What would you do if LVMH buys AP?

[PatexRhilippe]

Curious if people have positive or negative sentiments if this happens. Also, if you would sell your piece as a result of this.

Personally, I think I would sell my piece(s) since AP not being a family run business anymore wouldn't be great for it's future. I see them doing more collaborations with fashion brands and being more of a fashion item vs haute horology.

[psm11]

Is their serious talks of this happening?


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[APhound]

Definitely not selling my APs!


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[nyc2la]

I would only want watches made before any such merger. Nothing after.

[Commandopat]

Originally Posted by PatexRhilippe

Curious if people have positive or negative sentiments if this happens. Also, if you would sell your piece as a result of this.

Personally, I think I would sell my piece(s) since AP not being a family run business anymore wouldn't be great for it's future. I see them doing more collaborations with fashion brands and being more of a fashion item vs haute horology.

So suddenly the AP’s you had were no longer the same watches you loved?

Sounds like you have them for the wrong reasons. Just my .02

[In-N-Out]

I would also consider no longer supporting AP honestly. Part of the appeal of watches is the story and romance behind the brand. A lot of that goes away when it’s owned by a large conglomerate.

[VogelPhoenix]

I'd be sad, but would wait to see what happens before doing anything rash.

All of the boutiques I talked claimed that there is no intention of selling.

[Vivalas]

See if they would throw in a Birkin with my next purchase

[Ichiran]

I will judge their products not their brand. If LV sells AP watches which I like, I will buy.

[Mercutio]

Originally Posted by nyc2la

I would only want watches made before any such merger. Nothing after.

I am seconding this view; it would take the heritage away, which I am - irrationally romantically maybe - very strongly drawn to. I turned away from A. Lange & Söhne as well for that reason - it is simply no longer Mr. Lange and his sons but a multi-billion dollar luxury items conglomerate. To that end, I also see LV‘s star heavily dropping. In my perception and anecdotal evidence in my social surroundings, LV Logo stuff is back to being seen as, pardon the word, vulgar chic; they are losing many, many clients to Goyard.

I believe LVMH ownership would risk alienating existing aficionados, and attract the clientele which could move the brand towards the soccer player/insta crowd, which I doubt will be helpful for the LT perspective.

[LUDA]

Cry on the corner?

It's not the same to be a family owned brand like AP or PP than to be VC. The watches can still be great, but...

[Emery]

I would just sit back and watch the prices of all my pre-merger pieces skyrocket.

Especially the ones with the family coat of arms rotor.

[APWorldTour]

Originally Posted by Vivalas

See if they would throw in a Birkin with my next purchase

Hermes is not part of LVMH ?

[cascavel]

I would wait until they do a Tiffany Blue dial, co-branded (AP and Tiffany) special limited edition Royal Oak and then I would apply to get one knowing full well that I had no chance.
When I saw the pics of celebs front row at NBA games wearing their new APeriTIFs I would rail against the injustice of it and, at that point, swear never to buy anything which would put one cent onto the bottom line of the evil empire of LVMH.
I would keep my one Royal Oak, however, because I kind of like it.

[Pw92676]

I would love it if this happened and folks stopped buying Royal oaks so I could then move up in the queue :). Jest aside, I don’t foresee adding any more RO in the near future so it would be moot but I would really hope that it would allow for other lines to be introduced into the AP catalogue.

[SoylentGreenChi]

Originally Posted by Mercutio

I am seconding this view; it would take the heritage away, which I am - irrationally romantically maybe - very strongly drawn to. I turned away from A. Lange & Söhne as well for that reason - it is simply no longer Mr. Lange and his sons but a multi-billion dollar luxury items conglomerate. To that end, I also see LV‘s star heavily dropping. In my perception and anecdotal evidence in my social surroundings, LV Logo stuff is back to being seen as, pardon the word, vulgar chic; they are losing many, many clients to Goyard.

I believe LVMH ownership would risk alienating existing aficionados, and attract the clientele which could move the brand towards the soccer player/insta crowd, which I doubt will be helpful for the LT perspective.

Another voice in line with this view. I’m already teetering given AP’s self-inflicted Hublotization and move to “vulgar chic.” The Royal Oak was once a daring lineup within an AP catalog that had among the world’s most beautiful watches. Now, with the classic AP lines gone and the Royal Oak lineup getting more vulgar by the year, the Royal Oak is no longer the daring line within a well rounded lineup, but rather the least vulgar line in catalog of vulgarities. Selling to LVMH makes 100% sense given recent directions. I likely never will sell my RO because I love it and the sales rep who got it for me.

[llngoc]

Originally Posted by Vivalas

See if they would throw in a Birkin with my next purchase

Hermes is not part of LVMH but LVMH did try to buy Hermes a few years ago. Try to read up on it as it reads like a daytime drama show.

I think a LV bag would fit the AP image perfectly.

[edo]

But at the end of the day what bad can happen selling it to LVMH?

Maybe they will make a watch with a fashion designer and put their logo in the face on the dial... or CEO daddy's son can get an idea to put comics characters on dial... or they can c-ride a bunch of celebrities as friends of the brand and these celebrities doesn't even care and wear other watches all the time...

Oops, already happened...

[Napaswar]

As long as they are creating highly technical pieces and interesting core collections while remaining exclusivity. Some meh side projects can be counted as a marketing experimental push to new audience.

[l_chissle]

Originally Posted by edo

But at the end of the day what bad can happen selling it to LVMH?

Maybe they will make a watch with a fashion designer and put their logo in the face on the dial... or CEO daddy's son can get an idea to put comics characters on dial... or they can c-ride a bunch of celebrities as friends of the brand and these celebrities doesn't even care and wear other watches all the time...

Oops, already happened...

As much as I love AP, there's a lot of truth in this.

[Reign]

Would reassess but prob stop buying them. Independence is huge - there’s a reason why the industrial independents have flourished compared to their publicly owned peers. There is a lot less need on quarter to quarter and year to year gains and they can afford to take a long view on things


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[Vipes]

Originally Posted by edo

But at the end of the day what bad can happen selling it to LVMH?

Maybe they will make a watch with a fashion designer and put their logo in the face on the dial... or CEO daddy's son can get an idea to put comics characters on dial... or they can c-ride a bunch of celebrities as friends of the brand and these celebrities doesn't even care and wear other watches all the time...

Oops, already happened...

[GW44]

I look forward to hoovering up the Uber hard future allocations from those that desert the brand if LVMH acquire AP

[AperolSpritz]

I totally echo what some of you guys have posted above.
The main risk is definitely becoming "vulgar chic" BUT it is exactly the route AP has been taking under FHB... So what difference?

Also, like it or not, LVMH is a familly owned business... Arnault & family own c.50% of the shares and have full control of the company

[WatchEater666]

Some of these replies are pretty funny.

You may want to go look at recent pieces AP has released lol...

They have also strayed very far from what they were even ~15 - 20 years ago...

[marc2828]

High end watches are purely a luxury. When Richemont or LVMH acquires an old brand, the panache of owning that luxury begins to falter, and so does the value. There is a reason why Rolex, AP and Patek hold value, whereas these for the most part do not:

RICHEMONT GROUP (Switzerland)
Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Söhne, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Roger Dubuis, Piaget, IWC Schaffhausen, Officine Panerai, Ralph Lauren**, Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Montblanc, Dunhill

LVMH GROUP (France)
TAG Heuer, Bulgari, Hublot, Zenith, Dior, Fred, Chaumet, Louis Vuitton

[Ichiran]

Daniel Roth is now owned by LV but the recent Tourbillon was a very nice release in my view.

[Abfanhunter]

Maybe they actually come up with another watch besides the RO they’ve been surviving on for decades.

[aircharger]

Isn't that the reason why Vacheron is not as performing as AP and Patek, because they are not independent any more? I'd say the same could happen to AP down the road.

[TNG]

Problem with this is that normally the quality also declines with the take over. See for example what happened to Rimowa (suitcases), Creed (parfume), Arcteryx (clothing). All family owned business who sold their company's to big money firms. All of them have less superior products on the market now then what it was used to be. I think profit is more important then quality for these money managed firms. For family business it is about preserving the company for the next generation. That is an completely other take.

So i would hoard old AP pieces.