Casio is continuing to invest in its premium lines in order to meet consumer demand for higher end watches.
Responding to figures from retail analysts GfK, which have reinforced the prevalence of higher end watches as the growth market, Casio is continuing to concentrate on growing its premium ranges, including its G-Shock G-Premium range.
"We are focusing on making a more grown up G Shock," said Sarah Salter, UK senior communications manager, marketing division, Casio.
Speaking on Wednesday at BaselWorld 2013, a group of Casio engineers explained that the value add for G-Premium products would come from advances related to a number of ongoing functionality developments including in-built second hand compass functionality, for instance in The Sensor Chronograph, which is being launched at BaselWorld, and the latest G-Shock Aviator Concept, which is likely to be released in spring/summer 2014 as well as continuing to improve blue tooth capabilities in watches.
Casio general manager of the product engineering department, timepiece production division Tetsuya Kawai added: "We are finding that increasing numbers of high end watches are selling well. That’s one reason why we are focusing on premium G-Shocks, to give them more functionality and consequently more value."
Statistics reported on WatchPro earlier this month revealed that UK watch sales were up 11.5% year on year in February, with watches in the top end of the market delivering the strongest growth.
Watches priced at £1,000 or more delivered 20.07% growth on the same month in 2012, followed by sales of watches priced between £100 and £500, up 11.7%, and watches priced at between £500 and £1,000, which were up 0.51%.
