[THE INVESTOR] Although the market for smartwatch is growing, it is not a “real watch” and has no sentimental value, said Omega CEO Raynald Aeschlimann in an interview with a local daily.

The smartwatch is a little more than a smartphone, he said in an interview with Chosun Ilbo. 

Raynald Aeschlimann, Omega CEO.

“It is more accurate to say that a smartwatch is just a mobile phone on your wrist. Similar to a mobile phone, a smartwatch gets discarded when the data is wiped. It cannot be handed down to future generations and holds no sentimental value. To me that is not a real watch,” he said. 

Aeschlimann, who has been with Omega for 21 years and took the helm in 2016, also said that Korea’s luxury watch market has great potential.
South Korea’s luxury watch market has shown exponential growth with sales increasing by 26.7 percent last year, according to data collected by Lotte Department Store. 

Omega is considered one of the “big three” along with Rolex and Cartier. However competition is getting stiffer due to the growing popularity of other luxury watch makers such as IWC and Jaeger-LeCoultre along with the emergence of smartwatches from Apple and Samsung.

Aeschlimann’s also revealed that Omega plans to release a Korea themed limited edition watch in time for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.The company is one of the major sponsors of the event. 

By Alex Lee (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)