Swiss luxury watch brand Audemars Piguet makes timely entry in Macau
The watch maker is sprucing up its showroom in Hong Kong and opening more in Shanghai, Beijing and Taipei, CEO Ilaria Resta says
Audemars Piguet is keen to invest in China and the wider region to grow its presence and tap rising interest among the younger generation in mechanical timepieces, according to the CEO of the Swiss luxury watch maker.
The new generation is far more interested in mechanical watches than previous generations, Ilaria Resta said.
“[The interest and curiosity] is far more pronounced now in the younger generation from China,” Resta said in an interview with the Post. “[Youth] from countries in Southeast Asia and India are also developing an interest in watchmaking, which was not the case before. This gives me hope that even with the generational change, there will be an influx of clients coming to us.”
The company’s double-digit year-on-year growth this year in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan has given it the confidence to expand its network of showrooms.
Luxury watch sales in China are expected to amount to US$12.82 billion this year and grow annually at a compound annual growth rate of 7.7 per cent up to 2029, according to a forecast from Statista.
While the outlook for luxury watch sales in China is rosy, Swiss exports to China fell nearly 39 per cent in October, according to data from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. In the first 10 months of the year, exports to China have slumped 26.2 per cent from a year earlier, the data showed.
