I'm curious how much the two are related, especially since the trends in owner demos could vary quite a bit (ex: how Rolex is extremely prominent among Baby Boomers, where as Panerai has recently gained major traction among younger professionals, and younger professionals may be more likely to buy the Apple Watch than Boomers.)
Doesn't the Swiss watch industry go through multi-year (even decade) patterns of decrease and increase? Mechanical watches are not the type of product that a whole lot of owners seem to buy often (minus watch junkies) and own tons of (again, minus watch junkies.) I got a Breitling like a decade ago, it's my only nicer watch, I wear it daily, and I have no intent on replacing it for at least another few decades. An older friend who wears a Submariner must have purchased it the better part of half a century ago, and it's his only watch. President Obama wore the same Tag for at least two decades. If a large base of your customers are upgrading only every quarter-century or so...
Has there been any research to look at how many people who own nicer mechanical watches are buying Apple Watches? Most of the people I know that wear one have only a limited interest in the other. I think it would be very strange to wear something different on my wrist after wearing the same thing for like a decade...I can't imagine how strange it would be to someone having worn the same thing for a quarter century or more!
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