Horological Meandering

justpen
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A follow up on China ... and their taste for haute horlogerie

In January last year I wrote a post asking " if China would meet the market expectations of the top makers".

My conclusion at that time was .... "I think not" ....a lot of potential.... but a big culture change was needed... along with a better crime rate.

Now, after a 6-7 week stint in China, I offer some insight as to..... ' What I saw this time'.

China Revisited;

Having lived a large part of my life in this region, whenever I return, I always have a feeling of "Coming Home ".

The smells and the sounds are like perfume and music to my senses. The food and the general courtesy of the people make it a special place in my heart.

But China has changed.

No longer were the 5 star hotels situated amongst a mass of ancient dwellings... now it was a case of.... a mass of some of the world's tallest and most modern buildings are separated by the odd ancient dwelling. A small reminder of an ancient past.

Thousands of modern apartment buildings, many of them empty, industrial estates, also many empty, but which are much better landscaped than many up-market residential suburbs as we know them, and the roads. Massive internal roads that would be the envy of many western nations.

Freeways dripping in stainless steel. The powers that are... have not skimped in any way.

Generally, traffic is heavy at some centers during peak hour, but as you get out and about, in many cases the road is yours, and you can not help to notice a freedom by the lack of cars.

The odd three wheel truck is still seen every mile or so, as is the motor bike with 5 people on board, or the whole family on one motorcycle with an umbrella up, while riding.

China is a place to bring you back to reality. To remind you of what you have ...... and the innocence that you have lost.

My first hotel was 51 floors high and like all modern Asian hotels was just dripping in marble and granite.

After I unpacked I ventured to the top floor restaurant. A short while later as I stood at the urinal and let my body relax while listening to Frank Sinatra being piped throughout, I noticed in front of me a very small sign attached to the granite backdrop.... engraved on it was a message that would be repeated hundreds of times over the next weeks....... " Please be careful of your belongings "

This caution was uttered to me by old friends, new business acquaintances and also by much public signage...... so many times.

My visit to china was business, but as a very keen watch enthusiast I had a second agenda and that was to gauge first hand what the interest in HH was in modern China.

I traveled many miles and in many cities and stayed at very beautiful, yet not expensive, 5 star hotels.

In the six and a half weeks I was in China I saw only two quality watches.

One was Breguet Reveil du Tsar..... and the other was a Rolex Daytona.... and both of these were mine.

I did not see one genuine top end watch on any wrist.... not even on the Japenese or Arabic business men in the hotel lifts.

Fact is, I did not see many watches on Chinese wrists.

As an old fisherman we once had a saying when we were out fishing on The Great Barrier Reef… and not catching any fish.

"Well there might be a lot of fish out here today…. But there is a hell of a lot of water mixed with them".

Maybe this was applicable to watches in China…. Many watches…but many more wrists.

Either way I could not find them, and I did look.

In any bar I would scan the customers like radar.

I spotted an Austrian with a large Omega... thought here is one, but after a casual conversation, I discovered he paid $100 for it at a market.

Then a Varcheron Constantin on a Frenchman.... alas again it was a market piece.

This 'discover and get disappointed' repeated itself many times... always a copy.

Yet all the big names were advertising big dollars worth in double page spreads.

It was not possible to check into a 5 star hotel and not find a watch add in some book in the room.

Where they advertising to the Chinese or the Hotel Guests was my question... because it was the foreigners that stayed in the hotels not the Chinese Locals.

Breguet, Ulysse Nadin, Omega and Rolex, in that order seemed to take out the double page adds.

A P, CFB, Victrinox, Certina, Hanowa, V C, Rado, Wenger, JLC, Longines, Tissot, IWC, they were all there.

But the most prominent was Ernest Borel, a company I had not noticed before, but Borel was the main shop at any department store, he was the one in the hotel foyers arcades, and he was the one with the long banners hanging above the escalators or anywhere else he could hang them.

Tissot and Longines were also prominent in the hotel and department stores.

On looking at Borel watches, I saw a veriaty of pieces ranging from very ordinary simularities to Rolex Date Just in stainless and gold, (well silver color and yellow color) complete with gold bezels which were in a terrible false gold color, and not really similarities but almost exact copies with his name on them... to rather attractive Pearl Dial pieces that were quiet elegant.

I could also possibly say I saw some enamel dial models by Ernest Borel…. But not sure.

Prices were on the low sacle from a few hundred doallars to a few thousand.

So what is the deal with all this advertising by the big names and no wrist show.

Who is buying?

Do they wear them or keep them locked away?

Well, firstly it seems that crime is a problem, and in a country where hundreds of children are kidnapped each month, it would not be a big worry to knock off the odd watch. Especially when it might be worth a few years salary.

You can always get an indication of the crime of a country by the taxi protection for the driver.

In China, the protection for the taxi driver varies but can range from very serious stainless steel cages to heavy plastic.

In some areas it is difficult to know if you are in the back of a Police wagon on your way to jail or looking at the driver who resembles a tiger in a very strong cage.

Then look at the residential buildings.

It is one thing to have protective bars on a Ground Floor apartment or even the second or third floor….but in China the protective bars go right up to the 20th or 30th floor. Why… who would be so crazy to become spider man.

If they are there for habit... then it is an expensive habit.

Crime is a problem. Many associates would not allow me to get out of their car a hundred or so meters from my hotel because I was carrying a Computer bag…. Explaining that the men on motor bikes would ride past and rip it off.

So one askes how safe is China to walk around in…. everybody says "it is OK… in the day time"… "But don’t wear any jewelery or carry the computer bag."

What about at night time?

“May be, not so safe"

There is no doubt that the peaceful and safe cities of Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo have been the best thing for the watch industry both before and since the internet.

So is it the price, the safety, the lack of a watch culture or just a case of an expensive watch not being on the priority ladder ?

I kept looking...every lift ride, every night in a bar or restaurant, every passing wrist was scanned and still no genuine watches. Even to looking inside the windows of luxury cars while stopped at traffic lights. Very few watches on wrists.

So, what is the culture in China to watches?

Well when asking the locals what is their dream or ambition it seems that to buy an apartment is No.1.

To buy a car is No.2. and to send some money home to the parents is somewhere between No. 1 and No.3..... or for the older ones, to send the children through university.

Property and cars in China are not cheap. Like many countries you can buy a bottom of the range car for around $8,000 US.

A Toyota highlander is around $50,000 US, an Audi or BMW, or Mercedes Benz is around the same price you would pay in any country in the world.

Petrol is 93 US Cents per Ltr.

A car tire is more expensive than you would buy one for in Australia.

Yet wages are still cheap with a waitress on maybe $US 100 per month to a senior factory worker on around $US500 per month.

Certainly not the kind of money to get you marching up to a Breguet Boutique.

Sometimes in the hot south, it was mentioned that the weather was not condusive to wearing a watch, but even in the cooler parts there was no noticeable watch culture.

Some of our Chinese residing Forum Members might see a different picture…. but general indications are that China has a long way to go, and if the big names want to see their product swinging from a wrist.... rather than locked in a safe… they might have to wait until the crime situation improves.

So what is the Chinese taste for haute horlogerie ? ....... I have no idea..... but I would not like to own a Breguet Boutique in many of the cities I visited..... but who knows... may be there a lot of fish... just that they are mixed with a lot of water.

kindest regards to all,

Jack