Leica, the German company known for its pioneering camera technology, wants to be more than just a photography brand.
On Thursday evening, the company hosted an event celebrating the grand opening of its newest flagship store, a two-story hub in NYC’s Meatpacking District. The store, designed in monochrome shades of grey, pays homage to the black-and-white street photography of legendary New York photographers like Ralph Gibson and Bruce Gilden. The new location, one of over 200 the brand operates, won’t just be home to photography, however. According to Leica U.S. president Mike Giannattasio, the store is also an opportunity to highlight Leica’s continued evolution into a lifestyle brand beyond just cameras.
In 2018, Leica’s CEO Andreas Kauffman, a watch enthusiast and a photographer, decided it was time for Leica to seriously invest in watches.
“We had done a few partnerships before then, but 2018 was when we decided to fully invest in our own movement,” Giannattasio said.
A “movement,” in horological jargon, refers to the internal mechanisms that operate a watch or clock and is distinct from the “case,” which includes the dial and hands. The movements of watch brands like Rolex and Audemars Piguet arecdesigned in-house. Meanwhile, newer watch brands or fashion brands looking to add watches to their assortment with minimal investment will license a movement from companies like Ronda or Sellita.
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“I was at Richemont [which owns watch brands like Vacheron Constantin] for 15 years,” Giannattasio said. He said it costs millions of dollars to develop a brand’s own movement, including recruiting expert watchmakers and contracting a manufacturer in the Black Forest of Germany. “It’s a big commitment. But [Lecia] has such experience and mastery working with glass and creating very technical products. We knew it was the right fit.”
It’s only been five years since the brand began investing in this initiative, but watches and other accessories, like glasses, which also make use of Leica’s expertise in glass and lenses, have grown to make up about 15% of Lecia’s annual revenue. The rest of the business is still primarily made up of photography-related products and services like cameras, lenses and galleries. Leica made a record $522 million last year, thanks to both new categories and a renewed global interest in photography.
Like its cameras, which sell for thousands of dollars, Leica’s watches are firmly luxury products. The most expensive watch, the Leica ZM 1, retails for $28,000, but other watches sell for $2,000 and $15,000. A select few watches will be available in the flagship store, and the full catalog is online.
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As for marketing, Giannattasio said Leica takes after other luxury brands by limiting what it spends on advertising. “Our advertising budget really does not align with the size of our brand in the market,” he said.
He pointed to brands like Ferrari, which spends little on advertising in favor of investing in client services and product design, reasoning that “the best marketing is a happy customer.” For its part, Leica is putting effort into forging connections with influential photographers by offering master classes on the second floor of the new store.
“Professional photographers are our greatest marketing tool,” Giannattasio said. “We have 100 years of being committed to great photography. We invented autofocus. You may not remember a Leica ad, but you remember a Leica photo.”
