Lady can wear IWC watches now

Nowadays,Unisex Portofino Midsize IWC watches was lauched in November and the series will be available in India by April 2015. For a long time, the watch industry has been on the wrong road. It just focuse or towards the male buyers. But over the last decade, the number of lady customers have been growing and watchmakers have taken note of that. Even IWC, the Schaffhausen, Switzerland-based watchmaker that has more than one hundred and thirty years of history and which stayed true to its tradition of being a mostly man brand until very recently, is now taking the demand for women’s watches seriously. In November, the watchmaker launched its Unisex Portofino Midsize watch that both men and women could wear. The series will be available in India by April 2015. Karoline Huber, brand director, Middle East and India, for IWC Schaffhausen and Baume & Mercier, spoke to Mint Indulge about the inspiration behind the Unisex Portofino Midsize line of watches. Edited excerpts: We have often heard of men’s watches that women can wear. In fact, this appeared to be a strong trend in the early day. But a unisex watch is a new idea, right?

I think that more and more ladys will wear watches, especially about our generation.
before the 1960s,

Men and Women had their assignments clearly marked. Men would “hunt”, “work”, keep their families “safe”, both financially and emotionally, whereas women were very much about “keeping family and household” running. This changed in the 60s as women started to work outside homes, took on office jobs and became responsible for at least part of the household income. And thus the clear line between men and women started blurring. So it was only natural to invent, design and create products that both men and women could wear. And that’s what we call unisex: a diligently crafted mechanical watch, an accessory that complements both the male and the female characters and outfits. I am not sure I could refer to a specific inspiration that resulted in IWCs Portofino Midsize.

It was much more a market demand that we felt needed to be answered. it is also create a brand-new market. Did you have to make any compromises designing this model?
How did you soften the masculine elements and strengthen the feminine components to create a balance? Or did you have a completely different approach? At IWC, compromising is never an option and we did not make any compromises with the Portofino Midsize collection. It is more the other part of the process you are describing and that was quite challenging. First and foremost, any brand’s ambition is to create a product that perfectly resembles the brand’s DNA—parts of which are masculine for IWC. Second, you want to craft something that is beautiful and appealing to the target customers, which is essential, specifically in our industry. And here the brand’s values become incredibly important because beauty is subjective and fades with time as we all know. So we took our values—classic, timeless and functional—and worked from the drawing board until we had something that not only lived up to our values but was contemporary and attractive at the same time. So what we have is a classic, timeless timepiece, finished with a mother-of-pearl-dial and subtle diamond setting to appeal to both men and women. Last but not least, any mechanical timepiece needs to be perfectly fitted ergonomically, so to ensure that it sits comfortably on both a male and a female wrist and hence we decided to reduce the diameter slightly. So we used our brand DNA and values as a benchmark and added the requirements of our target audiences to the design mix. And that, if you ask me, is the recipe for success for any brand or product. Do you foresee the challenges in marketing this idea? I don’t, really. First and foremost, because it is a beautiful and aspirational product. Second, it comes with a meaningful and intriguing marketing concept around Portofino so there is a great story to tell, an emotional journey we can take our customers on. So I am actually very much looking forward to launching the Portofino Midsize in India and taking the Indian connoisseurs on this journey. Will this be a one-off project or a continuous line that IWC will focus on? The Portofino Midsize complements our offering and the core collection. It might be the newcomer but I am convinced that it will develop into a key pillar of our brand’s success story in no time. So it does have a fixed spot in our portfolio and I am expecting it to grow further. Why has IWC been a little soft on women’s watches so far? Especially, in the recent past when many other brands have strengthened their offerings for women? Or is this the beginning of new things? From my perspective, a key factor in success, specifically in the luxury industry, is the strength of your brand equity. And this is something you need to build over years, even decades, as it is based upon your brand’s DNA and values and expressed via your brand positioning, communication and product portfolio. Hence the brand’s patrons need to be very cautious and ensure that everything they do, say, or produce, speaks of the brand’s core. To build brand equity takes years, but it can be destroyed potentially in seconds if you open up the brand too early. At IWC, we are blessed with a very vivid DNA and a very clear positioning: “Engineered for men”.

Over the years, We built the image that only man can wear watches. Now, this image was brokens. More and more woman will wear watches. I think that Two thing made us change our thinking and open up the brand.

First, we felt that the brand is now strong enough and established around the world to take the next step. And second, we simply could not ignore the fifty percent of the population who were looking for a watch with heritage, and from a house that encapsulates the best. The result: a small mechanical timepiece that features a small complication and is decorated with a mother-of-pearl dial and diamond setting. So if you ask me if this is the beginning of something new: not really, because IWC will always be IWC. But it is most definitely an evolution, a beautiful new facet of what IWC Schaffhausen is all about—heritage, craftsmanship and a meaningful, evocative story that the owner is reminded of every time they look at their wrists. An earlier version of this story carried an incorrect byline.Yes, the new story of the IWC watches are beginning! at the same time, more and more lady also buy Midsize IWC replica watches too. Because they are totally the same as the authentic ones. No any difference.