AMERICAN ROAD TRIP
A special report dedicated to the American watch market and to watchmaking Made in the USA. .......................................... p. 8
WATCH.AFICIONADO
A EUROPA STAR GROUP PUBLICATION
USA VOL. 55 NO. 308 | CHAPTER 2/2019 | WWW.EUROPASTAR.COM
EDITORIAL
Basel and Geneva play a game of go By Pierre Maillard
Start from the edges, take territory with the highest value, know when to give up are the three main principles of go, a game about staking out and capturing territory. And that’s exactly what is currently happening between the two major international watch events, Baselworld and the SIHH.
Since 1991, the SIHH definitely started its game of go “from the edges”, with the three brands Cartier, Piaget and Baume & Mercier, joined by then independent brands Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth. Starting with this modest edge of the board, the SIHH gradually expanded its territory through the group’s acquisitions and a few independent additions. Its strategy, as in go, was to gradually surround Basel, with the eventual aim of controlling the board from the centre, according to the second rule of go: “Take territory with the highest value,” which in this instance meant nailing its colours to the aristocratic mast of Haute Horlogerie. Up to this year, 2019, it was easy to assume that the SIHH’s territorial strategy was the obvious winner, despite the defections announced by Richard Mille and Audemars Piguet, who for unrelated reasons had decided to abandon the big watch fairs altogether. With the recent addition of the Carré des Horlogers, featuring the most celebrated independent watchmakers of the moment, and the support of powerful neighbours come to bask in its aura, the SIHH seemed to have
all but dominated the central territory of the goban (the go playing board) with its 361 intersections. Meanwhile, the Swatch Group, master of another central territory, seemed to have dealt a fatal blow to Baselworld by implementing the third principle of go: “Know when to abandon your position”, thus leaving an enormous void by pulling out. The territories of power players Rolex and Patek Philippe, as well as those of other venerable actors like Chopard, still seem to be holding strong. Geographically positioned on the edge of the goban, the LVMH brands appeared to be undecided, as did the hallowed domains of Breitling and Chanel. Were they about to go over to the enemy? There came a surprise announcement that completely turned the tables. The two adversaries announced they would form an alliance, in the form of a chronological rapprochement from 2020 (the SIHH will run from 26 to 29 April in Geneva, followed immediately by Baselworld, from 30 April to 5 May). The game would thus be declared a draw. But, according to the rules of go, there can be no draw, thanks to the komi, a compensation bonus including the only half point it’s possible to score in the game. So someone always wins, even if by just half a point. Who will win the current game? Baselworld, which many had thought was in its death throes? The SIHH? Why should anyone in the Carré des Horlogers or in the lavish hotel suites near the lake bother to exhibit in Geneva, if they’re going to Basel immediately after? The Swatch Group, as the distant observer? But as long as Rolex, Patek Philippe, LVMH, Chopard, Chanel and Breitling stand firm in their Basel territory, the game of go will not be over.
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Calatrava Semainier Reference 5212A-001
The week according to Patek Philippe
By Pierre Maillard
A completely new Patek Philippe has joined the rich range of “small complications” in the Geneva watchmaker’s repertoire: a weekly calendar. It’s a first for the manufacture, which over the course of its venerable history has produced an entire anthology of calendar watches, from the simple date window to the highly complex century perpetual calendar (which won’t require any adjustment until the 28th century), with a plethora of perpetual calendars (to be corrected in 2100) and the famous patented annual calendar of 1996. All that was missing was a weekly calendar. But not any longer! (Read on page 3)