{"id":28943,"date":"2016-05-13T13:03:14","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T13:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/?p=28943"},"modified":"2016-05-13T13:03:14","modified_gmt":"2016-05-13T13:03:14","slug":"the-luxury-report-2016-sign-of-the-zodiac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/the-luxury-report-2016-sign-of-the-zodiac\/","title":{"rendered":"The Luxury Report 2016: Sign of the Zodiac"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When a team tackles a rebrand with the goal to create something \u2018different, without compromise\u2019, it\u2019s hard to imagine what the final product will be.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It turns out, in the case of Swiss-made watch brand Zodiac, the result is something bold and brave, yet truly authentic.\u00a0Following a three-year evolution, Fossil Group relaunched Zodiac at this year\u2019s Baselworld, showcasing three new key collections.<\/p>\n

Fossil Group first acquired Zodiac in 2001 but did very little with the brand and eventually took it off the market four years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt like it was being compromised and we were going down a certain channel that wasn\u2019t necessarily doing the brand justice,\u201d explains Fossil Group chief creative officer, Brandon Little.<\/p>\n

STEPS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Step one for Fossil was recognising the brand was losing its way and being honest about it. Step two, Little shares, was saying \u201clet\u2019s go back and do something we are really proud of in regards to a brand that has a really distinct legacy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zodiac has always been quite a different brand for Fossil. Known for its divers\u2019 watches, Zodiac looks to partner with consumers embarking on an adventure – something the team has captured during the brand evolution as they\u2019ve let their hair down and followed Zodiac in the natural direction it needed to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve taken the approach from Zodiac\u2019s position that it\u2019s doing something a bit more independent minded and when we kicked this off three years ago we said \u2018let\u2019s do something different without compromise\u2019,\u201d Little shares.<\/p>\n

He continues: \u201cThat\u2019s a really nice position to be in and I think it\u2019s shown both in product and how we are bringing the product to the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

HEART OVER HEAD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rather than focusing on business, Fossil made choices led by passion. This can be seen with the launch of Astrographic – one of the first Zodiac timepieces to be bought back to market by Fossil three years ago. Little says Astrographic was chosen as the debut product because the team were paying attention to what people thought was interesting about the world and the brand, rather than being concerned about whether it was the best piece to drive sales.<\/p>\n

Astrographic was certainly a brave choice, but one that paid off. The Astrographic is one of the brand\u2019s most celebrated collections and now offers two leather options. Featuring a sleek barrel-shaped case and a \u2018transparent disc\u2019 floating index system, the new range has been designed to capture the space-age advancement of 1969, the year the original collection launched.<\/p>\n

Little explains that the Astrographic represents the direction Fossil wants the brand to continue in, as the original invention of the Astrographic marked Zodiac\u2019s innovative and creative position in the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Astrographic sets a tone for what the brand has always played in, which was thinking differently. We like to tell the story of how the Astrographic came around. At the time, the industry was making watches and everybody kind of lived around the same region of Switzerland and a few partner brands at that point were making really high complication, very nicely done, chrono-automatics such as us, but what\u2019s interesting is the original Zodiac founders decided to also do something like the Astrographic, which to me is like \u2018how on earth did you come up with the idea?\u2019 They were making these relatively serious timekeeping devices or diving watches at that point, and then it\u2019s like \u2018hey, let\u2019s just do the Astrographic and just have fun with this\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we thought, why not kick the brand back off with that. You know what, we are going to bring it back, but we are going to bring it back with a bit of fun and cheek around it and launch something that was really revolutionary at the time so we set a pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n

HERITAGE<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the interest surrounding heritage and vintage watches at the moment, it would have been easy for Zodiac to have merely copied the brand\u2019s back catalogue and done a series of re-issues. Instead, the brand is back more assured than ever before, with a stylish collection of watches inspired by its mid-20th Century back catalogue, very much celebrating its past, while keeping one eye firmly on the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done two things,\u201d Little explains. \u201cWe listened on social media and said \u2018hey guys, who\u2019s collecting what? What\u2019s really important? Where do we see people buying relatively cool and inexpensive timepieces?\u2019 And so we do target those, and we said in order to do it right, and to prove that we are paying attention to all the details, we needed to launch back.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo significant pieces almost to the tee, but what we are going to do on the flip-side is with that, we are going to distort them. We are also going to tweak them and come out with variations that really push the brand forward. We don\u2019t want to necessarily get stuck on just doing heritage pieces but we do think it is an interesting play, especially with some of the memories that are bought back.\u201d<\/p>\n

So to complement the Astrographic, Zodiac presented two new collections at Basel in March – the Sea Dragon Automatic Chronograph limited editions and the Super Sea Wolf 68 Automatic Bronze limited edition.<\/p>\n

The limited edition Sea Dragon Chronograph takes the bold design cues from the original Sea Dragon to the next level. The new style offers two unique limited-edition watches, which pay homage to 1882, the year the brand began.<\/p>\n

LIMITED<\/strong><\/p>\n

As such, one edition of the new Sea Dragon watch is limited to 18 pieces, while the other is limited to 82. To commemorate the piece\u2019s exclusivity, each watch includes an individually numbered rotor. Both limited edition chronograph models have been COSC-certified to provide the highest level of accuracy.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere the Super Sea Wolf 68 Automatic Bronze limited edition honours the history of Zodiac\u2019s diving past, its impact on the watch world and the brand\u2019s commitment to blending historically-renowned design with Swiss-made horology. The 82-piece Super Sea Wolf 68 \u201cMarine Bronze\u201d limited edition features an on-trend bronze case that gives a nod to the maritime material that defines historic marine ingenuity. Each edition provides a unique patina as it ages, taking the wearer on the journey of the watches\u2019 unique character. A COSC-certified STP 1-11 automatic movement with a three-hand date ensures precision, while a dark brown matte leather strap and an optional olive green fabric strap with a velcro closure provides versatility.<\/p>\n

Unveiling the watches at Basel proved a huge success for the brand. Little comments: \u201cWe were having fun and I think it shows. It\u2019s a young minded brand but with a really long-winded history and we all personally really enjoy the product, so I think that also matters. It\u2019s not just showing something and waiting for a response.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally the vibe was let\u2019s talk, let\u2019s have fun, let\u2019s get really excited about these little interesting machines and what they mean and what they represent and I think that\u2019s a good attitude to have around the market right now and the response was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

RETAIL IDEAS<\/strong><\/p>\n

With a fresh look and attitude towards marketing the brand, it comes as no surprise that Fossil Group will be thinking outside the box when it come to retailers for Zodiac. The company says that it will be looking for partnership, whether that comes in the form of a traditional jeweller or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting time in the watch market and we think long-term partnerships are what\u2019s going to drive success,\u201d shares Little. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of options in the world for everything. So going forward is about finding the right people who want to do business and want to have fun and talk about the stories, and celebrate these things, and then we make business. And I do believe that if you think overall about the market, people will shop all over the place. I mean you can go into a barber shop and walk out with a leather bag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little continues: \u201cA guy walking into a very high end cycling shop can go in and spend \u00a35,000-\u00a310,000 pretty easily. And there\u2019s other things in that shop. So for me it makes sense to go where they are going and spend a lot of their time, and I think if you can connect with the new sort of class of purchasing in a place that you feel comfortable then it might not be a traditional watch shop or it might be a traditional watch shop. So why not be open to it?\u201d<\/p>\n

While the US remains the brand\u2019s strong market at the moment, Little is excited about the possibilities in London and around the UK area. He predicts the US, Japan and the UK will be particularly big for Zodiac.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead the brand will continue to engage with consumers on social media, listening and responding to what people are fond of, don\u2019t like and would rather change about the brand, in order to keep evolving and growing. Little describes this process as being like an \u2018app\u2019 update on the phone – keeping things in line with the brand, but continually progressing, revising and keepings things fresh.<\/p>\n

There is little about the Baselworld show that doesn\u2019t feel contrived, with giant temporary stands and shoehorned associations. In contrast to some of the watch brands on display during the show Zodiac feels as though it has developed organically, which is a tribute to Little\u2019s work, because it most certainly has not. Zodiac has gone out of existence, been bought by the undisputedly master of licensed fashion watches and emerged unscathed. The brand is convincingly authentic with an easy cool; a genuine Swiss heritage brand reborn with its strengths brought to the fore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a team tackles a rebrand with the goal to create something \u2018different, without compromise\u2019, it\u2019s hard to imagine what the final product will be. It turns out, in the case of Swiss-made watch brand Zodiac, the result is something bold and brave, yet truly authentic.\u00a0Following a three-year evolution, Fossil Group relaunched Zodiac at this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":28944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false},"categories":[9,13],"tags":[8141,1932,8116,7743],"newspack_lstngs_evt":[],"newspack_lstngs_gen":[],"newspack_lstngs_mkt":[],"newspack_lstngs_plc":[],"acf":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"WATCHPRO","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28943"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_evt","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_evt?post=28943"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_gen","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_gen?post=28943"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_mkt","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_mkt?post=28943"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_plc","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_plc?post=28943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}