# Slazenger Watches: Who is Holding the Racket Now?



## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

I have sort of followed the story of Slazenger watches for a long time now, partly because the watches never seemed to really live up genuinely heritage Slazenger name in sporting history. Indeed the firm goes back to 1881, when brothers Ralph and Albert Slazenger founded the company. For me as a youngster, the name Slazenger always conjured up images of tennis rackets, and I always remember the Slazenger products in Wisdens, a sports shop in Hastings in my childhood days.

I am not sure when Slazenger brand watches were first produced, but they went through a period of reasonable quality, with quite decent quartz watches being produced. This was probably in the 1980s and 1990s, before the brand was acquired by the Henderson Group. Under the Henderson regime, Slazenger watches dropped in terms of quality and were to be found in cheap factory outlets and other not very edifying places to buy wristwatches. The usual price for a Henderson Group Slazenger watch is about a tenner new, and the models tend to be cheapo sports numbers with only three-hand configuration.

I thought that the fate of Slazenger watches was finally sealed and that Slazenger would remain a bottom-end product. However, it seems that I might have been wrong because since 2007 there has been a rebirth of the Slazenger brand under a new brand holder, the Arikan Group. Before I go on to discuss the Arikan Group and the new Slazenger watches, I must first mention an anomaly. Cheap Slazenger watches produced by the Henderson Group are still available to buy new, and what is more, the Slazenger brand name is still being listed by Henderson Group as one of their brands. This does seem odd, especially as Slazenger watches are to be exhibited at the 2017 Baselworld exhibition under their new owners, and in the pre-exhibition details it is stated that, "Arikan Group has held a license to design and produce the Slazenger watches since 2007." Are there currently two license holders for Slazenger? It seems doubtful to me because I don't think that Arikan Group would wish their Slazenger watches to be confused with the watches produced by the Henderson Group.

The Arikan Group is a name new to me and yet it is now an important player in the watch world. In fact, they have been selling watches since 1985 and since that date they have been steadily pushing forward into the wholesale, design, and production of watches. The Arikan Group is a Turkish concern, and the headquarters given for Slazenger watches is in Istanbul. In 1994, the group acquired the distribution rights for Time Force, and in the following year they became exclusive distributor for Jaga watches. In the years following, they gained distribution rights for Essence, Elle, Givenchy, and they now also entered production and design of Walt Disney, Spiderman, Winx, Superman, football club, and other kid's watches. The brand, Essence, was wholly acquired in 2005 followed by Slazenger, in 2007, and Arikan Group subsequently also introduced a new brand, i-watch.

Over the past five years, Arikan has continued to expand its watch brand portfolio. Wainer, who produce Swiss-made watches, was acquired in 2011, and in 2013 the group acquired Quantum, Turkey's first international watch brand which sells its watches in 20 different countries. In 2014 the company also added the world-famous Police brand to its portfolio, and it also has rights to Ferruci and Belmond. Arikan now operates considerable manufacturing and distributing businesses, with three offices in Istanbul and Hong Kong. All mechanical parts are imported from either Japan or Switzerland and the company employs 130 workers and shifts 1.5 million units per annum with units of sale in more than 2000 stores.

Returning once again to Slazenger watches, it appears that Arikan Group themselves do not specifically design and manufacture these themselves. They leave it to one of their subsidiaries in Hong Kong, simply titled AWC, and it may be that this integral yet somehow separate concern designs and produces all the watches (apart from those that are actually Swiss-made) for the Arikan Group brands - at least those brands where Arikan holds all the rights, including manufacture. I do not know at this stage if AWC itself operates watch factories or whether it outsources actual manufacture and/or assembly.

There are various (quartz) model ranges in the new Slazenger line-up with names such as "Think Tank", "Sugar Free", and "Dark Panther". I have not yet had a chance to handle or see any of these new Slazenger watches but I believe that they are a step up from the Henderson Group products. There are certainly now models with such features as chronograph and date window, and the watches generally seem to be better specified than those that immediately came before. Slazenger also now have a modern and informative website, and the brand definitely appears to be on the up. Perhaps one day, the heritage name of Slazenger will have watches appropriate to that history, being of good quality and well priced. I cannot put any pics on this topic at this minute as I am about to run out of library time. I will therefore place a post on this thread shortly with some pics and any additional info on the new Slazenger watches.


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## RWP (Nov 8, 2015)

Interesting read Honour, Slazenger still seem to be rolling along the bottom where I find them. New for a tenner in Charity shops and seaside gift shops. They are on Amazon at a similar price.

Used to be good name in sporting goods :thumbsup:

Be well

Rog


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Hi folks, here I am again, newly logged on and about to show you some pics of new Slazenger watches. I should just mention that the Slazenger watches currently for sale on Amazon UK seem to be Henderson Group products and they are priced between about £10 and £15. The watches I am about to show you are definitely Arikan Slazenger watches and are considerably more expensive and better specified than the Henderson watches. I know that some members don't like calendar watches with buttons on the case but some of the Slazenger examples are quite nice. Although I am not a great fan of some of the Arikan Slazenger watch styles, I would draw your attention particularly to the new "Retro" range of watches, some of which are very elegant. Unfortunately, the Slazenger website doesn't seem to provide prices and those prices I have quoted below are from Aliexpress. I have no doubt that interested members will be able to look further than I have for relevant prices and info on available watches, and there are certainly now a good collection of different models and styles to choose from. Please note that I am not holding up Slazenger watches as a model of watchmaking but I certainly feel that the brand has made great strides recently.

Slazenger dual-time calender watch with 46mm alloy case, Hardlex crystal, leather strap and 5 atm WR. Powered by a Miyota quartz movement and priced at about $155 when available (pic from g02.a.alicdn.com):










Slazenger quartz chronograph with stainless steel case and leather strap (pic from montre24.com):










All stainless steel Slazenger calendar watch with 43mm case, domed hardlex crystal, Japanese quartz movement and leather strap. WR to 5 atm and priced at about $150 when available (pic from g03.a.alicdn.com):










Two watches from the rather nice "Retro" range (pics from slazenger.com - top - and media.messe.ch):



















Another example from the Retro range, this time with details that seem to cover the range in general - 40mm stainless steel case (this example PVD gold plated), domed mineral glass crystal, Japanese quartz movement, 30 metres WR, leather strap (pic from img.rnudah.com):










Dear Roger - I got your quick reply post just before posting the above supplemetary pics and details. As I say here above, please don't confuse the rather awful Henderson Group Slazenger watches with the post-2007 Arikan products.


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