In a recent article by the Financial Times of London (Fashion houses have decided that they need to start taking manufacture more seriously), “Fashion brands are changing their attitude to watch production…no longer contracting out manufacture to licensees who supply entry-level products.” Through marketing research and changing consumer wants and tastes, fashion houses have made a move to bring design for the watch category in-house, instead of sourcing out to half-ass licensees. The articles states:

Before the advent of Swatch, the Swiss watch industry was on its knees and there was a good chance that we could have all been wearing digital monstrosities, looking like extras from Star Trek. Swatch not only revived Swiss watches, it also changed our purchasing habits. Pre-Swatch, most people owned one watch that they were given at their 21st birthday or on their wedding day and wore it for life. Now it is not unusual to have a dress watch, a sports watch, a fashion watch and a couple of Swatches.

Such a change in consumer demand will also send fashion companies into full swing production, taking the watch category more seriously, hoping to give more attention to this accessory category, like they have done to handbags and shoes. The article continues:

Albert Bensoussan, watch department director at Louis Vuitton, says this is because: "We now dress differently, we travel a lot, we have different cultural influences, professional circumstances, freedom of action and freedom of clothing. "We want to express our changes in mood and behaviour with the accessories available to us, handbags for women and, for men, it's only the watch."

According to the article, the reason for this change was beyond just consumer demand and taste, it has to do with expectations consumers have in the watch category. Reflecting the shift in the denim industry in which denim consumers have become more quality-conscious, having found the design elements that work for them, rather than sticking to trendy brands, with low-quality.

Mr Bensoussan explains that there are two reasons behind this change. "The brands have realised that consumers won't pay any price for something that's not legitimate", and secondly "although we are not watchmakers, we can integrate know-how to make these watches.

This trend toward increased quality is reassuring to the fashion industry: Consumer demand is up; Fashion houses like, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Christian Dior are canceling licensing agreements, bringing watch manufacturing in-house; and consumer’s purchasing power is now quality-driven. As the article states “these luxury brands have realized that they can no longer license these products if they are a true atelier. It is part of…tradition to manufacture everything at the highest level,” which is bringing it back to the origins of true fashion design and construction, rather than being merely mass production.