Recently, news broke that storied watch manufacturer Tag Heuer is taking a new approach to marketing. The new campaign, "Don't Crack Under Pressure" is geared at bringing more affordable timepieces into Tag Heuer's existing collections. Typically, timepieces in Tag Heuer's collection retail for around $3,000-5,000 USD. With a limited number of in-house movements being produced by the brand, many watch enthusiasts scoff at the expensive price tag on fairly standard watch movements- think Ronda, Sellita, and ETA.
By all accounts it looks like Tag Heuer is trying to focus now on entry-level luxury watches ($1,000-3,000 USD). Ultimately, this shift is not completely unexpected. A look a recent history will show that more and more watch manufacturers are trying to court the entry-level luxury market. Swatch Group CEO Nicholas Hayek, announced in the late 2000's that Swatch would undertake a new initiative in the U.S. to open up more boutiques at Swatch's base and middle price range. The calculated move was the result of a number of factors more specifically, the fragmentation of the high-end luxury market as well as an overabundance of pre-fabricated movements.
What to Watch-
Time will tell whether or not the focus on the entry-level luxury market will pay off. Personally, I am surprised this shift did not take place earlier. It is hard to justify a few thousand dollar price difference between two watches that run on the same movement. Let's wait and see what happens.