Lauren Thomas, CNBC:
Fossil Group’s latest financials show the watchmaker is clearly hurting from Apple’s encroachment into the traditional hardware sector.
Shares of Fossil closed down more than 20 percent Wednesday, following the company’s dismal first-quarter earnings report.
“Our results for the first quarter … continue to reflect a challenging retail environment and a watch category undergoing significant change,” Fossil CEO Kosta Kartsotis said on the earnings conference call.
Results like these fly in the face of naysayers, support the notion that Apple Watch is entrenched and is solidifying its hold on this market.
I pretty much stopped buying $50 to $200 watches since the release of Apple Watch ….Apple Watch has saved me $$$
What are you talking about? The watch market is doing fine. Watchmakers learned and struggled for decades figuring out how to make a decent watch. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.
Never gets old, does it? 🙂
The last wristwatch I ever bought was a Skagen. The one before that was Swiss Army. The ones before that were Fossil. While their external designs were interesting, the hardware didn’t seem to last very long. Sorry to hear they’re hurting, though.
To say Apple Watch is “completely disrupting the traditional watch market” is pretty hyperbolic. I don’t its affected Rolex’s business at all.
That’s not to say its a failure – it seems like a nice product and I am seeing more of them as time goes on. But go look at the stock of other watch companies and you won’t see the same pattern as Fossil. Feels like CNBC is spinning a narrative rather than following the facts.
You’re right, the Apple Watch isn’t affecting Rolex very much at all, because they are in completely different brackets. It’s like saying the Corvette isn’t disrupting the automotive market because it isn’t making a dent in the sale of Bentleys.
Fossil’s watches and the Apple Watch have the same target market. Look at FOSL stock over the last three years, there was clearly a significant change that is killing them slowly. It sure ain’t Rolex!
This is not the stock you are looking for!
If its not affecting a massive brand like Rolex, then the headline “Apple Watch is completely disrupting the traditional watch market” is an exaggeration.
Something is hurting FOSL, but its unclear that its the Apple Watch. I don’t see the same downturn in the stock prices of other watch companies.
Rolex isn’t the traditional watch business, dur. most consumers aren’t buying ultra luxury Rolexes.
other swiss watch companies have posted weaker sales too, post AW.
but to claim if it doesn’t affect Rolex is just absurd. that’s like saying iphone didn’t affect the camera industry because high end SLRs are still selling — meanwhile point and shoots were decimated.
same thing.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-16/swatch-forecasts-rebound-in-u-s-europe-as-watch-sales-improve
Your camera analogy is way off.
Rolexes aren’t bought because they tell better time. They’re functional, durable jewelry, and the Apple Watch is in no way a competitor there. Even the failed gold edition models.
Rolex makes more money selling traditional watches than anyone else.