TUDOR IS CHANGING THEIR MARKETING APPROACH, AND WE’RE LOVING IT!
As a female collector in the watch hobby, seeing the increase in discussions about women, watches, and watch brands is convincing me that there’s no better time than now to be involved in such a community. What began first with a thought-provoking article from Everest regarding unisex watches, and then followed a month later by an article from Hodinkee that sparked both controversy and conversation amongst the horological community. You can read the Hodinkee article here, but the gist of the conversation presented in both articles is that maybe watches should no longer be labeled and sold as mens or ladies, but simply as “watches”. And ever since those publications, the conversation (and sometimes the debate) has continued on the topic among enthusiasts with most brands maintaining the status quo mentality.
Imagine the surprise to open up Instagram one morning and see a major watch brand, one that we cover quite extensively here on the Everest Blog, posting images of female models wearing traditionally “mens” watches. Now no matter where you stand on the topic, as a woman I can confidently proclaim my full support for this. It felt empowering seeing such a major watch brand take this sort of stance when it comes to marketing watches for everyone. Firstly, because it’s just awesome. As someone who has never worn traditional “ladies” watches, it’s great to see the watches I enjoy marketed to me. I wrote a few months ago about how “sharing watches” was a great way to get a partner into the hobby (check out my thoughts here) and having a significant other seeing this type of social media content can definitely help “normalize” the idea of a larger and sportier timepiece on the wrist.
And since I guess “it’s just awesome” can’t be the only reason it’s a great idea, there’s the financial benefit as well. I’ve never understood the idea of alienating someone from a product, especially one as easy to be used by anyone as watches are. Financially from a business perspective, it just makes sense. Market your watches to more people, sell more watches. So realistically it’s just good business.
Of course, this isn’t exactly the first time that Tudor has posed a strong female presence with traditionally men’s watches. The brand has embraced this type of marketing for years, though one could say that these posts are sporadic at best, but still more frequent than those of most other major Swiss brands (or any brand really). And we can’t forget the years that Lady Gaga spent as an ambassador for a brand. Often seen photographed in the Black Bay Fifty-Eight collection, she was never one to shy away from the traditional nature that much of the Swiss watch industry limits their ambassadors with. While things always seemed a bit disjointed between the two (read about why it seemed a bit shallow here), as a watch enthusiast it was quite inspiring and would seem there’s still a big hole to fill with the brand in terms of representation. It really is my hope that this trend continues across more brands. And maybe it’s already catching on with Rolex posting vintage submariners on women’s wrists in recent days.
As the watch world changes, adding wrists of all sizes and genders, you can count on Everest Horology Products to offer solutions for everyone. Our watch straps were recently introduced in a shorter size for those with smaller wrists, and our travel rolls comfortably fit watches that have had multiple links removed without any stretching! Be sure to explore the entire collection here.
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