1 sept. and another 10% increase I've heard an average +10% in the UK, USA and Europe .... again :-( sounds almost unbelievable, ANOTHER 10% On the other hand, I just read a Patek catalog from 1997... it had a pricelist and the 5004 was yours for euro 115K in 1997 ... only adding a little 3% per year would bring us to 180K today ... which was imo the last listprice. So somehow we must have had a long time without increases. The last 2 years it seems to be between 10 and 20 % PER YEAR but the average in 15 years is still a modest 3% ! http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002054#msg-1002054 Tue, 21 May 2013 13:13:12 -0500 Phorum 5.2.13 http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002143#msg-1002143 it won't happen http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002143#msg-1002143 MarkS Patek Philippe Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:30:22 -0500 http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002134#msg-1002134 Time to move, my friend... http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002134#msg-1002134 Alberto Patek Philippe Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:51:23 -0500 http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002131#msg-1002131 Unfortunately not http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002131#msg-1002131
Since I live here, I do not see the difference in everyday life. Buying watches from the Union is tempting though.]]> MarkS Patek Philippe Tue, 06 Sep 2011 01:30:13 -0500 http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002127#msg-1002127 Very eloquent graphs... http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002127#msg-1002127
I guess it's good to be paid in CHF these days!!! :D]]> Alberto Patek Philippe Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:30:25 -0500 http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002124#msg-1002124 Currency is one thing http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002124#msg-1002124
As long as the dollar (USD), the pound (GBP) and the euro (EUR) are falling down in regards to the Swiss Franc, the industry has a problem if it does not compensate its prices.

I would say that over 90 % of sales are achieved abroad, hence performed in another currency than CHF. The charts below (taken from www.swissquote.ch) illustrate well how things look like for any manager considering the world from Switzerland. Calculating prices with the various highs and lows shows well how much gets lost if there is no indexation. Finding out why the increases are not the same needs insider knowledge and sales figures only available to a happy few.

Even though precious metal costs seem to get cheaper in comparison to the strong Swiss Franc, the gain will never compensate for the loss. The lever is much stronger on the retail side than on purchasing.

Not acting on retail could also open the door for parallel import and mess up the entire sales strategies.






















Looking at these charts makes clear that there was money to make B)-
]]> MarkS Patek Philippe Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:13:24 -0500 http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002115#msg-1002115 Raw materials http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002115#msg-1002115 " ... thereby making raw material purchases cheaper for the Swiss."

Raw material prices have skyrocketed lately - while I was in HK this summer, for a while one Oz of gold was actually more expensive than one Oz of platinum! So this perhaps can justify some of the price increases.

But what you say about the HK and US markets is correct: as the two currencies are linked, there should be no reason for the increases to be different. Unless the higher increase in HK is designed to level the playing field between HK and mainland China, and curb the number of people from mainland who goto HK to buy their expensive timepieces... Otherwise, the only other plausible answer is the one you suggested.

Ultimately, though, I believe that only Thierry has the answer!!! :)]]> Alberto Patek Philippe Mon, 05 Sep 2011 08:41:11 -0500 http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002111#msg-1002111 Is this just a case of currency? http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002111#msg-1002111 onats Patek Philippe Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:07:42 -0500 http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002092#msg-1002092 Humm... http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002092#msg-1002092
This said, your analysis is interesting, Bruno. My guess would be that in the past there was much more relative stability among currencies: the dollar was top dog, and the swiss franc was probably fairly stable in relation to it, as were a lot of other currencies. Recent years have seen a lot of historically strong currencies weaken, such as the dollar and the pound, and "newer" currencies such as the euro and the chinese yuan get stronger (who knows what would actually happen if China actually let the yuan float and adjust to its real value!!!). I have a feeling that this phenomenon is directly related to the recent "acceleration" in watch price adjustments...

Any economists out there care to elaborate, infirm or confirm? :)


edited by marks: fixed typo]]> Alberto Patek Philippe Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:44:50 -0500 http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002054#msg-1002054 1 sept. and another 10% increase http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?16,1002054,1002054#msg-1002054
sounds almost unbelievable, ANOTHER 10%

On the other hand, I just read a Patek catalog from 1997... it had a pricelist and the 5004 was yours for euro 115K in 1997 ... only adding a little 3% per year would bring us to 180K today ... which was imo the last listprice.
So somehow we must have had a long time without increases. The last 2 years it seems to be between 10 and 20 % PER YEAR but the average in 15 years is still a modest 3% !]]> Bruno Patek Philippe Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:55:58 -0500