Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair 2006
Boasting a record-breaking 819 exhibitors, the Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair celebrated its silver jubilee this month with extended space for its Brand Name Gallery which exposes Hong Kong manufacturers’ own brands. When the Brand Name Gallery started in the year 2000 there were only nine brands, this year, there were close to a hundred brands on show. As these brands have developed, they are now looking further afield to sell their products, although creating international brand awareness is no easy task.

Credibility
Walking around the gallery, a surprising number of the brand names are unknown outside of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong label doesn’t have the same effect as the famous ‘Swiss Made’ tag or the fashionable image associated with ‘Made in France’ or ‘Made in Italy’. “Many people have the perception that Hong Kong brands are lower class,” explained Cindy Tse from Trixie. “Some customers love our collection very much, but suggest that we call ourselves ‘Trixie Italy’ or ‘Trixie Paris’. They believe this would attract more end-users. However we are determined to promote the Hong Kong label and its own style.” Many of the brands in the Brand Name Gallery are of the same opinion and are proud to be from Hong Kong even it means more work in becoming recognised in the international marketplace.
There are still a number of brands that cling to an association with Switzerland even if the link isn’t so strong. However, credibility is important in building a brand as consumers are becoming savvier and want to know where the products they purchase are made. Roger Khemlani, Creative Director for Vo!là, insists on being honest with his customers. “Our movements are made and assembled in Switzerland, our cases are manufactured in Japan and our straps in Italy, but the company is from Hong Kong and I have always been truthful about this," he said.




o.d.m.



Trixie and Voilà



Latitude and Temporis



PowerDisk and Godgiven


Design
In order to promote the Hong Kong watch label, the Hong Kong trade associations are investing a great deal of energy into encouraging watch design. Innovative design is certainly the trend in Hong Kong and there are some truly original watches on offer. “The key to staying ahead of the competition is to focus more on product design and development,” explained Benjamin Chau, Assistant Executive Director for the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).
The Hong Kong Watch Manufacturers Associa-tion, the Federation of Hong Kong Watch Trades and Industries and the Hong Kong School of Design have jointly initiated the ‘Watch and Clock Designer Nurturing Program’, with the HKTDC as one of the supporting organizations. The Program aims to assist small and medium-sized watch and clock manufacturers in upgrading their design and brand building capabilities through professional training and hands-on workshops taught by world-class designers.
The first seminars entitled ‘Does a recipe exist for good designs’, ‘Innovative strategies and branding’ and ‘DNA for design and brand’ were well received. An overseas apprenticeship has been arranged for four of the workshop participants who showed outstanding designs. They will have practical training in Switzerland and their designs will be displayed during BaselWorld 2007.
The HKTDC also organizes a watch and clock design competition which celebrated its 23rd edition this year. The aim of the competition is to encourage new ideas and enhance the design and quality of Hong Kong watches and clocks in order to increase sales both locally and overseas. “We have successfully nurtured some students and new blood to join the watch and clock field” explained HKTDC’s Chau. “With continuous efforts to upgrade designs, Hong Kong’s competitiveness in the worldwide watch arena has been raised significantly,” The increase in the number of brands in the Brand Name Gallery appears to indicate that these initiatives are working.
Brands such as Voilà, o.d.m and Latitude are leading the pack with designs that are completely different from anything else currently on the market. “Since our launch in 1999, we have successfully expanded our retail market to 30 countries worldwide,” states Sarah So, Executive from o.d.m’s International Brand Division. “Our great achievements have been demonstrated through winning numerous design awards in Germany and Japan. As a watch brand built by a Hong Kong company, we are very proud of our success.”

Marketing and promotion
When asked about their current challenges, brand awareness frequently came up as one of the main problems facing these young brands. Obtaining recognition in the industry demands resources, which many Hong Kong companies simply don't have in limitless supply. Brand awareness doesn’t come out of nowhere - promotion is part and parcel of building a brand and generating sales, something that many manufacturers find a daunting task.
Competition among brands is rife in Asia and copyright is a huge problem. Often the new lines are hidden in the back room for client eyes only until they are ready for the shop window. This secrecy doesn’t help the brands to obtain free editorial coverage of their products. They are scared of being copied and generally do not release information to the press for fear of it getting into the wrong hands.
When starting out, there is rarely a huge budget for advertising and events. Trade fairs and the Internet seem to be the most popular channels for promotion in Hong Kong.
Advertising in magazines is considered expensive and except for some irregular advertisements in lifestyle magazines, it seems that few brands have developed worldwide media plans. One company that has taken the plunge and splashed out is the Korean brand Romanson which believes in the shotgun approach to advertising. “We advertise heavily. In Russia, for example, which is one of our best markets, we put up 40 billboards and 130 light boxes and placed advertisements in the top lifestyle magazines, such as Cosmopolitan and Elle…this is the strategy to success,” explained Romanson’s Patrick Chang, Export Sales Team Manager.
Vo!là’s Khemlani decided to take a different approach to spread Vo!là’s message in a cost-efficient way. Using viral marketing with a hilarious video featuring his Op-là watch, he managed to get more publicity for his brand than he could have ever imagined. “A friend of mine helped me to create this video and it was an incredible success. The video won international awards for creativity and four years later, this model is still our best seller,” he explained.

Positioning
One of the first impressions when visiting the Hong Kong Watch and Clock fair is the number of brands that target a specific client - whether it be women, urban youth or the IT business man.
A great number of top Swiss brands concentrate on men’s watches and have only fully developed their women’s lines in the last decade or so. “Look at today’s men and their wrists, they generally wear the same watch day after day, most probably a manual or automatic mechanical watch of Swiss or European origin,” explains Voilà’s Khemlani, “A woman’s needs are different; she needs to accessorize her wrist with her wardrobe of timepieces, and unless she has a dozen watch winders, which are already complicated and impractical for most of us men, quartz watches are perfect – at Vo!là we choose to continue our revolution on women’s wrists – as the age old gentleman’s saying goes ‘ladies first’.” Sebastien Saracchi of Temporis Watches agreed, saying, “Gents are usually looking for more classic designs, while ladies need to mix and match more...therefore we have more styles for ladies in our collection.”
Urban youth is also a hot market in Hong Kong with many brands targeting young people in the teens to twenties age group. With an array of electronic devices, such as mobile phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants), telling us the time, watches are becoming more and more of a fashion accessory for young people today. Perry Yu from Godgiven is a young designer from Hong Kong who produces timepieces, clothing and accessories which are unique, trendy and cool. “I have spent two years promoting my brand, just doing what I want to do, and 70% of Hong Kong’s youth know about me,” Perry said. odm has also been successful in targeting this group “Urban youth are style-driven and design-conscious. As there are new products that come out every day for dynamic young adults, we have to design new and refreshing products for them,” explained Sarah So.
One brand which is differentiating itself from everyone else is PowerDisk which is targeting the gadget lovers amongst us with a watch that incorporates an MP3 player (nine hours of music) and USB data storage (1GB) and a voice recorder into a watch. The stand was so busy it was impossible to enter so business is obviously doing well!




Watch and clock design competition: Winner - Love in Time, 2nd Prize - SemiWatch, 3rd Prize - Love & Forever


The future
The future is looking bright for Hong Kong as design is becoming more and more important when purchasing a new watch. When we only need to reach for our mobile telephones to read the time, the need for a watch becomes less important. Watches are becoming an accessory, like a handbag or a pair of shoes. The future success for many brands, especially in the low to mid-range, will be increasingly determined by design.
Many Hong Kong brands are differentiating themselves from the competition by targeting specific demographic segments. Young people are an enormous potential market as they are often design-conscious and searching for the next ‘cool’ watch. The trend towards the women’s market is also proving to be successful as women are more likely to accessorize with timepieces than men. With the technology in Asia to create computerized watches with the wildest functions, this is also a market that is in full exploration.
Hong Kong manufacturers have been supplying watches to fashion labels worldwide for years so with the right brand building strat-egies there is no reason why they can’t do the same for themselves and create a ‘Designed in Hong Kong’ label to rival the rest of the international watch industry!


Source: Europa Star October-November 2006 Magazine Issue