Mr. Bennahmias's reaction to the bad publicities about Code 11:59

[SMD]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

My only issue is that without a production bump it just means less of the popular watches will be available which are already in short supply to begin with.
15500

This is really the key point. They are going to do 2000 of the 1159 pieces in 2019, of which 700 are ready to go right now, which is probably why there were less of the more desirable models recently (as they shifted production to the new line). Given production is flat in the near term, that does not bode well for people looking to purchase new APs, especially RO and ROCs.

[Scblacksunshine]

Originally Posted by zahain

"I cannot fake it! This i cannot fake" I love Francois, clearly lost the plot.

Why does he wear the same black or blue leather jacket at this current and past SIHH? Does anyone know the brand?

The young people he is referring to are the ones who are asian buyers who have been purchasing his high complication royal oak and concepts on social media. I have seen them host many AP dinners for them so i dont think he is talking about North America / European 19-25 yr old buyers would take a second look at this 11.59 lineup. If sales dont do well, he will just ramp the production down using the royal oak as his sales spine.

haha when he said that, I can't help but think it reminds me so much of the straw man counterpoints often used in our current political climate. On the contrary perhaps he should also read many of the comments in Hodinkee or Ablogtowatch and do a simple bar graph of positive vs negative reception so far..

[edyu]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

he pretty much said what i thought. Its an AP for people who dont wear RO or ROO. The overlap is small. New customer. In that sense i totally agree its a good move. They sell the RO and ROO with no problems and there are a lot of customers who dont buy the brand because of those lines as well.

Right on. I posted in another thread that my colleagues all thought this new line is better than RO or ROO and would prefer it if they are buying AP. In fact, one of them even preferred this over say a WG Daytona.

[VICI]

As he said, there were gains and there were misses and time will tell if this is a gain or not. I’ll take the under.

[DasKptl]

Originally Posted by zahain

Why does he wear the same black or blue leather jacket at this current and past SIHH? Does anyone know the brand?

The leather jacket looks like Prada, with that round zipper pull. But it's only my rough guess. Please send an email to him or AP, and ask. Heck, a 19-year old sent an email and got a response from him. He might tell you the brand of his leather jacket.

(And please let me know the brand, after you got his response. I like that leather jacket, too.)

[Fat_ninja]

That 19 year old should be on tinder. Not snapchatting him.
Also how muchbis the new CODE?

[jtsmith439]

Originally Posted by V25V

Whole lotta 19 year olds out there buying 30K watches.....

Fine, you want to cater to the upcoming generation but they are still quite a ways from buying something like this (trust fund babies aside), let alone a dress watch.....

At a run of only 2000 watches they will sell like hot cakes in Asia. There are more than enough 19 year olds in one Asian city that can afford $30K watches. There's a reason why there are 7 boutiques in Hong Kong, 3 in Macau and 2 in Singapore. Whilst the watches may not appeal to existing American or European RO/ROO customers they will have no problems in Asia.

[Ar_Mi]

As he said this watch is mostly for the costumer that is more inclined to collect classically shaped watch. Unfortunately for AP they gave up on that costumer a long long time ago.
I dont think it will be easy to bring them back to the brand. Brands like Patek have spent years targeting that specific costumer base and building relationships with them, understanding their wants and demands.
It will be interesting to see how this brand performs for AP, and weather or not it will actually reach their target of 25% of their production.

[Burlington]

Originally Posted by jtsmith439

At a run of only 2000 watches they will sell like hot cakes in Asia. There are more than enough 19 year olds in one Asian city that can afford $30K watches. There's a reason why there are 7 boutiques in Hong Kong, 3 in Macau and 2 in Singapore. Whilst the watches may not appeal to existing American or European RO/ROO customers they will have no problems in Asia.

This is a good point. Finding 2000 buyers globally shouldn’t be too tricky for AP.

I am sure there is more profit in them selling a PM Code, than there is in a SS 15x00

[V25V]

Originally Posted by Burlington

This is a good point. Finding 2000 buyers globally shouldn’t be too tricky for AP.

I am sure there is more profit in them selling a PM Code, than there is in a SS 15x00

I'm sure they will sell but I find it hard to believe they will be a huge hit (quote me for later use if you like to hold it against me). But one of the things I love about watches and watchmakers are their heritage and pedigree. True, the royal oak was revolutionary at the time in 1972 but he is trying to imply that this is the new revolution of the brand? If that's the case, I'm not sure how interested in AP I would be moving forward. I suspect many will feel the same as I and taking that sort of gamble on this dog of a watch is risky to say the least over the long haul.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[watchfan0529]

Originally Posted by jtsmith439

At a run of only 2000 watches they will sell like hot cakes in Asia. There are more than enough 19 year olds in one Asian city that can afford $30K watches. There's a reason why there are 7 boutiques in Hong Kong, 3 in Macau and 2 in Singapore. Whilst the watches may not appeal to existing American or European RO/ROO customers they will have no problems in Asia.

Let's not generalize here..just because a lot have money does not mean Asians will buy whatever AP will throw at them.

[Amiroo]

Originally Posted by Terrakot

I'd be angry too if the host couldn't stop drinking something during the interview. So douchey

Wei Koh is just the worst. 0 etiquette.

[Bxtek]

Interesting video. Thanks for posting. Mr. Bennahmias does make some good points on the intention of this new line. However, as a newbie to AP and considering my first one, I'm the guy that Wei Koh mentions. I want people to instantly recognize that I'm wearing an AP when they see it on my wrist. The RO and ROO does exactly that. I definitely won't be considering an 11.59 for my first AP.

[Vaxe]

At 4:40 he said “if you look at all this crap we have at AP’’, then corrected himself. The truth

[jtsmith439]

Originally Posted by watchfan0529

Let's not generalize here..just because a lot have money does not mean Asians will buy whatever AP will throw at them.

"Asians" and I'm the one generalizing... At no point did i make the point you are suggesting. I simply stated that 2000 is not a lot of watches and they will sell very well in Asia.

[V25V]

Originally Posted by Bxtek

I want people to instantly recognize that I'm wearing an AP when they see it on my wrist. The RO and ROO does exactly that.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[mbalmz]

trying to take a more positive view on these... as some have mentioned, these look MUCH better in video than in photos. the case design is I think very impressive and looks great. the chronograph is actually starting to grow on me--I actually don't hate the date placement and would really like to see some more live pictures/video.

all that being said... maaaaan the dial on the time-only is pretty bad...

[SBC1986]

[QUOTE=tyler1980;9260098]if your "customer" is <20 years old though, that means you are putting all your marbles on being trendy and thats a dangerous position to be in with a very fickle demo. There is no way i would highlight that segment no matter if they were buying my watches or not and you definitely dont cater to them.

[QUOTE=whan;9260395]I agree with the comments above saying it's a risk marketing this to 19-25 year olds. I'm just beyond that age at 26, but I can say that the overlap of those in the younger demographic who like the MVMT-like minimalist aesthetic and those that can afford $20k+ is a very small one.

Agree. Taste change and mature. The difference between a 19 year old and a 30 year old is huge. I don't want to read too much into this but the fact that they think this is a big hit and everyone working at AP loves it says a lot of the corporate culture that created it!

I would guess you don't do well in this company if you stick your neck out.

Hard work and a big ambitious launch is great, but at the end of the day it is as the interview said "about how the watch looks".

It was good to see revolution push a bit while hoodinki was probably worried about their advertising revenue.

[emkwan]

Originally Posted by DasKptl

He seems to be dismayed and somewhat angry. Interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGvV...&frags=pl%2Cwn

I just watched this... incredibly awkward to watch.

[DasKptl]

Originally Posted by SBC1986

It was good to see revolution push a bit while hoodinki was probably worried about their advertising revenue.

That is exactly what I thought as well.

Revolution at least confronted and subtly grilled Bennahmias about Code11.59, while Hodinkee . . . well.

[ragsk]

Going after rich kids spending dad’s money?

[alex_tt]

Is he Jewish by any chance? Bennahmias sounds very jewish. He’s hilarious I like the guy.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by alex_tt

Is he Jewish by any chance? Bennahmias sounds very jewish. He’s hilarious I like the guy.

sounds french to me

[Andad]

Born in Paris and was once a professional golfer.

[watchfan0529]

Originally Posted by whan

I would guess you don't do well in this company if you stick your neck out.

Indeed. I think that's why JC Biver left the company early in his career!

[korneevy]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

...
Walking into an AD in six months a new customer sees 1 offshore, 0 RO, 5 ladies RO's, 2 ladies ROO, and 15 Code watches. I guess they will automatically identify that as the flagship watch that AP is all about.

there arent going to be many ADs to walk tinto in 6-12 months to see the Codes as they only go to the boutiques, and the rest of line up will follow as they cull the wholesale distribution and focus on capturing full profit within their own boutiques.

But apart from that, the above it totally true... thinking some random 20+ y.o are dreaming of spending $25K of disposable income that they don't have on a completely frivolous luxury object with zero utility is a bit naive and frankly, clueless. Taste takes time to develop, and normally evolves along with wants as one get more exposed to experiences, heritage and traditions, with increasing wealth that allows them a pursuit of finer things in life.

I can bet one of the 3-handler Codes that AP's average customer age is over 35 yo, with decent income of $200K+ per annum, with the house, European car etc. etc and all the rest either already taken care of or well under control...all they needed is a non-OR case, thinner, more refined and elegant slightly dressier offering for those in same income and age brackets who are curious/interested in spending money on the brand without being overly invested into RO, but the Code line is simple arent it. Funny thing is, they'd prob want to increase the production by 10,000-15,000 per year and finding that many people in this demographic globally is not hard or difficult, you just need to have a product that speaks to them, starting with not having an idiotic name.

Prob back to the drawing board for AP, the movements of course will be re-used in other lines, the cases are not ideal but at least a starting point, the glass was cool, the rest of the dial, hands, dates etc etc, needs to go, along with the designers who come up with these, and possibly the upper management who went along on a journey.

[masterserg]

...

[korneevy]

Originally Posted by RolexZen

...In Singapore, though, there are plenty of watches on display in the boutiques and ADs, though the SS models are hard to find. But at least for the SS Royal Oaks, you can try on a corresponding PM version to see how it wears...

Not sure when it was your last visit to ADs in SG, but as i live here and had a stroll through a few large ones on Fri, none of them have anything in AP but a few pieces from women's quartz range...I didn't not find a single chrono or RO in SS or PM, none. The big ones like Hour Glass Malmaison had...ONE...men's watch...a ROO in 47mm or something. Sales people said AP basically stopped sending stock a few months ago, and if you want to see anything or try PM equivalents of popular models in SS, there is no other option but to go to the boutiques (we have 2 of them here). I also visited one of the boutiques on Orchard (NOT the one I like nor have any relationship with) and they did have quite a few models to try on, mostly in PM but also some steel. They also mentioned that they will likely to stop ADs distribution in SG by mid next year, or at least that's the rumour they hear...

[RolexZen]

Yeah, it was not in the last few months.

I assumed the ADs would dry up as AP moved to Boutique-only, and I assume JAs will also dry up as the line is discontinued.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by RolexZen

Yeah, it was not in the last few months.

I assumed the ADs would dry up as AP moved to Boutique-only, and I assume JAs will also dry up as the line is discontinued.

pretty sure some AD's are safe. Harrods for example just did a giant remodel and AP designed the in store space last year. Its kind of a mini boutique but run by Harrods. I think its going to be an AD for a long time.

They still dont have anything in way of stock, but i would be shocked if they got status pulled. Its like a stand alone AP store though, and most traditional AD's mix all the brands together. So they have that advantage.

Across town at the other department store selfridges, that setup is awful and AP has a less prime spot than Rolex and looks like a jewelry store fashion brand. I would not be OK with that if i was AP and that one should get axed.