The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms goes viral / Trend Report

HOW FINE WATCHMAKING BRANDS AND THEIR CUSTOMERS

ARE EMBRACING SHARED VALUE

A Two Week Snapshotof What’s Trending

in the Luxury Watch Industry

04 October 2016 - 17 October 2016

OURMISSION

The mechanical watch is a wonderful instrument and the guardian of craftsmanship

and creativity.

Our objective as the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie is to take this wealth of expertise

into the world through our four missionsto inform, train, recognise and organise.

Since 2005, we have promoted valuesof excellence and tradition within

an organisation that has the supportof numerous brands.

In this series of trend reportswe aim to discover which stories,

pieces of news and industry developmentsin the world of haute horology gain

the most amount of traction in the digitalsphere - uncovering why these trends

are important to the industry.

Every two weeks we’ll be diving intothe world of digital conversations to discover,

what’s trending.

SNAPSHOTOF THE PERIOD

TRENDING TOPICS AND STORIESBETWEEN OCTOBER 04 TO OCTOBER 17

Percentage of conversations on luxury watches penetrated by the topic

Last week was WatchTime New York, America’s largest Luxury watch event

Blancpain last week revealed a new member to the Fifty Fathoms collection, the Bathyscaphe Flyback Ocean Commitment II

It’s the 40th birthday of one of Patek Philippe’s most iconic watches, the Nautilus

Hublot introduces us to a new watch at WatchTime New York, the Big Bang Meca 10

Armin Strom revealed the Edge Double Barrel in Rose Gold at WatchTime New York

4.4%

1.8%

1.3%

1.1%

0.54%

VOLUME OF CONVERSATIONSON HIGH-END WATCHES

What’s been published on the HH Journal:

Fifty Fathoms, A Watch For The EliteLooking at the history of the French military watch and why the collection has become so popular.t

Patek Philippe Nautilus At 40It’s recently been the 40th birthday of the Patek Philippe Nautilus which they celebrated by releasing two limited editions.

ANALYSINGTHE SOCIAL BUZZOF FIFTY FATHOMS

BATHYSCAPHE CHRONOGRAPH

BLANCPAIN OCEAN COMMITMENT II (BOC II).

Last week Blancpain - in what looks like a world record attempt - unveiled a limited-edition watch

with the longest name ever. Introducing to the world the new Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Chronograph

Blancpain Ocean Commitment II (BOC II). The piece for the first time ever, features a full blue ceramic

case, something that was previously impossible due to the impossibility of matching the colour through

two different techniques.

Only 250 off the limited-edition timepiece have been made, and for each piece sold Blancpain will

be donating 1000 euros in support of scientific expeditions. This means the Ocean Commitment provides the buyer an opportunity to become an

active participant in protecting the oceans.

Each buyer will receive benefits such as becoming a member of the ‘Ocean Commitment Circle’, private invitations to exclusive science expedition talks and

documentary films as well as an exclusive copy of “’Hans Hass, Awakening to a New World’, a book by Austrian biologist and filmmaker who was the first to establish research labs on research ships and invent a water-

resistant camera case.

“More than sixty years ago we invented the Fifty Fathoms, the first modern diving

watch. Since then we have developed important relationships with scientists, divers, governmental organizations and other ocean

pioneers.”

Mr Alan Delamuraz, Vice President and Head of Marketing

Among Influencers

3.97%Penetration of conversations by Blancpain in Swiss watch

related conversations

284.21% Percentage increase of

Blancpain mentions against the previous two weeks

54.80%Of mentions of Blancpain

are in relation to the Ocean Commitment

Beyond Influencers

2542All online mentions of

Blancpain

34.57%Decrease of Blancpain

mentions against the previous two week

9.08%Of mentions of Blancpain in

relation to Ocean Commitment

BEHINDTHE TREND

Creating a shared value between a luxury brand and its customers is critical to create long-term

equity. With the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Chronograph Blancpain Ocean Commitment II

(BOC II) , each limited-edition timepiece allows the future owners to “become an active participant in

protecting the oceans” ( Marc Junod, VP and Head of Sales of Blancpain).

A trend that deeply impacts the value chain, just as the charity impacts the very early stage of the creation process. Alongside this, the brand must also plan the roles and responsibilities of each

stakeholder, starting from the customer.

This shows an investment to transmit not only a beautiful timepiece but also a certain impact on the

world around it.

Founded by Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie,the HH Journal is an online publication covering

watchmaking news in all its forms.

In collaboration with London-based agency RE-UP,The HH Journal is producing a series of trend

reports to analyse which current topics within the high-end watch industry are trending online.

Two key social tools are used to gather the data to analyse the current trends: An in-house database

of 2,000+ influencers and online sources specialising in luxury and watches – with the

ability to gather insight into 6 months’ worth of conversations. A social listening tool, allowing to measure and examines all online conversations.

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