Wrist watches
Fashion keeps this wearable technology alive
People who predicted the cellphone would kill the wrist watch overlooked a little thing called fashion.
Cellphones armed with clocks have emancipated more than a few wrists from the tyranny of timepieces. But the watch has escaped the fate of obsolescence by making the move from timekeeper to fashion component, industry players say.
Darren Bondar, founder-owner-president of the Calgary-based Watch It! retail chain, says watches have become a fashion accessory that completes and complements people’s outfits.
“Since I started this business 15 years ago, there has been a constant argument about the death of the wrist watch,” Bondar says. “But we’re seeing a resurgence in the popularity of the watch and the industry is doing better than ever.”
Contemporary watches fuse fashion with technology, Bondar says. Major fashion houses have injected the watch into their fashion mix, while watch makers are incorporating smart-watch technology into their product lines.
And classic products such as Swiss Army watches, which Bondar began selling 15 years ago, are agelessly popular, he says.
How many watches does a person need? Bondar won’t offer that kind of advice but he says many customers own watch fleets that number in the dozens.
One of the retailer’s top-selling items is a 30-piece watch box for storing watches, he says. Watch It!’s timepieces range in price from $60 to $1,500. It sells “tons” of watches in the $60-$200 spectrum, he says.
David Ritter, president of the Canadian Jewellers Association, does not foresee the watch fading into a niche product. Wearable technology with its added functions will give the wrist watch a chance to fight back against smartphones, he says.
And watches are better than smartphones at helping fashion-conscious consumers define their identity.
“Watches provide an extension of one’s personality,” Ritter says. “The variety of brands and looks in the watch category allows one to make a statement about who they are.”