Es watch aficionado 118 lr

Watchmakers did not need Einstein to intuitively understand that time and space are closely associated, like the two faces of the same coin. ....................................................................... p.6

Architecture in the US watch market All rights reserved

Have time, will travel

Architecture has always been a buzz-word in the world of watchmaking, and all the more so in watch promotion. .................................................................... p.22

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WATCH BUSINESS PAPER | USA VOL. 54 NO. 302 | CHAPTER 1/2018 | WWW.EUROPASTAR.COM

Chanel Première Camélia Skeleton Watch

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Where aesthetic beauty and technical brilliance converge The Première Camélia Skeleton is the culmination of the same highly rigorous watchmaking approach that Chanel has taken from the outset: merging form and function, beauty and technical execution.

by

Pierre Maillard

When Chanel made its watchmaking debut in 1987, with the appropriately named Première watch, the big traditional watchmakers observed the initiative with condescension and ill-concealed disdain. Yes, the Maison Chanel was prestigious, with an internationally recognised name, but in their eyes watchmaking was the historical preserve of the major Swiss houses. After all, you can’t just decide to be a watchmaker. Can you?

Thirty years later, it’s obvious that Chanel’s watchmaking operation has won over the naysayers and fully earned its spurs.

Proof, if any were needed, is supplied by four Grands Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève: the 2012 Ladies’ Watch prize for the Chanel Flying Tourbillon; the 2013 Artistic Crafts prize for the Mademoiselle Privé Camélia Brodé; the 2016 Jewellery Watch prize for the “Signature grenat” Secret Watch; and finally, this year’s Ladies’ Watch prize for the Première Camélia Skeleton Watch.

These four prizes provide a perfect illustration of the extent of Chanel’s watchmaking prowess. It’s a combination, rigorously enforced across several assiduously mastered collections, of an essential, restrained, minimalist aesthetic, with bold and distinctive codes, allied with a challenging approach to watchmaking, which together have enabled the company to gradually master the specific skills and competences required.

The road to Haute Horlogerie In 1987, when Chanel embarked upon its watchmaking odyssey, the Maison worked closely with G&F Châtelain, a prestigious watch decoration manufacturer based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It’s here, at the premises of this specialist gem-setter and casemaker, that all Chanel watches begin their lives.

In 1993, Chanel took the additional step of buying G&F Châtelain SA, which nevertheless retained its company name, activities and autonomy.

This is where Chanel’s journey really began. Collaboration intensified between Chanel’s Studio de Création in Paris and a dedicated department within G&F Châtelain, backed up by advice from top watchmakers and artisans from outside the company.

In time, two new movements were unveiled. In 2005, the calibre Chanel 05T1 was a world first with its ceramic baseplate in black or white, something never seen before in watchmaking. Then in 2008, in collaboration with the Audemars Piguet manufacture, Chanel presented the J12 3125, whose Calibre 3125, derived from the manufacture calibre 3120, was equipped with a black ceramic rotor – another first.

Forging ahead, 2010 saw the start of a collaboration with Renaud & Papi, master watchmakers and complication specialists. This would enable Chanel to pass yet another milestone on their way to Haute Horlogerie.

That year, Chanel brought out a watch whose rather unusual movement made quite a splash. It was the Chanel J12 Rétrograde Mystérieuse.

This highly complex and completely new calibre incorporated a tourbillon, digital minute display and a retrograde minute hand. Why two separate minute displays? Because there’s an obstacle in the way of the natural progression of the minutes hand around the dial: an anomalous retractable vertical crown at 3 o’clock means the hand can’t go any further, and is obliged to reverse direction. While the minutes hand is moving back to its starting position on the other side of the obstacle, the digital display takes over. It had never been done before. It was a watchmaking tour de force.

Two years later, in 2012, again in collaboration with Renaud et Papi, Chanel unveiled another movement, the Chanel TVC 12. This is a flying tourbillon movement with a tourbillon cage in the shape of a camellia. That year, it made its début in the Première Flying Tourbillon Camélia, which promptly won a Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in the Ladies’ Watch category. The same flying tourbillon movement was then put into the J12 Flying Tourbillon Comète, and then, in a skeletonised version, in the J12 and in the Première Tourbillon Openwork Camélia.

In-house calibres In 2011, Chanel decided to take things up a gear by developing its own proprietary movements designed entirely in-house. To do that, a specific Haute Horlogerie department was set up inside G&F Châtelain. In 2016, it produced the first in-house Chanel movement, the Calibre 1.

This movement could be considered a kind of manifesto. Conceived and designed by the Studio de Création Horlogerie, the Monsieur de Chanel watch is both aesthetically and graphically stunning, due to the layout of its display and its movement.

The Calibre 1 combines a jumping hour with an instantaneous retrograde minute. This double complication, exquisitely deployed, gives the Monsieur watch a unique allure, to use one of Chanel’s special words.

Both technically and aesthetically, the Calibre 1 was a taste of things to come, in terms of the new horological avenues that Chanel had now opened up.

In 2017, the Calibre 2 has provided confirmation, in the shape of the Première Camélia Skeleton Watch.

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Chanel J12 RMT

Monsieur de Chanel, Calibre 1

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PREMIÈRE CAMÉLIA SKELETON WATCH – CALIBRE 2 Hand-wound mechanical movement with hours and minutes. Stepped gear train forming a camellia petal design. Mechanisms designed and arranged to display a flower shape on both the dial side and back of the case. Fully decorated components, designed to be seen from both front and back. 48-hour power reserve. 107 components. 21 rubies. Frequency 28,800 vph (4 Hz). Variable inertia balance wheel. Fixed flange barrel, spring torque approx. 420 g/mm. Anti-shock system to protect the balance. Movement dimensions: height 27.80 mm, width 23.30 mm, thickness 5.4 mm. Case dimensions: diameter 40 mm; height 10.66 mm.

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Numbered edition. 18K white gold case (28.5 x 37mm) set with 92 brilliant-cut diamonds. Hands set with 17 brillant-cut diamonds. 18K white gold bezel set with 104 brilliant-cut diamonds and 4 baguette-cut diamonds. 18K white gold crown set with 24 brilliant-cut diamonds. Black satin strap with 18K white gold double folding buckle set with 30 brilliant-cut diamonds.

Total diamond weight: 5.53 carats.

Numbered edition. 18K white gold case (28.5 x 37mm) set with 47 baguettecut diamonds. Camellia skeleton set with 246 brilliant-cut diamonds. 18K white gold bezel set with 42 baguettecut diamonds and 52 brilliant-cut diamonds. 18K white gold crown set with 16 baguette-cut diamonds and 11 brilliantcut diamonds. Black satin strap with 18K white gold double folding buckle set with 30 brilliant-cut diamonds. Total diamond weight: 7.82 carats.

Limited edition of 12 pieces. 18K white gold case (28.5 x 37mm) set with 47 baguette-cut diamonds. Camellia skeleton set with 246 brilliant-cut diamonds. 18K white gold bezel set with 42 baguette-cut diamonds and 52 brilliant-cut diamonds.

18K white gold crown set with 16 baguette-cut diamonds and 11 brilliant-cut diamonds. 18K white gold bracelet and folding buckle set with 282 baguette-cut diamonds and 254 brilliant-cut diamonds.

Total diamond weight: 22.66 carats.

A movement in the shape of a camellia It’s something of a cliché to talk about the relationship between form and function. But looking at the Première Camélia Skeleton Watch and its Calibre 2, it’s hard to imagine a closer correlation between mechanical function and lyrical form, working together to create a flower that tells time. This pure, poetic, vibrant, three-dimensional camellia watch is its movement. Technical and aesthetic merge into one indivisible whole.

In fact, all the elements of the mechanism have been conceived, designed and arranged to produce the shape of a camellia, their technical function fading into the background, leaving only the merest trace, advertising their presence in the balance, which trembles delicately at the heart of the flower.

The Calibre 2 was designed specifically for the Première Camélia Skeleton Watch, of which it is an absolutely integral part.

While the iconic motif of the camellia – Mademoiselle’s favourite bloom – was a natural and immediate

choice, particularly after the success of the Première Flying Tourbillon Camélia with its camellia-shaped tourbillon cage, it took three years to design, develop, build, test and assemble this floral calibre.

It’s hard to imagine a closer correlation between mechanical function and lyrical form, working together to create a flower that tells time.

This is not your traditional skeletonised watch, where the bridges, plates, sometimes even the gears, are hollowed out and pared down.

Here, every component and its interactions with all the others had to be rethought, redesigned and repositioned according to rigid technical constraints and aesthetic imperatives.

Even the stepped gear train with its alternating petals takes the form of a camellia. Whether from the back or the front, all you see is a flower.

To achieve this, Chanel’s watchmakers and movement makers had to recalculate the entire scenario: arrange, place and style all the components, and intercalate them just so to create a movement in the shape of a three-dimensional camellia.

A culmination In its way, the Calibre 2 marks the culmination of an approach guided by purity, simplicity and alchemy between form and function, and it is a resounding success.

The Première Skeleton Camélia Watch is a horological complication in itself, a totally unique one, but the watch looks beguilingly simple and it’s perfectly legible. Its movement literally is its dial, but it is beautifully readable and effortless to use.

The intensely feminine stylised floral architecture is accentuated by the play of contrasting light and shadow – the deep black of the calibre, the flash of diamonds outlining the petals – framed by lustrous 18-karat white gold.

Extreme care has been applied to the manufacture and decoration of each of its exquisitely finished com-

ponents: circular brushing, diamond chamfering, polishing, rhodium plating, ADLC treatment (Amorphous Diamond Like Carbon) and gem setting.

Several versions of the Première Camélia Skeleton Watch coexist, all fashioned out of 18-karat white gold, and all set to some degree, whether on the case, on the skeletonised mainplate, the crown, the hands or the clasp. The most prestigious version (in a limited edition of 12) even has a diamond-paved bracelet.

Setting diamonds into the mainplate is a technical feat in itself. At any time, the gem-setter risks deforming the setting, thus rendering it useless, because it must be perfectly flat to do its job. It’s a supremely delicate operation, requiring meticulous attention and judicious timing, if the watch’s mechanical operation is to remain intact.

For Chanel, one of the major features of the Première Camélia Skeleton Watch, beyond the technical accomplishments represented by the shape of the movement and its command of stylistic codes, is to demonstrate watchmaking excellence through the perfection of every detail. This applies not only to the technical details

of the movement itself – the working and composition of its wheels and gears, the boldness of its bridges and the quality of its finish – but also in its outer covering, in terms of the choice of materials and the subtle play of contrasts, down to the Lion hallmark – Mademoiselle’s zodiac sign and a symbol of Chanel Haute Horlogerie – laser-engraved on the movement.

Thirty years after the Première made its debut, Chanel’s second completely in-house movement marks a major step forward on this unique Haute Horlogerie journey. Like the J12, the Calibre 2 shows that, over and above their performance and technical prowess, Chanel’s iconic models are relevant and modern, with a timeless style that the years do nothing to diminish, and indeed serve only to enhance. Just look at the Première Watch, whose case echoes the shape of the home of the Maison Chanel, the Place Vendôme in Paris. This great city square was designed in 1699 by Mansart, the renowned architect of Versailles, who surely could not have guessed that one day the classical lines of his creation would come to define a prestigious watch.

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Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time by Vacheron Constantin

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HAVE TIME, WILL TRAVEL by

Pierre Maillard

Watchmakers did not need Einstein to intuitively understand that time and space are closely associated, like the two faces of the same coin. Their art was born of space observation, the regular movement of celestial bodies in the cosmos, the returning seasons, the alternation of day and night and our own biological clock, which is naturally attuned to the cycle of light and dark.

On the basis of these observations of space and time, the first astronomers divided time into ‘compartments’, purely conventional ‘slices’ that became the 24 hours of world time, each hour divided into 60

minutes, each minute divided again into 60 seconds.

As long as people remained sedentary or travelled on foot, or even on horseback, they quite naturally based their readings of time on the ‘true’ local hour encountered along the way, as determined by the midday sun and observation of the heavens. With the invention of mechanical watchmaking, greater priority was given to an artificial ‘mean time’ – ‘equinoctial time’ as established on the basis of the mean duration of the solar day, even though, as we know, the duration of daytime and night-time is equal only at the spring and autumn equinoxes.

As Lucien Baillaud, the author of the

op a ‘standard’ time, find the practical means for applying this single time system, convince the key people about the opportuneness of all this and then executing it.”

The international standardisation of time across the globe, now divided into ‘time zones’ (including a number of geopolitical aberrations), opened up new territory for watchmakers to explore: how to show the times of the whole world with one single mechanism? Or at least two different times: ‘away’ and ‘home’?

As we will see in this portfolio devoted to travel and time, various solutions were found. But they are all hallmarks of a period that the development of electronics and, to-

study ‘Les chemins de fer et l’heure légale’ writes: “You could not expect watchmakers to build clocks with speeds that varied according to the time of year.” That is all very well. But these local times, however rational they were locally, varied according to longitude and were useful only to the sedentary. As increasingly faster transport and communications developed, the accumulation of different local times along the same longitude became cumbersome.

"People had to become aware of the inconvenience of local times, invent a time system of broader geographical value, pursue a national, then international, plan for introducing a single time system, devel-

day, smartwatches, have swept away: a period when watchmaking ruled and timepieces were truly indispensable to travellers – whether by road, rail, sea and then air – and to anyone wanting to wire, then phone or telex to the other side of the world.

Today, consulting your smartphone is certainly much simpler. But the beauty and mechanical ingenuity of these horological items, and in particular world time watches, still enchant us. By offering us an immediate, summarised, graphical view of all the times on our planet suspended in the cosmos, these watches provide a link to the mystery of our existence, so closely dependent on this alternation of day and night.

The geopolitics of world time

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IVAN YURIN, «WORLD CLOCK» Built by Russian clockmaker Ivan Yurin in the 19th century, this amazing clock features numerous sub-dials showing the time across the old Russian Empire, including cities and time zones that are no more. It is exhibited at the Peterhof Palace in Saint Petersburg.

In the late nineteenth century, dividing the world into slices, even if only for time-keeping purposes, raised serious problems between nations and empires each of which claimed that theirs was the one where the sun nev-

er set. Reaching a common accord on a universal system of time zones, necessitated by the advent of mechanised transport, railways, telegraphy, travel, exchanges and global commerce, proved to be a real geopolit-

ical headache. So it was that watchmaking found itself at the vanguard of this first phase in burgeoning globalisation, for thanks to its mechanical mastery of intervals of time, it held the solution. Had it not already

demonstrated that two centuries previously, when its precision had made the English rulers of the waves?

If the nations, republics, kingdoms, principalities, confetti states and empires of the nineteenth century nevertheless succeeded with relative ease in reaching agreement on how the 24-hour pie was to be sliced up, the reason was that for once, politicians bowed to the railways on the issue. When, in the 1880s, it was noticed that in the United States, there were 49 different official railway timetables, the authorities decided something had to be done to simplify things. It already had been done in England, where timetables had been standardised back in 1840. In 1883, Standard Railway Time came into effect in the United States. For reasons both practical and scientific, it was aligned with the Greenwich meridian, even though it could have been

LIST OF TIME ZONES THAT DO NOT CORRESPOND TO WHOLE HOURS (reference is GMT) - 9 h 30: Polynesia: the Marquesas Islands | - 4 h 30: Venezuela (since 2007 | - 3 h 30: Canada: Newfoundland and Labrador | + 3 h 30: Iran + 4 h 30: Afghanistan | + 5 h 30: India and Sri Lanka | + 5 h 45: Nepal | + 6 h 30: Cocos Islands; Myanmar (Burma) + 8 h 45: Western Australia (Central Western Standard Time) | + 9 h 30: Southern Australia; (Australian Central Standard Time) + 10 h 30: Australia: Lord Howe Island | + 11 h 30: Norfolk Islands (Norfolk Time: NFT) | + 12 h 45: Chatham Islands (New Zealand)

aligned with that of Washington. An alignment with London? This was an affront to sovereignty that the politicians would never have accepted without pressure from the railways, the ‘practical’ thinkers, and the watchmakers, the ‘scientific’ thinkers. One year later, in October 1884, the then American president, Chester A. Arthur, opened the International Meridian Conference that, three weeks later, agreed to adopt a world time standard – which initially concerned only 25 countries (France did not toe the Greenwich line until 1898 – and even then did not call it by its name).

The conference turned out to be a boon to watchmakers. Already the purveyor of precision chronometers to railways and ships, it was now going to be able to equip travellers, tradespeople, telegraphists and globetrotters. (PM)

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The geopolitics of dials by

Jean-Philippe Arm,

patek philippe magazine

“Many states have changed time zones, either temporarily or permanently, for political or economic reasons, and the dials often reflected these changes. But not always.

World time has not always kept pace with this to-ing and fro-ing – starting with the imbroglio of summer time, introduced in the temperate zones in the early twentieth century …

The appearance or disappearance of cities representing a time zone bears witness to their prestige and their actual role at a given moment in time. But another factor might explain the sometimes surprising presence of names that will probably not mean much to the average person: it is simply that there was not much choice. The most touching example in our eyes is that of South Georgia. For a long time, the Azores archipelago stood for the GMT-2 time zone – until the day when the home port of the Azores High chose GMT-1 so as to reduce the time dif-

ference with Portugal and continental Europe. A place became vacant as a result, but in the vast emptiness of the Atlantic Ocean, there were few potential candidates to fill it. Apart from a Brazilian island off Recife, Fernando de Noronha, the only real possibility was the archipelago of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British territories administered from the Falkland Islands and claimed by Argentina. The Islas Georgia del Sur lie some 1,300km south-east of the Falkland Islands. Whatever: Queen Elizabeth II has some thirty subjects there, a military garrison, a scientific station and first and foremost, thousands of penguins. During the short austral summer, specialised cruises make brief stopovers there before approaching the Antarctic.

Ultimately, the watchmakers realised that the number of people directly concerned by the time in South Georgia was infinitely smaller than that of world time watch lovers who discovered its name on their watch dial. Would it be better to give preference to a Brazilian or Argentine city in the neighbouring UTC-3 zone, playing on their summer time? A prototype spotted at Baselworld showed São Paulo…

Patek Philippe thought about it, but renounced the idea. It would be like opening Pandora’s box.

Another similar case, but half a world away from it, is that of the Midway atoll in the northern Pacific Ocean. Now a marine sanctuary, it used to be an American naval and air base, which was used officially up to the Vietnam War, but secretly until the end of the Cold War. The islands were at the heart of a decisive naval battle in 1942 that was made famous by cinema, literature and comic-strip cartoons. This is how the Midway Islands and their albatrosses came to replace Samoa to illustrate the UTC-11 time zone, a slice of the Pacific that has scarcely any other land mass. So there you are: simply by hopping from dial to dial you can take a thrilling journey through space and time, without ever leaving your armchair.

Take a look at 1939, for example, on two Patek Philippe watches. On reference 1415, three cities represent the GMT time zone: London, Paris and Algiers, while the GMT +1 time zone has Oslo, Geneva and Rome.

On ref. 1416 at the end of the same year, London and Paris still feature for GMT, but Berlin and Cape Town are the choice for GMT +1.”

WILLIS & COMPANY, WORLD-CLOCK (1929–1935) This clock was designed to easily show the time across the globe. The central wheel was used to show the hour. Rather than a moving hand, the dial itself rotated. The dial was also divided by radial lines, which could be used to track the hour in another country: one found the country on the outer dial, and traced the line connecting it to the inner dial. A second small dial was used to show the minutes of each hour (which, apart from some exceptions, remain the same in each time zone). Names in red were used to indicate those countries which changed their clocks for summertime. An asterisk was used to mark when a new day began in each zone.

The cartography of world time The choice of cartographic representation on numerous world-time dials also reflects our geopolitical vision of the world. As everyone knows, transposing the curves of the globe onto a flat surface calls for what is known as a ‘projection’.

During the course of time, numerous projections have been put forward, all of which have their advantages and disadvantages. It is impossible to draw up an exhaustive list in this article – there are dozens of them – but let us cite some of the most frequently used.

The much more recent GALL-PETERS PROJECTION (first designed in 1855, perfected in 1973) respects the size of the different regions of the world, but does not conserve the angles. Africa is therefore indeed fourteen times the size of Greenland, but the shape of the continents and countries do not respect the geography and appear elongated. Behind this project is also a geopolitical point of view, which Arno Peters explicitly stated: “Since a large part of the technologically underdeveloped world lies close to the equator, those countries appear smaller and therefore seem less important on a Mercator projection.” With Peters’ projection, the correct dimensions are restored to each nation. This reasoning has been taken up by numerous educational and religious bodies, with the result that several of them have adopted the Peters projection.

The best-known and the one most frequently reproduced on watch dials is the MERCATOR PROJECTION. Designed by Gerardus Mercator in 1569, it established itself as the standard planisphere worldwide thanks to its accuracy when used on sea voyages. It is termed ‘conformal’, as it respected shapes and angles, thereby allowing sailors to directly relate to the map the angles measured with a compass. However, it distorts distances (which vary with latitude) and does not respect surface area. The Mercator projection increases the sizes of regions the further they are from the equator. Consequently, on a Mercator projection, Greenland looks bigger than all of South America, whereas it is eight times smaller, and Africa is fourteen times larger. Moreover, it is not possible to show the poles with it.

In most cases, Europe is placed at the exact centre, reflecting a time when that continent claimed to be the ‘centre of the world’, radiating out over its conquests and empires.

Dating from 1745, the CASSINI PROJECTION is suited primarily to large-scale northsouth cartography. It is true to scale along the central meridian and all the lines parallel to it, but is neither equal-area nor conformal.

Distortion of shapes and areas is nil along the central meridian, but increases the further away you go.

Developed by Thales in the 6th century BC, the GNOMONIC PROJECTION is the oldest known projection. This ‘azimuthal’-type projection represents the great circles of a sphere as straight lines.

The shortest distance between two points on a sphere is therefore identical to that on the map. This makes it useful for navigation, as it shows the shortest routes. This projection uses the centre of the Earth as the point of perspective, and shape and surface are increasingly distorted starting from that chosen centre. It is used mainly for maps for navigating in the polar or equatorial regions.

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Louis Vuitton: Astride haute horology and high-end technology With its highly colourful Escale Worldtime, presented in 2014, Louis Vuitton radically reinvented their whole world time aesthetic.

The Escale Worldtime Minute Repeater presented this year, which chimes the hour in the home time zone, marks another step forward for the brand in mechanical horology and complications. But at the same time, Louis Vuitton also presented the Tambour Horizon, a smartwatch that tells you what time it is around the world and much more besides…

Escale Worldtime Minute Repeater Adjusted by means of a single crown, three distinct discs are all that constitute this watch dial without hands. The large, outermost disc, two-tiered and in colour, bears the initials of 24 cities around the world. On demand (position 1 of the crown), it turns to let you set the reference city, which is aligned in the 12 o’clock position below the yellow arrow. The continuously rotating central disc indicates the hour:

it is divided into two semi-circles in black and white to distinguish the hours of night and day. The smaller, central disc shows the minutes. The hours and minutes are also set using the crown (in position 2).

The no-hands world time display is synchronised by a hand-wound mechanical calibre made up of 447 parts and has a power reserve of 100 hours. At 8 o’clock, a discreet lug in pink gold is the button for setting the minute repeater mechanism that chimes the wearer’s home time, whichever time zone he or she happens to be in.

Tambour Horizon With its Swiss-made Tambour case and its US-assembled parts, the Tambour Horizon does the metaphorical splits, seeking, in the words of the designer, “to inject aesthetics and emotion into high technology”.

And it does. Using the same visual codes as the Escale (and any other Louis Vuitton watch you can name), besides world time it also offers the classic smartwatch functions (notifications of incoming phone calls, text messages and emails, an alarm, a countdown timer, the weather forecast, number of steps taken, etc.), as well as exclusive, travel-specific features. ‘My flight’ tells travellers their flight time, terminal and boarding gate, indicating possible delays, remaining time of flight and other information. Another exclusive function, the ‘City Guide’, extends to the smartwatch the services of Louis Vuitton’s printed guides and their applications for tablet and smartphone: the best addresses and must-see places of seven of the most-visited cities in the world, and a smart geolocation function for indicating nearby restaurants, historical or touristic hotspots in real time. (PM)

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Louis Cottier and Patek Philippe World time was introduced in 1884, but it was not until 1931 that a Swiss watchmaker, Louis Cottier, created a whole new movement capable of showing the times of the 24 time zones. His innovation? A rotating bezel on which the names of the principal cities or places of the different time zones were inscribed. He offered his invention to the then re-

Reference 1415/1 HU from 1937 in yellow gold. One of the first Patek Philippe world time wristwatches with a rotating disc showing the hours and day/nighttime, with the names of the towns transferred onto the dial.

nowned jeweller Baszanger in the form of a pocket watch. The big watchmaking brands immediately took an interest in this novelty, with Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Rolex as well as Agassiz ordering some. This was a time when international communications by air and by telephone were developing fast, and the Swiss watchmakers

Reference 605 HU from 1936/1937 in yellow gold.

One of the first Patek Philippe pocket watches displaying world time.

were convinced that the distribution of the different time zones had at last become permanent. The time was ripe for launching production of these watches.

In the years following this first watch, Louis Cottier produced all kinds of variations on the world time theme, creating a rectangular movement (1937), then a small

Reference 515 HU from 1937 in pink gold. One of the first Patek Philippe world time wristwatches with a rotating hour disc and the names of the cities transferred onto the dial.

Reference 1415/1 HU in yellow gold. World time watch and chronograph from 1940. Dial with pulsometric graduations, a rotating hour disc and the city names transferred onto the bezel.

The famed reference 1415 P-H-U is a platinum world time wristwatch dating from 1946 and indicating 41 cities, countries or regions. It holds the record of being the world’s 3rd most expensive wristwatch, having sold for CHF 6.6 million in 2002.

Reference 5110 HU G in white gold, dating from 2000. The first Patek Philippe World Time with the push-button at 10 o’clock, allowing the city disc to be adjusted simply by pressing. This system does not interfere with the accuracy of the watch, unlike models with two crowns. This was the first world time watch with the Travel Time function (the hours hand is disengaged using the same system as the Travel Time models, but without a second hour hand).

Dial with guilloché centre.

In the year 2000, Patek Philippe released reference 5110, endowed with the new ultra-thin Calibre 240 in a new interpretation of Cottier’s world time movement. The main idea was to facilitate use of the watch and improve legibility. This new take on the world time watch allows local time and that of the 23 other time zones to be permanently displayed. Divided into three, the central dial shows the local time with hour and minute hands; the first, inner disc shows the 24 hours, and the second, outer disc bears the names of the cities. As local time advances, the inner 24hour disc turns, allowing the wearer to follow the ‘progress’ of midday through the time zones. That means that whatever the local time, you can immediately see the time of day or night under the names of the 24 cities. Travellers change

their reference time zone by simply pressing a push-button, without affecting the accuracy of the watch in any way: the hour hand advances one hour per push, while at the same time the 24-hour and city discs move one increment anticlockwise, without affecting the accuracy of the minute hand. For the user, nothing simpler, but behind it is a complex, patented clutch system consisting of a 12-tooth starwheel for the hours with a jumper and counter-spring, both an integral part of the hour wheel.

Since developing this world time watch, Patek Philippe has regularly released new references, notably ladies’ models, and – witness the very recent example of reference 5531 – has enhanced the mechanism with a minute repeater, which has the particularity of sounding the hour in the local time zone. (PM)

women’s watch (1938), to which he added a chronograph (1940) and a second crown, and simplified its use (1950). He was always dreaming up new solutions for the display, such as a watch with a single movement controlling two dials, or a watch that showed the time of a second time zone with the help of a third hand.

When he died in Carouge, a small

Reference 5531 from 2017 in pink gold.

This is the first Patek Philippe watch to combine a minute repeater and world time. Its unique feature is that it sounds the hour in the local time zone thanks to a patented mechanism.

town just next to Geneva, in 1966, Louis Cottier had designed and built 455 different movements!

Among the watchmaking companies that took a very early interest in Louis Cottier’s creations, Patek Philippe occupies a special place.

A close relationship grew up between the horological genius and the Geneva-based watchmaking company, which produced dozens of different world time references starting in 1937. Here are a few.

Reference 1415 HU from 1948 in pink gold. One of the first Patek Philippe world time watches to sport a cloisonné enamel dial.

Reference 2523 HU from 1953/1954 in yellow gold.

One of the first Patek Philippe watches to include a second crown at 9 o’clock.

This is used to adjust the disc with the cities. Dial in cloisonné enamel.

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Introduced in 2014, reference 7175 for ladies, a World Time watch with a central moon-phase display.

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Everywhere from Krayon «Universal Sunrise Sunset» This watch is a challenge. It was born of a dream: to go back to the source of time – the sun, the rising and setting of which beats the rhythm of time – and to create a mechanical movement that would ‘quite simply’ let the wearer read the true time of sunrise and sunset anywhere on earth!

A universal mechanical calculator calculating the exact time of sunrise and sunset was previously unheard of in mechanical horology. All the more so set into the few tiny square centimetres of a wristwatch case. A dream indeed, but one which Rémi Maillat, a young mathematician and watchmaker, has just turned into a reality together with the team at Krayon, his watchmaking design bureau based in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

To achieve this result, the Everywhere watch combines the five parameters that come into play when calculating sunrise and sunset – the coordinates of longitude and latitude which determine a given geographical point on Earth, the time zone, the date and the month.

Thanks to a single, simple crown combined with a push-button on

the side of the watch case to choose the desired setting, the wearer can adjust each of these parameters at will to discover the exact time at which the sun will appear or vanish at the place and on the day of their choosing!

“You read the time around the perimeter of the dial with the aid of a blue arrow on a 24-hour scale which also indicates how long it was since the sun rose,” explains Rémi Maillat.

The large, central hand points to the minutes. “A counter in the upper half of the dial tells you the longitude, between +/- 180°, indicated by the longer hand. The smaller hand indicates the UTC time zone and advances by half-increments to take into account all the time zones in use worldwide (that is, including the half-hours of a hand-

ful of time zones, on page 7). If necessary, the DST (Daylight Saving Time or Summer Time) indicator allows the time to be corrected to summer time. At the centre of the main dial, on the left, a first, small hand indicates the latitude, from + to – 60°, while the other hand shows the selected parameter – date, latitude, longitude or UTC. Lastly, in the lower half of the dial, a counter shows the day and the month.”

The USS calibre (standing for Universal Sunrise Sunset) that drives the Everywhere comprises 595 parts, all specially designed and executed, which fit into a case 6.5mm thick. At the heart of the mechanism lies an equation of time which is not displayed, but which is necessary for the various calculations as complex as the results are simple – such as the time of sunrise and sunset. To achieve this, the mechanism – protected by three main patents – has 4 differentials, 84 trains and 145 gear components.

Endowed with a power reserve of 72 hours and beating at a frequency of 3Hz, this self-winding watch is fitted with a micro-rotor.

On the dial, a light-coloured circle helps visualise the duration of day-

light. A darker-coloured circle represents the night and the two points where they meet indicate the rising and setting of the sun, the course of which is indicated by a blue hand.

Through the seasons, and depending on the point on the globe, the du-

ration of daylight expands or shrinks –bringing it vividly to life.

A superb mathematical, horological and philosophical performance, you might say, which reminds us that our time is dictated to us by the sun. (PM)

Vacheron Constantin, the 37 time zones of the Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time With its world time watches, Patek Philippe went for maximum readability and bent its efforts towards ease-of-use – to the detriment of completeness in displaying the time zones, which in reality total not 24, but 37.

Because you also have to reckon with half-hours and even quarter-hours.

(See the list of time zones that do not correspond to whole hours, on page 7).

Another major player in the world time field, Vacheron Constantin offers a different approach with its Traditionelle World Time watch, which was presented in 2011 and displays all 37 of the different time zones into which the 24 hours are divided up.

This watch did not come from nowhere. Back in 1932, Vacheron Constantin presented the first pocket watch equipped with an ‘international time mechanism’, another invention by Louis Cottier.

Between 1936 and the 1940s, numerous models succeeded one another, with dials showing 30 or 31

cities (references 3650 and 3638), or even 67 localities, including Paris summer and winter time, displayed on miniature clocks with mobile dials (1937-1938). Starting in the 1940s, Vacheron Constantin attributed the reference number 4414 to its international time model with a dial showing 41 cities and the mobile, 24-hour disc divided into day and night. Then, in 1957, Vacheron Constantin opened a new chapter in its history of world time watches with the presentation of its first wristwatch indicating international times: reference 6213, an order from an Egyptian dignitary. It would be the first of a long series.

Half-hour, quarter-hour…

How can you display 37 time zones in a circle of 24 hours?

The Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time model displays the time on three dials: a sapphire dial with day/

night shading, a metal dial with a Lambert-projection map and a metal minute ring. On it, you can read the time in all the regions of the world simultaneously –while at the same time viewing the day/night indicator on the central world map.

Beating at a frequency of 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations an hour) and with a power reserve of around 40 hours, the 2460 WT self-winding calibre displays the hours, minutes, centre seconds and world time. All the indicators are adjusted using the crown, which greatly simplifies use of this highly technical watch.

Three concentric circles superimposed on the same ring are required to accommodate the 37 different time zones. True, legibility suffers compared with the traditional 24 zones. But for the sake of ease-ofuse, all adjustments are made using the single crown. Patented and stamped with the Geneva Seal, the Calibre 2460 WT is endowed with a stop-second function for more accurate setting. (PM)

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ANDERSEN, 25 YEARS OF WORLD TIME In 1990, Sven Andersen presented his first ‘World Time Watch’ in tribute to the eponymous watch by Louis Cottier. He produced several successive iterations of it: the Christophorus Colombus, the Mundus and the 1884. In 2015, he once again commemorated Louis Cottier, presenting a ‘worldtimer’ with two crowns, as developed by the genius watchmaker. Finally, to mark the 25th anniversary of his World Time watches, Andersen has just released the Tempus Terrae 25th Anniversary. 25 pieces in white gold. The central disc has a magnificent luminous guilloché pattern with concentric scales in blue gold, symbolising the planet on which we live. The watch is adjusted using the two crowns, one setting the hours and minutes, the other the time zone.

GIRARD-PERREGAUX, WW.TC PERPETUAL CALENDAR The exclusive combination of 24 time zones and a perpetual calendar – relating to the home time – was premiered in 2006 by Girard-Perregaux as part of its WW.TC collection, standing for World Wide Time Control, an appellation with greater ‘Wall Street’ appeal than the simple ‘World Time’. A moon phase rounds out the numerous indicators on the beautifully balanced, 41mmdiameter dial.

NOMOS ZÜRICH WORLD TIMER 24 watches in one: with this frequent flier on your wrist, you can travel the world in the push of a button and keep track of the time wherever you are. Also useful for those staying at home, surfing the internet, or calling friends on the other side of the world. The NOMOS caliber 5201 movement is equipped with a bidirectional winding rotor, tempered blue balance spring, movement number visible on three-quarter plate, Glashütte ribbing and sunburst decoration, 26 jewels.

MONTBLANC HERITAGE SPIRIT ORBIS TERRARUM UNICEF The central sapphire disc shows the Earth’s northern hemisphere as seen from the North Pole. The second disc indicates the passage from day to night, passing through dark blue, yellow and green shading. On a ring, this same disc shows the names of the 24 cities representing the 24 time zones. The local time of the city facing the red triangle at 6 o’clock is read on the central hour and minute hands. The times in the different time zones can be read simultaneously from the 24-hour ring around the outside of the dial.

JAEGER-LECOULTRE, GEOPHYSIC TOURBILLON UNIVERSAL TIME The central disc, which shows a polar projection, rotates in 24 hours, taken on its journey by the flying tourbillon with its Gyrolab balance wheel. The carriage of the latter rotates upon itself every minute, while the orbital tourbillon completes one rotation in 24 hours –symbolising the starting point of our 24 time zones, which are indicated on a concentric ring encircled by the day/night indicator of the 24 hours. All its functions are adjusted using the single crown.

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Zulu time

VACHERON CONSTANTIN, OVERSEAS DUAL TIME The new Vacheron Constantin 5110 DT movement enables simultaneous reading of two time zones by means of coaxial hands. The hour hand indicates the local time zone, while the hand tipped with a triangular arrow displays the time zone of reference, or ‘home time’. The 12-hour display is adjustable via the crown in both directions. Local time is set in position one, the time of reference in position two. The day/night indicator is set to the time of reference. The date is displayed via a hand, which is synchronised with local time and adjusted via a screwed push-piece at 4 o’clock. The twin barrel provides a 60-hour power reserve.

ROLEX GMT The Rolex GMT-Master II needs no introduction. Pictured here in its most recent version, it features a Cerachrom rotating bezel, Parachrom balance spring, Oyster bracelet, Triplock winding crown and self-winding 3186 movement.

Compared with Universal Time and its traditional 24 time zones, the GMT watch is more modest in its offerings: a second time zone, a second ‘point of reference’. Because, in the same way that standard time was born of the need to coordinate the railways, the GMT function is a direct result of the aviation boom of the 1950s.

In the 1950s the growing number of aeroplanes crossing time zones in all directions made the adoption of a single reference time – valid for every aircraft, in all locations, whatever the local time – a necessity. By adopting Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) as the time of reference for all aeroplanes, air traffic controllers and flight plans, it was finally possible to prevent the sort of confusion that could have dire consequences. It was the birth of the famous ‘Zulu time’.

One brand instantly understood the full potential of this decision: Rolex. In collaboration with the famous Pan Am company, in 1954 Rolex launched the GMT Master, reference 6524, which has become the ‘mother’ of all GMT watches.

The principle was simple, the de-

sign ergonomic, the function highly practical, and time setting was child’s play. And it was a runaway success.

A fourth luminescent hand, instantly recognisable with its arrow shape, travels around the dial in 24 hours, pointing to a rotating bezel with 24 graduations. It is independently adjusted by the crown in position 2.

The arrow is set to indicate the time of departure – Zulu time for aviators, home time for their passengers – then, without interfering with the minutes and seconds, the 12-hour current time hand is set to the time zone you are currently crossing or that of your destination. Nearly every brand quickly followed suit.

Breitling, which with its Breitling Navitimer had already collaborated actively with the world of avia-

tion and was the official timekeeper for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), began releasing GMT models in the early 1960s. It introduced the ChronoMatic, combining a dual time zone with GMT hand and a manuallywound chronograph.

In 1969 it was Omega’s turn to launch its Flightmaster series, ‘for intercontinental travellers’. Using seven brightly-coloured contrasting hands, three crowns and two pushpieces, the wearer can activate a chronograph with interior rotating bezel and move a bright blue GMT hand in the shape of an aeroplane.

All this is housed in a large, oblongshaped case. Production continued until the mid-’70s.

Practically every watch brand released something similar and there are countless GMT watches, as well as those opting for a different configuration but with the same functions – known as ‘dual time zone’ watches.

More ‘civilian’ and less ‘professional’, dual time zone watches allowed for all display types, therefore departing from the sporty aesthetic of the GMT. They were, in their way, the dressier version of the traveller’s watch – also ideal for nontravellers. (PM)

JAEGER-LECOULTRE, MASTER GEOGRAPHIC An emblematic model from the Master Control collection, the Geographic watch offers travellers a unique way of reading the second time zone. The opening at the base of the dial presents the names of 24 world cities. Easily adjustable by the crown at 10 o’clock on the case, the indicator of this second time zone is decorated with a circular guilloché pattern that contrasts with the other finishes on the dial.

With its signature blue design, this watch is a breath of fresh air while remaining both understated and classic, in line with its predecessors.

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PARMIGIANI FLEURIER, TORIC HÉMISPHÈRES RÉTROGRADE The two time zones of the Toric Hémisphères Rétrograde, precise to the nearest minute, are driven by a single calibre, the PF317.

A module indexed to the main movement governs the second time zone. By pulling out a small crown, the module is disengaged from the movement, meaning that the hours and minutes can be adjusted independently (so for all time differences, including those with half- or quarter-hours). When the crown is pressed back in, the module re-engages with the movement and is re-indexed to the first time zone so that they are synchronised. The main crown at 4 o’clock is used to wind the movement and set the time of the two paired time zones, as well as the date. The day and night indication and each of the time zones is displayed via an aperture. The date is indicated with a central r etrograde hand.

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LAURENT FERRIER, GALET TRAVELLER GLOBE NIGHT BLUE At the centre of the dial, a convex world map depicts the continents in white gold relief surrounded by a subtle blue enamel sea.

Integrated into the left side of the case, two push-pieces allow you to move the local time indicated by the central display forwards or backwards without moving the minutes hand. The aperture at 3 o’clock displays the date, automatically linked to the local time.

The aperture at 9 o’clock retains the time of reference (home time) on a 24-hour display. Featuring an escapement that gives two direct impulses to the balance at every oscillation, its self-winding movement offers an 80-hour power reserve.

LONGINES, LINDBERGH HOUR ANGLE WATCH 90TH ANNIVERSARY This year Longines is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the first ever non-stop solo transatlantic flight, which was flown by Charles Lindbergh and timed by the Swiss watchmaker. For the occasion, the brand is presenting 90 timepieces in a numbered and limited edition of its Hour Angle watch, which was designed in partnership with the famed aviator following his historic flight. This titanium and steel timepiece houses a self-winding L699 calibre in a 47.5 mm diameter case. The brushed silver dial displays the time on a minutes track with painted Roman numerals and features a 180° scale for calculating the longitude.

The synchronisation of the seconds hand with a radio time signal is accomplished using the galvanic black rotating central dial, while the black PVD steel rotating bezel allows daily variations of the equation of time to be taken into account. The brown leather aviator-type strap equipped with an extension that allows the watch to be attached to an oversized pilot’s jacket adds the finishing touch to this timepiece.

CARTIER, CARTIER TORTUE XXL MULTIPLE TIME ZONES Combining GMT functions and world time, the Cartier Tortue XXL Multiple Time Zones has twin hands to show the local time and the time in the country of origin, as well as a disc of cities visible on the side of the case. The local time synchronises with this disc, so it can be changed when the wearer changes time zones.

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ZENITH, PILOT MONTRE D’AÉRONEF TYPE 20 GMT 1903 A limited-edition GMT watch that commemorates the Wright brothers’ historic flight over Kitty Hawk beach, North Carolina, in 1903. The Pilot Montre d’Aéronef Type 20 has kept the airmail service very busy and is now a must-have for collectors. Presented here in an ultra-light case – despite its 48 mm size – in black DLC-treated titanium, it displays a second time zone via a red-tipped arrowshaped hand and is driven by the self-winding Elite calibre 693.

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When a watch is also a genuine tool Not all journeys are the same... Walkers, ramblers, trekkers, mountain climbers and other explorers do not have the same needs as the jet-lagged passengers of an intercontinental flight or businessmen wishing to reach the entire world by first light. On foot, you make slow progress (on average 4-5 km/hour) and have no need for universal time. But the orientation, altitude, temperature, weather forecast and a whole host of other information proves to be very useful, and sometimes vital. by

Pierre Maillard

Breitling can pride itself on having saved at least one life thanks to the micro-transmitter of the Breitling Emergency watch belonging to a grizzly bear hunter who was lost along the river Susitna, 190 kilometres from Anchorage in Alaska.

"Even if I ended up losing everything, I would always have my watch,” said Mark Spencer who, suffering from

hypothermia, apparently succeeded in unscrewing the security stopper, unfolding the main antenna, and activating his watch’s micro-transmitter, which then emitted an urgent localisation signal on the international civil aviation distress frequency, 121.5 MHz. This was in 2013.

The moral of the story is that tool watches – which the first watches with universal time or GMT certainly were – can come in very handy indeed.

THE T-TOUCH, THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE OF WATCHMAKING Nearly every hiker carries a Swiss Army knife in their pocket. The Tissot T-Touch performs the same multitude of functions on the wrist.

We don’t know if the T-Touch has ever saved a life, but the list of ‘blades’ shows the scope of the services it can perform in all situations: Altimeter • Thermometer • Alarm • Compass • Weather forecast through relative pressure • Chronometer • Altitude difference meter • Second time zone • Azimuth Calendar • Weather forecast through absolute pressure • Countdown timer, etc.

The T-Touch was created in 1999. It was the first touch-screen watch, a technology that at the time was reserved for the touch pads used by IT pros. Every touch of the screen attracts a weak charge at the point of contact on the so-called capacitive touch screen, which stores the

The first wristwatch in the world fitted with an integrated dual frequency distress beacon (PLB/Personal Locator Beacon), the Emergency allows you both to send an alert and guide the localisation and rescue operations. Calibre Breitling 76, a thermocompensated quartz electronic SuperQuartz™ movement, analogue and 12/24 hour LCD digital display, EOL indicator.

Chronograph, 1/100th second, max. 23 hours 59 min. 59.99 sec. Digital day and date programmed for 4 years. Countdown timer, 2nd time zone, alarm.

TISSOT SAILING-TOUCH

electrical charges. On the edges of the crystal, circuits measure the charge and send the information to a controller, which processes and redistributes it. This is all displayed both by the three traditional hands and by the LCD screen beneath the glass of the touch screen. It is a sort of analogue and digital hybrid developed by the engineers at Asulab in Marin who “were able to adapt this fun technology to watchmaking and create this display process that allows you to obtain information that you couldn’t formerly access”, according to François Thiébaud. An ‘augmented’ watch, in its own way.

The T-Touch has since considerably widened its scope and seen an incredible number of offshoots. First it was transformed into the Tissot Silen-T, with its classic look, vibrating discreetly on its wearer’s arm to signal a reminder, then the Tissot High-T, for the American market, which from 2004 displayed breaking news, sporting results and the weather via radio frequency.

With the arrival of the T-Touch Expert, Tissot again concentrated on its sporting priorities. The Expert allows you to access two neighbouring functions simultaneously, therefore combining the information. It is also more precise and robust than its predecessor. And it is water-resistant to 100m.

There are also specialised T-Touch watches for various sports. For divers, there’s the Tissot Sea-Touch which meets all the official criteria for luminosity, shock resistance, anti-magnetism, integrated timing, and solidity of strap. For sailors

there’s the Tissot Sailing-Touch, featuring weather forecasts with histogram and speed measurement over a given distance. And these are just a few examples. Not to mention all the models with functions dedicated to different activities and various sports. The list is endless.

But the touch-screen watch can also be more urban, particularly in its feminine version, and the Tissot T-Touch II is even sometimes adorned with diamonds. It also targets the younger market with the Tissot T-Race Touch, featuring 11 functions.

The sun is rising In 2014 Tissot introduced a new world première: a solar-powered touch screen watch. The T-Touch Expert Solar has 20 functions, including a perpetual calendar with day and week, dual time zones and two alarms, not to mention the relative pressure weather forecast, altimeter with altitude difference meter, chronograph with log, compass, Azimuth calendar, countdown timer and backlight. All it lacks is the tired hiker’s trusty corkscrew.

The LCD screen and solar cell are directly integrated into the screen.

The solar panel itself is invisible, positioned behind the dial.

You could say that the T-Touch is a ‘smartwatch’ before its time. That’s true, but it’s also completely autonomous, relying on itself alone and entirely dedicated to functions that are genuine tools, of direct use in the wearer’s activities. That’s what makes all the difference. And the difference is vital.

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GPS, satellite, radio, Internet – travel technologies onboard a watch The energy issue remains crucial.

For Etsuro Nakajima, Japanese brands are too strongly focused on solar energy. “These watches don’t have enough energy to support complex applications. That is why the Japanese are concentrating on certain features such as adjusting the time zone, compared to the dozens of applications available on connected watches.”

For Japanese brands, both in terms of products and distribution, the connected watch poses a great dilemma: how to maintain a watchmaking identity with the historical characteristics that go along with it – in particular the use of solar energy – while joining the digital revolution? Moreover, since their development has been an organic one in the fertile ground of Japanese technology, they are probably reticent to put a portion of their future in the hands of giants such as Apple or Google, the two masters of connection.

Like the Tissot T-Touch addressed in this dossier, Japanese watchmakers best stand out for their integration of new technologies into their watches, and particularly those that enable users to find their way and to always have the right time on their wrists, even while travelling... But that was before the advent of the smartwatch. by

Serge Maillard

Casio, Seiko and Citizen have more in common than all being Japanese.

These brands also placed their bets – very early on, beginning with the quartz revolution nearly 50 years ago – on the integration of a multitude of technologies into a watch, making it, paradoxically, a real Swiss army knife!

First, their exploration of the digital or LCD screen enabled them to present a great deal of information – from the altimeter to the barometer, from temperature to orientation – on a single screen. Controlling watches by radio, satellite or even a distant atomic clock has enabled them to provide the right time for nearly all eternity, barring an intergalactic war... They have attempted to make these watches – with their long lifespans and great resistance – independent from the obsolete traditional battery through the use of solar energy.

These three technological breakthroughs – often resulting from the integration of technologies from other industries, such as the digital screen, remote-controlled time or solar power – constitute the foun-

APPLE WATCH SERIES 3

dations of ultra-high-performance in Japanese watchmaking, enabling the watchmakers to integrate a multitude of features.

Very convenient for the traveller or athlete! These users can count on a tough watch to calculate the distance they have covered, their altitude and their geolocation, and even to take photos of the marvels that they discover on the way...

Adapting to the new revolution Nearly fifty years after the quartz revolution, a new revolution – the digital revolution – shook the watchmaking world. The symbol is unquestionably the Apple Watch, both sports-minded and designer: an all-terrain companion. Water-resistant and produced in partnership with Nike and Hermès, among others, the last line, Series 3, is presented in the world of water: that of dreams, travel and adventure, with the slogan “Go with just your watch”.

This new version ‘detaches’ the watch from the phone to make it autonomous, exclusively using cellular data, since a great deal of disappointed ob-

The case of the Casio Pro Trek CASIO PRO TREK SMART WSD-F20

servers considered the watches up to this series as simple Bluetooth relays for the telephone in the pocket.

The features are particularly focused on the user’s mobility, enabling him or her to phone or send messages, listen to music, ask Siri to find an itinerary, receive e-mails, display distance and altitude with the built-in GPS and altimeters, measure fitness objectives and heart rate, and more, all on the watch. In a word, making the watch a new kind of coach... Or tyrant, depending on how well the user masters the device!

This multiplicity of features obviously piqued the interest of Japanese watchmakers, who had been, up to now, the masters of watches with built-in technology. Especially since Apple is not the only company to enter the competition: consider the Samsung recently designed by Swiss master watchmaker Yvan Arpa, or the GPS specialist brand Garmin which already equips the wrists of millions of athletes and adventurers and thrill-seekers throughout the world. Not to mention the American watchmaking giant Fossil, which has already decided that nearly all the watches it produces should be connected in the long term. The other American mammoth, Movado, has also begun to seriously expand into the field. On the face of it, the connected watch appears to be the territory of American brands, considering all the brands cited.

Of course, the Japanese maintain an advantage in terms of watch lifespan

and power reserve... While an Apple Watch will hardly last longer than its first cousin, the smartphone.

For the time being, Japanese watchmakers are therefore focused on adding a Bluetooth connection to their analogue models. But their use of solar energy also ‘limits’ them in terms of number of features, compared to the connected watch. So, for now they propose hybrid solutions, and the principal characteristic of these is a Bluetooth connection, which offers travellers the instant adjustment of the time zone on their watch through a link between the watch and a phone.

A question of energy Today at the head of the Horological Institute of Japan, Etsuro Nakajima first had a 40-year career at Casio.

He saw it all: the design of digital quartz movements, the first interval timer stopwatch, the first Pro Trek featuring an altimeter, the first radio-controlled watch... And the advent of Bluetooth. “In 2007, we at Nokia began to discuss a connected watch project using Bluetooth Low Energy LE, the Wibree,” he recalls.

“But the development took a long time, considering the challenge of energy consumption and recharging. It would be necessary to limit energy consumption. In 2012, the G-Shock GB5600 became our first Bluetooth watch.”

In addition to continuing to develop hybrids to bring Bluetooth connectivity to analogue models, some brands have decided to launch totally connected watches with LCD screens, too. Such is the case of Casio and its new Smart Outdoor Watch, the Pro Trek WSD-F20, which is actually a ‘full digital’ re-edition of the brand’s historical GPS model, and which operates on Android Wear.

This rather large model (56.4 mm) is water-resistant to 50 metres, and it includes applications for trekking, fishing, biking, winter sports and swimming; features such as a compass, barometer, altimeter, sunrise and sunset, and tides; and of course, geographic orientation thanks to GPS, its primary function, which can also be used off-line, far off the beaten track...

This attempt to join the connected watch market will be a test for Casio, to determine whether the brand will make more ambitious developments in this market. Let there be no doubt, the conclusions of this strategy will also be followed with interest by Seiko and Citizen, even though the general trend for Japanese watchmaking in 2017 was upselling through the integration of traditional crafts and new materials into watches, rather than the development of connected watches.

Will Japanese watchmakers go into offensive mode in the wake of the Pro Trek by proposing daily-recharge models connected to cellular data in addition to solar-powered analogue watches? The new products presented at Baselworld should provide some initial indications.

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Vintage: Travel tool watches by

Lorenzo Maillard, collector

Travel today is not like it used to be.

Not so long ago, travel and exploration could almost be perceived as two interchangeable terms. While today you can just glance at your smartphone to get the universal time (atomic time, moreover), click on an app to check the weather forecast at your destination, or simply follow directions to get there on a GPS... seventy years ago, people ‘coped’, using common sense, instinct, a bit of grey matter, a bit of luck... And, more rarely, a watch. These days, with everything pre-packaged and instantaneous, it is good to remember the tools of times gone by and their aura of adventure and resourcefulness.

These timepieces, which witnessed a period that I did not, titillate my feeble Millennial appetite for discovery.

Here, the focus is not on the great travel watch classics but rather on four models which range from the practical to the absurd, yet which all have the common objective of simplifying and accompanying the wanderer in an original way.

Dalil Muslim Watch If you mix up watchmaking and religion, you might think of the Datejust of John Paul II or the rudimentary quartz watch of Pope Francis; but never has a watch been specially designed with the precise objective of satisfying religious needs. Never? Well, not exactly. If you are a very pious Muslim with a taste for vintage timepieces and you are often away on travel, the Dalil Muslim is the watch for you.

This watch, with its atypical design and unusual – to say the least – usage is, to my knowledge, the only vintage mechanical timepiece with a “religious complication” that may be worn on the wrist. This watch,

version clearly inspired by the Rolex Datejust with the jubilee and a grooved bezel was also introduced shortly afterwards.

Basically, this is the ultimate timepiece for a true believer on the move.

Estimate: Depending on its condition, it is still possible to find relatively affordable examples. 150 CHF to 400 CHF.

Favre-Leuba Bivouac It is easy to forget, but Favre Leuba, founded in 1737, is not only one of the oldest watchmaking brands, but also one that marked history on more than one occasion. In 1963, nearly 10 years after Edmund Percival Hillary accomplished the

in order to avoid perilous situations in a hostile environment. The wearer must pay attention to rapid, significant variations of the barometer which often indicate the approach of a disturbance, a thunderstorm or strong winds, the intensity of which will correspond to the barometer hand’s movement. In a word, an experienced, observant user might avoid the potentially fatal tantrums of Mother Nature by taking refuge in the cave of a Yeti or in the carcass of an ibex.

Although it is complex, the Bivouac sports has an understated and even elegant appearance, particularly with its original steel bracelet.

Its charming Bakelite bezel, tritium hour markers and steel case offer a marvellous representation of

Sicura Safari When you think of the ultimate adventurer tool, the Swiss army knife surely comes to mind. This multi-purpose object makes it possible to do just about anything... Just about, indeed, since although it is Swiss, there is one thing the knife cannot do: tell the time. That is where the Sicura comes into play.

The brand that saved Breitling in the beginning of the 1980s forged a reputation for itself in the 1970s, creating watches as practical as they are extraordinary...And sometimes even weird. The Sicura Safari, which might potentially be betrayed by its name, conceals a blade in its case; and not just any blade, since this one is produced by Victorinox.

This rather original timepiece might have been a James Bond gadget, since it could get you out of certain risky situations... Although it is difficult to imagine using it to chop down a tree. With no teeth or stop notch, this blade is almost more of a dissuasive tool than a practical one.

In terms of robustness, its manually wound 17-jewel movement does the trick. However, its chrome case is less resistant to extreme conditions than steel. In any case, its imposing look and resolutely 70’s character bring it a certain elegance on the wrist. This is the perfect tool: practical, discreet in travel – since security checks at the airport should not be a problem –, and snazzy.

Estimate: It is not easy to find a Sicura Safari in good condition because of its chrome case. You’ll pay between 1000 CHF and 2000 CHF for one in a good condition.

Sicura Safari

Dalil Muslim Watch

Favre-Leuba Bivouac

Glycine Airman

of which the full name is Dalil Monte-Carlo Muslim, was produced from the beginning of the 1970s with the self-winding Swiss Made movement AS 2063, which features the hour, the date, a worldtime complication... And most importantly, the four prayer times of the day. Moreover, at the centre of the dial is a compass that not only indicates the north but also the direction of Mecca, essential for the Muslim prayer customs. While its design is characteristic of the 1970s, it will certainly not suit everyone. A

achievement of climbing Everest for the first time, Favre Leuba released the Bivouac, a one-of-a-kind watch that includes – for the first time in a watch – not only a barometer but also an altimeter. Designed by mountaineers and Arctic adventurers, the watch makes it possible for the wearer to not only determine the exact altitude where he is located, but also to calculate the atmospheric pressure there. By combining the two, the traveller / mountaineer / explorer / meteorologist can predict the short-term weather conditions

time, bringing an almost melancholic charm from the days when watches were designed foremost as tools. Although the taste for adventure and travel has been made sterile these days by too much information and technology, you can console yourself with thoughts of Michel Vaucher, mountain guide, and his partner, the mountaineer Walter Bonatti, who avoided a snow storm thanks to the information provided by the Bivouac just before reaching, for the first time in history, Pointe Whymper of the

Grandes Jorasses along its northern face.

Estimate: An original Favre Leuba Bivouac in good condition costs between 2500 CHF and 3500 CHF.

Glycine Airman If I ask you to think of a watch brand with a crown as a logo, and then I add that its emblematic model took on a GMT feature in the beginning of the 1950s, and then mention that it was originally highly appreciated by pilots, you will most likely think of the Rolex GMTMaster. And you’ll be right. But another watch, introduced to the market one year before the GMTMaster, also ticks all these boxes: the Glycine Airman. It arose from a simple idea, far from the pressures of marketing, think tanks and costly developments: to bring a simple answer to the realistic desires of a pilot in the 1950: a self-winding, waterproof watch with date display and 24-hour dial and bezel. Contrary to the GMT-Master and the Polerouter, the Glycine skipped over the partnerships with prestigious airlines (Pan-Am for Rolex, SAS for Universal Genève) and conceives of a pilot’s timepiece as simple, robust and affordable, to the point where it won over a number of men in the armed forces, not just pilots but also infantrymen.

The Airman was not the first watch to feature a 24-hour bezel; however, the brand took out a patent on the mechanical locking of the bezel, which is performed by rotating the push-button at 4 o’clock. This action offers security despite blows or shocks that might otherwise deregulate and misalign the second time zone indication. The designers of the Glycine even had military operators in mind, since they incorporated a one-of-a-kind system that stops the secon ds hand. Once the crown is pulled out, the direct-drive seconds continue to turn until they stop on the 12-hour marker, enabling an extremely precise synchronisation of watches. This is useful both for men obsessed with precision and for soldiers needing to coordinate their actions with brothers in arms down to the second for a surprise attack.

In addition to being functional, this Airman has a story to tell, and it is simply and aesthetically beautiful: that is certainly why it remained in the catalogue for more than 40 years. Its design is a subtle balance of strength, brute functionality, purity and finesse. With its 36mm diameter, long horns and slim case, it is the ultimate ‘tool watch’ for the regular traveller.

Estimate: The Airman is available in a number of versions, but an authentic model will cost you between 600 CHF and 1500 CHF depending on the condition.

US MARKET

WATCH AFICIONADO | 21

Worn in the USA: an analysis It is probably the avant-garde of world markets in terms of smartwatch sales: American buyers are looking both for connection and for vintage prestige. Is the watch market moving towards greater fragmentation? by

Julie Petit, partner, Marielle Fontbonne, senior

and

at mazars usa

The US watch market registered a decline in imports back in 2016 (-11.8%), reflecting the challenging situation experienced by this market in terms of sales. This downturn is mainly attributed to the soft local demand, the increase in sales at bargain prices from outside authorised distribution channels (e-commerce sites), the strong US dollar and the political tensions which negatively impacted flows of tourists, who are key consumers of watches in the US.

Smartwatches are not seen as a threat by luxury brand watchmakers but more as an opportunity to develop high-end smartwatches.

This trend continued as of June 30, 2017 with a decline in watches of 6% in both volume and current value, although the last few months have shown the first signs of stabilisation.

However, the US remains one of the biggest markets worldwide for personal luxury goods and high-end watches. It is the second-largest buyer of watches (by value) with 10.2% of the market after Hong Kong (20.4%). The fourth-largest global watch manufacturer is an American brand, Fossil, with 5.2% of the market share. Indeed, the US still represents the third most prominent market after China and the rest of Asia for watch brands, mainly due to its potential in the smartwatch market.

Trends among brands The US watch market is mainly driven by American purchasing power with young consumers willing to invest in traditional watches as soon as they increase their disposable income. In contrast, the decrease of foreign tourists contributes to the underperformance of the overall watch sales.

Despite the growth in smartwatches (+10% in 2017), high-end watches remain very popular in the US, representing 77% of total watch sales.

Rolex, Cartier, Omega, Breitling, Patek Philippe and TAG Heuer are the most popular luxury watch brands in the United States. Such watch models include popular classics like the

Rolex Submariner, Rolex Daytona, Patek Philippe Calatrava, Omega Speedmaster, Breitling Navitimer and TAG Heuer Carrera.

On their side, Apple Watch (Watch Series 3), Fitbit (Fitbit Blaze) and Samsung (Gear S3) are the most popular smartwatch makers.

The US watch market offers a wide range of watches in all price segments, from high-end Swiss luxury brands costing hundreds of thousands of US dollars to cheaper watches from Hong Kong priced at $4. The best-seller smartwatch hovers around $300. According to watch buyers purchase intentions in 2017, US consumers still favour classic watches. Despite the decrease in volume of overall watch sales, unit prices of luxury brands held up well.

The US is the second biggest destination country for Swiss watch exports after Hong Kong; however, the value of this trade continues to decrease. Total value fell by 9% in 2016 compared to 2015 and by approximately 5% for the ten month period ending October 31, 2017, as compared to the same period in 2016. Weaker demand for watches in the US is one of the main reasons for the decrease in Swiss watch exports.

Impact of the smartwatch However, the appeal of connected watches is big in the US, where nearly 9% of US consumers over 18 years of age own a smartwatch. Apple Watch accounts for 55% of smartwatch global market share, with 11.6 million sales in 2016, with a price range between $300 and $1,400.

Apple discontinued the Gold model Apple Watch priced at $10,000.

In September 2017, Apple claimed they had become the largest watch brand in the world, ahead of Rolex, although their official sales figures were not released.

However, smartwatches are not seen as a threat by luxury brand watchmakers (77% of total sales are mechanical watches) but more as an opportunity to develop high-end smartwatches. Indeed, TAG Heuer successfully launched its connected smartwatch, which starts at $1,500 more than other similarly priced smartwatches. Hermès and Apple are continuing their partnership announced back in 2015 to create Hermès straps for Apple Watches and retail them in Hermès boutiques, priced at around $2,000.

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22 | WATCH AFICIONADO

Architecture in the US Watch Market Jay Deshpande

When Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, his mandate was to create “a temple of the spirit.” But on one evening this October, New York City’s monument to modern art and design was refashioned as a temple of watchmaking inspiration. The spiralling seven-story ramp that encircles the interior, usually a soft white, was framed in shifting beams of orange and purple light. The open atrium was filled with tables, each including a glass centrepiece. As guests gathered in the rotunda and toured the current exhibitions, Mido CEO Franz Linder described the Swiss brand’s newest watch: the Inspired by Architecture Limited-Edition, an automatic timepiece that draws its design from the Guggenheim. As if the room weren’t already theatrical enough, soon a team of aerialists, wrapped in orange silks, were circling and tumbling through the dramatic open space of the atrium, their forms flipping or angling up toward the ‘oculus’ skylight, 96 feet above. Watching the aerialists spin in a circle of bodies, taut and entwined in the air, the architecture critic Paul Goldberger’s words on the

Guggenheim made more sense than ever. “It’s a building that you cannot experience by sitting in one place,” he said. “It was Wright’s idea that the building is about movement through space as much as it is about space itself.” As the show drew to a close, the centrepiece on each table was removed by the performers, revealing the Guggenheim watch underneath.

1,980 handmade bronzed flowers Meanwhile, some 30 blocks south, an altogether different shrine to haute horlogerie radiated light into the autumn evening. Bulgari, the luxury watch and jewellery brand owned by LVMH, had re-opened its boutique on Fifth Avenue just a week prior, and curious shoppers and tourists were peering in its goldmesh-grated windows. Placed on the southwest corner of 57th Street and Fifth Ave, the façade was bedecked in a lattice of 1,980 bronzed flowers, handmade in Italy and transported to New York’s most renowned shopping corridor. The front door of the boutique was a perfect replica of the classic 1930’s portal found at the entry of Bulgari’s flagship store

on the Via dei Condotti in Rome.

Inside, one found many more references to the Italian architect Florestano di Fausto, who had designed the original Bulgari shop in 1905. Five-metre high marble columns lined the main room of the boutique, and from the balcony—decorated to recall an Italian theatre of the dolce vita era—one could gaze down at the mesmerising 700,000 tiles of mosaic and the star-patterned white Lasa marble that covered the floors. The Bulgari store gave a feeling of entering another world, where Rome and New York City merged and classical architecture, mid-century design, and elegant modernism all swirled together. The store’s redesign had taken two years and been spearheaded by Peter Marino, the celebrity architect who has designed retail spaces for Hublot, Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Barneys.

Architecture offers appropriate metaphors Architecture has always been a buzzword in the world of watchmaking, and all the more so in watch promo-

tion. Among the metaphors that can help a consumer understanding horology, architecture is far more immediate and appropriate than, say, sailing.

But references to architecture in luxury brands’ messaging seem especially curious at the end of 2017.

Swiss exports to America have been falling for two years. According to Deloitte’s report on the Swiss watch industry in 2017, this year the US was overtaken as the most promising market for Swiss watches, an event without precedent in the study’s history. Industry opinions are divided about the US’s potential for growth. Many brands (like Mido) struggle to find a place in the market; others find themselves closing or contracting their pointsof-sale. The economic doubt that followed the election of Donald Trump a year earlier seems to have ebbed, but many in the industry remain unsure about America and what to do with it. In many ways, the attention to architecture seems counterintuitive: the watch industry is experiencing a downturn and the growth sector is in digital, social media, and online retail. So how do we make sense of this? Why is architecture still so important to the watch business?

Of course, there’s always been certain reasons that architecture is useful to watch brands. In marketing watches, a host of different creative disciplines and measures of mastery or prowess have proven useful—each allows a brand to use metaphor and align itself with another medium. Often, to lay consumers, it can help ground what might otherwise be ephemeral: you gain an appreciation for the virtuosity of watchmaking if you associate Movado with Baryshnikov or Rolex with Roger Federer, these known quantities in the realm of mastery. And everyone needs a differentiator, just like everybody else.

But by examining the ways that architecture is appearing in the messaging and the underlying patterns of brands’ behaviour currently, we can see the shifting impulses and tensions in the contemporary landscape of the watch market.

Architecture as a central theme More than any other brand, Mido has overtly tapped into the importance of architecture as a theme and tone. Indeed, the Guggenheim watch is just the tip of the iceberg: Mido has

All rights reserved

by

All rights reserved

BUILDING TIME

WATCH AFICIONADO | 23

BUILDING TIME

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been aligning itself increasingly with architecture since the beginning of the century. “Years back, we analysed the DNA of Mido,” Franz Linder explains. “We came to the conclusion that Mido really stands for innovation, quality, functionality, and timeless design. And we thought, how can we communicate these values to our consumers? The conclusion is: we share these values with good architecture. That’s how we communicate—by using famous monuments that share the spirit of a specific collection; or, we’ll design a product directly inspired by a monument.”

It all began in 2002 with the launch of the All Dial, a watch that recalls the design of the Coliseum. Since then, Mido has progressively added watches that are directly inspired by monuments of human achievement from around the world such as Big Ben and the Great Wall of China. At the same time, Mido’s four core collections have each been associated with a different architectural wonder that recalls the watch’s inherent values: the Commander is tied to the Eiffel Tower, the Multifort to Sydney’s Harbour Bridge, the Ocean Star to Europa Point Lighthouse on Gibraltar, and the Baroncelli to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan. The transformation to an architecture-oriented watchmaker was fully realised in 2015, when the brand changed its long-time slogan, “The Mark of True Design,” to something much more explicit: “Inspired by Architecture.”

Now, with the Guggenheim watch, Mido has taken this one step further. The new model concludes a campaign known as #BeInspiredByArchitecture, introduced in 2016.

Over the course of 12 weeks that fall, the Mido team visited 12 different cities around the world, highlighting major buildings in each.

The call to consumers and Mido fans was to select a monument as inspiration for the next Mido special edition. Ultimately, with 60 monuments under consideration and more than 100,000 participants voting, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum was chosen as the best building to inform a timepiece. In December 2016, Mido announced the contest winner and contracted a designer to build a watch that resonated with Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic museum. The Guggenheim Foundation was brought on board; Linder says they “were involved from A to Z” to make sure the product was in keeping with their own values.

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Different experiences When it comes down to it, the nitty-gritty of linking a wristwatch to architectural design is not as simple as it sounds. Buildings are, at their root, lived, immersive experiences, and their design is contingent on how a person is likely to move through them. A watch is a very different kind of experience, both more inti-

BUILDING TIME mate and more difficult for a layman to access. In the case of the Inspired

by Architecture Limited-Edition, Mido’s designers drew upon what they found to be the most resonant aspects of the Guggenheim’s architecture. The spiralling, conical exterior of the building (shaped after the shell of the nautilus) finds its complement in the rising engraved rings around the stainlesssteel case’s middle. On the eggshellcolored dial, the grained surface has been scooped into six recessed zones around alternating indexes, as an inversion of the ‘oculus’ skylight (part of Wright’s original design, but not installed until 1992).

Inside the watch is a different kind of engineering achievement: the Guggenheim watch is powered by Caliber 80 Si, a chronometer movement with an ETA base and a silicon balance spring. The watch sells for $1,590 US, placing it centrally in Mido’s range of $700-$3000 US. But it’s a far more limited edition than the brand has traditionally released: just 500 pieces have been produced.

Location, location, location…

Whereas Mido’s link to architecture is self-evident—literally printed on the flange of the dial—other brands like Bulgari explore this same theme from a different angle.

At stake in Bulgari’s boutique redesign is that most critical principle of architecture: location, location, location. The area known as Upper Fifth Avenue, between 49th Street and 60th Street, is the top spot for luxury shopping in New York City.

And that also makes it the top spot

WATCH AFICIONADO | 25

globally: according to Cushman and Wakefield’s “Main Streets Across the World” report, Upper Fifth Ave is the most valuable commercial real estate zone on the planet. In 2017, rental values averaged $3000 per square foot per year (€28,262 per square metre). Although in 2013 Upper Fifth Ave briefly dipped to second on Cushman and Wakefield’s list, behind Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay, this year the asking rents are back to where they were before the financial crisis. And Bulgari’s store is far above that level: when the brand renewed its lease in the prestigious Crown Building in 2015, it hit a new record for New York retail space with a cost per square foot higher than $5000.

Annual rent for the location is said to be upwards of $16 million a year.

Bulgari is not alone in this high-end space. Over the last five years, luxury watch brands have snatched up retail property along Fifth Avenue aggressively. During the peak years for mono-brand boutiques, Fifth Avenue has become a who’s-who of the watch world. Since 2012, new storefronts have opened on Fifth for IWC, Rolex, TAG Heuer, Blancpain, and more. A host of other brands lie just blocks away, on Madison Avenue and Central Park South.

Interestingly, this attraction to highend retail space has occurred at the same time as a major paradigm shift in the watch industry: the turn toward digital. Deloitte’s 2017 study observes that luxury executives are finally easing their resistance to online sales. Industry leaders are viewing online authorised dealers and mono-brand e-boutiques as the most important sales channels for the future. Whereas the brick-andmortar mono-brand store seemed

But, to speak more abstractly, the problem with watches is that we have only so many ways to engage with them. We gaze at them and lust after them, we talk about their craftsmanship or the history of the brand; finally, we wear them and use them to take the measure of our time.

Architecture is a field that is equally necessary to the survival of our species—we need shelter and structure

like the nec plus ultra just two years ago, with 42% of surveyed brands saying it would be the most important channel in five years’ time, now only 27% believe in the durability of that model. More than half of Swiss watch executives now see developing e-commerce as a top priority, second only to introducing new products. Meanwhile, the Deloitte study also suggests that social media and a dedicated social media team are far and away the most valuable marketing strategies for the brands—a sure sign that online is where the action is at.

But if that’s the case, why are brands still investing heavily in events like the Guggenheim show and redesigns like the Bulgari boutique? It’s not just late adoption. Brands seem to be increasingly aware that the digital channels for sales and promotion can’t provide the totality of experience that can occur in an immersive, physical environment.

That’s where architecture comes in, and takes on greater meaning than it could have in the past.

The digital channels for sales and promotion can’t provide the totality of experience that can occur in an immersive, physical environment. just as much as we need to locate ourselves in time—but it is singularly tasked with monitoring, minding, and stewarding our engagement with space. Architects spend years in the study of how people move through a hallway or around an obstruction, how their mindset is affected by light, air, and line. For fine watchmaking to reach more people, the industry has to consider more ways of helping consumers to experience their timepieces.

Whether it’s by imagining the endless spiral of the Guggenheim rotunda when you strap on a Mido or by walking through a boutique that contextualises the craftsmanship and high elegance of Bulgari watches and jewellery, these links to architecture help watch brands remain grounded—and even immersive— at a time when more and more of retail is occurring in the cloud.

The importance of physical places in an increasingly online era for watches At root, architecture has an indelible relationship to watchmaking.

Both are crafts that balance meticulous engineering with a sense of artistry. The greatest figures in each discipline—think of Wright, Gaudi, Hadid, Le Corbusier, or of Breguet, Jaquet Droz, Daniels, Dufour—are both scientist and artist at once.

Ultimately, luxury demands a space.

Haut-de-gamme brands need the appropriate spaces in high-value areas, like New York City, in order to illustrate their brand values. For now, the most common model for a watch consumer’s journey is still ROPO (“research online, purchase offline”). People like to read up on watches, then go into stores to buy.

But even if customers turn to purchasing online and gather information on watches via social media primarily, luxury brands will still need to anchor themselves to place. Luxury customers desire experience even if it’s divorced entirely from the actual purchase of the product. And that experience means architecture: the enveloping space and values that become the best metaphor for the timepiece.

At the press preview of the Bulgari store in October, CEO JeanChristophe Babin talked about the continued importance of physical places in an increasingly online era for watches. True to the luxuriant materials that surrounded him, he reframed ‘brick-and-mortar’ as ‘marble-and-walnut.’ “I don’t think the marble-and-walnut store will be dead in 10 years,” he said. “For sure, it is more a story of complementarity, rather than a story of either/or, or the new replacing the old.” He looked around himself at the towering marble columns, the sun-dried wood flooring, and the patterned screens and doors that recalled both baroque and neoclassical styles. “The store itself is essential to providing what’s behind the scenes,” he said. “When you come into a store like this, you feel something. I think each of us feels something.”

Sales channels from watch executives’ point of view Importance of sales channels What sales channels do you think will be most important in five years?

2015

2016

Marketing channels from a consumer’s point of view

Which sales channels will you be putting the most emphasis on in the next 12 months?

Brick and mortar authorised dealers Brick and mortar mono-brand stores

2017

28%

25%

32%

42%

25% 27%

19%

26%

23%

36%

20%

13% Online authorised dealers

Own mono-brand e-boutique

TOP answer

Second best answer

Switzerland

Own network

media Print media Social bloggers

US

In-store events

Social media Print media bloggers

67%

42% 34%

In general, which marketing channels influence your decision to buy a watch the most?

Online authorised dealers Own mono-brand e-boutique

24% Brick and mortar mono-brand stores

Brick and mortar authorised dealers

2012

2013

2014

2015

Source: The Deloitte Swiss Watch Industry Study 2017

2016

2017

Third best answer

Germany

Social media Print media bloggers

Own network

Italy

Social media bloggers

In-store events

China

In-store events

Japan

Radio Television

Brand Social media ambassador bloggers

Social media Print media bloggers

In-store events

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26 | WATCH AFICIONADO

Patrick Pruniaux: from Apple to Ulysse Nardin Europa Star had the good fortune of receiving Patrick Pruniaux, the new CEO of Ulysse Nardin and the man who contributed to successfully launch the Apple Watch. Naturally, the conversation quickly turned to digital technology.

With the qualified view that characterises the man who is probably the best-informed of any CEO in the entire watch industry in terms of new technologies, far from the radical ‘all-on-the-web’ propositions of certain brands... Perhaps it is necessary to go to Silicon Valley, where our online future is being created, to take a qualified view!

Interview

by Serge Maillard

Patrick Pruniaux began his career with the Diageo company for the Guinness brand before moving on to the Wines and Spirits division of LVMH and then branching off into watchmaking by joining TAG Heuer within the same group. Four years ago, his departure to California to accompany the launch of the Apple Watch made waves, leading to the fear of a watchmaking ‘brain drain’ in the direction of the Silicon Valley giant. Those fears have now subsided. The return of Patrick Pruniaux to one of the most traditional brands of Swiss watchmaking – as the head of Ulysse Nardin – confirms both the ties between these two worlds and their fundamental differences... Encounter.

You are young, dynamic and very comfortable with new technologies, and yet you are at the head of a very old, venerable structure, to the point where we almost want to call you the ‘Emmanuel Macron of Swiss watchmaking’... To take the analogy a step further, do you consider that you represent a clean break with the past or rather continuity at Ulysse Nardin?

Probably a bit of both! To be perfectly honest, I experienced something rather rare in the case of a succession: a transition period of three weeks in the company of the former CEO, Patrick Hoffmann, and the former marketing director, Susanne Hurni. In a company, you have to get familiar with the figures, but also with the in-house culture. Even one week would have been a luxury,

so three weeks...! Patrick Hofmann was very honest about the state of the company and the developments that he had in mind for it.

What is your analysis of the state of the company?

It is a company with incredible assets, an exceptional quality of manufacture, strong innovation abilities, and a strong human capital with a level of enthusiasm and passion that I have rarely encountered.

Incidentally, it is similar to what I have seen at Apple. In principle, employees do not leave Apple. I might be the exception that confirms the rule! Now, it’s about rising to new challenges, and in particular accelerating the presence on certain key markets for Ulysse Nardin.

Your key market is historically Russia. Consequently – even before the considerable drop in the Chinese market that your colleagues have experienced over the last three years – you experienced a rapid inversion of growth in your own leading market, with the decline of the rouble and the geopolitical problems of the early 2010s in Eastern Europe... a kind of ‘pre-crisis'. How did Ulysse Nardin cope?

Clearly, the Russian crisis was hardhitting. And yet Ulysse Nardin showed a good level of resilience. We are fortunate to be a leading brand not only in Russia, but throughout the CIS and other geos, which includes several hundred million in-

habitants. In the event of a crisis, the strength of the brand offers better resilience. We have good distribution in Moscow and throughout the countries of the CIS. However, the need for diversification appears important for Ulysse Nardin. As does the need for a younger audience and brand image...

The brand is rather balanced in terms of prospects. I am, of course, very familiar with the strength of Ulysse Nardin in Russia, but it is more balanced than you might think in North and South America, Europe (in-

“I sense an increasing need for people to disconnect, and for that, too, this is only the beginning.”

cluding Russia) and Asia. However, there are markets in which we could be stronger. This is the case in the United States, as well as in China.

To do so, we must use all the channels available to us, in particular in China: from single-brand boutiques to multi-brand retailers to online sales. The entire watch industry remains very traditional in its distribution. But we can feel the beginnings of change. Today, the world might be talking about ‘digitalisa-

tion’, but I am not sure that that’s the right term. What is more important than anything else is direct involvement with the consumer. We can keep our intermediaries in place, but we must also speak directly to our clients as well.

E-commerce is the watchword at the moment, but online sales still only represent a very small part of total sales. Digital technology is especially used to build our reputation.

And maybe that’s all we’ll need! I firmly believe in craftsmanship, the quality of execution. That is what can make the difference, as I learned in my previous experiences.

We can very well maintain traditional distribution channels while adding another channel – digital and e-commerce, even just dealing in small volumes – but in such a way that it will be an accelerator to boost the sales of traditional brands.

Clearly, in Switzerland, consumers seek information online but purchase in person.

In reality, fresh back from California, I can tell you that the distinction that we make among the different channels – physical and virtual – is no longer pertinent. The only ones making that distinction anymore are in the watch industry. We cannot continue to oppose the two worlds. Look how you yourself shop: the question of the place where you purchase is becoming progressively secondary.

You simply seek simplicity and immediacy as much as an outstanding consumer experience, whether on a website or at the boutique next door.

Still, purchasing a Ulysse Nardin watch is not on the same scale as reserving an online ticket for Barcelona on EasyJet!

MARINE TORPILLEUR MILITARY

MARINE REGATTA

MARINE TOURBILLON

But consumer behaviour has already begun to change. When a client enters a Ulysse Nardin boutique knowing more about a model than the sales representative, there is a good side – the client is familiar with our product – but there is also an uncertainty: are we offering a good in-store experience? There is an enormous revolution that we need to lead for the sake of the entire watch industry.

I always consider a consumer experience in terms of the amount that is spent. One of the worst client experiences that you can imagine is often the purchase of a luxury car. If you consider the ratio between the money that you are spending and the treatment that you receive, you'll quickly realise how catastrophic it can be. On the

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WATCH AFICIONADO | 27

other hand, you might step into a bookshop to buy a simple book, or into a store to purchase coffee pods, and you'll be welcomed much more warmly, with a higher level of quality.

How can the in-store watch experience be improved, since the products are expensive and the expectations are high?

It can be done in a very modern way.

A few years ago, someone told me that he doesn't like entering luxury boutiques, since it is too intimidating. And he had the purchasing power! The dress code, the security, the sales staff... All are perceived as hurdles. So we need to work on that aspect: the ‘welcoming’ side of boutiques, including through training.

Your career illustrates both the resilience of traditional mechanical watchmaking that we have just evoked, and the breakthrough of the Apple Watch. What can you tell us about the adventure of the Apple Watch?

First of all, we’ve sold a lot of them.

Connected watches are already a success, and this is only the beginning.

If the CEO, Tom Cook, claims that Apple is today’s foremost watch brand, I can tell you that he is very well-informed. The brand dominates a booming sector, and it is still in the learning phase. At the same time, I sense an increasing need for people to disconnect, and for that, too, this is only the beginning. That is why the themes of freedom and nature are very important, and that is what we would like to assert at Ulysse Nardin.

Photograph: Fabien Scotti | Arcade Europa Star

What about the integration of connectedness into the luxury watch?

Is it possible to bring these two worlds together? After all, Apple did abandon its gold model...

THE OBJET On Patrick Pruniaux’s wrist is the new Freak presented at the SIHH by Ulysse Nardin in 2018. In his hand is Joseph Kessel's book Les Jours de l’aventure, a series of journalistic reports written between 1930 and 1936, from the Red Sea to the banks of the Rhine. “Journalists interest me more than novelists.

His reports have retained their full power and pertinence. That is how you can recognise quality journalism: it lasts through time.” Kessel's adventurous life inspires Patrick Pruniaux, reflecting values such as freedom, exploration, nature, the great outdoors... Themes that will probably reveal themselves throughout the year at Ulysse Nardin.

I am very familiar with the field, but for the time being, I do not see how connectedness would improve the value of a luxury watch. In any case, it would not correspond with Ulysse Nardin. You would have to be fast, since Apple has already gained ground in the connected watch field.

The question for traditional watchmakers is, rather, what am I offering my client, sincerely, to attract him or her to my product? I truly believe this, otherwise I would not have come back to Switzerland!

However, the Swiss brands will not succeed simply by convincing themselves that the Apple Watch is not a success. It is better to just admit it, and to see how Apple is converting millions of people to wearing watches.

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Urban Jürgensen: the sharp eye of Mr Petersen The former executive manager of Nokia, Danishborn Søren Jenry Petersen, lead the acquisition of the Swiss-made Danish brand Urban Jürgensen with fellow Danish investors. He just inaugurated a new workshop located in a Bienne villa while launching a more affordable watch model through online advertised sales direct from the workshop, the Alfred. Coming from another field, that of communications, he takes a sharp – even severe – view of the functioning and future of the watchmaking industry. Encounter.

Interview

by Serge Maillard

You purchased Urban Jürgensen three years ago. You are Danish, like your brand, but you were originally in the telecommunications field. What are the principal points that you remember your first encounter with the watchmaking industry?

First of all, we bought a ‘sleeping beauty’, even though the brand has enjoyed 245 years of uninterrupted activity. When we purchased it, it was a relatively unknown brand, only familiar to collectors and connoisseurs. In 2015, we began by laying the foundations of what Urban Jürgensen could become, revising all the aspects of the company’s value chain, production and delivery processes. This is a delicate task when you are taking over such an old brand. There are so many obstacles that easily lead to a dead end in the longer run...

We then revised each aspect of the company’s branding, including the logo, website and tagline. All this in order to establish a platform on which the brand may grow. We did not purchase Urban Jürgensen as a ‘matter of the heart’; it is a business.

That is why our relocation to the new workshop in 2017 was a crucial step.

Was it harder than you imagined?

I didn't have any illusions! I know that embarking upon a takeover of a small, artisanal, independent brand means working 60 hours a week.

Now, after a stable year in 2015, we have since shown constant growth, in the range of 80-100% per year.

And I mean effective sales, not consignments.

Where are you now in terms of production capacity?

Last autumn’s launch of the Alfred model was the result of several factors: our new workshop in Bienne;

the level of quality that we offer for a more affordable price than before (14,300 euros); direct sales from the workshop of this one piece; and a name taken from the last member of the Jürgensen watchmaker family who died in 1912. The name reflects our heritage but it also represents progressiveness, since Alfred was the most forward-thinking member of the lineage. Because, of course, a name on its own is not enough!

We got the idea as we found a movement while moving the atelier from Jacques-Alfred Jürgensen’s time signed Alfred Jürgensen. It all went from there: even the typography that we use today for this watch is lifted straight from the letters engraved on this caliber. In the end, it is easier to base our products on something authentic rather than reusing an old name with a story contrived for marketing reasons. The industry is already saturated with that...

Since you come from another industry, what view do you take of how the Swiss watchmaking world works?

The greatest surprise that I had was the difficulty that I encountered with suppliers. Their ability to deliver components in time – with the expected quality and for the arranged price – is really very limited. I simply didn't expect that, since I was raised to believe that if you want good quality, you ask the Germans; if you want excellent quality, you ask the Japanese; and if you want perfection, you ask the Swiss! But I found that the quality and process management really lacks a systematic approach.

But do you think you are treated differently as a little independent company?

Part of it possibly comes from being small and having ultra-high requirements – but I am almost completely convinced that that is not the problem. However, I be-

is edging forward hesitantly, but in fact, no one is really changing.

Moreover, the same situation exists on the retailers' side: many of them have nothing to do. They take on the branding, marketing and shopin-shop concepts of the brands and conglomerates that they represent and that take care of everything for them. As a result, they are not evolving in the face of upheavals in consumer behaviour, or have forgotten the art of selling exclusivity. It’s all about discounts against a website, and many end up being simple showcases, and their destinies depend on being on the right address... Or not. Many retailers are currently more like real estate agents than watch retailers!

Also, let us not forget the current assault of the connected watch on traditional watchmaking. We might not be so far from a time when classical timepieces will end up like typewriters... Very interesting, but with an almost non-existent market. You buy a watch because you love the tradition or the symbol, but not for its utilitarian function. But I don't want watchmaking to end up in a museum!

Aren’t you a bit alarmist? You are suggesting that a whole industry could come to an end! And yet it is still taking in billions and creating desire through-out the entire world.

ALFRED WATCH

lieve that the big groups have purchased and integrated a big part of their supply chain in order to spare themselves the delivery problems that I am currently encountering. It all depends on that. When you cannot count on your suppliers, it's not a good feeling...

Any other surprises?

The other big surprise was the watch industry’s train wreck of the demand/supply balancing, and the process of market destruction when faced with inconsistencies between the demands of end clients and the production. This lack of connection between brands and their clients is something I’m not used to. I worked for decades in telecommunications, an industry obsessed by the client: where the client comes from, and how and why he or she consumes our products. In the watch industry it was most likely a combination of the previous consolidation and M&A frenzy, combined with seemingly endless growth – many just took the eyes off the ball.

Where is the problem coming from, then?

Majority of the blame falls back on the brands that really did not do enough basic work to understand

the true demand for their products and develop a demand/supply balancing process in their management systems. ‘Flying blind’ for more volumes into existing retail network and at the same time aggressively building out own flagship stores is something very difficult to do while building this visibility. True demand numbers are hard to come by. In the end, these practices saturate the retailers' stocks. It is not really natural – nor is it a sign of a balanced market – to see so many watch boutiques lined up, one after the other, on the Bahnhofstrasse of Zurich. And this persistence of production overcapacity has led to very harmful phenomena such as the explosion of the grey market and the discrepancies revealed by the transparency of the internet. This means that no one trusts anyone else, and clients feel increasingly ‘alienated’ by the market...

In such a landscape, what is the role of an independent brand like Urban Jürgensen?

It is very difficult. I have had a number of discussions with retailers about the state of the industry, and without exception, I can sense their weariness with brands which have no clear strategic direction. Everyone

I’m terribly sorry, but the watch has already become redundant in terms of its basic functions. It is a foolish object, if you think about it. If you sit down today and think about how to tell the time, you might consider about twenty effective means, but current-day watches will only come up in the twenty-first place.

To make a mechanical watch, you must first create hundreds of micro-components to finally achieve – after highly complex, expensive and lengthy processes – a very fragile structure that tells the time more or less correctly. Inside an industry like that – the saying: Fish can’t see water – is very applicable here. But I have seen markets much bigger than this one fall away in the face of such a paradigm shift when the tipping point is reached. Kodak and film replaced by digital, and bespoke tailoring in London killed by video conferencing to name a few.

At the same time, you would not have invested in the traditional watch industry if you did not believe in its future...

Of course not. To me, the essential point is that the industry – and this is particularly the case for the big brands – is taking hold of itself as it realises the degree of effort and the treasures of the imagination that will be necessary to produce in order to adapt or even to reinvent itself. The world’s digitalisation is changing everything. No one believes in the brands’ words any more. When vintage watches and production series from 50 years

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ago are so successful today on the internet, it is precisely because people trust the sincerity of those old productions, which they often consider more authentic than the pieces coming off the assembly lines of the same brand these days. Most bigger brands need big changes in the corporate governance to manage this. It will not happen from within the old rank and file.

I am familiar with sudden paradigm shifts, because I worked at Nokia.

Losing your position as a leader can happen within just 24 months!

Millennials want substance, and because the internet provides transparency, they will research you attentively before buying your product, and they will ask their friends what they think. There is no such thing as blind trust anymore!

Part of the outdated management in the industry you see by the increasingly thinly veiled attempts to ‘innovate’ on a basic mechanical con-

Photograph: Fabien Scotti | Arcade Europa Star

“I am familiar with sudden paradigm shifts, because I worked at Nokia. Losing your position as a leader can happen within just 24 months!” struction where a great solution was found two hundred years ago.

Remember – the more modern materials and ‘innovation’ is deployed – the faster the value declines. Most of the brands’ true value lies in their heritage – and that’s where they need to focus. Investing in marketing aimed at retaining and building that brand equity, and concentrate more on clients’ needs, providing them with high quality for the right price. I do not believe the category will sustain ever more elaborate ‘event’ marketing campaigns – it is more than enough when you build correctly on the fine legacy many have. Urban Jürgensen certainly has attracted a lot of attention by being true to the legacy, deploying old crafts and avoiding all manners of external co-branding to prop up our offerings. Think of a company like Hermès! They do not ‘innovate’ – they execute on legacy, craft and quality like few – and the results are clear.

I believe in a future for real authentic mechanical watch brands that stay carefully in tune with their legacy, and pay insane attention to their messages to the market and clients.

At Urban Jürgensen we still make products that easily last three generations – and are solely built using historic legacy methods where the amount of handcraft involved means every watch is unique. This type of artistic product of high value will remain a family treasure and keep value for centuries to come – but the market will shrink and it will continue to be a challenging industry!

WATCHWORDS & FREELY SPEAKING

30 | WATCH AFICIONADO

It may be smart, but is it clever?

by

Jill Metcalfe

2018 is upon us and we don’t appear to have reached peak smart.

Google’s fascinating Ngram Viewer, which measures the frequency of word use, traces a gently undulating course for this Old English adjective through much of its life since 1800, descending to a valley around 1963, when it begins to ascend at roughly the same angle as the North face of the Eiger. We already have smart cities, smart weapons, smart pills, smart meters for our electrici-

ty, even smart fridges, as well as the ubiquitous smart phones and, of course, smart watches. The Internet of Things promises a multitude of additional smart devices that will embed internet connectivity into even more areas of our lives, making everything so much easier, more efficient, and more fun. That’s what we’re told, anyway.

But what is so smart about these smart devices? There’s more than one definition, but the one we need – “quick, clever, shrewd, intelligent” – dates from around 1300 (a later

Back in the 1960s, the US space agency embarked upon years of research and spent millions of dollars to develop a pen that would work without gravity. The Russians gave their cosmonauts a pencil. meaning – “sophisticated, fashionable” – may also have some tangential relevance here). The implication is that these objects go one bet-

ter than a mere tool, and incorporate some sort of intelligence. Your smart fridge will see when you’re about to run out of milk, for example, and helpfully order some more.

It will notice if you’ve been eating rather a lot of cheese and hide it under some lettuce, or alert the paramedics, or something.

What about your smart watch? What intelligent functions does it perform, in addition to telling you the time?

Generally, it tells you everything your smartphone can already tell you, and, by capturing heart rate

and motion data at the same time, also tells you everything your partner can already tell you, such as that you didn’t sleep very well last night, and you really should think about going to the gym.

It turns out that, in many cases, the intelligence of these smart devices is all about collecting a lot of data, analysing it, processing the results and outputting them in some more or less interesting or useful way, something that computers are far better at than humans. But the promise of truly clever electronic devices would appear to be some way off still, and, to people like me who are occasionally kept awake at night by thoughts of rogue paperclip-making machines consuming all the matter in the universe, that’s probably not such a bad thing.

I’m reminded of the old tale of NASA’s efforts to engineer a pen that would write in space (actually just an urban legend but hey, as Mark Twain said, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”). The story goes that, back in the 1960s, the US space agency embarked upon years of research and spent millions of dollars to develop a pen that would work without gravity. The Russians gave their cosmonauts a pencil. It may not be true, but it is pretty smart.

and home time to check up on how your dog’s doing in your absence.

So what you really need is a simple dual-time watch, and for that the Rolex GMT is more than adequate and it looks great on the wrist.

But back to the Watch Snob blog.

He completed his reply to the enquiry, and I quote: ‘The movement is almost certainly not Swiss, not that that matters as the Swiss will merely give you terrible quality at three or four times the price.’

So Mr Watch Snob, here’s hoping you’re now hidden away in one of those remote place names you find on a ‘terrible quality’ Swiss Worldtimer because I understand that the Swiss Secret Service (Watch Division) have circulated a ‘Wanted, Dead or Alive, Reward $10’ poster for your horological blasphemy.

That’s in addition, of course, to the hitman contract already taken out for your previous anti-Rolex comments.

Worldtimer and the Snob by

D. Malcolm Lakin

Warning: this page contains horological blasphemy Browsing on the internet I came across a blog by ‘Watch Snob’ on which a potential buyer wrote that he knew nothing about watches but was interested in a Reign RN1506 Worldtimer. He asked if it was any good and whether or not it had a Swiss movement.

In my opinion, for what its worth, the Watch Snob, an erudite gentleman of unknown origins with a distinctive British usage of language and some vague uncorroborated yankee doodle dandy attachments, should have said “Why bother with a watch when you’ve got an iPhone.” But instead he wrote, ‘That’s quite an ugly wristwatch. It is cheap looking. It is probably cheaply made.’

For those of you interested, it was Louis Cottier, a watchmaker in Geneva who possibly dreamt of far-off places whilst enjoying his second bottle of wine, who had a sudden eureka moment and decided he would construct a time-

piece that showed the time in different places around the world based on the known time zones.

The year was 1931. And so was born the won-drous ‘Worldtimer’. But in those days aeroplanes were mainly for military purposes, although the monied adventurers were often seen in leather jackets and goggles messing about with these new-fangled flying machines.

There was no easyJet back then, so holidaymakers and intrepid travellers had to make do with long train journeys to reach one of Europe’s capitals or board a Cunard, P & O or Union Castle liner to cross the Atlantic or travel to Hong Kong or Australia.

Today, travel to anywhere in the world is relatively easy and in many cases inexpensive. However, if for some bizarre reason you want to know the time in the Azores whilst sitting at home looking through your holiday brochures, the idea of a Worldtimer watch might suddenly have an appeal.

That’s when you drop your brochures on the cocker spaniel lying on your feet, open your laptop and start the

search for the watch that will meet your needs. If you start with brands like Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin, you’ll quickly discover that you need to take out a second mortgage on your home to purchase one. But there are many less expensive and good-looking models from brands like Omega, Breitling, Frédérique Constant, Citizen and Seiko to name but five.

There’s also a Corum model that has nautical flags as hour markers in case you decide to travel by yacht. You pays your money … etc.

But be honest, how many timezones do you really need on a wristwatch – one, two, twenty-four, twenty-eight?

If you are in business and you work with companies dotted around the globe you already know their local time, along with the time differences between Geneva, London, Paris, Moscow and New York. But do you really need to know the time in places such as Anchorage, Noumea, South Georgia, Denver and Salt Lake City that some Worldtimers indicate?

You’re thinking about a holiday and all you really need is local time

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