“Consumers have demonstrated an appetite to shift away from traditional ownership to newer ways in which to access product.” That was the intro of the “End of Ownership” chapter in “The State of Fashion 2019”, a detailed report by the Business of Fashion and global management consultants McKinsey. The chapter outlined one of the big trends predicted to change the way we shop. “More consumers will see a growing proportion of their wardrobes made up of pre-owned or rented products, especially for high-value items and accessories,” it said. Describing how the prices of top-end watches and jewellery have nearly doubled since 2005, the report suggested that some disruption to the traditional model was inevitable: “Even consumers with six-figure incomes are looking to discounts and alternative models of acquisition for relief.” Given this purported shake-up – that you’d expect to only be aggravated by the financial stress of COVID-19 – a clutch of luxury watch rental services have popped up around the world. These include Vyrent in the US, Borrowed Time in the UK, Luxothèque in France and Acquired Time in Singapore and Hong Kong. News of the existence of Helvetia, an Australian service renting out high-end watches therefore shouldn’t come as a…
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