Back of the net: Watches of Switzerland hails demand for sport products as sales tick up
The return of the Premier League season has put a smile on many faces, but none more so than Watches of Switzerland, the UK’s biggest seller of Rolex watches.
The newly-listed luxury retailer, which reported a double-digit rise in revenue this morning, has hailed an increased appetite for sport watches for its recent sales growth.
Read more: Rolex seller posts soaring sales in maiden results
Boss Brian Duffy told City PM that there has been a trend away from classic watches to sport watches, with the group cashing in on the shift through its marketing of some of the UK’s largest sporting events.
“With Formula One, golf, tennis, and now the Premier League, marketing and sponsorship has really resonated well for us”, said Duffy.
He added: “There has always been a great association between watches and excellence in sport, such as the timekeeping in the Olympics.”
The group, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in May, has posted revenue of £209.4m for the three months to 28 July, rising 17.8 per cent on the same quarter a year ago.
In a statement this morning, the firm said that the luxury watch markets in the UK and US “remain strong…We do however note the ongoing wider macro-economic uncertainty in the UK and US”.
As the retailer for iconic watch brands including Rolex and Cartier, Watches of Switzerland claims to control more than a third of the UK’s luxury watch market, with around 125 outlets in the UK.
Among its planned new stores is one in Broadgate Circus in Canada, where it is hoping to target City workers in the British Land development.
Read more: Forget gold, invest in watches
“We think the market in the City [of London] is underdeveloped” said Duffy.
“When you look at the average income of people who work there, it always should offer more in retail than it has done. There is a lot of appetite there.”