Breitling Debuts Watch Subscription Programme
The subscription model – where customers pay for access, but not necessarily ownership – is familiar, and increasingly prevalent. Spotify and Netflix are amongst the best known examples, but subscriptions are now found in fashion – a new wardrobe weekly – and even automobiles, with Porsche Drive that offers a new car every month. And now also in watches: Breitling becomes the first major watch brand to offer a subscription with BreitlingSelect. More accurately, BreitlingSelect is a combination of a subscription and instalment payment plan. It starts with the wearer rotating amongst a handful of trial watches over a year, while paying a monthly fee. But at the end of the year, the total fee paid can be put towards buying one of the watches worn during the trial. Initial thoughts Watch subscription isn’t novel. New York-based ElevenJames launched with much fanfare in 2013, before shutting down quietly five years later. There have been plenty more similar services offered in several of the world’s major watch markets, but few have been sustainable. Consumers quickly realise it makes more sense to save for a watch, rather than paying subscription fees, which are by nature hefty since the timepieces being subscribed to are luxury watches. Breitling clearly believes that its subscription service can buck that trend. The crucial difference between BreitlingSelect and everything that has come before is the brand – BreitlingSelect is being offered by the watch manufa...
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