This week on The Business of Watches, we go behind the scenes with the man who compiles and crunches the numbers for the Morgan Stanley Swiss Watcher report, the most influential and widely read annual financial league table in the industry. Oliver Müller has been in the sector for some three decades, beginning his career at Omega before executive roles at a series of brands, including Laurent Ferrier, where he served as Chief Executive Officer. He’s now a consultant to the industry and has helped shape brand strategy and positioning for the likes of Akrivia and Rexhep Rexhepi, among others.
Müller’s most high-profile gig these days is compiling the estimates of Swiss brand revenue and volumes for the Morgan Stanley report. It’s the top league table for the sector, and he tells us how he calculates and decides on the estimates that get published. Not everyone is a fan.
The Swatch Group has long criticized the report, now in its 9th edition, and Müller tells us why he believes Swatch and its leadership don’t always appreciate the numbers.
But first, Hodinkee founder Ben Clymer drops in for his Business of Watches debut. Ben tells us about his recent trip to Geneva and what he’s hearing from some of the big brand executives. He also gives us his take on some of the data deep inside the Morgan Stanley report.
We hope you enjoy the conversation. There’s plenty of watch business and strategy to discuss. Be sure to leave any thoughts or questions in the comments section, and we’ll do our best to respond.
Want to subscribe so you never miss an episode? This new show is being published to the original Hodinkee Podcasts feed, so you can subscribe wherever you find your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or TuneIn.
Show Notes
1:30 Ben Clymer (Hodinkee)
2:11 Watches of Switzerland Group
4:10 Gold price
4:42 USDxCHF
6:40 Audemars Piguet CEO Ilaria Resta Drives Double-Digit Sales Increase For Brand’s 150th Anniversary Year
10:20 Cartier Santos de Cartier in Titanium (And Steel) — The Watches You Want From Cartier, Whether You Know It Or Not (Hodinkee)
12:55 Cartier’s NSO – Or “New Special Order” – Watch Program Is Over, At Least As We Know It (Hodinkee)
15:00 LuxeConsult (Oliver Müller)
15:15 Morgan Stanley
18:15 Richard Mille
18:34 Bucherer
24:13 When Banks Try To Unlock The Watchmaking Secret (Le Temps) (In French)
32:47 F.P. Journe
32:50 H. Moser & Cie.
37:30 MB&F
39:20 Raymond Weil
39:25 Frederique Constant
39:30 Christopher Ward
43:05 Jacob & Co.
44:00 How The Five Time Zone Shaped Modern Watch Culture (Hodinkee Malaika Crawford)
49:20 Tudor sales slump by 23% but Rolex turnover ticks up 5% to CHF 10.6 billion (Watchpro)
53:20 IWC
54:15 Jaeger-LeCoultre
59:20 Richemont Sells Baume & Mercier
1:01:30 Swatch Group Brands
1:06:20 Rolex careers and work locations including Biel / Bienne
