Credits: Article and images by Ian Skellern @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/06/08/interview-with-singer-reimagined-co-founder-and-ceo-marco-borraccino-history-present-the-excellent-divetrack-and-future/
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SG: In your view, how has the watchmaking industry evolved since you started in this industry?
MB: When I started, in 1999, I started in the more mainstream sector of watchmaking and was focused on the creation part.
I began having a bit more of a global vision of watchmaking when I moved from Panerai to working as a consultant for several brands. I was then able to weigh up a bit the different feedback from the brands. I was also dealing with a much larger network of suppliers.
If I fast-forward to today, in my opinion, there are quality problems with Swiss suppliers. A situation, it seems to me, that was not the case 10 years ago, or at least pre-COVID. Probably, the pandemic played a big part in this, because during this time many companies had to lay off qualified personnel. Following the pandemic, it became difficult to find a specialized workforce, because many people had converted to other professions and had left the industry.
Many brands already rely on suppliers from abroad. And frankly, neither I, nor you, nor anyone else could detect the qualitative difference between Swiss and non-Swiss supplies, in most cases. In fact, the opposite is often true.
The price you pay today for a medium-quality component in Switzerland is 3-4 times the price you would pay for a very high-quality component made in Japan or in China, for example. The materials are the same, the machines used are the same, but the labor costs are much lower. It is difficult to say how this trend will evolve in the future.
SG: Casting an eye into the future, where do you see the industry heading to in 5 years from now?
MB: This is an exercise that is honestly impossible. Even when discussing with my partners we always talk about 3-5-7 year business plans, but in today’s world, with all the existing uncertainties, for example the economic downtrends, the war in Ukraine, possible military conflicts in the middle east, making a projection for the next 6 months is difficult.
The feedback we got from Watches & Wonders last April was that, despite liking our watches a lot, and fantastic media coverage, the public and industry operators were uneasy about what was going to happen in the next few months. Investments and inventory stocks are all with the handbrake pulled. This is true for both independents and big brands.
At Singer, we have the advantage that being a small and agile manufacturer, if we can feel the business winds turning, we can react quickly, with relatively little inertia.
I am convinced that as long as you have a product that is delightful, meaningful, and of high quality, and produce relatively small volumes as we do, you are in a better position to adapt to market trends.
SG: What is next for Singer Reimagined?
MB: There will be an extension of the 1969 collection, with a Bronze version, at the beginning of June (Fig.7), as I want to create a more complete offer for this collection; one that is more digestible in aesthetics and functional terms than our earlier collections. For the 1969, between the chrono and the timer, you have two models that are wearable every day, that are small in size therefore more in line with current trends, and they retain all the innovative technological content that is typical of Singer.
Apart from that, we will have some exciting news for our customers at the end of the year. I do not wish to comment on them now, but I can tell you that they will relate to something interesting from both a product and a market positioning point of view, while keeping the codes and the philosophy of the brand.
For more information, please visit https://singerreimagined.com/
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Credits: Article and images by Ian Skellern @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/06/08/interview-with-singer-reimagined-co-founder-and-ceo-marco-borraccino-history-present-the-excellent-divetrack-and-future/