What do you think your customers want?
They want to be reassured that when they buy a TAG Heuer watch it will last and not go out of fashion – and that it will keep its value. Consistency is extremely important and we’re investing in that. Knowing a watch design was the same 40, 50 years ago reassures the customer when they’re spending a large amount of money. It doesn’t mean we can’t be creative or innovative, or come with new designs or technologies. We’re investing there, too.
Is Ryan Gosling the face of today’s lifetime watch buyer?
We can’t rely on Steve McQueen for decades to come. Ryan is a great fit with the brand and an icon in his world. We approached him with a project and the way things happened was very authentic. He knew the brand, he was passionate about our universe and he’d never done anything like this before.
No doubt some of that will be because prices are rising. According to Stéphane Bianchi, you’re now approaching an average price of 3,000 Swiss francs. TAG Heuer has long been the ‘first luxury watch’ brand, but are you in danger of leaving first-time watch buyers behind?
If I look at the majority of our watches, they’re a watch of a lifetime. They’ll be someone’s watch for many years, decades. These people are the target we have.
