Chinese-brand watches, such as “Shanghai”, “Seagull” and “Five Star”, regarded as status symbols 30 years ago, have been steadily losing their lustre due to the influx of foreign brands, according to a recent report from the China Business News.
　　
　　In the early 1970s, a “Shanghai”, was worth 125 yuan, equal to an ordinary person’ income over four or five months, and therefore was regarded as a luxury product. At that time, almost no imported watches were sold on the domestic market.
　　
　　Nowadays, most of the watches with a price tag of below 1,000 yuan (125 U.S. dollars) sold on the Chinese market are still home brands, but for watches over 3,000 yuan, foreign brands dominate.
　　
　　Chinese consumers are spending more on expensive foreign-brand watches than domestically manufactured brands despite greater numbers of the Chinese watches being sold.
　　
　　Home-brand watches account for 70 percent of the market in quantity, but expensive foreign watches account for 70 percent of sales value.
　　
　　China-made watches are no longer regarded by the public as status symbols due to their low price. Famous foreign brands, such as Rolex, Omega and Cartier, have taken their positions.
　　
　　Although Chinese watch makers have made concerted efforts for years to access the market of luxurious products, most of their trials have failed.
　　
　　Home-brand watches are economical products that have nothing to do with luxurious life. This is the deep impression formed in most Chinese people’s mind, the newspaper said.
　　
　　According to statistics provided by the Shenzhen Timekeeper Association, 57 percent of Chinese people believe prices of home-made watches should stand between 300 yuan to 1,000 yuan, and83.8 percent believe prices of imported watches should exceed 800 yuan.
　　
　　Since China started its reform and opening-up more than 20 years ago, foreign watches with brands such as Citizen and Seiko firstly swarmed into the domestic market and many home-based manufacturers went bankrupt.
　　
　　Some state-owned enterprises started to assemble foreign-brand watches or produce watch parts.
　　
　　After China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001,it started to lower its import tariff rates, making foreign watches cheaper to buy on the domestic market.
　　
　　As the Chinese economy keeps growing at an average annual rate of about 9 percent, the income level of its nationals has been rising all the time, making foreign watches affordable to more people.
　　
　　Now many Chinese regard expensive foreign watches as a symbol of success, high social status and wealth, and a watch’s practical usage is not their greatest concern.
　　
　　Although China has started to levy consumption tax upon luxuries such as expensive watches, yachts and luxury cars, some people‘s enthusiasm for famous-brand watches will not ebb and many will go to Hong Kong and foreign cities to buy them, the newspaper said.