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How Did Breitling Get It So WRONG?
Watchfinder & Co.Nov 3, 2022
Breitling used to be a beloved watch brand, but then everything fell apart. How did they get it so wrong? What's being done about it? We find out.
This may be the most "click bait" video title of a watch program of all time. I mean there's a lot of click bait out there but they don't even really once address Breitling as a failure in these videos. They infer that they brand wasn't doing well under previous managment but that's it.
that said it was an interesting interview if not a boring presentation style for such a long period of time (over 42mins combined).
Breitling's turnaround is interesting. It would be false to say the brand was unsuccessful under the Schneider era of management. In fact quite the contrary from both a public imagine and financial point of view. However it did seem as though the brand lagged behind the competition in evolving its strategy. Not an easy thing to do with a 100+ year old company built on heritage. Omega did it masterfully. Rolex really has chosen not to but maintain their status as "Rolex".
I don't disagree with anything the designer had to say but we should face facts that at this time Breitling is a heritage brand. Everything in their line-up is a re-introduction of a piece from their back catalog. That's fine, retro and heritage is way in and probably always will be. Re-designing an existing product to be at once thoroughly modern while still harkening to days past is probably a very special skill.
While the Breitlings I own are Schneider era designs I would gladly own a new Chronomat, Aviator Mosquito and Premiere if money were no object. Alas however it is. I'd actually really like a top time if they weren't co-branded.
I'd be very interested to see demographics on their sales. The middle aged crowd still seems very drawn to the Schneider era stuff from people I talk to and what I read. But you can still get that flavor in the modern Avenger and navitimer and really even the chronomat with its 80s styling.
I wonder, have they picked up a younger crowd? A more style influenced crowd? A larger Asian market?