The Bold is Movado's newest timepiece to feature the Museum® dial. Conceived by artist Nathan George Horwitt in 1947, the dial is defined by a single dot 12 o'clock, symbolizing sun at high noon.

The Movado Bold collection comes in a variety of color variations and is available in either 3-hand or chronograph versions. The 42 mm diameter case is made of a composite of stainless steel and black TR90 resin. The case has a shiny polished finish.

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Movado Bold Indigo Blue | Review coming soon

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Earlier this year, Movado announced that they were closing their retail outlets (27 high profile locations in the United States), as the initial part of a strategy to turn the company around. This effectively removes their non-profitable retail division, which was losing average of $10 million per year. The large size of the stores was noted as one of the major problems (they averaged 2,220 square feet). I can understand a brand running a boutique or two, maybe in New York or Los Angeles, even at a small loss, because these boutiques act as a flagship for the brand, but to operate 27 stores at a loss is just not viable.

The second part of their strategy was to get out of the jewelry business. And in removing their jewelry division they can now focus on their core product, timepieces. They sell watches under the Movado brand, as well as producing watches for Zales, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. They have already updated many of their classic timepiece collections, and now they're working on an entirely new timepiece collection.

They have created an all new collection of timepieces that will attract a new niche of buyers. The Movado brand has had good recognition, and was an especially good seller in the 80's and 90's, but recently the designs have gone mostly unchanged, and being that Movado is a fashion brand, this has not been very effective. Regardless of what product you are selling, the one thing that is generally true across any retail product is that you need newness, and I just don't think they were offering anything new, or in this case "bold."

Just in time for the holidays, they have launched the Movado Bold collection. The new collection features a mixture of mostly black or white timepieces, for both men and women, with very vibrant colors (although some pieces are more muted with all black or all white). The movements are accurate swiss quartz. The crystals are K1 sapphire hardened mineral crystals (which aren't as good at preventing scratches as pure sapphire, but are much better than standard mineral crystals). The cases are stainless steel mixed with a TR90 composite material (it is Swiss polymer that is light, shape-retaining and extremely long-lasting). The straps are coated leather. And the designs are bold. Best of all, though, is that they are affordable ($500 or less). Plus, you can now buy them directly online, which is the fourth part of their turn around strategy (sell online to increase sales and profitability).

These may not be super luxurious, or even as luxurious as the classic Movado collections, but I think they are more in tune with what consumers in this price range want. And consumer's opinions are really what matters most.

Retail $295- $495

Source: Movado

In the last few years, Movado has created watches that are a departure from their past models. The brand new Master TM, which was introduced at Baselworld 2010, features the brand's iconic Museum dial, and the signature 12 o'clock "dot", and you can clearly distinguish this as a Movado timepiece. However, the design is definitely going in a different direction in recent years, at least for some of the models. In this case, the dial is asymmetrical with a sporty matt black or, white dot-textured motif. The strap, which is also available in white or black, features the same dot-textured pattern, and matches well with the theme on the dial. Definitely a look I would not have expected to see on a Movado a couple years ago.

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Movado, the Swiss brand known for its modern design aesthetic, is celebrating its iconic Museum® dial and the upcoming launch of its new automatic collection, with an exceptional limited edition of 25 skeleton timepieces in 18K rose gold. In a dramatic exploration of the famous single dot dial design, a larger dot-shaped sapphire crystal aperture at 6 o'clock offers an intriguing glimpse into, and through, the movement's elegant regulating mechanism. Silhouetted through this window which doubles as a small seconds subdial is a striking red Movado "M". It unites the most critical parts of the mechanical movement, the escapement wheel and jeweled levers. The black dial is subtly detailed with red lettering and accents. A sapphire crystal exhibition case back reveals the full beauty of the finely-worked, hand-winding skeleton movement.

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[ via Europastar / via Nationaljeweler ]

"The Movado Group plans to reduce its Movado brand U.S. wholesale distribution from 4,000 stores to to 2,600 stores by Jan 31, 2009." This sounds like a good strategy that should help increase the perceived value of the brand. Less stores equals more exclusivity. Movado says they expect to take some losses from the decrease in volume. However, by making their brand more exclusive I would think they should be able to offset the decrease in volume with an increase in price.

This is a new Tom Brady Limited Edition 800 Series Chronograph by Movado. It has a steel case, rotating bezel, Swiss Automatic movement and date display. The rubber strap is made of XtremeResin and is reinforced with Kevlar®. Production is limited to 500 pieces worldwide and it costs $2,500. BUY

Source: Movado