经济学人443:瑞士手表与苹果手表 这和看时间没有关系

 　　Swiss watches and the Apple Watch

　　瑞士手表与苹果手表
　　It's not about time
　　这和看时间没有关系
　　Traditional watchmakers are confident they can see off Apple's new bauble 1
　　传统手表制造商有信心看到苹果华而不实的新玩意儿退出舞台
　　WHEN cheap, accurate quartz 2 watches started pouring out ofAsiain the 1970s, many Swiss watchmakers went bust 3. But the survivors 4 recovered their sangfroid 5 and went on to prosper 6 as crafters of stylish 7 timepieces that proclaim the wearer's taste and status better than any electronic gizmo could.
　　当19世纪70年代，价廉精准的石英表开始在亚洲普及，许多瑞士手表制造商破产了。但是那些幸存者恢复镇静，作为时尚手工钟表生产商继续着繁荣事业，这些钟表比任何电子玩意儿都能更好的彰显佩戴者的品味与地位。
　　Do Apple's new smartwatch and devices like it portend 8 another quartz catastrophe 9? Some think they might. Wrists are “prime real estate”, points out Richard Seymour, a design consultant 10. Many people park expensive watches there—especially men, since that is the main sort of jewellery that convention allows them. So if smartwatches catch on, they could evict 11 the Swiss baubles 12.
　　苹果新款智能手表以及其他类似产品预示着另一个石英手表的大灾难吗？有些人也许这样认为。设计顾问Richard Seymour指出：手腕是绝佳的部位。许多人佩戴名贵腕表——特别是男士，因为这是世俗允许他们佩戴的主流饰品。因此如果智能手表流行开来，它们可能将瑞士手表逐出市场。
　　苹果手表.jpg
　　That seems to be Apple's ambition. It has been poaching talent from fashion houses. Its new watches aim to be more than gadgets 13: some have 18-carat gold cases. Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple's design chief, has reportedly boasted to colleagues that the Swiss are in trouble.
　　这似乎就是苹果公司的野心。其从时装公司挖走人才。苹果公司的新款手表旨在“不止是腕表”：有些腕表拥有18K金表壳。据报道，苹果的首席设计师Jonathan Ive先生向同事吹嘘说瑞士手表正陷入困境。
　　They are not trembling yet. Smartwatches are a mere 14 “information tool” that say “nothing special” about the wearer, says Jean-Claude Biver, chairman of Hublot, a Swiss brand owned by LVMH, a big luxury group. They become obsolete 15 as soon as the technology advances. Swiss watchmakers, on the other hand, are selling “eternity in a box.”
　　他们还未惊慌失措。大型奢侈品集团Hublot是瑞士手表旗下品牌，其主席Jean-Claude Biver表示，智能手表仅仅是一种“信息工具”，并不能彰显佩戴者的特别。一旦科技进步，它们就将被淘汰。相反，瑞士手表制造商售卖的却是“盒子里的永恒”。
　　Cheaper and less eternal Swiss-watch brands, from low-end ones like Swatch to mid-market ones like Tissot and Hamilton, seem most at risk. Swatch has already tried to get into smartwatches, in an ill-fated venture with Microsoft a decade ago, and plans to try again. However, Jon Cox of Kepler Cheuvreux, a stockbroker 16, points out that watches costing $500 or less provide just 6% of the industry's revenues, so it could survive their loss. Since Swatch also owns several upmarket brands and makes parts for many others, just 5% of its profits are at risk from Apple's watch, Mr Cox reckons.
　　较为便宜以及不太保值的瑞士手表品牌，从低端品牌如Swatch到中端品牌如Tissot和Hamilton，似乎风险最大。十年前Swatch已携手微软试图进入智能手表领域，但这场冒险因时运不佳以失败告终，其计划再试一次。然而，Kepler Cheuvreux的一个股票经纪人Jon Cox指出，价格在500美元或500美元以下的手表，仅提供该产业的总收入的6%，因此Swatch能承受它们的损失。Cox先生认为，由于Swatch还拥有几个高端品牌，且其为其他品牌手表制造零部件，其利润中仅5%会因苹果手表的发布而存在风险。
　　Mr Biver thinks it may even boost Swiss watchmakers by getting youngsters used to wearing something pricey on their wrists. Existing customers may wear Apples for everyday use, but slip into something more enviable for social occasions. Mr Seymour is not so sure: he thinks Apple will do its utmost to make people wear its watch all the time.
　　Biver先生认为这甚至会让年轻人对在手腕上佩戴一些昂贵的产品习以为常，从而促进瑞士手表制造商的发展。现有客户可能会在日常生活中使用苹果手表，但是在社交场合他们就会戴一些更让人艳羡的东西。Seymour先生并不如此肯定：他认为苹果公司将会尽其最大努力使人们无时无刻都戴着苹果手表。