Jony Ive said a few months ago that Apple Watch will represent a major problem for Swiss watch manufacturers, and this seems to have resonated strongly in the minds of some of them. In an interview given today, the co-inventor of Swatch, Elmar Mock, claims that the Apple Watch will be a quick success and that it will send the Swiss watch manufacturers to the "stone age". He says any kind of watches with prices between 500 dollars and 1000 dollars, or francs, are in "danger", in fact he is convinced that all of Switzerland is in danger.
Apple will succeed quickly. Anything in the price range of 500 francs to 1,000 francs [US$500-$1,000] is really in danger. I do expect an Ice Age coming towards us. Switzerland is in trouble. Unfortunately, I'm reminded too strongly of the quartz crisis. So far I see watchmakers in this country making the same mistakes as back then. We've seen a lot of arrogance in the Swiss watch industry in the past few years, calling the smartwatch a gadget and not taking it seriously.
Mock compares the Apple Watch presentation with the crisis that Swiss manufacturers went through when cheap quartz watches were launched on the market and affected their sales. He claims that Swiss watch manufacturers are too arrogant and do not take smartwatches seriously, and this will affect their business in the future. Despite Mock's negative view, other watch manufacturers are trying to be optimistic, preparing their own smartwatches for market launch, but it remains to be seen whether they will be able to compete effectively with the Apple Watch.
