How Italian brand Panerai bucked bad times impacting most watch-makers

Italian brand Panerai has recently dedicated two special edition watches to former Indian Cricket Team captain MS Dhoni

Richemont Group-owned Officine Panerai has bucked the slump most watch-makers have faced in recent times, reporting growth in annual sales and plans to further expand its presence in the subcontinent to more locations. Panerai's global CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué, who took charge of the brand in 2018, tells Pavan Lall that the growth is thanks to its sweet spot in pricing, distribution alignment and new product range that includes two recently launched limited edition watches dedicated to former Indian Cricket Team captain MS Dhoni who joined as brand ambassador last year. Edited Excerpts. 

You're launching new watches today dedicated to former Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni complete with illustrations of him along with his vest number and image on the case-backs. This is a first for Panerai in India - tell us about the reasoning behind it?

M S Dhoni is an individual who is understated. He has a mind of his own mind and he was a natural fit for the brand given his sports background. Also, when you shake Dhoni's hand you know he's a sportsman. It also helps that he wore Panerai even before we signed him on last year. Did we intend to dive into cricket as a watch brand and will we jump into it in Australia and New Zealand and England? No. 

Your sales are growing by almost 40 per cent a year. What's driving that for Panerai in India?

Today, we have our own stores and we make our own movement and our own cases. We have a strong international presence, which was not the case twenty years ago. The Luminor and Submersible watches are driving the sales forward and it is not just the entry-level price point that is working (Rs 350,000 - Rs 500,000).  We don't need India to push global sales, which allow us to develop this market at our own rhythm and that is what is working for us. 

What are your expansion plans for India, store wise?

We have three exclusive dedicated stores and are sold through ten points of sale that include Kapoor Watches, Art of Time and Ethos Watches. We can't commit when we will open our next stores but we are looking at Bengaluru and Hyderabad. What I can tell you is that globally the plan is to go for store expansion. We have 150 stores worldwide and are planning to add another 30 in the next two years.

Have you broken even?

We can't disclose numbers but what I can say is that not only have we broken even but we are profitable and not just at a company level but also at every store. 

Will Panerai ever move into the same league as Rolex, which is to say become like a portfolio asset that appreciates with time?

Out of the seven hundred odd watch brands out there, there are just two with those that happens - Patek Phillipe and Rolex. 

That's it. We have had older watches perform well and beat expectations at watch auctions and if you find a "Bronzo" (the submersible model in Bronze) it will be around 50 per cent higher than new ones. So of course not all our models hold value like that but you see it happen. 

Any surprises in the market here?

We had someone in our boutique tell us that 25 per cent of sales are coming from ladies watches and that is surprising because we haven't done anything to try and push that market, like launching watches with diamonds or anything.