Interview by Manny N. de los Reyes
On the sidelines of the Mido Multifort TV Chronograph launch in Bangkok, we got to sit down with Mido CEO Franz Linder and asked him a few questions about the brand and its newly launched chronograph. Here are some excerpts..
The Multifort has been one of the favorites among watch collectors in the Mido line, and now you come up with a chronograph version. Can you tell us more about it?
I think, first of all, you have to look at it from a strategic point of view. We have basically four, say, five key collections, and in every collection, you have a pyramid. We have a basic model, which, in the case of Multifort, is a Multifort 35 millimeter. Then we have Big Date, and on top of this, a small complication—a chronograph. We always build our collections like this, and on top we have COSC-certified. And with the Multifort TV, which is very successful, we believe a chronograph complication is a very suitable extension, because it’s a sporty design, a robust watch. I think it’s a very well-designed piece, and I hope its future will tell us that our consumers think the same thing.
Who is your target market now? Mido takes the effort to bring younger generations to know about mechanical watches, presumably because the young generation prefers smart watches. How do you influence them or make them appreciate your watches?
I think with every generation, to capture their attention, is a challenge. For the watch industry, I think our challenge is how we can best communicate to our audience, to stay relevant and remain desirable. And of course, today, the way of communicating has changed a lot. It’s all on social and yes, here, we need to work with the right language, to capture the attention; and that’s a job our marketing is confronted with every day. But we believe one element, obviously, is to come out with more unique designs. That’s why I also relaunched a TV shape, which we didn’t have for a while, and it seems that this is capturing attention of the people. It’s a blend of vintage and mechanical, but it seems to match the taste of younger consumers.
Chronographs being closely tied with racing and time-based competitions, do you plan or foresee the presence of Mido chronographs in motorsport or other sporting events?
Yes, chronographs are about measuring time, measuring performance, and I think this can be for all kind of sports. We had, in the past, partnerships, for example, with NASCAR drivers and activities in this field. But I think to promote a chronograph watch, there are many other opportunities, you know, to have to show the use of this watch.
How is the Southeast Asian market, particularly the Philippines, different from other regions when it comes to the interest and demand for Mido watches?
I would say our average consumer in most parts of the world is quite similar. So we have 25- to 50-year-olds, and our ambition is always that we are the first choice for, say, young people finishing education. But then we have collectors and older people who stay with the brand for a long time. On one side, we have youngsters, obviously very important, which consider a watch, maybe as something cool, and then you still have older generations who stay with a brand with good quality for decades. They buy a watch for different reasons: one, because of a cool design, and maybe for another generation, because they really trust in the brand.
In the Philippines, it’s a different story. We don’t have this background. So Philippines is a good challenge because I think the brand awareness is still small, So logically, all those generations—45 up, I think—will be difficult to capture, so we will obviously start with a younger audience. The challenge is the background is really different and how you communicate it as well.
