Rolex was also the largest watch factory in Switzerland last year, but sees a number of positive changes behind it. That’s the conclusion of a report by Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult, based on the sales of the twin largest Swiss watch manufacturers in wholesale. There it is concluded that Cartier has now settled in second place, to the detriment of omega. Fourth place is now, moreover, for Audemars Piguet, which has shown two positions by the year, thus entering Longines and Patek Philippe. Rolex sold 1.05 million Watches last year. This resulted in a turnover of 8.05 billion Swiss francs. The company has a market share of 28.8 percent. The average selling price per movement at Rolex was 11,500 Swiss francs. Cartier, part of Richemont, came second with sales of $ 2.39 billion and 600,000 units sold. The average selling price was 4,844 francs. Omega, owned by the Swatch Group, fell to third place with $ 2.2 billion in revenue and 570,000 units sold. For an Omega watch, an average price of 5,499 francs has to be paid. Audemars Piguet closed in last year to take fourth place. The company recorded sales of 1.58 billion francs and sold 45,000 watches, with an average selling price of 39,338 francs. Longines, also part of Swatch, was able to maintain fifth place, but Patek Philippe has two places. Longines realized a package of 1.54 billion francs for 1.8 million watches sold. The average selling price was 1,310 francs. Patek Philippe recorded 1.53 billion francs of revenue and sold 68,000 timepieces at an average price of 29,853 francs. The transformation of Audemar Piguet allowed, thanks to the corresponding demand for luxury watches, to present a style with 45 million francs signs by the year. That growth follows a status quo two years ago, when sales were hit by the breakthrough of the corona pandemic – including a loss of production during the second quarter. Patek Philippe had a similar course drawn. Three years ago, a sale of 1.45 billion francs was recorded, followed by 1.16 billion francs arrived the following year. Last year, Patek Philippe sold 37 million francs. Analysts really point out that Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe approach retail in a different way. “Audemars Piguet sells its products, just like Richard Mille, exclusively in its own stores,” they say. “Last year, 72 percent of Audemars Piguet’s total sales went directly to consumers.” That approach was fundamentally different from the strategy of Patek Philippe, which mainly appeals to the wholesaler to distribute its watches on the market. That activity achieved 76 percent of the total turnover at Patek Philippe. That later forms a mirror image of the sale at Audemars Piguet. However, when looking at retail, Patek Philippe still records a larger sale than Audemars Piguet. The rest of the top ten consists of Richard Mille, Tissot, IWC Schaffhausen and Tag Heuer. In terms of volumes, Tissot was Switzerland’s largest watch retailer with sales of 3.1 million Watches last year. For the purchase of A Clockwork service at Tissot on average a clause of 421 francs are paid. The highest average price-226,000 francs-was recorded on it by Richard Mille. That brand sold a total of 5,000 watches last year. Still in the top Twin are Breitling, Hublot, Vacheron Constantin, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Tudor, Officine Panerai, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chopard, Hermes and Bulgari.
