Movado’s Senior Management Denies Company Is Cooling Toward Smartwatches
This holiday selling season marks Movado’s debut of the first smartwatches under its various licensed brands, such as Coach, Hugo Boss and Juicy Couture (see 1608250020), and “we’re pleased with the early reads,” CEO Efraim Grinberg said on a Tuesday…
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earnings call. But President Ricardo Quintero chimed in later to say the company doesn’t see the smartwatch category “becoming a significant portion of our business, given the limitations in the functionalities and physical dimensions of current technology.” Movado will “continue to engage” in the smartwatch category “as the technology evolves and the opportunities arise,” Quintero said. Grinberg denied in Q&A that Quintero’s disclaimer reflects any cooling in Movado’s enthusiasm to pursue the smartwatch business. “We’ve always taken a kind of patient approach to the wearable technology space and smartwatch space,” Grinberg said. “We’re really proud of the hybrids that we’ve introduced in our fashion brands and the one that we’ll introduce in Movado this year, and we’re continuing to explore other opportunities in that segment as well. But we also see a really continued large market for conventional watches, as long as you drive them with innovation, image and design.”