The sustainability opportunity of watch brands and why they shouldn’t listen to watch guys
Watches are intimate brands. They are on your body, they are vessels of memories, self reflection and aspiration. They matter. What the watch companies do to improve the world matters too. Should they capitalise more on their natural position as inherently sustainable? Can they use their unique physical presence to tell a bigger story? Should they add sustainability to their brands?
Before you dig in, it is probably fair to let you know where I am coming from: the climate changes are the biggest threat to human life. Without enormous efforts, we are all doomed. Politicians and governments around the world hold the greatest responsibility, but some of it comes down to the global paradigm of consumption.
I eat mostly plant based without being vegan or vegetarian, I vote progressive left, I have a plug-in hybrid car, and I live in the area with the highest concentration of Teslas in the world. I also have fairly high consumption, I love football, beer, heavy metal, airports and travel.
Professionally, I have been involved with numerous sustainability related brand, innovation and communication projects. None in the watch industry, though.
If you can’t deal with this complexity and obvious inconsistencies in me being me, that’s on you. The world is a complex place and I strive to make it simpler by helping organisations evolve consistent brands.
The opportunity for watch companies to add value seems obvious
Both through the individual experience of the brand and the social symbols that they are. They are right there. All the time. You and people around you see the objects. They are beautiful little machines that obviously do not spit out CO2 emissions or have evil cobalt in them. In many cases, it is the only branded object you have on your body.
Anyone who have met a person wearing the same watch knows that it calls for a conversation. Sometimes it is an instant relation created between two people. Often a story about a persons relation to the watch is being told, a brand story.
What a starting point for impact!
Mechanical wristwatches are inherently sustainable
They are made to last “forever” and they should be viewed as objects that are in opposition to the buy-and-toss mentality of modern life. In addition to that, the leading companies of the watch industry are actually very good on a lot of topics that influence our views on what sustainable brands actually are.
Why should watch brands do more?
The short answer is because it is the right thing to do. And they do need to have customers and that is where their brands take on sustainability comes into play.
In not too long from now, a lot of people will not buy new luxury goods if they don’t believe that the brand is meeting the new set of sustainability criteria for luxury. We know this, because we see a lot of the leading luxury companies like Kering and LMVH take strong positions in sustainability. They strongly believe that being on the right side of history on this fundamental question of human life is important for modern luxury brands.
Why should the watch industry be any different?
How a brand is responding to topics like deforestation, CO2 emissions, waste management, gender parity, poverty reduction and so on, is not about being politically correct or morally sound:
- It is about the ability to credibly deliver on a very concrete buying criteria
- It is about attracting new customers and retaining existing ones
- It is about putting your brand in the stories that more and more people are telling
- It is about being relevant in modern society
In a “buying a new watch” — scenario, it becomes very clear:
Why wouldn’t you buy the perceived more sustainable watch over the other if everything else is similar?
Why wouldn’t you buy a watch that is perceived more sustainable if sustainability is important for you?
Watch people are the wrong people to talk to
A lot of watch people I have talked to seem to be reluctant to address the issue of sustainability. The argument seems to be that luxury time pieces are inherently sustainable and that they should not mess with a winning formula.
But, we as watch people have a tendency of ignoring what watch brands actually do in communication, marketing, sponsorships and charities. It is just not on our radar and sometimes they laugh at the marketing efforts of the brands.
Labelling them ‘not credible’ or ‘irrelevant’.
As a watch guy, I pretty much despise all advertisement from watch brands. Glossy, poorly written cliche soups with stupid topics and irrelevant tech specs. To me personally, they are not credible 8 out of 10 times.
Credibility is important for watch people. And, as in society in general, greenwashing is frowned upon and just the scent of greenwashing is enough for people to shut down. Washing things green is bad.
However, communication is a tool to reach a strategic objective. And we all know that talking about a topic, attracting new customers based on that topic, can move a brands position and give new demands from customers.
Just to be clear: I do not condone slapping a eco-friendly sticker on a old diesel engine, I am just pointing out that what some people might call greenwashing can be a viable tool to move a brand in the right direction.
Watch people are also infinitely more knowledgable about watches than anybody else. We know where things are produced, what materials are in them, how the mechanics work. We have a very high level of trust in the brands. A sales person saying “this is automatic watch, that means it does not need a battery” is the instant devaluation of the sales persons relevance. I still tell the story about the AD in Oslo which gave me this line when I was picking up my BB58.
Watch people think that pointing out luxury time pieces inherent sustainability is too obvious, too cliche and irrelevant. It is not.
Mix that with the fear of greenwashing and you have a very potent and credible answer to why watch brands should do nothing more on the topic of sustainability.
Some brands move faster than the community
Ironically, a lot of watch people fail to see what watch brands are actually doing already. Rolex and A. Lange & Söhne are two companies that have started to build their sustainability narrative through both money and action. Panerai have made a watch of ‘eco-titanium’ with recycled plastic bottles in the strap. And the corporation behind a lot of watch brands does extensive efforts.
It seems that watch brands are already moving in this direction. And it makes perfect sense too. In a world where watching the news can feel like you are watching an ironic, interactive billboard to buy an electric car, stop eating meat and meditate every morning, you want your watch brand to be simple and easy to love. Reminding you how great you are, not telling you that you are doing nothing to make the world a better place.
But rather than not doing anything on sustainability in fear of evoking a sense of hopelessness, watch brands should ensure that any watch lover looks down on his watch with nothing but good feelings.
Making that dude say: “I might love a juicy steak and V8, but at least my watch is not a part of making the world a worse place than it is.”
That is value for the watch lover.
That is value for the watch brand.
Love makes us blind and that is dangerous
Since we love these brands and do reflect profoundly on our relation to them, there is a danger of not embracing the changes that the global luxury market is about to embark on. This is dangerous for the industry and this mislead understanding of the role of the luxury watch category can turn the current luxury high into a bad trip.
While you have a consumer and luxury world that is pulling towards more sustainable brands, you have an inherently conservative watch community.
The very same watch community have increasing power over watch brands. Not only in the sense of marketing and selling the watches, but also in attracting or alienating new customers.
Finding the balance between serving a valuable customer segment, while adding brand equity to attract new ones, is a balance any CMO is used to. And that balance needs to be struck these days.
Sustainability does not work for everyone
One thing is that the watch community can be reluctant, another thing is that fans of certain brands might be outright hostile.
A predominantly male watch community consists of hundreds, if not thousands, of micro communities. When men gather they sometimes creates their own little believe systems that feed off their feelings of being threatened, ignored or called stupid. I believe that some brands serves as symbols of ‘us’, even though the brands themselves probably do not do much deserve this.
We have to remember that a lot of guys are feeling talked down on when you talk about sustainability.
We also have to remember that a lot of communication about sustainability is having a very top-down approach. It’s intellectual, heavy on morals. Some of it also have a lot of lofty and ridiculous Simon Sineky purpose-ness.
Failing to read the times
The ‘quartz crisis’ was unleashed by a technological innovation and an aggressive outsider company (Seiko) that managed to redefine the rules. As we see with the Apple Watch today, that was very much in line with what consumers wanted in terms of technological innovation and reduced price point.
The question is if we now see sustainability as one of these fundamental shifts in consumers minds? If it isn’t, should companies help promote this shift?
I think so. I believe that the watch industry can serve an important role in this battle that humanity is fighting now. And I think it will serve the industry well.
I will write more on how the watch industry can do this better, but here is an example of a well known watch guy reacting to Richemonts launch of Baume.
I agree on 95% on this with Federico:
References:
Rolex.org — Rolex website for their charity efforts
Kering (owner of Ulysse Nardin and Girard Perregaux) sustainability strategy
Swatch Group sustainability report
Richemont CSR report 2019
LMVH Social & Environmental Respinsabilities
A. Lange & Söhne on sustainability
Panerai Submersible Mike Horn Limited Edition
