瑞士手錶與蘋果手錶

Swiss watches and the Apple Watch

瑞士手錶與蘋果手錶

It's not about time

這和看時間沒有關係

Traditional watchmakers are confident they can see off Apple's new bauble

傳統手錶製造商有信心看到蘋果華而不實的新玩意兒退出舞臺

WHEN cheap, accurate quartz watches started pouring out ofAsiain the 1970s, many Swiss watchmakers went bust. But the survivors recovered their sangfroid and went on to prosper as crafters of stylish timepieces that proclaim the wearer's taste and status better than any electronic gizmo could.

當19世紀70年代，價廉精准的石英表開始在亞洲普及，許多瑞士手錶製造商破產了。但是那些倖存者恢復鎮靜，作為時尚手工鐘錶生產商繼續著繁榮事業，這些鐘錶比任何電子玩意兒都能更好的彰顯佩戴者的品味與地位。

Do Apple's new smartwatch and devices like it portend another quartz catastrophe? Some think they might. Wrists are “prime real estate”, points out Richard Seymour, a design consultant. Many people park expensive watches there—especially men, since that is the main sort of jewellery that convention allows them. So if smartwatches catch on, they could evict the Swiss baubles.

蘋果新款智慧手錶以及其他類似產品預示著另一個石英手錶的大災難嗎？有些人也許這樣認為。設計顧問Richard Seymour指出：手腕是絕佳的部位。許多人佩戴名貴腕表——特別是男士，因為這是世俗允許他們佩戴的主流飾品。因此如果智慧手錶流行開來，它們可能將瑞士手錶逐出市場。

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That seems to be Apple's ambition. It has been poaching talent from fashion houses. Its new watches aim to be more than gadgets: some have 18-carat gold cases. Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple's design chief, has reportedly boasted to colleagues that the Swiss are in trouble.

這似乎就是蘋果公司的野心。其從時裝公司挖走人才。蘋果公司的新款手錶旨在“不止是腕表”：有些腕表擁有18K金表殼。據報導，蘋果的首席設計師Jonathan Ive先生向同事吹噓說瑞士手錶正陷入困境。

They are not trembling yet. Smartwatches are a mere “information tool” that say “nothing special” about the wearer, says Jean-Claude Biver, chairman of Hublot, a Swiss brand owned by LVMH, a big luxury group. They become obsolete as soon as the technologyadvances. Swiss watchmakers, on the other hand, are selling “eternity in a box.”

他們還未驚慌失措。大型奢侈品集團Hublot是瑞士手錶旗下品牌，其主席Jean-Claude Biver表示，智慧手錶僅僅是一種“資訊工具”，並不能彰顯佩戴者的特別。一旦科技進步，它們就將被淘汰。相反，瑞士手錶製造商售賣的卻是“盒子裏的永恆”。

Cheaper and less eternal Swiss-watch brands, from low-end ones like Swatch to mid-market ones like Tissot and Hamilton, seem most at risk. Swatch has already tried to get into smartwatches, in an ill-fated venture with Microsoft a decade ago, and plans to try again. However, Jon Cox of Kepler Cheuvreux, a stockbroker, points out that watches costing $500 or less provide just 6% of the industry's revenues, so it could survive their loss. Since Swatch also owns several upmarket brands and makes parts for many others, just 5% of its profits are at risk from Apple's watch, Mr Cox reckons.

較為便宜以及不太保值的瑞士手錶品牌，從低端品牌如Swatch到中端品牌如Tissot和Hamilton，似乎風險最大。十年前Swatch已攜手微軟試圖進入智慧手錶領域，但這場冒險因時運不佳以失敗告終，其計畫再試一次。然而，Kepler Cheuvreux的一個股票經紀人Jon Cox指出，價格在500美元或500美元以下的手錶，僅提供該產業的總收入的6%，因此Swatch能承受它們的損失。Cox先生認為，由於Swatch還擁有幾個高端品牌，且其為其他品牌手錶製造零部件，其利潤中僅5%會因蘋果手錶的發佈而存在風險。

Mr Biver thinks it may even boost Swiss watchmakers by getting youngsters used to wearing something pricey on their wrists. Existing customers may wear Apples for everyday use, but slip into something more enviable for social occasions. Mr Seymour is not so sure: he thinks Apple will do its utmost to make people wear its watch all the time.

Biver先生認為這甚至會讓年輕人對在手腕上佩戴一些昂貴的產品習以為常，從而促進瑞士手錶製造商的發展。現有客戶可能會在日常生活中使用蘋果手錶，但是在社交場合他們就會戴一些更讓人豔羨的東西。Seymour先生並不如此肯定：他認為蘋果公司將會盡其最大努力使人們無時無刻都戴著蘋果手錶。