Just now getting around to Paul Graham’s essay on the Swiss watch industry. In the 1970s, quartz watches made mechanical watches outdated because they were cheaper and more accurate. Three companies survived--Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Rolex. - Rolex saw it coming first. Stopped innovating on movements in the 1960s. Went all-in on marketing, celebrities, sponsorships. - Patek created artificial scarcity. Track every watch by serial number. Multi-year waitlists. They literally buy back their own watches to keep prices up. - AP made the case design the entire identity. The Royal Oak, with octagonal bezel, exposed screws was instantly recognizable. Meanwhile there was another company called Omega that used to be in the same tier but instead of focusing on brand they tried to compete with the other quartz watches, which didn’t go too well. Graham’s takeaway was that when the tech makes things easier to produce, brand becomes the only differentiator.
