Swiss Made Sold: Automatic and Quartz

Swiss have lots of relatively cheap quartz watches that are sold everywhere in Europe. Brands like Mondaine, Roamer, Claude Bernard, others that are really nothing special, but are distributed widely.

But most important thing - if last year means 2022 you need to take into account quartz Moonswatch which sold (mostly guesses and estimates) more than 1 million pieces. Then add other Swatches that are popular and predominantly quartz.

I also think there might be a trend where mechanical watches from other countries gain market share like micro brands and established brands outside Switzerland. Growth of secondary market also might reduce new sales on primary market for Swiss brands slightly.

Those are just my guesses not backed by any research or stats, but might be reasonable.

This absolutely makes sense considering what my Tissot AD said, they almost sell 10-20 quartz PRX for every automatic PRX. For an average customer, the cheapest and the less complicated watch seems to be the obvious choice.

Agree, great perspective. Once you filter all the news/reviews/YouTube presence for Luxury Autos, you start realizing the ton of Swiss Quartz available, even Swatch group alone.

It doesn't surprise me that much. The revenue has shifted to the top end of the market, meaning that the number of quartz watches may be high, but the profit would be comparatively low. Rolex, Cartier and Omega lead by revenue (2022), but maybe with the exception of Cartier, are focused on mechanical watches, as are the rest of the brands in the 2022 top ten.

I would also suspect that the largest number of quartz watches sold are not from well-known brands, but smaller ones (Online-Shopping, Tourist brands, etc.) that have more to gain from a "Swiss Made" label.

Not sure why I am shocked knowing that Quartz if more affordable and less hassle.

And a person who isn’t into watches that deep are not going to have the nostalgia magic that us enthusiast have for mechanical movements.

Awsome post! Very informative

Thank you.

🍻

Agreed, not sure Swiss quartz is god tier though? Japanese quartz I think are less traditional and more innovative as well as, IMO, more widespread globally with all the microbrands. Just my take 🤝

This is exactly right, most of my watches are Quartz. I have 10 mechanical watches, 6 of which are automatic.

From my 25 total watches all my chronographs are Quartz and also is one of my GMT's is as well. If the price is right, the look is good and I feels it's complimentary to my other outfits, I'll get it.

Sounds right. The inexpensive watches carry the industry.

For the average buyer the quartz ticks all the right boxes.

• Low maintenance

• Thinner case

• "Swiss Made" on the dial for the prestige factor

• Significantly cheaper.

Swatch & tissot alone sell more quartz units to the wide public than I can count, so I guess I'm not surprised. Most people don't know how a mechanical movement works or what it is

I believe this watch was the best selling Swiss quartz.

The normal person, well the normal person doesn't wear a watch so let's say the average analog watch buyer is easily 90+% getting a quartz. For women the percentage of mechanical holdouts is likely magnitudes less.

This is like the news that almost nobody buys, hell almost nobody offers, a manual transmission car. It takes dedication and effort to do so. I'm in this camp as are a slight majority of people I know, but I recognize that we are outliers.

I take everything that midget says with a pinch of salt. I strongly doubt he consulted every Swiss watch manufacturer. I also suspect he only asked those he AD’s for & even then very few actually told him.