I've noticed three types of watch-carrying jewelers. 1. The first type carries watches as a convenience (to customers). They tend to carry one to three of the big mid-market brands (Seiko, Citizen, Bulova), and sometimes will carry one lower-end line (Pulsar, Caravelle) and/or one moderately priced Swiss brand. These jewelers tend to have low(er) inventory levels and also are the first to toss out lines when needing to pare down inventory. Their watch selection mimics a mall jewelry store. I've also seen the higher-end jeweler version of this, with a small selection of a few Mechanical or Automatic lesser-known Swiss watches. If you don't care enough to stock a good collection of styles, destination customers will go somewhere where they can find a good selection. 2. The second type of timepiece-selling jeweler uses the watch cases primarily to build the prestige of the store and borrow on the watch brands' image. These stores love popular brands (TAG Heuer, Omega, etc.), dream of Rolex, and tend to offer a large selection of a few Swiss brands. This jeweler tends to mimic the better "

This jeweler tends to mimic the better "guild"-type jewelry stores. 3. The third type of jeweler uses watches to draw in traffic and also to beef up sales. This jeweler will pour resources into their watch lines and carry many different brands, the majority being higher-end Swiss. This is also the jeweler who tends to have territorial exclusivity of a national brand, and makes sure potential customers know that. This jeweler's selection is large enough to actually have a "Timepiece Boutique" within their store. When considering watches, I'd also keep in mind what Terry Burman of Signet said when questioned about the watch-intensive offerings in the UK compared to the US. He noted that in the US, the primary watch sellers are department stores, while in the UK watches are sold primarily by jewelers. Watches suck up a lot of open-to-buy, are extremely easy to price compare, and don't have as high a profit margin as jewelry. However, they bring a lot of the feel and voice of their own brand to the store, adding elements of fashion and luxury to the store.