A luxury watch advertisement and a sculpture in Beijing's Wangfujing Street. Luxury watch producers are competing to gain a bigger market share in China. [Photo / China Daily]

Jaeger-LeCoultre sees business opportunities in Chinese market

BEIJING - Swiss premium watch manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre expects China to become its biggest market in the world over the next five years because of the big potential for the luxury watch sector in the emerging market, Jrme Lambert, the company's global president, told China Daily.

"Sales in the Chinese market have contributed a lot to our global business and we will continuously expand our outreach in China to grasp the business opportunities in the fastest-growing market in the world," Lambert added.

Jaeger-LeCoultre, one of the luxury watch brands of Swiss luxury group Richemont, now has more than 50 stores in China, the fifth-largest market for the brand.

The Swiss company opened its largest flagship shop in the world in Beijing in November, aiming to appeal to more Chinese customers.

Most Jaeger-LeCoultre watches are priced between 10,000 yuan ($1,501) and 500,000 yuan. The company is targeting China's newly rich as their main customers.

"I'm confident that the Chinese market will reflect better sales in the future and we will launch some products especially designed for our Chinese clients," Lambert said.

The company introduced the Master Minute Repeater, a limited edition watch, to the Chinese market this year, attempting to strengthen Chinese people's identity with the brand.

Jaeger-LeCoultre will focus on the establishment of boutiques instead of expanding its sales network in China.

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In November, US consultancy Bain & Co released a study of China's luxury market in 2010. It showed that watches account for the second-biggest luxury spending of Chinese people, following perfume.

Bain & Co estimated that the sales volume of luxury watches in China will climb to 20.6 billion yuan in 2010.

The consulting house surveyed 1,471 customers of luxury goods in more than 10 cities across China. They named Rolex, Omega, and Cartier as the three brands they are most likely to purchase.

Those brands are also the bestsellers, along with Longines and Tudor. Together, the five brands account for roughly half of all watch sales in China.

In addition to Jaeger-LeCoultre, Swiss Group Richemont also owns other luxury jewelry and watch brands including Cartier, Piaget, International Watch Co and Vacheron Constantin.

China last year bought one fifth of the total Swiss watch production. The United States had the biggest drop in Swiss watch purchasing in 2009 among the 10 nations that imported the most, decreasing 38 percent.