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Alligator skin bracelets or other reptiles have become a complement to choose Swiss luxury watches.But their prohibition in California forces the watchmakers to re -examine the issue.

Animal rights defense groups recorded a large victory in September 2019: California adopted a law prohibiting the sale of alligatr and crocodile skins.This decision, which should come into force in 2020, is however bad news not only for hunters and breeders of alligators of Louisiana, but also for luxury retailers of Beverly Hills who sell shoes, belts andHandbags in exotic leather and which had pressure against the ban.

California stores that sell high -end Swiss watches with alligator bracelets also have something to worry about."Some brands have sent replacement bracelets for stock watches, but others have not reacted," said Jamie Hays of the Feldmar Watch Company, a company that has stores in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.

The situation was still complicated due to two last -minute appeals against this ban, one from the department of fauna and peaches of Louisiana and the other of a group of alligators of Louisiana andCalifornian luxury retailers.The ban is now temporarily suspended, but the coronavirus pandemic could delay the hearings planned this year and the final decision.

"Everything was a little deflated at the end.We had all prepared for the worst, but we can't do anything for the moment, ”explains Jamie Hays.Supporters of the ban have, however, have a good chance of winning in the Californian courts.

As for watch collectors, they can always go to a neighboring state to buy a Swiss watch with an alligator bracelet.But California regularly appears as a pioneer and its political decisions - from the legalization of cannabis to the introduction of a minimum wage - often influence the rest of America and even the world.This ban has at least alerted the Swiss watch marks: to continue as if nothing had been a financial risk.

Sustainable or ethical?

"In response to the growing demand of consumers for sustainable and ethical products, luxury brands abandon animal materials, including exotic skin," says Sophia Chachuk, of the association "For an ethics in treatmentAnimals ”(Peta - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) which has greatly campaigned in favor of the prohibition."All brands that want to avoid being abandoned by the largest demographic group of consumers - generation Z and millennials that opt for raw products - should ban exotic skin."

This is what different high -end brands have already done in recent years.The large London retailer Selfridges, for example, indicated that he would no longer store products using alligator, crocodile or even python skins since February 2020. But watch bracelets seem to have escaped his attention.As of July 1, his online store still sold 13 models of luxury Swiss watches with alligator bracelets: six from Vacheron Constantin, three from Zenith, two of Longines, one from Girard-Perregaux and one from Carl F. Bucherer.

When animal defense groups confront them with the ethical questions posed by the use of exotic bracelets, the large Swiss clocks respond that they only get their supplies to lasting sources that do not endanger the survival of species.The Swatch Group - which has in particular the luxury brands Omega, Breguet and Longines - thus ceased in 2010 to use crocodile, snake, ray and shark leather bracelets.On the other hand, the Alligator still represents about 10% of all the leather bracelets.

"We do not use any other exotic leather than that of the Mississippiensis alligator species from a limited number of lastingly identified and controlled sustainable farms in the south-east of the United States," said a Swatch Group representative.Peta is not convinced, however, that animal welfare is a priority in these alligators' farms: “Animals killed for their skin are raised in foul water and piled up in dark pits to finish stabbed in the water"Explains Sophia Chachuk.

And now?

In 2010, shocking images from Indonesia showing pythons and vivid flayed lizards launched a reflection on the supply of reptile skins from abroad.Last year, on the initiative of Switzerland, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for the first time adopted recommendations on the respectful deaths of reptiles in the leather industry.It is the Federal Office for Food Safety and Veterinary Affairs (OSAV) which launched and then directed the drafting of the standard on "The methods of killing the reptiles used for commercial purposes for their skin, their meat or meatOthers ”of the health code for terrestrial animals of the goose.These recommendations declare unacceptable killing by freezing, scalding, suffocation, drowning or bright peef.

For its part, Peta simply wants to stop killing reptiles to produce leather.She advises luxury companies to replace them with alternative materials."Sustainable and ecological vegan materials and recent advances in the field of textiles-such as polymers of plant origin and recycled polyurethanes, as well as materials made from oak bark, pineapple leaves,mulberry leaves and mushrooms - revolutionize the fashion market.They prove that we do not have to sacrifice the style to be more respectful about animals and the planet, "said Sophia Chachuk.

In the watchmaking industry, the problem does not come as much from the lack of alternatives as from an image issue.The exotic leather bracelet has become an important luxury accessory for a high -end Swiss watch.There is a "high demand from customers" for alligator leather bracelets, Swatch Group told Swissinfo.ch.Some Swiss watch brands have adopted a form of compromise with cow's leather or embossed veal bracelets with crocodile or alligator patterns.

But whatever the path chosen by the watchmaking industry for its high -end bracelets, the prohibition that threatens in California shows that it can no longer ignore the question.And Swiss clocks can hardly allow themselves to expose themselves to other setbacks: the amount of exports of watches has already dropped by more than a third party during the first half of this year, largely because of the Pandemiafrom COVID-19.

Following the publication of this article, Selfridges contacted Swissinfo.ch.A representative said that there was an error in online product descriptions and that Selfridges will rectify to make its customers understand that the watch bracelets are not in exotic leather.However, Swissinfo.ch cannot check this declaration.

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