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Jim Magay |
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What the…, it’s Memorial Day weekend, the start of Summer! How did I miss Spring? It seems like just a few days ago we were in a crazy ice storm – no power for 11 days, followed by Christmas, and then suddenly its 90 degrees and the flowers are blooming.
Where did the last five months go?
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It’s been crazy up here in the Northeast, with Vision Expo being the biggest optical news. I’ve heard many exhibitors say it was down this year, others remarked they opened more new accounts than usual. Who do you believe, with the depress recession; maybe the good reports are just whistling past the graveyard. While we were ogling eyewear in New York, our jewelry industry counterparts were looking at watches and jewelry in Basel Switzerland. Baselworld is indisputably the largest watch show in the world. Even with luxury watch sales down 30% last year (sounds familiar, I’m sure most of us can relate) the show was still huge, 6 multi-story buildings with 1,722,000 square feet, 36 miles of corridors, 1,952 exhibitors and 93,900 visitors. As you can imagine with offerings from Timex to Patek Philippe and prices ranging from a few dollars to …gasp, over $600,000 – for a watch! A single watch!
An oddity at Baselworld for which I doubt there is an optical counterpart, there is now a pig shaped Wake n ‘Bacon alarm clock that wakes you up with the scent of a sizzling slice of bacon (which you load the night before) now there is something we couldn’t do without!
There is a parallel between watches and glasses. Low end to middle of the road frames are like simple watches - utilitarian, necessary, do the job, eminently forgettable (Sort of a “grudge” purchase like socks or paper towels) High-end frames, well, that’s another story, no one needs to spend $500 to a $1,000 on a frame. They don’t do the job (of holding lenses) any better, but psychologically they reward the wearer by imbuing them with an elevated sense of worth. Exclusivity in any product is fleeting but a high-end frame or watch can be truly unique in comparison to a new computer, or say a new car – new models will supersede the old before you blink an eye, whereas only an optician could tell if your frame is discontinued, er…retired!
Frames and luxury watches therefore are true status symbols, toys, eye candy, and a personal statement as well.
LGI Network, a luxury goods data gathering organization notes that Luxe products at the lower end of the price spectrum are still doing well, or less badly. Lessons? How did Waterbury Clock (now called Timex) survive the depression – think The Mouse - through the 1930’s they churned out millions of Mickey Mouse watches at a $1.50 each. New ones today are $20.00 and as a collectible can bring over $6,000 in an eBay auction (in 2005), but they pulled the company through the Great Depression.
So go forth and prosper, while you’re selling all those Mickey Mouse glasses remember there is still a customer for luxury out there – but you’ll have to be sharp to interest them!
Jim (mmm, bacon) Magay
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