Morgan Stanley just released a piece of research that includes the estimated revenue and units sold by the top 50 Swiss watch brands. While the rankings are relatively similar to what has been published by them in previous years, there are a few surprises. For the very first time, Audemars Piguet has surpassed Patek Philippe in terms of revenue and consolidated its spot as the 4th most important watch brand with a revenue of almost 1.6 billion Swiss Francs. Meanwhile, Rolex continues to hold the first spot but Cartier is now the second most important watch brand over Omega, who’s held the second position several times.
Considering what’s been going in the watch market, Rolex’s strategy to control the supply of their timepieces has worked in their favor by continuing to build awareness of their brand and desirability. Pricing in the secondary market for Rolex watches is at an all-time high and the frenzy that this has created is clearly visible in terms of revenue and units sold for the brand. The year 2021 is a record year for Rolex and many other brands.
Based on this research, Richard Mille sold 5,000 units but ranks 7th right after Patek Philippe in terms of revenue with 1.1 billion Swiss Francs. And then, there are the surprising brands that quietly keep climbing the ranks. IWC has positioned itself as the second most successful brand for Richemont behind Cartier. TAG Heuer is the most important brand within the LVMH umbrella, Omega is the top brand at Swatch Group closely followed by Longines which now ranks as the 5th most important Swiss watch brand based on revenue.
As far as units sold —most likely also produced per year—, the most exclusive brands continue to be Richard Mille, Breguet, Blancpain, Vacheron Constantin, Chopard, Van Cleef & Arpels, Hublot, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet, with all of them under 70,000 units sold.
But perhaps the biggest ‘sleeper’ in the list is Hermès who ranks 10th in terms of units sold selling 150,000 units right behind IWC at 160,000. Who would’ve thought?
Tissot, Longines, and Rolex are the top three brands with all of them selling more than one million units a year. Tissot sells 3,100,000, Longines follows at 1,800,000 and lastly Rolex 1,050,000 units.
