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Oxygen Managing Director Nadia Skouri on her world time-themed stand at the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes |
FRANCE. Paris-based dual-time watch specialist Oxygen looks set to take a leap into the domestic market following the success of its watches in travel retail.
Managing Director Nadia Skouri told The Moodie Report she was considering a domestic market launch in Japan and the UK, fuelled by local market demand: “We started out as a travel retail brand but we may launch on the local market in the UK and Japan,” she said. “We have been very successful with our dual-time watches in Japan.
“The Japanese go onto our website (www.oxygen.ms) to buy our watches and they start making collections. They ask us for certain models. They can’t buy every model every month, as we change the online selection so they see different products.”
New products and trends
Oxygen presented four new watch models at TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, all with travel-themed names: Adventure and Star for women, and Pilot and GMT 2 for men.
GMT 2 watch for men
Following the success of the GMT model, the new GMT 2 men’s watch has a Swiss movement with lots of functions. The watch has been made to look more modern, with a bigger face, updated numerals and a matt stainless steel case. The watch features dual time, alarm and power reserve and sports a leather strap in brown, black, orange, blue and beige. It retails at €259.
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The best-selling Univers steel and ceramic watch for women |
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The popular Planet men’s model |
Skouri noted the trend for men to be more fashionable in their watch choice. The GMT 2 watch with the orange strap and matching orange numbers on the dial is proving highly popular. “The GMT 2 with the orange strap is very fashionable,” she said. “Men love orange. Why? Because they either wear black or brown, and it means they can wear a watch with an orange strap even if they are in a serious business suit. The orange colour really stands out in inflight magazines, too.”
Pilot watch for men
The new Pilot watch has a Japanese movement with dual-time and date functions and is water-resistant to 100 metres. “It is very masculine and plain with stainless steel band for the strap.” The model retails at €179.
Adventure watch for women
“This watch has been very popular at the show,” Skouri told The Moodie Report during the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes. The dual-time Adventure model comes in stainless steel with dials in different colours – an eye-catching purple colour, silver, grey and white. The strap is stainless steel and it is water-resistant to 100 metres. “We included a date on this watch, as we found that not many women’s watches have a date,” said Skouri. “There’s a small window showing the dual time and the country names are listed all around the edge of the dial.”
Star watch for women
The Star model aims to emulate a piece of jewellery. It features an interchangeable strap which can either be a stainless steel mesh band with a fastening mechanism similar to a leather strap, or white leather. The watch has a white face, in small or large sizes, with a combination of Roman numerals at XII and VI and numbers at 9 and 3.
Noting the affordability of the watch, Skouri commented: “The Star retails at €95 which is affordable for a quality watch and is a very good price point. It is water-resistant and has a simple movement.”
About Oxygen
The Oxygen watch brand was officially launched during the TFWA in Cannes in October 2003 by former Aéroboutique Inflight Retail buyer Nadia Skouri. Since then, the brand has gained listings on many airlines: Air France, KLM, Austrian Airlines, Japan Airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines. Popular watch models include Univers, Planet, GMT and Jet Set.
For details on Oxygen, contact Nadia Skouri, 162 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008, Paris, France, tel: +33 1 45 61 58 59, e-mail nskouri@oxygen-france.com Visit www.oxygen.ms
MORE STORIES ON OXYGEN
Oxygen goes clubbing with new watch range – 31/05/06
Travel watch firm Oxygen breathes inflight success – 26/05/05
