Apple Watch Sales Hurting the Sub-$1000 Analog Watch Market

Well, well, well. What do we have here? Bloomberg sites NDP which reported that retailers have seen a 11 percent decline year over year in watch sales, the largest decline in unit sales since 2008. Here’s what Fred Levin, head of the market researcher’s luxury division had to say:

The market for watches that cost less than $1,000 is most at risk, as consumers in that price range have indicated they’re the most likely to buy an Apple Watch, Levin said. Sales of watches costing between $50 and $999 registered drops in June, the biggest being a 24 percent decline in timepieces from $100 to $149.99, according to NPD’s data.

Less than $1,000 seems about right since almost every Watch Apple makes sans the Edition costs substantially less than $1,000.

What’s interesting though is that this has had little to no effect on watches above $1,000. This really isn’t surprising, though, since once you get in to the $5,000+ range, anyone who would buy an Apple Watch would likely be buying it alongside something like a Rolex versus when you’re dealing with under $1,000 it’s more of a zero sum game.

Another interesting omission from the article was Android Wear. While we don’t know anything solid in terms of number of units sold, I feel confident in saying that Android Wear has had no measurable impact on the sales of watches, at least not yet.

Still, it’s pretty crazy to see that the Apple Watch, just a few months in, may be having an impact on the analog watches industry. I wonder where things will be a year or two from now.