmakers and took advantage of the growing number of rich people with money to spend in the West, the Middle East and China.

Today, as the threat of a revolution SmartWatch looms, Swiss watchmakers do not want to see other "quartz crisis." By the time he arrived at Baselworld 2015, five companies announced upcoming releases smartwatches in various forms. Many others said they were working on their own models.

Frederique Constant, a manufacturer of mid-range watches, was one of the first to launch a Swiss SmartWatch. He is a regular mechanical watch that contains within it an electronic unit designed by Fullpower Technologies based in Silicon Valley. The unit monitoring the activity and sleep, which can be read in a small sub-dial on the main line. You can also send information to an application on your Android or iPhone via Bluetooth. When you travel across time zones clock automatically synchronizes with the phone and adjust to local time without turning the crown. The best part is, you do not need to charge the watch every night, the lithium-ion battery lasts for two years!

TAG Heuer, a brand associated with racing and other sports, has teamed up with Intel and Google to develop its own SmartWatch. TAG is keeping under wraps specific and so far has released only teaser photo that had gotten watch enthusiasts All Fired Up. Others in the race are Breitling, known for its pilot's watches and Gucci, which has come to the unique idea of ​​putting all the electronics in the belt, leaving the clock as it is. Want to upgrade? Just change the belt!

So how will these security firms facing the main reason most people buy watches: for longevity? Mechanical watches are timeless. Properly maintained and operated can last for generations. A SmartWatch, however, will probably have to be discarded after a couple of years. Almost all Swiss watch manufacturers are in a modular design, integration of mechanical and electronic components of the clock only when needed. This makes it possible to change or update the electronics of the watch as often as necessary, the mechanical part will last for years!
Saboo agree that the Swiss smartwatches not be as feature-rich as those coming, for example, Apple. "But does anyone really want one hundred functions on your wrists?" He asks. Feel the activity tracking and payments could be the unique features most people need, and most Swiss smartwatches deliver at least that.

Smartwatches arrival to affect sales of high-end Swiss watches is expected. For example, the Rolex and Patek Philippes, which are priced $ 3000 and above will always have buyers. The fear is about how they will get affected cheap Swiss watches. According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, 94 percent of watches exported in 2014, in terms of numbers, they are below the price point of $ 3000. In terms of value, these watches at lower prices accounted for 34 percent of the total $ 21.53 billion billion industry. This is an industry well worth protecting.

Not that the market is mocked SmartWatch. According to industry body, the SmartWatch Group, the SmartWatch industry worth $ 1.3 billion in 2014 and will play an estimated $ 8.7 billion in 2015. For 2020, is expected to grow to a whopping $ 117 billion. As the leading watchmakers in the world, the Swiss are not going to sit idly by and watch that happen.