Published earlier this month, the ninth edition of the Swiss Watcher report showed that most Swatch Group brands lost market share amid declining sales. It also reported the group’s flagship Omega brand slipped to 5th place from 3rd in the rankings. Swatch has long criticized the report and questioned the methods used by the investment bank and Oliver Mülller, the Swiss-based analyst and consultant who compiles the estimates for the rankings. Contacted by Hodinkee, Müller said he couldn’t comment on the Swatch Group letter as it was being considered by Morgan Stanley’s management and legal department.
While publicly traded companies, including Swatch Group, must publish financial reports showing total sales and profit, they are not obliged to disclose the individual performance of brands. Morgan Stanley, as well as other banks, including Switzerland’s Vontobel, publish watch industry reports that are based on estimates of annual sales, production, and average sales price or ASP.
With the majority of the biggest Swiss watch brands, including Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet, closely held or family owned, the industry is notoriously opaque, leaving analysts and investors to estimate production, sales, and profit figures for individual brands.