Korea’s Horological Industry Hurting

While the extreme enthusiasm for luxurious foreign brand prevails in the society, Domestic clock and watch manufacturers urge consumers to change their unconditional favoritism for foreign goods.

The Korea Watch & Clock Industry Cooperative (KWCIC), to which about 120 clockmakers in the country belong, will open a press conference on August 21 at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul and explain the current situation that domestic brands are neglected in the market.

A person of a clock company bitterly resented, “Pushed from markets by foreign brands, domestic goods are even hard to be displayed in department stores. It is natural to be discouraged when facing a fact that there is no ‘battlefield’ where we can compete for qualities in spite of good quality products.”

This clockmaker has been producing in an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) system since 2003 when the business performance became worse and burdens of labor costs and rents increased.

Domestic clock and watch consumers’ favoritism for foreign brand is experiencing a dramatic increase.

Statistics of the Korea Customs Service say imported clocks in terms of market share steadily increased from 38.1% in 2004 to 39.7% in 2005. It is expected to grow to over 40% this year.

Especially, the increase in imported Swiss-made watches and clocks is remarkable.

The imported watches and clocks from Switzerland were equal to 22,330,000 dollars worth in 2000. However, Korea imported about 78,990,000 worth last year, which is 1.8 times bigger than five years ago.

On the other hand, domestic watches and clocks are significantly losing their competitiveness abroad. The export amount of watches and clocks has decreased from 300 million dollars in 1997 to a little over 100 million last year.

The director of the KWCIC, Kim Dae-boong, said, “There are many world-famous brands in Korea as well. For example, the domestic brand Romanson has been invited for three straight years to the International Clock Festival, an exhibition of the highest authority which takes place at Basel, Switzerland. Companies should strive to improve the quality of goods, but it is hard to see the bright prospect of Korean clock and watch industry as long as Korean consumers do not change their preference for foreign brands.”

dnsp@donga.com