Financial Times Europe - 09.11.2019 - 10.11.2019

4 ★ FT Special^ Report 9 November/10 November 2019

consists of a bracelet, earrings and

brooch that is customisable with dozens

ofmicrocharms.

Millie Bobby Brown, the teenage star

of popular Netflix showStranger Things,

is fronting the advertising campaign. It

ispartofthecompany’sdeliberatestrat-

egy with social media influencers. Mr

Lacik points to a “significant increase”

in marketing spending. Other high-pro-

file product launches will include Harry

Potter branded jewellery and a range

basedonDisney’sFrozenfilms.

Investors in the Danish group hope

that the relaunch will revive Pandora’s

finances after a rollercoaster ride since

it listed in Copenhagen in 2011. Its share

price is now pretty much at the same

level as in 2011 yet that belies some big

swings. Its shares lost 90 per cent of

their value in the first year after a dra-

matic profit warning but then

rebounded almost 30-fold, only to lose

three-quarters of their value again in

thepastthreeyears.

Mr Lacik stresses that while Pandora

has remained highly profitable — its

gross margin was 76 per cent in the first

halfofthisyearwhileitsoperatingprofit

margin was 27 per cent — it had lost

touchwithconsumers.

He argues that the key to

Pandora’s success is its

charm bracelets, which

account for about 70

per cent of sales and

allow customers to

collect and switch

between different

trinketseasily.

He appears dissatis-

fied with the company’s

efforts to expand into

rings and other jewellery.

“There is nothing unique or

collectable. We are playing a ‘me too’

game. I wasn’t there when we entered

these segments — but it feels more like a

revenue play than something pro-

foundlythoughtthrough,”hesays.

Investor doubts increased after the

release ofweak third-quarter results,

with Mr Lacik stressing any turnaround

would take all of 2020 as well. He insists

there are small signs of improvement

withincreasedfootfallinthenewstores.

“We’re writing the first paragraph in a

newchapter,”headds.

Watches&Jewellery

Francois’sdescendant,thebookisbased

onthecontentsofa“batteredtrunk

dottedwithtravelstickers”thatshe

foundinhergrandfather’scellarwhile

celebratinghis90thbirthdayin2009.

Thepapersincludelettersrelatingto

clientsrangingfromCocoChaneland

theDuchessofWindsor,toElizabeth

TaylorandtheQueen.

For the Louvre of art

Twowatchbrandsatoppositeendsof

thehorologicalscaleannounced

partnershipswiththeMusée

duLouvrelastmonth.

Swatchistocreate

special-edition

watchesbasedon

fourofthe

museum’s

paintings: Mona“

Lisa”,portraitsof

HenryIVofFrance

andhiswifeMarie

de’Medici,andGuido

Reni’s“TheAbduction

ofHelen”.

High-endbrandVacheron

Constantin,meanwhile,will

collaboratewiththemuseumon

projectsrelatingtocraftsmanship,

watchmaking,artandculture.

Watches and Wonders

The30thSIHHwatchshowinGeneva

will berenamedWatchesandWonders

fromnextyearinanefforttowidenits

scopebeyondtimepieces.

TheFondationdelaHaute

Horlogerie,theevent’sorganiser,is

introducinganewformatthatwill

includewalkingtoursandvisitsto

manufacturers,boutiquesand

museumsinthecity.

TheWatchesandWondersnamewas

firstused n2004i foranexhibitionof

Richemont-ownedbrandsinsidethe

ForbiddenCityinBeijing.Ithassince

beenappliedtoshowsinHongKong,

MiamiandDubai.

Homage to human

endeavour

Omega’s efurbishedmuseumatther

SwatchGroupcampusinBiel/Bienne,

Switzerland,hasopenedtothepublic.

Thebuilding,designedbyJapanese

architectShigeruBan,features

interactiveexperiences,360-degree

videosandanine-metrerunningtrack

onwhichvisitorscantry mega’sO

Olympictimers.Therearealso

exhibitionsdedicatedtowomen’s

watchesandtheuseoftheSpeedmaster

chronograph yNasaastronauts.b

Simon de Burton

employs10watchmakersandis

accreditedtomaintainandrepair

watchesfromRolex,Breitling,Omega

andCartier.

All along the

watch hour

RaymondWeilislaunchingalimited-

editionwatch(pictured)dedicatedto

thelaterockguitaristJimiHendrix.

ThespecialFreelancerchronograph

featuresdottedindexesbasedon

thefretsofthefamous

FenderStratocaster

guitarheplayedatthe

196 9Woodstock

festival,whilethe

cyanbluedetails

recallthefringes

on theshirt eh

wore.Hendrix’s

“musicismy

religion”mottois

printedaroundthe

bezel,andthebackof

thecasefeaturesthe

AuthenticHendrixlogo.Just

500piecesofthe£2,795watchwillbe

made,eachsuppliedinaboxwithatie-

dyelining.

Sign here, and here

Phillipsauctioneerswilltoday tagethes

firstsalededicatedtowatcheswith

double-signeddials.Vintagemodels

that eatureboththemaker’sandthef

originalretailer’snameareincreasingly

popularamongcollectors.Double-

signedwatchesarelikelytohavecome

aboutwhenSwissmakersbeganto

markettheirproductsabroad,whereby

thenameofarespectedretaileronthe

dialprovidedbuyerconfidence.

Thesaleincludesmorethan60double-

signedwatches,rangingfroma

SFr1.2m(£940,000)Patek

PhilippeReference2499

chronographsigned

byTrucchiofNaples,

toaSFr4,000

UniversalGenève

Polarouterbearing

thenameofGobbi,

theMilanstore

fromwhichitwas

boughtinthe1950s.

Battered

trunk of secrets

The Cartiers, bookdueforreleasea no

November26,promisestorevealdetails

aboutthecreationanddevelopmentof

the jewelleryhouse,foundedbyLouis-

FrancoisCartierin1847.Writtenby

FrancescaCartierBrickell,Louis-

Awatch xpectedtobecomethemoste

valuableofferedataChristie’sauctionis

tippedtorealiseuptoSFr14m(£11m)

inHongKongonNovember27.

The1953PatekPhilippeReference

2523WorldTimeisoneofjustseven

pinkgoldexamplesbelievedtohave

beenmade—andtheonlyonetofeature

thesignatureofMilanretailerGobbi.

TheWorldTimeorHeures Universelles

complicationenablesthewatchtoshow

the timein24citiessimultaneously.

In2002aunique,platinum-cased

versionofthewatchsoldforSFr6.6mto

becomethemostexpensivewristwatch

soldatauction,arecorditheldfor

severalyears.

Blow me down!

BamfordWatchDepartmenthas

launchedaspecialversionofitsLondon

GMTwatchtomark90yearssince

Popeyemadehiscartoondebut.

Limitedto50pieces,thewatch

(pictured)isfinishedinnauticalblue

andwhiteandusesthespinach-loving

sailor’smusclyarmsforthehourand

minutehands.The£1,500noveltyis

deliveredinpackagingdesignedtolook

likeatinofgreens.

Good news for WoS

shareholders

TheWatchesofSwitzerland

Group—whichfloated40

percentofitsequityon

theLondonstock

marketinJuneat

270pashare has—

enteredtheFTSE

250index,afterits

firstquarterly

reviewsincelisting

showedthatQ1

salesrose18percent

onthepreviousyear

to £209m.

The company,valuedat

£730m,operates128

showroomsandincludesWatchesof

Switzerland,Mappin&Webband

GoldsmithsintheUK,andMayorsin

theUS.

Lastmonthitopenedapurpose-built

servicecentreinManchesterthat

Patek Phillipe

valued at

£11m set to

break records

P

andora’s shops “have become

stale”, its brand “a bit

blurred” and “the business

has been struggling for quite

sometime”.

ThesejudgmentsontheDanishjewel-

ler, famous for its collectable silver

chains and charms, come not from an

arch-criticbutitschiefexecutive.

Alexander Lacik, a veteran of con-

sumer goods companies like Reckitt

Benckiser, and Pandora’s chief execu-

tive since April, does not hold back

when describing the jewellery chain’s

position ahead ofthis autumn’s brand

relaunch.

“The whole expression became a bit

tired... Consumers lost a little bit of

interest in the Pandora brand,” he says

— hence theoverhaul of the company’s

marque as well as the designs of

itsstoresandonlineshop.

Mr Lacik says he

wanted to keep the

focus of the relaunch

“very narrow” to

avoid trying to do

too much: “It is

aboutdrivingbrand

relevanceagain.”

Pandora is that

rare beast: a branded,

mass-market jewellery

chain sitting somewhere

between what Mr Lacik calls

“the high end and low-end

bijouterie”.Itbecametheworld’slargest

jewellery brand in volume terms rela-

tively quickly and has few global rivals.

Swarovskiisperhapstheclosestthingto

a direct challenger. Tiffany, a more

upmarket competitor which, like Pan-

dora, has a strong appeal among

younger consumers, last month

received a $14.5bn bid from luxury

groupLVMHtobuythebrand.

First up for the Danish group was to

refresh its identity. Its logo was tweaked

and a new colour scheme introduced,

which includes pinks and greys, all

aimed at making the brand “more con-

temporary”. It is trialling a new store

design across the unlikely trio of Leices-

ter and Birmingham in the UK and

ShanghaiinChina.

Mr Lacik says he wants customers to

enjoy more “self-discovery”.

Many of the cabinets in

whichitdisplayedjew-

ellery have been

replaced by tables

and there is a spe-

cial bar where

p e o p l e c a n

inspect and hold

thecharms.

Pandora’s chief

executive says the

store format had not

been updated for a dec-

ade: he estimates het

industryaverageisthreetofive

years. There are plenty of other small

flourishes,includingnewpackagingand

engraving services. The average time

spent with a customer creating their

charms in-store is nearly half an hour,

hesays.

Yet some observers feel Pandora is in

for a long ride. “Currently, it’s a black

box. Right now we don’t have much

insightintowhatisgoingon,”saysKlaus

Kehl, an analyst at Nykredit in Copen-

hagen.

“One of their problems is

that women around the

world have got tired of

their products and if

that’s the case you’re

not going to change

thingsovernight.”

Mr Kehl agrees that

changes are essential.

“They need to do some-

thing. They had moved

away from the end users that

brought them success some years

ago.”

Therearechangesonthedigitalfront,

too. Pandora’s online store has been

revamped to make it more appealing,

quicker to load and easier to navigate.

Like many retail brands, it is seeking to

linkonline and offlinethrough concepts

such as click-and-collect or in-store

returns.

Eye-catchingly, the jeweller is making

a bigger play forGeneration Z consum-

ers, especially teenage girls. It has

launched a line called Pandora Me that

Pandora hopes

brand overhaul

will charm

young buyers

StrategyThe Danish jeweller is pinning its future on measures that include updating stores and doubling down on trinkets, writesRichard Milne

Left: Pandora’s Birmingham store;

star of ‘Stranger Things’ Millie

Bobby Brown. Above: Alexander

Lacik Pandora—

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