With only a day to go, 2016 has come to its end. It was a very interesting year for the watch industry and for watch collectors. The watch industry is currently going through a rough time, but still managed to come up with some very interesting watches this past year.State of the watch industry2017 will likely be an even tougher year for some brands, which means we haven't seen the end of the crisis in the luxury watch market yet. The trend will now be all about how creative brands are with their new collections and, just as important, the value proposition. In my belief, for many watch enthusiasts it has become more important that you indeed get a bit of value for your money instead of buying into a bullshit marketing story. That false appeal may have worked in the past, but I am happy to see that more people don't seem to fall for it any longer. There's nothing wrong with a good story, but at least make sure it is a valid one.Anyway, the bigger hit during 2016 came from slower sales to, basically, everywhere in the world. In the past, there was always a region or two where things went well. Follow the money was the principle, perhaps still is, but that doesn't seem to work anymore. On top of that, (Asian and Russian) tourists aren't spending as much as they did in the past in Europe (and other places).Swiss watch export numbers, collected by customs and published monthly by the Federation of the Swiss Watch industry.2016 WatchesThat said, I hope that brands are able to adjust their strategy from the regular annual price increases to something more creative. Although I believe you should always be inventive, not only in bad times, now is the time to make a change. Decreasing prices to a somewhat more realistic price point is not an option, as many consumers will be upset (remember Patek decreasing prices with 7% in the USA in 2015?). I am not a marketeer or product developer, but I feel that you can only come up with a new price strategy if you are offering new watches or collections.Back to realityAn interesting example is TAG Heuer. Biver already started the transition before 2016 by focusing on new types of ambassadors (and advertising) to aim at a younger audience. Biver realized that the masses won't spend 6000 Euro on a new TAG Heuer and that a consumer will simply start looking at other brands in that price category. With the new and younger ambassadors (DJs, F1 drivers etc.) he made TAG Heuer an A-brand again in the minds of the relatively affluent young consumer. For a reasonable amount of money (under 1500 Euro), people can buy a TAG Heuer watch. Biver probably doesn't address all the die-hard collectors anymore with this strategy, but keep in mind that those are a minority and tend to focus on the pre-TAG days anyway.Max Verstappen showing his Formula 1 limited edition Got It RightWhat I also found interesting to witness is that had a lot to offer in an interesting price range with their 2016 watches. They offer the previously introduced 39mm Oyster Perpetual and also the new Air-King and 39mm Explorer models between 5000 and 6000 Euro (click here for an in-depth article on those models). However, lets not forget that is a bit of loner. There are no brands like , so it is difficult to compare any brand to them, even though everyone seem to be doing this (including the watch brands themselves). Around 30% of all searches on Chrono24 (10mio visitors per month) go to . Talk about powerful also released the more expensive new Daytona in stainless steel of course (retail 11.300,- Euro), which re-ignited the Daytona hype again that we saw before the 2009 recession.?The Daytona has a waiting-list again (some say up to 5 years!), and clever watch sellers are able to offer you one right away, of course, if you bring at least 16.000 Euro. We covered the new Daytona in this article.Oris And Seiko a lot of bang for the buckAnother brand that treats us watch enthusiasts nicely is Oris. With their attractively priced Divers Sixty-Five variations they are able to use their heritage in a nice way and you receive a lot of bang for the buck. They retail for approx. 1700 Euro and they are fun and good looking watches. The same goes for a lot of Seiko offerings, including their Presage range that is new (at least to the European market) in which they offer great looking pieces for under 1000 Euro. Their re-edition of the turtle (SRP777 etc.) is not even half that amount.Vintage Watch MarketThe vintage market flourished in the last year. There only seems to be an increased interest in vintage timepieces. Not only can we look back at the year with the highest amount ever paid for an auctioned wrist watch (the 10mio Swiss Francs Patek Philippe 1815), we also saw an increase in prices paid for vintage Speedmasters, Autavias etc. Besides that, also lesser known brands are becoming more interesting to collectors. Our very own Michael Stockton provided you with his vintage market updates, the last one just recently. We also started to cover some of the major watch auctions, with the help of our friends Roy Sacha Davidoff in Geneva. Their watch auction reports were very well read and showed us once more how popular vintage watches are.Linked to the vintage watch market is perhaps the pre-owned market of watches. Even though the prices of pre-owned watches seem to go up as soon as the brands do their annual price increase, it is still an interesting market to pay attention to. Again, consumers want value for money and just like the car industry, why not buy a pre-owned watch with low mileage and in good condition for sometimes almost 30% lower than the retail price. In some cases, when it concerns an unpopular brand or model for whatever reason, it is 50% or even more.https://www.fratellowatches.com/vintage-watch-market-update-dec-2016/Still Room For Haute HorlogerieLuckily, there is also still room for the high-end of watchmaking. Patek Philippe showed us an awesome collection last year in BaselWorld. My favorites perhaps being the perpetual calendar 5327 and the chronograph world time 5930. Their 40th anniversary models of the Nautilus were, to be honest, not my cup of tea, but I can imagine there's a market for those. In all honesty, the only thing they could have done to the stainless steel 5711/1A is to construct the case the same way they did with the 3700/1A, when it was a monocoq construction and true to the porthole design.