THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 4, 1994 TAG: 9408040057
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MONIQUE WILLIAMS, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
IT IS SAID that in fashion, as in life, timing is everything.
Just ask the people who wore Indiglo watches and survived the L.A. earthquakes, the bombing of the World Trade Center and a host of other natural and unnatural disasters. The $38 Timex watch, which glows in the dark, was credited with helping people navigate, thereby saving many lives.
Watches, once nothing more than a piece to tell time by, have evolved from functional to fun. No more are watches just graduation or anniversary gifts; they are important accessories for men and women.
This evolution can be traced a few years back to Swatch, the Swiss-made all-plastic watch that looked as if a child with a box of crayons designed it.
With new technology and prices under $100 for good watches, having two or more watches to match different moods and outfits is no longer a luxury reserved for the rich.
``We have worked hard to create an attractive, affordable watch line that is diverse enough to accessorize any wardrobe,'' says Diane O'Connor, director of fashion and youth business for Timex.
In the forefront of the trend-driven $600-million department store market are hot fashion brands such as Fossil and Relic. With great whimsical design, these watches are time pieces that cannot be ignored.
With the '90s shaping up as the anti-status decade, it comes as no surprise that the hippest watch is ho-hum, Timex. The company was singled out by Business Week for developing some of the best new products - namely Indiglo - on the market.
``In the last few years, watches have truly evolved as a fashion accessory,'' adds O'Connor, ``so, it's not surprising that Timex, American's largest watch manufacturer, would be ranked so highly among the nation's fashion brands.''
It doesn't hurt that President Clinton wears a Timex - making his the most publicized watch in the country. The chunky digital that the president wears is the popular Ironman Triathlon. Last year, Timex sold 1.5 million Ironman Triathlon watches, which now come in eight different styles.
Not long ago, Timex sat side-by-side next to Armitron at your neighborhood's drugstore. Now, Timex is sold at Macy's under the upscale Essentials label, Nautica and Guess licenses.
And this year, Timex will introduce a new licensed brand - Benetton. With unusual treatments and colored metal bands, the Benetton watch is designed to attract a younger and more fashion-conscious customer.
This summer, Timex introduced the Indiglo Lion King collection of watches for the younger set. The introduction kicked off last month to coincide with the nationwide opening of the movie.
``We expect a tremendous response from this film,'' says Sean Gildea, youth and licensing business manager, ``because the circle of life and the passing of time are such significant themes (in the movie), we feel the watches are an excellent tie-in.''
The next revolution from the watch industry will be two-way voice communication time pieces - the talk/watch. It will take a decade or more before we will see talk/watches on the market, but, you'll get a phone call that will ring on your wrist, and you'll answer by talking to your watch. Right now the prototypes are so big and clumsy that no one would want to wear them.
Will they, too, become as standard as underwater watches? No one knows; only time will tell. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Timex recently introduced the Indiglo Lion King collection for the
younger set.
Underwater watches, once considered a luxury, are fairly standard
today.
by CNB