Watches
Why Swiss Watchmakers Are Targeting Teens
After falling behind with millennials, the industry tries to secure a future generation of customers.
Movements sit in the cases of Pilot wristwatches during assembly at the Zenith production facility and headquarters in Le Locle, Switzerland.
Photographer: Michele Limina/BloombergWhen she was 15, Justine Guiblain designed a watch for Corum, one of several Swiss makers of luxury timepieces desperate to secure captive customers years from now.
Her drawing featured a dial that moves counterclockwise with the words “le monde tourne à l’envers” (the world is upside down) etched along the watchface and strap. Oddly appropriate for the moment: after decades of having clients come to them for elegant craftsmanship, Swiss watchmakers are now pursuing notoriously fickle teens to survive an uncertain future.