The Hour Glass

[egghead]

Hi, what is the chance of luxury brands like Rolex doing a Daimler (to C&C) in Singapore?

[freedom]

Hi, what is the chance of luxury brands like Rolex doing a Daimler (to C&C) in Singapore?

Rolex is already licensed to many distributors in Singapore. Even if Rolex opens its own stores, it could virtually mean just one more distributor only. They are unlikely to revoke all licenses with different distributors. maybe slowly if their own stores are more successful than their distributors.

Daimler has been trying very hard to be its own agent in the Asia market. Maybe recently they made some breakthrough?

[Thriftville]

Thanks all buddies for your valuable feedback!

I see that Hour Glass competitive advantage lies in their relation with customer and supplier. Few more question comes to my mind, greatly appreciate your input!

1. In Hong Kong, I see that Chow Tai Fook has store at almost every corner of the street. (could be even more than 7-eleven). Wondering how come there are no other international companies go against them? Is there any license that protects the jeweler?

2. How does Cortina, Dickson & Yafriro fare against Hour Glass? Are they competing only on volume and customer service?

3. Does the divorce case has any impact on the director?

[shanrui_91]

Thanks all buddies for your valuable feedback!

I see that Hour Glass competitive advantage lies in their relation with customer and supplier. Few more question comes to my mind, greatly appreciate your input!

1. In Hong Kong, I see that Chow Tai Fook has store at almost every corner of the street. (could be even more than 7-eleven). Wondering how come there are no other international companies go against them? Is there any license that protects the jeweler?

2. How does Cortina, Dickson & Yafriro fare against Hour Glass? Are they competing only on volume and customer service?

3. Does the divorce case has any impact on the director?

1) Chow Tai Fook is likely to run its store through franchise to be able to reach its scope. There are defintely competitors going against them since they are earning high return (I suppose so, never check it out). The western favours white gold and silver as compared to yellow gold and green jade for the chinese. It's all in the brand and reputation as with all luxury product retailers.

2) Cortina is the 3rd largest player in Singapore but its turnover is half that of THG. THG has approx similar revenue as compared to Sincere. (Revenue is in terms of their internation operation) Based on storecount, THG should have the most in Singapore.
As for inventory turnover, profit margin and ROE, THG wins Cortina by a significant margin. As for Sincere, using its last annual report figure, the margin is comparable to THG. However, its inventory turnover ratio is still 1.X which loses to THG average of 2.4. All other players are much smaller.

3)The divorce case seemed to have been settled though Henry Tay has earlier frozen his ex-wife investment holding. The company is now run by Michael Tay and his uncle. I don't think it is appropriate to raise this issue in AGM...

[dydx]

An interesting old event report on a party hosted in Oct2009 by THG for local watch aficionados/ collectors to meet 2 watchmakers - Kari Voutilainen and Romain Gauthier - with lots of good pictures on the people involved and the unique watch pieces presented.....
http://revo-online.com/forums/main/read.php?9,8607,8613

It looks like watch collection is a serious hobby and business!

[WolfT]

Hi, what is the chance of luxury brands like Rolex doing a Daimler (to C&C) in Singapore?

They already did! At Rolex service center. They sell rolex watches too but their discount sucks and always out of stock for some model.

[Boon]

Chinese buy a third of world's Swiss watches

China National News (IANS) Monday 4th June, 2012

Chinese love Swiss watches, so much so that they purchased a third of what the Swiss produced last year.

Consumers in Hong Kong and China spent over 5.72 billion Swiss francs ($5.90 billion) on Swiss watches in 2011, which makes it 29.7 percent of the total exports of Swiss watches, show Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry statistics.

The Chinese market recorded the highest rate of growth with a 48.7 percent rise in 2011.

Hong Kong shot past the US to be the largest market for Swiss watch exports in 2008, reported China Daily.

High-end watches are a hot favourite with Chinese consumers and 34 percent of them chose watches for investment and as collectibles.

http://www.chinanationalnews.com/index.p...ss-watches

---

In Watch Industry, a Feud Over What Makes a Timepiece Swiss-Made

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/28/busine...wanted=all

[Thriftville]

Hi buddies, for branded watches, where is the cheapest place to buy? Is Hong Kong's prices more attractive than Sg?

[guru]

Just saw 41 lots on Sell at $1.27. Anyone interested to take it?

[propertyinvestor]

Cortina much better lah! The infighting will kill Hr Glass!