Thursday, August 13, 2020

When the Music Stops - Reality Pays a Visit to Lucerne

Word reached the North Shore offices of Tempus Fugit this AM via Watch Pro and confirmed by some other outlets such as SWI (swissinfo.ch), that mighty Bucherer has told up to 370 loyalists to sling their hooks and take it on the heel and toe.

In the age of COVID-19, this is to be expected. For Bucherer (and let's be honest, nearly every other tourist focused retail store in Lucerne), it is going to be some time before the very, very large groups of Chinese tourists are roaming the city streets, credit cards in hand.



But closer to home, the purchase of Tourneau is probably starting to engender more than just a wee bit of buyer's remorse.  Tourneau, to their credit, have made a half-hearted attempt at online sales.  
But truth be told, a quick browse of the Tourneau website, it is just that, half-hearted. For better or worse, it is no longer a question of whether or not the future of watch retail is online.  The PRESENT of watch retail is online.  In the words of that other great commentator on the watch industry - Billy Beane as played by Brad Pitt in Moneyball -
"Adapt or die."

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