Concord Watch
Concord Watch is a Swiss luxury goods company part of the Movado group that owns Movado, Ebel, ESQ, Coach and Hugo Boss. Concord was purchased in 1969 by the North American Watch Company, which also distributed the Piaget and Corum lines of watches.[1] From the late 1970's to the late 1980's, Concord became one of the most marketed and respected luxury quartz watch on the markets. Flagship quartz models such as the Concord Centurion and Concord Delirium surpassed the price of base automatic Rolex, Cartier and watches, ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 in the early 1980's.
History
Founded in 1908 in Biel, Switzerland the brand was created to design watches with the American market in mind. Concord has made several innovations in its history such as being one of the first “private label” luxury watches to incorporate precious metals and gems in its watches. It was also the first company to make a wristwatch made of coins.
In 1915 Concord started working with companies like Van Cleef & Arpels, Tiffany & Co. and Cartier (jeweler) on providing them with high quality watches made out of precious metals and gems.[2]
In 1969 Concord was purchased by the North American Watch Company. While initially the company struggled it transitioned into the luxury quartz watch markets, during which amidst the quartz crisis it attained a large market share. By 1980, Concord watches had become some of the most recognizable watches on the American luxury watch market. The company spent millions advertising
In 1979 it had a major breakthrough with the invention of the Delirium Watch which was the thinnest watch ever made at the time at 1.98 mm thick. Subsequently a Delirium 2 was released which was even thinner at 1.5 mm.[3]
By the 1990's Concord watches began to fade as the quartz crisis came to a close. In addition the parent of Concord, the North American Watch Company sought to focus
In 2007 the company made a drastic change in its vision. It closed most of its existing dealerships as sluggish sales and lack of a specific market created a huge grey market that hurt the company’s reputation. The launch of the C1 was highly touted and targeted the ever popular luxury sport market. The style and pricing were designed to compete with watches such as Panerai, Audemars Piguet and Hublot. With only a couple hundred dealers worldwide Concord was hoping for a grand relaunch into the Luxury sector.
In 2008 Concord created two new C1 pieces. The C1 worldtimer and the C1 Gravity Tourbillion. The later won the prestigious “Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve” as “Best design of the year 2008”. Whether this success will lead to ultimate success remains to be seen.
In 2009, Alex Grinberg was appointed as the worldwide CEO of Concord.[4]
Main Collection
Pre 1984 --- La Costa : Luxury Dress Watch. 18K Gold or 18 K Gold with Stainless Steel, Partly with Tiffany Dial. Competition in Style ,Price and Design with Cartier's Santos Watches
Pre 2007
- Delirium: Ultrathin Quartz Dresswatch
- Mariner: Sports Activity Watch
- La Scala: Luxury Contemporary watch
- Saratoga: Luxury Sports watch
2007–Present
- C1 – Oversize luxury sport watch. This is the basis of the entire new collection. All new models revolve around this base case design.
See also
References
- ^ "History of Movado Group, Inc. – FundingUniverse". Fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
- ^ "Concord Heritage | Concord US". Concord.ch. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
- ^ Buchanan, Norma, "The Concord Delirium: One of the Top 20 Wristwatches of the 20th Century", American Time magazine
- ^ "PROFESSIONAL WATCHES™ | Luxury Watch Guide: Movado Group appoints Alex Grinberg president of Concord". Professionalwatches.com. 2009-07-30. Retrieved 2011-03-09.