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From Abu Dhabi to Zanzibar, Europa Star magazine delivers premium information about the fascinating world of watches. Its two folios Time.Business & Time.Keeper are circulated in more than 170 countries. Europa Star is made possible by a team of passionate people and a network of incredible contributors.

TIME.BUSINESS

Philippe Maillard Pierre Maillard Serge Maillard

Bab-Consulting

LargeNetwork

Joe Thompson D. Malcolm Lakin Jeta B

Mr. E

Olivier Müller Pierre-Yves Schmid

Mazars Vontobel Dominique Fléchon Jill Metcalfe Digital Luxury Group Marianne Bechtel Nathalie Glattfelder Watchonista Jocelyne Bailly

Watchprint Catherine Giloux Alexis Sgouridis

Opus Magnum

“Disintegrating Series” by Swiss artist Fabian Oefner is a suite of images of high performance cars that appear to have blown apart. The series explores essential questions about the relationship of time and reality, ultimately creating a visually rich rendition of a moment that never existed. His work can be seen at M.A.D. Gallery Geneva and on fabianoefner.com.

A. Lange & Söhne 19, 24, 30, 44, 45, 46, 48, 50, 52 Anonimo 33 Armani 40 Audemars Piguet 24, 65 Baume & Mercier 24 Breguet 24, 50 Bruno Söhnle 46 Bulgari 17, 18, 27, 32 Calvin Klein 40 Carl F. Bucherer 33 Cartier 19, 24, 30, 34 Casio 41 Chanel 5, 6, 18 Christophe Claret 65 C. H. Wolf 46 Comité Francéclat Daniel Roth 19 Daniel Wellington 40 De Grisogono 19 Dodane 54, 55, 58 Ebel 33, 63 Eberhard & Co. 23, 63 Emile Chouriet 65 ETA 44, 56 Eterna 65 Ferdinand Berthoud 65 Festina 40 FOB Paris 55 Fossil 40 F.P. Journe 18, 33 Gérald Genta 19 Girard-Perregaux 24, 65 Glashütte Original 44, 46, 50, 52 Greubel Forsey 22, 23 Hermès 24 Humbert-Droz 54, 56 HYT 24 Ice-Watch 40 IWC 24 Jaeger-LeCoultre 24, 32 Jean Marcel 53 Jungans 31 Laurent Ferrier 65 Lip 54, 55, 58 Lornet 54, 56 Louis Moinet 65 Louis Vuitton 27 Manufacture Royale 20 MB&F 8, 9 Melania Timepieces 13 Michael Kors 40 Michel Herbelin 54, 58 Montblanc 19, 32 Moritz Grossmann 44, 45, 46, 50 Movado 33, 63 Mühle-Glashütte 46, 51 Nivarox 50 Nomos Glashütte 44, 46, 47, 48, 52 Omega 24, 65 Oris 65 Panerai 24, 33 Parmigiani Fleurier 29 Patek Philippe 4, 5, 24, 64 Pequignet 54, 56 Phenomen 54, 56 Phillips 19 Piaget 13, 60 Richard Mille 11, 22, 23 Roamer 63 Roger Dubuis 65

Rolex COVER IV, 24, 60, 64, 65 Romain Gauthier 65 Saint-Honoré 54, 58 SIHH COVER III Soprod 19 Swiss Festina Group 19 TAG Heuer 24, 40 Trump Watch 13, 30 Tutima 40, 46, 49, 51 Union Glashütte 46 Utinam 54, 55 Vacheron Constantin 24, 65 Vulcain 63 Wempe 46 Zenith 21, 63, 65 TIME.KEEPER A. Lange & Söhne 7, 34, 35 Aerowatch 56, 57 Antoine Preziuso 46, 47 Apple 84, 85 Armin Strom 77 Baselworld 89 Bell & Ross 73 Bovet 48, 49 Bulgari 20, 24, 25 Carl F. Bucherer COVER III Cartier 82 Casio 64, 65 Century 50, 51 Chanel COVER I, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Chopard 76 Citizen 87 Corum 28, 29, 79 Delma 19, 60, 61 De Witt 20 Dominique Renaud 66. 67, 68, 70, 71 Eberhard & Co. 62, 63 Emile Chouriet 38, 39 Fabergé 44, 45 Fendi Timepieces 26, 27 Ferdinand Berthoud 9 F.P. Journe 23, 76 Girard-Perregaux 17 H. Moser & Cie 20, 72 Hublot 80 Hysek 69 HYT 75 Jacob & Co 20 Jaeger-LeCoultre 82 Jungans 42, 43 Louis Erard 54, 55 Louis Moinet 52, 53 MB&F 75 MCT 74 Nomos Glashütte 58, 59 Parmigiani Fleurier 32, 33 Patek Philippe 16, 18, COVER IV Phenomen 78 Phillips 16, 18 Promotion 83 Richard Mille 80 Rolex 18 Salin 81 TAG Heuer COVER II, 3, 36, 37, 86 Tissot 5, 90 Titoni 21 Tutima 40, 41 Universal Genève 18 Urban Jürgensen 30, 31 Van Cleef & Arpels 82 Vianney Halter 8, 9

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Seneca

| ON ITI ED AL OB GL

WHAT TRUMP MEANS FOR WATCHES And what happened with the five last US Presidents

PRICES:

THE HOTTEST ISSUE IN THE INDUSTRY And the multiple ways through the crisis

T AP CH

1 ER C. DE 16 20 017 .2 JAN

FOLLOW THE SIGNS: PAST

PRESENT FUTURE

WITTY COLUMNISTS, WATCH YOUR MOUTH! And a last word… to start your reading (because many people in fact read in the Japanese way)

HOW TO (RE)CONQUER THE YOUNGSTERS And what goes through the minds of Millennials

WHAT WE OWE TO JEWISH WATCHMAKERS And the path towards industrialisation

RETAIL: 10 TIPS TO BEAT THE MARKET And make sure your store is a must-go

GLASHÜTTE: THIS START-UP NEVER GETS OLD And how the Germans are defying the Swiss

FRENCH WATCHMAKING: IT’S NOW OR NEVER! And meet Besançon’s next generation

The statements and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily Europa Star. Subscription service |Europa Star Time.Business & Time.Keeper | 5 issues | Worldwide airmail delivery CHF 90 | Subscription orders via: europastar.com/subscribe | Enquiries: contact@europastar.com www.europastar.com |

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EDITORIAL

or our 90th anniversary, we are proud to present the new Europa Star. In this ultra-innovative concept, the context provides the physical and metaphorical “wrapper” for the content. The product is in two parts: Time.Business and Time.Keeper, with a new, dynamic layout and graphics. This concept provides a solution to a form of “schizophrenia” we have been struggling with. Fundamentally, there are two ways for a journalist to approach a watch: through the product itself, or through its context, which means the strategy chosen by the company that developed it. History shows us that a wonderful product can arrive at the wrong time, a bad product can be a surprise hit, and – happily – a good product can arrive at the right time. We were constantly asking ourselves what was the best journalistic approach to take. How could we offer relevant commentary about watches, and about their context, at the same time? For us, then, it comes as something of a relief to be able to separate these two approaches. The clarification is also welcome, and necessary, given the muddying of genres that is all too common in watch journalism. Our Time.Business folio includes wide-ranging articles, comprehensive dossiers and in-depth reporting on the industry, its business and its economic and geopolitical context. Time.Keeper is devoted to new watches, galleries, brands and their products. The new format has also given us an opportunity to examine more closely how print and digital media can work hand-in-hand. What is the role of each? We believe that the magazine should provide an “experience”. It should be a treat to read, something you might want to keep on your shelf to refer back to. That’s why we have decided to call each issue a Chapter. At Baselworld we will launch our second major anniversary project: a new website in several languages. We will also expand our international distribution to collectors, enthusiasts and the entire watch community, in order to reach what we call the “global watchmaking ecosystem”, from our place at its heart. We strongly believe in the interconnectedness of all those involved in this microscopic and plural universe, where the boundaries of influence are so vague. All of these developments are going ahead in concert with our partners – LargeNetwork, DLG, Opus Magnum, Watchonista and Watchprint – because we believe that networks are essential in our watchmaking universe. For four generations, we have been putting our hearts and minds into all that we do. This has been our greatest satisfaction: taking pleasure in doing what we love, every day, in a climate of freedom and independence, without (overly) demanding shareholders, taking the temperature of our times. We would like to thank all our readers, past, present and future, for their loyalty: this is our strength and our guiding light. The concept of time itself will take a central role in the organisation of our publications, whose content will be innovatively arranged according to past / present / future (follow the signs!). Time is the most fascinating mystery that lies at the heart of our universe. And it will always remain so.

PIERRE, SERGE AND PHILIPPE MAILLARD

CALIBER RM 63-01 DIZZY HANDS RICHARD MILLE BOUTIQUES SWITZERLAND

Rue du Rhône 78 1204 Geneva - Tel.: +41 22 810 85 73

•

Grand Hôtel Kempinski, Quai du Mont Blanc 19 1201 Geneva - Tel.: +41 22 732 20 22

www.richardmille.com

TR O A N U N O M D P S M W W AT I I S C S C S H E BY

If past is prologue, Donald Trump will be good for Swiss watch sales in the United States. And then he wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t.

Let’s look at the record:

REAGAN/BUSH 1 Republicans Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush controlled the White House for three consecutive terms. Reagan’s economic policies, known as Reaganomics, emphasised tax cuts, decreased social spending, increased military spending and deregulation of domestic markets. Reaganomics stimulated the economy but created enormous deficits. From 1980 to 1990, Swiss watch exports to the U.S. increased by 113% to CHF 903.9 million and the U.S. surpassed Hong Kong as the world’s top market for Swiss watches. But in 1991, the boom went bust. Between 1990 and 1992, exports fell 10.8% and the U.S. dropped to a humiliating #3 in the Swiss watch ranking after Italy. In the election of 1992, Bill Clinton’s campaign manager James Carville gained immortality by making the “It’s the economy, stupid!” the theme of this slogan of the campaign. Clinton won.

here will be plenty of historical firsts when Donald J. Trump takes the oath of office and becomes the 45th president of the United States on January 20. The scariest is that he is the first person in U.S. history to become president without having served either in the military or in any government post. Wish us luck with that. Then there’s this amazing double first: Trump “Enough is the first President to launch his own watch bullshit, let’s line. And Melania Trump is the first First Lady to do the same thing. His came in 2005 in a get on with the CLINTON When the Democrat replaced the Republican in the White House, there was venture with Macy’s, the giant department autographs!” no boom/bust cycle. Swiss watch exports to store chain. Hers came in 2010 in a tie-up with the U.S. increased every year of Clinton’s two QVC, the giant TV home-shopping network. Swiss watch industry executives anxious to assess the impact terms, 1993–2000, an increase of 129% to CHF 1.84 billion. The of the Trump presidency on the Swiss watch business in the U.S. became Switzerland’s top watch market again in 1998. U.S. might see the First Couple’s watch launches as a good BUSH 2 In 2001, Republican George W. Bush succeeded omen. It isn’t. The Donald J. Trump Signature Watch Collection, launched Clinton and the boom-bust cycle resumed. in 2005, consisted of Far-East-produced quartz watches Between 2002 and 2007, Swiss watch exports to the U.S. priced from $85 to $250 with styles imitating best-selling soared 54% to a record CHF 2.44 billion. The bust came in Swiss models, like the “Monaco-styled” chronograph. The 2007 with the sub-prime loan crisis, which triggered the future president was not a particular fan of them. At an ap- Great Recession in 2008. Between 2007 and 2009, Swiss watch pearance at a Macy’s at a mall in Orange County, California exports to the U.S. fell by an astounding CHF 970 million to in 2005 to promote his various products, he boasted to the CHF 1.47 billion, sending sales back to the level of 1998! Once crowd that the Piaget watch he was wearing cost $100,000 again the U.S. fell behind Hong Kong in the export rankings. more than the watches that bore his name. Then, according to the Orange County Register, he declared, “Enough of this OBAMA During the two terms of Democrat Barak Obama, bullshit, let’s get on with the autographs!” Clearly a presi- the U.S. economy slowly recovered. Between 2009 and 2015, Swiss watch exports increased 60.3% to CHF 2.36 billion, growdent in the making. His watch venture lasted one year. Melania Trump’s “Melania Timepieces and Jewelry Collection” ing each year except for a slight dip (-0.8%) in 2015. However, befitted the wife of a man who fancies himself “a blue-col- they never quite regained the record level of 2007. lar billionaire.” According to the New York Times, one of the watches was “a chunky silver watch styled like a bracelet TRUMP Odds are good that Trump will bring a new Republican boom-bust cycle. Trumponomics will stimulate (‘with holes so you can see the skin,’ Melania noted) for $64.” No, the best clue to how Swiss watches might fare in the U.S. the economy with tax cuts directed at the wealthy and corduring the Trump administration, I believe, lies in Swiss porations, increased government spending on infrastrucwatch export data. I have covered the U.S. watch market ture and a new round of deregulation, all of which should for 39 years spanning 10 presidential elections. A review of be favourable for luxury watch sales. Then, as history and FH Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry export data to the data suggest, look for a bust, as deficits soar. U.S. over that period shows conclusively that in American presidential elections, the candidate’s political party is destiny, particularly in terms of economic policies. When a Republican president takes over from a Democrat, as just happened, Swiss exports to the U.S. get a big boost followed by a big bust.

P H GR E E EA AT S: VA L H

P T R

D ILE D M P AR C O ILL R T MA PO E R E ER G AL S CI N D PE E A A S ER R PI BY

r f ne Oe ia n ©F ab

• Tension on the price front is indicative of the current situation in the watch industry. • During the past ten years, we have witnessed an “explosion” at several levels – prices, styles, a multiplication of innovations, an acceleration in the pace of launches. • This “explosion” has left brands, retailers and consumers bewildered and disorientated and has saturated the markets. • At the same time, traditional distribution has been turned upside down, both by the proliferation of brand boutiques and by new uses of digital technology. • Customer volatility and nomadic purchasing habits have increased. • The simultaneous arrival of smartwatches has added to the confusion. • Saturation has triggered a certain disenchantment with – or even a disavowal of – watches.

IC U F E F C L A I RD N S G PR

SH E

R T E

The brands, most of which went along with the economic, mechanical and stylistic one-upmanship, are now finding themselves with huge stocks they do not know what to do with – apart from picking out the diamonds and melting down the gold cases in a bid to salvage what they can. As for the retailers, they no longer know which “network”, real or virtual, to turn to and have launched themselves into a price-cutting war which has fuelled the grey market and caused a profit-margin meltdown. he very serious slowdown experienced by the In short, the entire watchmaking sector, down to the very Swiss watchmaking industry in 2016 had at least core of the system, is experiencing that “morning after” feelone positive effect – it provided a clearer view of ing and, even worse, the situation is not going to improve things, revealed the strengths and weaknesses any time soon. Because to all the factors that have triggered of all the players, prompted some self-examina- this crisis, both external and internal to the watchmaking tion and reshuffled the cards. industry, we have to add the even more At the first sign that the tide was turndisturbing, nay taboo, question: are we There is no getting ing, the industry pointed its finger at the seeing the emergence of a certain disenpolicy of a strong franc, then railed at the chantment with watchmaking? Is gloriaway from the fact Chinese government and its anti-corrupous horology, so historic yet so modern, that the reasons and losing its status as a social indicator? Is tion campaign. It bewailed the sanctions against Russia, suffered the consequences its prestige paling as it spreads to broader responsibilities for of terrorism and kept its head down until swathes of the population? Is horology this mother of all the interminable US election campaign running the risk of becoming a has-been? was over, while at the same fearing the slowdowns also lie emergence of smartwatches without, even To try to gain a better understanding of within the vast innow, finding any real solution. what is happening in the watchmaking In short, the designated guilty parties were dustrial and artisanal sector and identify some leads for the all outside the watchmaking arena proper. we felt that the most revealing apwatchmaking sector. future, But there is no getting away from the fact proach was to look at prices. As a fellow that the reasons and responsibilities for journalist so neatly summed it up (Yvan this mother of all slowdowns also lie within the vast industri- Radja in Le Matin Dimanche): “Disconnected from its customers al and artisanal watchmaking sector. after years of overpricing, the watchmaking industry has to reinvent itself.” But how? Put in cruder terms, the industrial watchmakers, brands and retailers have all, each in their own way, shot themselves in It is impossible to go into every aspect of an issue with so the foot (and the media, it has to be said, held the revolver). many wheels within wheels, such numerous complications. The industrialists staked their bets on inexorable growth But to try to get a clearer picture, Europa Star Time.Business which, they opined, would inevitably rise year after year, to probed, questioned and talked with a broad panel of industhe extent that today, they are finding themselves in a sit- try players and observers: industrialists, watchmakers, disuation of serious overcapacity at every stage of the supply tributors, retailers, clearance firms, analysts and others. chain (on this, read our detailed investigation into mechanical movement oversupply, Europa Star 4/16). What about the price situation?

PAST

LA TI

P C R

The price issue is at the heart of the current watchmaking crisis. Pricing is indicative of a systemic crisis with numerous causes, the consequences of which are not yet fully clear.

“The quest for novelty pushed the system into overdrive. The watchmaking industry is chasing its own tail, after watches! You don’t necessarily buy a watch every year.”

“We associate crisis with lack of money, but that’s not the right response. We won’t necessarily come through it with lower prices.”

“While waiting for economic conditions to recover, the brands have to do all they can to maintain their place in the Pantheon of status symbols.”

Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO, Bulgari

Nicolas Beau, international director Chanel Horlogerie

Maurice Godberger, Chiron Inc.

“It took me more than 20 years to build my image, and I’m not going to destroy it at the first gust of wind. You will never see one of my watches at a discount price.” François-Paul Journe, founder and CEO of F.P. Journe

“The demand for transparency imposed on the banks has lost the watchmaking sector a large chunk of its customer base.” Gérard Gouten, distributor, chairman of Manufacture Royale

“Nowadays, we’re expected to start with the price and then come up with the product.” Denis Asch, watchmaker, former retailer

“The true price of a new watch is its used price.” Romain Réa, watch expert

“Vintage watches are a safe-haven investment, like gold or the Swiss franc.” “This crisis will help us do some sorting out.”

Wilhelm Schmid, CEO, A. Lange & Söhne

“The objective is to set the right price, not to cut prices, as we’ve sometimes been accused of doing.”

Gerald Roden, consultant, ex-director Swiss Festina Group (Soprod), De Grisogono, Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth

Davide Cerrato, director Horology division, Montblanc

“There’s been a lot of bullshit, but now it’s over. That bullshit has put people off watches. And the most legitimate watchmakers are paying the bill for the excesses of others.”

“Technology is causing luxury to age, and the most venerable companies with it.”

OFF

“Once all the promotion of a product has been paid for by others, it’s quick and easy to sell a product solely on the basis of price.” François-Xavier Mousin and Caroline Buechler, Opus Magnum, marketing agency

Cyrille Vigneron, CEO, Cartier

“As soon as prices go up, the tourists leave. It’s like clockwork.” René Weber, analyst, Vontobel Equity Research

“You cannot apply the same coefficients as for fashion, of around seven or more, to watchmaking.” OFF

©Fabian Oefner

“When I’m forced to monitor currency rates on a daily basis, I sometimes feel more like a hedge fund manager than the boss of a watchmaking company.”

Aurel Bacs, auctioneer, Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo

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dwindling purchasing power in It’s the fault of… It is true Western countries and the Middle East that any number of reasons of all kinds, a whole interwoven s killed hich ha w c et knot of reasons, have placed n a g fr c mark a stron omesti d s the watchmaking industry in is w the S n a difficult situation (to say the utio strib least) at the start of 2017. i d n ks i When various reasons accumunt , stoc e g ou % c hu late and you cannot put your s i 0 yd o8 finger on one single enemy (as e b up t c ran by it was possible to do during the lea imes c quartz crisis, whether justified or et ck sto som not), it is a sign that we are on the brink of profound upheavals, structural transformations, social change. And behind it all is the burning question that everyone is asking themselves to a greater or lesser extent: have people fallen out of love with watches? And if so, how can we win back their hearts?

identical boutiques the world over

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LEGENDS ARE FOREVER

A O N LO BJE C

The large groups did not remain impassive as the fever rose, and they too began offering more and more extravagant products – talking pieces aimed first and foremost at generating buzz and showing how modern they were, like trees hiding the more financially rewarding wood. It was against this backdrop of technical, mechanical and stylistic inflation that prices quite naturally soared. Even the most banal watches muscled up in a testosterone-fuelled market ambience, baring their mechanical entrails more and more, as if trying to physically justify their swelling prices.

But before we start analysing the current situation, let’s cast our eyes back. Because, although the watchmaking business is all about time, it often has a short memory. We only have to go back about fifteen years to find the source of the problems that the watchmaking industry is facing today. As Denis Asch explains (see next page), attitudes towards purchasing a watch have changed considerably in 15 years. In the early 2000s, Richard Mille (2001) and Greubel Forsey (2004) watches began their steady climb to the top. Back then, Richard Mille offered watches in a totally different style from the norm; in particular, he introduced research into new materials and innovative architecture, while the more neo-classical Greubel Forsey sought to take chronometric research and decorative excellence to new levels. Rave reviews and successful sales, at often very high prices (which, in their case, were justified by their rarity) gave rise to numerous emulators. Among them were authentic, original approaches to quality watchmaking, but also numerous opportunist launches based essentially on price, the product being of almost secondary importance as long as it conformed to the latest fashion, as if the watch was the packaging for the price.

This inflation – and success – is corroborated by the Swiss export statistics for timepieces with an export price of CHF 3,000 and over (see graph). The figures are unequivocal: the share in value of the highest-end watches rose from a modest 15.5% in 2000 to peak at 62% in 2014 and 2015. Whereas over the same period, the total number of timepieces exported remained virtually stable, or even fell back slightly, from just over 29 million in 2000 to 28 million in 2015. In other words, watch prices underwent a virtually meteoric rise and the Swiss watch industry got high (and, consequently, dependent) on luxury. While this situation was manna from heaven for watchmakers, it also paved the way for the current slump. The watch industry gradually retreated to the summits, producing fewer and fewer timepieces, but more and more costly ones – witness timepieces with an export price of under CHF 200: they represented almost half of the total value of exports in 2000 against only one-tenth in 2015. The price issue is indeed at the heart of the current delicate situation.

3,000.- CHF AND PLUS WATCHES AS % OF TOTAL OFFICIAL SWISS WATCH EXPORT VALUE

2000

2005

2014

2010

2015 2016

488,000

731,000

1,161,000

1,643,000

1,574,000

1,400,000

Export value (in CHF)

3,153,200,000

5,128,800,000

9,093,800,000

13,836,500,000

13,415,300,000

12,000,000,000

Export total (in CHF)

10,297,200,000

12,390,000,000

16,166,800,000

22,257,000,000

21,534,500,000

20,000,000,000

No. of timepieces 3,000 +

Source: Swiss Customs / FH. Export prices, add margins up to retailer prices.

“

I opened in 2001 in the right place and at the right Today, people – at least some of them – are richer, but what time. I was astonished by the ease with which I has changed is the way they buy and the way they spend. And could sell expensive watches. The price was of sec- it has to be said that some brands asked abusive prices and ondary importance. People only asked the price some customers were taken in by false promises or false valat the finish. People didn’t ask for any discount, ues. I asked new brands that weren’t well-known and had no they wanted the watch whatever it cost. Then the economic complications why they were selling such expensive watchsituation and buying habits gradually changed. The curve es? They didn’t really have any answer. But at the same time, was reversed: people asked for the price it’s not solely the fault of the brands. If first of all, then they began asking for a there are stupid programmes on the TV, reduction. it’s because people watch them. Up to 2008, we sold watches, not prices. I wanted to sell watches, not names or I sold Richard Mille or Greubel Forsey prices. But I was one of the few retailers watches at the full catalogue price. Today, that did! Between 2001 and 2007, I had a if you offer 10% off the same watch, peoprofit margin of around 40%. My lowest ple laugh in your face. average mark-up was 35%. Most brands When I’d sell an Eberhard to a student, were giving 50%. Too many watch bouCOMMENTS BY DENIS ASCH for example, he’d scrimp and save to tiques wanted to sell at any price, or (EUROPA STAR ARCADE, NOVEMBER 2016), buy it, so I’d spend as much time with sell off stock just to make money, and WATCH EXPERT AND FORMER RETAILER him as with a well-informed collector the brands realised that: “Since you’re WHO CLOSED HIS SHOP RATHER THAN of Greubel Forseys. But gradually, I selling at a lower price, we’ll lower your CHANGE PROFESSION. spent less and less time selling complex margins. You swallow the discount.” watches. People would phone up and It’s because of the ones who sold prices ask “have you got that in stock? I’ll drop in later” – and after and not watches that profit margins came down. Too many five minutes in the shop they’d make out a big cheque, and retailers gave discounts. I got friends to phone up and test that was that. It’s true that customers were better and better boutiques, and it was incredible to see how many retailers informed, by the blogs in particular. gave a discount of 20% without even meeting the customer. The brands realised. Retailers have shot themselves in the foot. As for me, I lost sales because I refused to give discounts “Is it a good investment?” of more than 10%. But not many of us were able to resist. My approach was more purist than commercial. I foresaw The curve was reversed from 2007: people began asking me trends and gave up retail: on the one hand I could see the if a Richard Mille watch was an investment. By the end, one trend towards discount prices and also, people had less need person out of every two would ask if it was an investment. of my explanations and expertise. Or they came to see me There was no more impulse buying from collectors or bank- for my explanations and then went and bought the watch ers who wanted to treat themselves. For them, the word in Singapore.” “spend” didn’t even exist anymore.

©Fabian Oefner

“I wanted to sell watches, not prices”

A B P A E T RIC THND 2WEE E H E 010 N 20IKE SL , TH 00 U EN

2010

2015

A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 16000 21600 35% 24000 11% Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, steel, date 6400 10610 66% 15280 50% Royal Oak Offshore chronograph 13875 18900 36% 18900 0% Baume & Mercier Hampton automatic, steel on leather 1350 1670 24% 2070 26% Breguet Type XX steel on leather 5030 6800 35% 6800 0% Cartier Pasha all-steel chronograph 5290 9350 77% 9150 down 2.1% Girard-Perregaux Vintage 1945, three hands, steel 3170 6900 118% 6900 0% Hermès Cape Cod automatic, gold 5600 6850 22% 7450 8.70% IWC Portuguese chronograph, steel 4620 6150 33% 5700 down 7.8% Portuguese chronograph, gold 9605 12900 34% 11900 down 8.4% Chronograph, Pilot Spitfire 2910 5130 76% 4750 down 8% Portuguese minute repeater, gold 49250 72600 47% 63300 down 14% Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso large, manual, steel 3650 4950 36% 5100 3% Master geographic, steel 6060 8400 39% 7500 down 12% Master 38mm ultra-thin, steel 2737 4800 75% 4450 down 6.6% Master 38mm ultra-thin, gold 6100 9350 53% 7900 down 18% Omega Speedmaster automatic chronograph, steel on leather 1100 2300 109% 2800 21% Panerai Luminor base, 2 hands, polished steel on leather 2070 3600 74% 5400 50% Luminor Submersible, steel on rubber 2835 4700 66% 6200 32% Luminor Marina, small-seconds dial, steel on leather 2315 3900 68% 5600 43% Patek Philippe 3919 / 5119 7425 12980 75% 17530 35% 3520/5120 9180 15470 69% 15470 0% 5036/5146 14500 27210 88% 33680 23% Aquanaut, large automatic, on rubber (5167) 6000 12670 111% 15410 21% Rolex Date, 34mm, steel 2560 4480 75% 4400 1.80% Datejust, 36mm, gold and steel, Jubilee bracelet 4660 7410 59% 9500 28% Submariner, steel 2770 4630 67% 6500 40% Explorer II 3060 5015 64% 7000 39% Submariner, date, gold and steel 5240 8950 71% 11700 30% Daytona, steel 5240 8265 58% 10450 26% Daytona, gold on leather 13000 17365 34% 21950 26% TAG Heuer Monaco steel on leather Vacheron Constantin Overseas all-steel chronograph Overseas chronograph, gold on leather Tourbillon skeleton, pink gold

2134

3800

78%

3100

down 22.5%

9970 26000 125500

15300 41700 165000

53% 60% 31%

17800 37600 191200

16% down 10% 15%

Average 2000/2010 60%

Average 2010/2015 12.7%

The data in this table was compiled by David Chokron for the period 2000–2010 (www.horlogerie-suisse.ch) and complemented by Europa Star for the period 2010–2015.

RATES IN FRANCE IN EUROS 2000

V 20 aria 00 tio /2 n 01 0

Note: of course, the raw data in this table has to be weighted for the general rise in the cost of living, exchange rates, fluctuations in the price of raw materials, etc. By way of indication, average inflation in France stood at 27% between 2000 and 2010 and 7% between 2010 and 2015.

V 20 aria 10 tio /2 n 01 5

So how have prices evolved over the course of the past 15 years? To give an idea, the table below shows a few examples from the French market. The main finding is that between 2000 and 2010, all the brands raised their prices by a huge margin: an average 60% for all brands together. Then, between 2010 and 2015, the wind seems to have changed and strategies diverged. Certain brands pursued their policy of steady price rises, whiles others stayed put, or backpedalled and lowered their prices. All increases and decreases combined, the average price rose by 12.7% between 2010 and 2015.

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H Y T WATC H E S .CO M

’S A H UL I N T? A

LL A

C F

BE I JI N G

H O N G KO N G

D U BA I

We are not going to trot out the figures for China and Hong Swiss watch industry seems not to have learned any lessons Kong, who are often accused of being the root cause of the from what became known as the “subprime crisis”. current crisis. It is true that the Swiss watchmaking industry The steep drop in Chinese demand (or the sudden brake has become extremely Sino-dependent, applied to supply, to be more precise) and the political decision by one single heralded quite a different crisis which, “In the last few years, Asia man, Xi Jinping, and the change of gear combined with other factors, made it a and especially Greater by one regime have been enough to disturning point: a price crisis, or rather a China have been the main rupt the entire ecosystem. crisis fuelled by price issues, but also an But the downward trend set in motion growth drivers for the Swiss identity crisis. during the past two years (China, comWhereas in 2010, watchmakers thought watch industry. In 2005, bined with the other international tenthey could carry on as before and once Greater China accounted sions) is, objectively, not of the same again aim for the sky, things are very difnature as the financial crisis which ferent in 2017. for 19% of total exports and made itself felt from November 2008 In China, it all began mainly for reasons in 2012 its share had risen to December 2009. After a brusque but of domestic policy and Xi Jinping’s taketo 32%. In 2013 and 2014, relatively brief dive of up to 25%, lastover of the apparat. And in the context of ing one year, Swiss exports suddenly a general slowdown in Chinese economexports to China declined rallied, climbing more than 10% as of somewhat, bringing Greater ic growth, there was also a need to reasJanuary 2010, and up by more than 30% sure the huge, emerging middle class China share down to 27%.” by March. with guarantees of integrity, firmness and One of the keys to the current situation opposition to endemic corruption. probably lies there – come 2010, things The anti-corruption campaign, as it has Vontobel Luxury Goods Shop report 09-10-2015 resumed their previous course. The been called, is first and foremost a spec-

THE SUBPRIME CRISIS: SWISS WATCH EXPORTS: CHANGE BY MONTH 2008-10 (%) 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% -10% -20% -30%

JAN MAR MAY JUL SEP NOV JAN MAR MAY JUL SEP NOV JAN MAR MAY JUL SEP NOV 2008 2009 2010

Source: FHS, Vontobel Equity Research

IN MARCH 2015, JULIE LAULUSA, AN ASTUTE AND KNOWLEDGEABLE EXECUTIVE FROM THE MAZARS CONSULTING GROUP, DETAILED TO EUROPA STAR:

PA R I S

“The anti-extravagance and anti-corruption campaign began to have an impact on sales in mid-2012, although at that point the effects were relatively mild. In 2013 things began to snowball, with the result that sales fell sharply, by around 30-40%. That year, sales of high-end watches were estimated at $653 million, the same figure as 2004! This was no coincidence: the luxury watch, a discreet and yet greatly appreciated gift, had become a symbol of corruption. Bloggers and contributors to internet forums, in publicising the campaign, accentuated the impact even further”. (EUROPA STAR, MARCH 2015)

I NTERL AKEN

tacular staging of this political ambition. And what could be more symbolic than targeting the “watch of corruption”, worn so proudly and ostentatiously, like a miniature portable safe, on the wrist of the powerful, semi-powerful and even mid-level civil servant? But quite apart from its political role – the visible face of this campaign – the economic aspect materialised almost simultaneously, with the issuing of import restrictions aimed at Chinese tourists. No more returning from world tours with armfuls of gifts. No more wholesale distribution of business gifts brought back from Hong Kong! And, as Bulgari CEO Jean Christophe Babin ironically comments: “You’re more generous when it’s not your money you’re buying with. When Business Class is no longer available, you’re more careful.” In response to the fall in exports, the world’s factory is having to change and focus on home demand. Hundreds of millions of Chinese have been ordered to buy Chinese products, in China. In launching his anti-extravagance and anti-corruption campaign and putting the brakes on foreign purchases, Xi Jinping flicked over the first domino. The second fell on Hong Kong then, from hub to hub, the dominos fell as far as Paris, Lucerne and Interlaken.

HAS THE “ANTI-EXTRAVAGANCE” CAMPAIGN PLAYED A ROLE IN THE STYLISTIC EVOLUTION OF SWISS WATCHES? Julie Laulusa: “The anti-extravagance campaign, the moral prong of the anti-corruption campaign, followed a similar pattern. The watches that came in to replace the old stock were different; stylistically, they had no visible signs of extravagance. To give an example of how anti-extravagance was implemented in practice, in 2013, Louis Vuitton was forced by the Shanghai authorities to withdraw the oversized trunks on display outside its shop. In the view of the Chinese, a watch, and particularly a Swiss-made watch, should be made to last; you should be able to hand it down to the next generation. Engineering and functionality have increased in importance. As sales of watches intended as ‘gifts’ have dropped sharply, the customer profile has changed: clients are buying for themselves; they are investing, rather than spending. Little by little, the Chinese market is maturing”. (EUROPA STAR, MARCH 2015)

HONG KONG: CHANGE IN WATCH/JEWELLERY RETAIL SALES 2014-2015 (%) JAN 10%

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

DEC

NOV

-1 -11

-10% -20%

FEB

-21

-5

-9

-10 -19

-15

-19 -25

-30%

-6

-9

-2 -12 -16

-22 -29

-40

-40%

2014

2015 Source: Hong Kong Gov. Statistics, Vontobel Equity Research

”

“A A S TH PR SO EL EY ICE ON SE LO GO AS W OK ES UP H , E

very quick decisions. The internet has been a game-changer too.” René Weber, Vontobel

René Weber of Vontobel uses a very special “index” to evaluate Chinese and Asian tourist flows into Switzerland: the Jungfraubahn index. By closely following the state of advance bookings for this high-altitude train, which is very popular with Asian tourists, he is able to forecast watch sales in Switzerland with great accuracy. For example, even before the terrorist attack in Nice on 14 July, he had already observed a 30% cancellation rate by Chinese tourists.

©Schweiz Tourismus

With the democratisation of intercontinental travel prices and the opening up of China, which began sending ever greater streams of tourists all over the world, shopping tourism became crucial for the watch industry. But these streams of tourists proved extremely volatile. The recent example of the tourism boom to Japan, fuelled by the fall in value of the yen, or that of London after the Brexit vote, are perfect illustrations of this.

The moment the yen was depreciated in 2012, the number of Chinese and Asian tourists travelling to Japan rose 34%, then by 24% in 2013, by 29% in 2014 and by 47% in 2015. This rise is clearly visible in the statistics on Swiss exports to Japan, which rose 5.7% in 2013, then leapt by 15.2% in 2014 before stalling slightly, fall“As soon as a price ing back 1.9%, from late 2015 onwards and continuing to drop during 2016, losing difference exceeds 10%, more than 4% compared with the same customers know about period in 2014 (January–September). it and choose their The effect of Brexit on Swiss watch exports to the UK was even more radical: up 23.5% destination according in August 2016, and 32.4% in September! to price. And as soon And in the case of Europe or the Middle as prices go up, the East, this opportunistic shopping tourism and this volatility have been further tourists leave. There was greater inertia in the accentuated by political factors, war, and the wave of terrorist attacks that has past. Now, people make struck Europe.

Tonda MĂŠtrographe

Manufactured entirely in Switzerland parmigiani.com

Were there to be only one

AN rd B SW ES ER T

AN nd B SW ES ER T

AN OP SW ER

TH H E T H AS I N D E C T IS R E TR U H RN IB LE A E T UT S N IO OF G ED N

WHERE WILL YOU MOST LIKELY PURCHASE A WATCH?

Online shop

Multibrand boutique

Department store

Online shop

Department store

Mono-brand store

Online shop

Multibrand boutique

Department store

Multibrand boutique

Online shop

Mono-brand store

Online shop

Multibrand boutique

Department store

Online shop Source: Deloitte, 2016

That presents a huge challenge. Another major challenge is finding a balance between local customers and shopping tourism. And the third challenge for us is: how to keep abreast of trends and stay exclusive? It’s a contradiction in terms. If you want to keep abreast of trends, you have to grow. We’re growing. Otherwise, we’ll fall off the radar. Many brands are growing, but are losing intensity. I have to manage this paradox.” This danger of “losing intensity”, as “On the So Goods site, customers can compare prices Wilhelm Schmid puts it, is all the greater in real time. Logistically, you can send anything anywhere. since “for the first time since 2012, online You can find the best price anywhere in the world and have resellers are viewed as the most imporit sent anywhere. It’s the biggest change of our time, because tant sales channel,” according to the 2016 Deloitte study on the Swiss watchmaking it has reshuffled all the cards in the distribution game.” industry. Purely mechanically, this is likeCyrille Vigneron, CEO, Cartier ly to bring prices down and render supply commonplace as products, on offer here, This volatility in purchasing, which has become global and there and everywhere, lose their exclusivity. But rarity is at the migratory depending on international prices, is posing se- root of the price question. rious problems for the brands, distributors and retailers “Half of the watch executives surveyed indicated that they as regards stocks, price adaptation, logistics, distribution will be putting the most emphasis on online resellers in channels and communications, to cite just some examples. the next twelve months, compared to only 19% in 2015,” the And these are exacerbated by the growth of internet price Deloitte study continues. comparison sites and mobile apps for mobile customers. By way of illustration, Deloitte cites the exclusive e-commerce partnership signed by TAG Heuer with the Jingdong Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of A. Lange & Söhne, neatly sums up Group, a powerful player on the online sales scene in China. the challenges that these new habits are posing for brands: But there are plenty more examples of initiatives already “What can you do to harmonise prices all over the world? It’s under way or germinating on this digital “new frontier” that impossible, in concrete terms. You have to accept that. We will online sales represent for the luxury sector. never reduce our prices, unless there’s hyperinflation, in Russia And the repercussions for distributors and retailers, not to or India. We have to maintain a clear price strategy worldwide. mention prices, will be numerous.

Lasting values crafted by masters. The name “Meister” has stood for classic watchmaking at Junghans since 1936. The Meister watches of today follow in this tradition, for they are a result of both passion for precision and close attention to quality. Choosing a Junghans Meister demonstrates apprecia tion for these values and for beautiful watchmaking – like our classic Meister, the Meister Calendar.

RA LO I W SE E R OR

In the face of all this uncertainty, the ongoing paradigm shift, the burden of excess stock and industrial overproduction, what strategies are open to the brands? And the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question: should prices be raised or lowered? Every brand has or will have its own response, some better suited than others to the realities of a market in motion. And the responses vary depending on where the brands are situated on the social hierarchy scale.

Here is one possible response, which Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bulgari, recently gave to questions by Europa Star “In watchmaking, volume and value form two opposing pyramids. The majority of the volume is situated below the 2,000-euro mark. And most of the value is situated above the 5,000-euro mark. The response to the crisis is not necessarily lower prices. In a crisis VALUE like today’s, scrambling below the 5,000-euro mark is a human reflex, because we associate crisis with a lack of money, but it’s not necessarily the right reflex, or the right solution. We’re forgetting that 90% of the value is in the segment above 5,000 euros and that, in the 10% beVOLUME low that, there are already highly competent players with iconic models and very confident retailers in those brands. And what you also have to take into account is that below and above 5,000 euros, there is a general decline in sales across the industry as a whole. It isn’t as if all of a sudden people who bought watches at 25,000 euros are now going to buy watches at 2,000 euros: that’s totally wrong. So, are we going to sell 15% more by positioning ourselves 10% lower? Personally, I’m rather sceptical. I think that more than ever, the products we offer should have substance that is not only perceived, but real. Why lower prices when you can be more attractive by setting the right price for new products? Thanks to our retail network, we can exactly measure the behaviour of our customers, and no one came to buy a 3,000-franc watch when they’d bought a watch for 30,000 francs

before. But from 30,000 francs to 20,000, yes. A Tesla in relation to a Mercedes – that’s a good response and an avenue to explore for the watch industry.”

Another price strategy and another response is that currently being implemented by Jérôme Lambert with Montblanc. He made a splash – and raised a storm of criticism accusing him of wanting to kill off the market – when he was CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre, for having produced a tourbillon for around CHF 40,000. He did it again at Montblanc, producing a perpetual calendar selling at 10,000 euros.

Davide Cerrato, director of Montblanc’s watchmaking division, responds to competitors’ criticism of the company’s price strategy. “Offering competitive prices in relation to perceived value has been the constant strategy of Jérôme Lambert at Montblanc for the past three years. We achieve our greatest sales volumes in the 1,000 to 5,000 franc segment, in particular with sport chronographs. Thanks to this consistent position, we are not being forced to go downmarket today. Three years ago, when market conditions were excellent, you really needed vision to impose this constraint of accessible prices. We want to be viable in the long term. If we started lowering our prices now, neither our brand nor our partners would be able to do business. Montblanc’s objective was to set the right price, not to cut prices, as we’re sometimes accused of doing.”

For Julien Haenny, CEO of Anonimo, price is the key.

Lower prices? Cut-throat prices, even? That is the strategy chosen by Ebel CEO Flavio Pellegrini to put back on track a brand that used to be in the spotlight before more or less disappearing off the radar. “The industry has been too greedy these past few years in terms of profit margins, going for in-house production and vertical distribution with their own sales outlets. Certain brands have two years’ worth of inventory and components upstream, and two years’ worth of watches in their own boutiques downstream. It will take at least two years to be reabsorbed. But you have to remember that the quartz crisis was an existential crisis far more dramatic than today’s. We’re going to have to give it time. Our battle-horse and our anti-crisis remedy? To maintain brand quality, but with aggressive pricing. For example, our gold and steel Wave model with a diamond-set bezel and a mother-of-pearl and diamond dial used to be priced at CHF 5,900. Our engineers have found smarter ways of lowering prices, and we’ve also revised the architecture of the timepiece, and today it sells at CHF 3,600.”

The message from the independent watchmakers is quite different.

With a track record of nearly 30 years in the watchmaking business, François-Paul Journe has no intention of changing policy and puts the ball back in the court of the large groups. “While today it’s easy to find prestige watches sold with a 40-50% price reduction, you will never find one of my watches at a discount price. It took me more than 20 years to build my image, and I’m not going to destroy it at the first gust of wind. In my view, the current crisis is largely due to the blindness and greed of a large number of major watchmaking companies. Today, they’re paying for their recent excesses. But when you are a young brand and have not yet finished building your image, the “price war” that has sprung up on several fronts forces you to find a response. And to engage in pitched combat on prices, while communicating about quality.”

“Today, price is the key. The brand used to be the gateway to the watch. Today, increasingly, price is the primary criterion. For several years now, watch-pricing policies have become completely disproportionate in relation to the customers. We are a spin-off of Panerai, but our prices range from 1,900 to 4,900 francs. We’re going for a more aggressive price policy by launching a new line at the next edition of Baselworld, with a target price of CHF 1,500. It’s the only solution for a little-known brand like us – to showcase an attractive price for a genuine, Swissmade product. My aim is to thumb my nose at the brands offering similar products to ours at excessive prices. But the toughest thing for a relatively new brand is to stay the course. Tradition is reassuring. Many watchmaking start-ups are in danger of vanishing in the period we’re currently going through.”

The virtue of stability… No previous price hikes means no hard decisions about lowering (or further raising) prices now, and there is market share to be won, points out Xavier Gauderlot, Movado Group’s President for Europe. “One characteristic of our brand is that, contrary to the inflation we have seen in luxury watchmaking, we haven’t raised our prices since 2009. We gained market share in 2016, particularly in the United States, our main market, where we have continued to grow despite a shrinking context. We go into this crisis in a better position than we were in 2008, with more tightly controlled distribution.”

For Sascha Moeri, CEO of Carl F. Bucherer, a judicious strategy of price diversification has helped his company to increase its market share in a tense climate. “In 2016, we sold more watches in the 3,000–5,000 franc segment than in the 6,000–8,000 bracket. The average sales price has dropped. Because of our broad price range, which goes from 3,000 to 400,000 francs, we have flexibility, and that has helped us to gain market share. Every client who comes into the shop is a potential customer for us, and in five years we have gone from producing 6,500 watches per year to more than 25,000. Over the same period, we have also launched a tourbillon, a perpetual calendar and a power reserve. Thanks to this investment across our entire price range, which is very broad, we have succeeded in growing.”

A SH PA D IF T RA I S F DI T R OR GM

“The reduction in profit margins for distributors was initiated four or five years ago,” Gérard Gouten, a Swiss market veteran, explains to us. “Today, since they’ve moved upmarket, distributors are located on the best avenues in town. Rents are huge, the salaries of qualified sales staff are high, and they work longer hours with the increase in night-time opening. And then there’s the issue of discounting, a practice which has become generalised and which customers are now demanding from the outset. And that’s not to mention the direct competition war that the brands are waging with their own boutiques.” But the current crisis has also had the effect of raising margins slightly, and brands are adapting their policies once again. For example, Cartier, which had reduced its margins to 35%, is cautiously raising them to an average of 38% – while not forgetting to mop up stocks and take back more unsold items than before. Whatever the case, the independent watchmakers are still offering more appreciable margins to retailers, up to 50%, result“Inventories have attained levels never seen before. ing in an average margin of around 40%. Richemont has announced that they are buying back But what is left of these margins after all 218 million euros’ worth of watches to clean out the the expenses are taken into account?

market, including a large number of Cartier watches, but that still is not enough; stocks are still too high.” René Weber, Vontobel, Europa Star Arcade, November 2016 Wildly fluctuating exchange rates, the price slump, volatile customers, accumulating stocks, discount, competition from smartwatches, the grey market, the internet, brands’ own boutiques… Stop! For retailers the world over, the cup is full. Distribution is at a crossroads, with crucial choices ahead: which direction should they choose?

-10%, the minimum discount -10% for the tour operator who brings

ASIAN WATCH RETAILERS: INVENTORY AS % OF SALES 2007-1st HALF 2016 90%

A chart that perfectly illustrates the boom in stocks in Asia from late 2013

80%

41 44

2010

2009

2012

2008

30%

2011

50% 40%

70% 60%

57 45

Oriental

ning costs, maintenance, taxes and various charges.

52 48

45 41

1H16

2015

2014

2007

2013

Hengdeli

Hour Glass

Source: Companies, Vontobel Equity Research

-2.5% for credit card charges -5% for contractual communication This adds up to 27.5%, excluding rent, salaries, run-

20%

Emperor

in the customers

Moreover, retailers have to eliminate static inventory, improve product turnover – because without sell-out, there’s no sell-in – and, if necessary, activate the guarantee and sell the watches at cut prices. And that is not even to mention the new, cut-throat competition from e-commerce. Some of the people we spoke to are “convinced we’re heading towards an uberisation of the watch distribution sector” as a result of the “takeover by e-commerce”. During our discussions, one model cropped up again and again: that of turning retailers into “gallery owners”.

©Fabian Oefner

“

The e-commerce takeover is final proof that the old retail model needs to be rethought. It is high time to reinvent it by separating the experiential and commercial functions, and the margins that go with them.

Dividing the trade into two functions

The model we’re putting forward is extremely simple: it consists of dividing a trade into two functions: sales on the The traditional role of retailers was to one hand and experiential promotion offer a complete “package” combining on the other. the sensorial experience and the sale. Dematerialised sales require no major Their remuneration was thus based on physical structure while offering the these two missions and took into acsame service as far as delivery times, guarcount both the costs of representation antees, after-sales service and conveniand the sales costs. A boutique was both ence are concerned, whether physical a showcase and a sales venue. or virtual. Consequently, they should be The arrival of e-commerce has severed FRANÇOIS-XAVIER MOUSIN AND remunerated on the basis of lowest cost these two functions irrevocably. It is CAROLINE BUECHLER for greatest efficiency, that is, a margin now possible to sell without offering (WHO WORKED FOR SWISS RETAILER of 10-25% of the sale price, whatever the the sensorial experience, and to offer LES AMBASSADEURS AND NOW HEAD UP channel used. the whole product experience without OPUS MAGNUM CONSULTANTS) As for the “representational” function, selling, because customers can take adSET OUT THIS “REVOLUTIONARY” CONCEPT. it has to be dissociated from the sales vantage of the physical infrastructure margin and only be attributed to playof a traditional retailer and then finalers who actually practise it, according to new parameters ise their purchase on the internet. This behaviour is going to escalate and become generalised. which have nothing to do with realised turnover, such as It is perfectly normal and legitimate for a customer to seek visitor volume, surface area and display quality, showcase area, training of sales staff, type of associated services and the best price for the best service. As high as it may appear to the uninitiated, a profit margin so on. of 50% for a retailer on the sale price of a product – which Redistributing roles in this way is the only way to keep the is an exception in the watchmaking world, it must be said dependent businesses alive so they can sell physical senso– has to cover far more than just the cost of the sale: an exor- rial experiences. It is also the only way of getting out of the bitant boutique on one of the best streets in town, impres- damaging logic of the grey market and discounts, since the sive display windows, sofas in the best leather, top-level sales trade margin offered will no longer allow prices to vary so staff, champagne and bouquets of flowers. You can’t show wildly depending on operating costs. a luxury watch in a papier mâché shop in the middle of an Lastly, it will give rise to genuine “experience professionals” industrial estate. The luxury experience has to be complete, instead of sales, since remuneration will only be very partially indexed to pure sales performance. It will also be more effecotherwise it isn’t luxury. What is abnormal is that the same margin should be grant- tive than all those product training campaigns that all busied indiscriminately, as it is today, to retailers who invest mil- nesses insist on holding at great cost and with no success.” lions every year in their boutiques and to obscure players whose principal source of income is a virtual shopfront on Amazon, Yahoo or Chrono24.

“Retailers need to turn into gallery owners”

G BA ET C TI Y PE O K N G W O U O R I PL N N T ST E G O S ’S O BY

LIV

I ER

MÜ LL ER

For the past fifty years, the only so-called ‘watches’ worn by young people have been garish, interchangeable, gimmicky things; accessories rather than real watches. That’s because young people’s relationship with time has changed hugely. Sociologists have now started taking an interest in the subject, revealing how young people have developed this particular approach to time since becoming “hyperconnected”. The watchmaking industry, meanwhile, mostly has a lot of catching up to do.

he issue has been haunting us for several years, more pressingly so ever since Peter Stas made the frank admission that his regrets included being “unable to find a way onto young people’s wrists” – and that was back in 2011. Indeed, this individual confession has been true of the entire industry, ever since the renaissance of mechanical watches in the early 1990s. But nobody bothered to look into why that should be, since there were no problems in the adult market. Or at least, not until now. Today, though, it’s high time the subject was researched – more than high time, perhaps. An investigative piece on young people and time might sound a bit pretentious. After all, there’s no such thing as time, or indeed “young people”. Time is perceived differently by different people; “young people” is a fluctuating sociological category. A century ago, someone aged 14 was held to be young simply because people tended to die at 50. But today, in the West at least, youth tends to be defined in socio-professional terms: “young people” means anyone who is not yet fully independent, because they are not yet on the job market. The term has become something of a catch-all for everyone who has lost the privileges of childhood but not yet inherited those of adulthood.

The end of “dad’s watch” Is youth the “ungrateful age”? Very probably, but through no fault of its own. In peak physical condition and at the height of their intellectual abilities, young people are like future beings trapped between two very different worlds – the freedom of childhood and the obligations of adulthood. So it’s hardly surprising that getting a handle on their relationship with time is such a challenge. There are some clues that can help us make sense of it, though. As the watchmaking industry struggles to get its timepieces back on young people’s wrists, it would do well to note them. It’s blindingly obvious that the industry is failing to connect with young people because it no longer understands their relationship with time. Watchmakers are still trying to impose the “dad’s watch” recipe on the younger generation – and as has been seen, this is doomed to failure, because the latter are living in a hyperconnected world.

I take my time, therefore I am Research by Schehr (1999), Lachance (2011) and others has identified time as a means by which young people achieve autonomy. Children’s time is organised around them: parents plan their day around their offspring’s nap times and mealtimes. Adults’ lives, meanwhile, are structured by social norms, with time governed by professional obligations and social engagements. Young people’s lives are caught between these two tensions, as they strive to find the right balance.

Gaining control of time is one of the first ways young people break out of the age of childhood – whilst also setting themselves firmly apart from the age of adulthood, perceived as a period of slavery. This is clearly seen in the teenager who says “I’ll be down in a minute,” when his parents tell him that dinner is ready; or the teenage girl who’s supposed to be back from her evening out at 10pm, and who invariably fails to return before ten or quarter past. Contrary to popular belief, this is not so much a sign of teenage rebellion, but first and foremost a way of signalling independence, as teens take full and conscious control of their time. “I manage my time, therefore I am capable of managing myself, therefore I am autonomous,” goes the reasoning. Or in a nutshell, “desynchronisation is emancipation”. Adults consider time to be all about getting old, whereas young people see it as a means of escape. Adults put up with it; young people seek to control it. It may be wryly observed that some adults, fed up with enduring the rigours of time, decide to defy it or even taunt it. One by-product of this is the fad for skull watches – the ultimate combination, on the same dial, of the death they are fleeing and the time they are defying. It also explains why these watches are a total flop amongst young people, who do not as yet see time as an enemy, but rather as an ally that can help them achieve independence.

Today, tomorrow... but no further It virtually goes without saying that the further on in life one is, the more one can look ahead. A sensible adult can project into the future over several years on the basis of their socioeconomic environment and the usual life events: expected promotions, marriage, children, and so on. Children rarely think beyond the week they are in, their homework, or at the very most the next school holidays. Young people are in between these two attitudes. They are often seen as being in a transitional phase between the short-term vision of the child and the long-term vision of the grown-up. This is, however, a mistake. There is no gradual lengthening from short to long-term vision, no “averaging out” between childhood and adult time that might offer us insights into teenager time. Young people usually react in terms of compression and decompression. Compression is primarily a phenomenon associated with their studies. The higher the level of study, the greater the pressure – and the more time is compressed. As has already been seen, time is a way of young people gaining autonomy, and they find it very difficult when time is compressed by academic pressure. The extreme alienation of young people’s time can lead to depression, anxiety, stress, or even suicide – because time is their road to freedom. Taking away young people’s time blocks their path to independence. “Time has become a stress factor,” admits Loane, a first-year medical student. “Time scares me, because it’s passing too quickly.” In short, while young people need to be prepared for the

long-term projection adulthood entails, doing so compresses their time – depriving them of freedom and holding them prisoner in the short-term time of childhood, where they can see little further than one day ahead, precisely when they have incredibly intensive tasks to complete! Such an environment inevitably leads to breakdowns, because the natural relationship of young people with time is destroyed.

Farewell to the past, present, and future From this it follows that young people need to be able to use time to mature; but in contrast to adults, they see time as elastic. Young people today experience time in a non-linear fashion. The reason for this elasticity can be summed up in one word – internet. The web has allowed young people to develop a form of “atemporality”. The most striking example of this is social media. Facebook, for instance, is a communication channel based on an absolutely unique concept in history: the timeline. In other words, it’s an open-ended option of sharing a present moment, envisaging the future, and remembering the past – by continuing to write about it, share it, and comment on it.

This creates a virtual time-space that is wholly disconnected from reality, allowing young people to juggle with the linear nature of time as they wish, build shared memories, edit them, alter them – and even delete them. Facebook is not just a social medium: it is also a place where collective memories, disconnected from real time, are being forged. And understanding young people’s relationship to time also entails getting to grips with their ability to travel at will in non-linear time.

Me, myself, I Young people’s elastic relationship with time usually surfaces in images, and understanding it also entails understanding their relationship with the latter. In today’s adult world, or that of our parents, still photos dominate: a framed photo of the kids in the living room, a photo of the grandparents on a wall, a family holiday snapshot on the bedside table; single, isolated, immutable pictures; the iconic “photo on the mantelpiece” we all saw at our grandparents’, conveying a memory shared only by those who were there, visible only to guests in our home.

MUST-HAVE APPEAL OR CLEAR-HEADED CONVICTION? Young people live in a “pictoral-temporal” dimension that is the exact opposite of all this. Images are no longer personal, unique, capturing a moment. They have become ubiquitous, are perfectly controlled, and are made available to all and sundry. When a young person shares an image, they are simply placing a temporal marker in the life and community of their peers. Whether it’s on Instagram, Snapchat or some other platform, the same principle is at work. The message is: “I’ve had some me time, I’m in control of it, I’ve immortalised it, and now I’m sharing it so my peers can comment on it.” And, invariably, so that it becomes part of a never-ending present, one that can never be deleted.

But what has all this got to do with watchmaking?

Over the past few years, certain brands can be justifiably proud of their relationship with young people: Fossil and its various licensing agreements, including with the very effective Michael Kors, along with Festina, Ice-Watch, Daniel Wellington, Calvin Klein, and others. Their success is undeniable – though often short-lived. Young people’s tastes change quickly, and none of these brands has managed to stay with them through their transition to adulthood. Such brands offer must-have appeal to young people, rather than the sense of conviction relied on by traditional watchmaking, based on an objective, reasoned value proposition and a sense of heritage – and this gap between appeal and conviction appears to be pretty much unbridgeable. However, attempts are currently being made to close this gap in two different ways. One involves having a single brand with two separate horological offerings: for instance, TAG Heuer’s “full basket” strategy, ranging from its Connected watch through to its traditional mechanical watches. The other is more clear-cut: one brand with a number of sub-brands, each with its own particular target; witness Armani’s “controlled dispersion” with Armani, Emporio Armani, EA7, Giorgio Armani, Armani Jeans, and so on. The first strategy involves a broader line of fire; the second, more guns. Both approaches are correct in how they view young people: as fast-moving targets.

Different people therefore experience time differently. Emile Durkheim was already saying as much back in 1912. But the hyper-connectedness of twenty-first century youth has drastically changed their relationship with time. As we have seen, it is not an approximate average of child time and grown-up time. It is a means of emancipation. Above all, it is non-linear, embodied chiefly in community-based relationships and the massive use of images – and therefore of the ego. In this perspective, young people are bound to find instruments for telling the time utterly pointless. Where’s the sense in them having a chronograph to measure linear time when they want nothing to do with it? Young people’s time consists of compression (imposed on them) and decompression (when allowed). And it’s no accident that this decompression always defies time in some way: the night owl lifestyle of teenagers, rave parties that last an entire weekend, and suchlike. Nothing that marks out regular intervals in time, be it religion, timetables, or any kind of calendar, has any appeal at all for young people: they prefer time they can control – elastic time. This means that the traditional mechanical watch will continue to struggle to appeal to young people. It enshrines a bygone, linear, disconnected, personal world, whereas young people’s time is all about community, connection, and elasticity. For our forefathers, time was bound up with Kundera’s “fields of the possible”, the promise of a new dawn, and of continuous, sure, and certain progress. Today, young people’s time revolves around questions rather than answers: will I find a job? What will the planet be like in 50 years’ time? Who will I look to when my parents aren’t around any more?

Young people can no longer identify with the values embodied by “Daddy’s watch”, family heirlooms, and the vision of time these represent. This explains why the vintage style has won over an entire adult generation that knew something of that age of promise – and left many young people absolutely unmoved, since they perceived this style as nothing more than a relic of an era they will never see. Vintage style reassures those who experienced it directly, or saw it from fairly close at hand – but it’s a source of anxiety for young people, for whom it is nothing more than the vestiges of a lost world. All that said, some watchmaking ventures do appear promising. The smartwatch undeniably offers a promise of digital community that mechanical watchmaking cannot hope to fulfil. Timepieces with a link to achievements and clubs draw people together, thereby contributing to the community dimension that young people find so important. Those who play with time find the idea of owning a watch such as Yohan Blake’s or Usain Bolt’s very meaningful; both these men have used time to set themselves free. A timepiece where you can pause time RECOMMENDED READING would also be completely in keeping with the temporal elasticity so dear to young people – even though the current prices of such timepieces unfortunately make them unaffordable, simply because they are mechanical... THE MAGIC OF WATCHES Louis Nardin > watchprint.com

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Ruined, oppressed, plundered – Germany’s watchmaking stronghold has succeeded in rising from the ashes several times over. Its “quartz crises” were real wars, blockades and wholesale dismantling. As Swiss watchmaking suffers the throes of a deep-seated crisis, we travelled to Glashütte to investigate what has been accomplished there since the fall of the Wall. Everything had to be rebuilt from scratch and (almost) everything has been. Travel notes.

“W

e’re sorry we’re not Swiss. But we’re German!” This is the response of Yann Gamard, the owner of Glashütte Original, when asked if it was really possible to produce attractive non-Helvetic watches. His Saxon colleague Alexander Philipp from the Tutima brand backs this up: “There are already so many watch brands on the market. When a retailer already has ten Swiss brands in his portfolio, being German sets us apart a little.” So, how about travelling a little way north of Switzerland? At a time when the Swiss watchmaking industry is experiencing a slowdown of a magnitude it has not seen in a very long time, it does you good to cross the border and head for Glashütte, a small, quiet town surrounded by hills between Dresden and the Czech Republic. This temple of German watchmaking has experienced a remarkable expansion in recent times. One of the best examples of this is Nomos: ultra-edgy and much admired by urban chic aesthetes, the brand allows itself the luxury of offering in-house movements starting at 1,000 euros, and the irony of having a collection of made-in-Glashütte watches christened – Zurich.

Little Germans versus big Swiss The Glashütte watch industry, identifiable by its threequarter base plate developed by the “patriarch”, Ferdinand Adolph Lange, which distinguishes it from its Swiss cousins, acknowledged for the quality of its finishes and attention to detail, and praised for its moderate pricing, could almost teach Swiss watchmakers a thing or two. Although many Swiss businesses proclaim themselves to be “manufactures” while buying everything in, integrated skills have long been a reality in this Saxon valley – including control over their movement assortments. Nomos developed its own in collaboration with Dresden University of Technology. Nomos director Uwe Ahrendt enthusiastically shows us his new, automatic DUW 3001 movement, at the same time noting a difference in spirit of the “start-up” Glashütte with the well-established Swiss watch industry, for obvious reasons: “A giant and reliable movement maker like ETA, for instance, developed its mod-

as a hed d 1400 s i l b n esta arou ere. 6 150 shütte is aid that works h Gla : it is s glass city e were r the

els in the 1970s; they’re hard-wearing, tried-and-tested and they sell. So why change?” Nomos, which posted growth of more than 30% in 2015 and produces around 20,000 watches a year with a staff of 240 people, intends to double in size over the next three years. Like its fellow manufactures in the region, it can count on a solid domestic market, but also a breakthrough into the US market. It has just expanded its machine tool inventory (which is Swiss) in response to rising demand, and is set to build a second additional workshop.

Courteous respect and subtle digs As for A. Lange & Söhne, their new building is already built, inaugurated with pomp and ceremony by Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015. Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of this haute horlogerie brand, takes a look around him: “In Glashütte, almost all of us work in different segments, so there’s very little overlap between our niche markets and we’re all working to develop regional watchmaking, with certain quality standards. They differ, of course, depending on the price segment, but in my view, no cheap watch should ever come out of Glashütte. That would be detrimental to everybody.” At Glashütte Original, it is even explained to us that there exists a “gentlemen’s agreement” between the brands, according to which “one does not poach other companies’ employees”. So, an idyllic world where peace and serenity come before individual self-interest? Let’s not kid ourselves – behind the official discourse is the usual backbiting, and employees switch from one company to another, just like in Switzerland. The current CEOs of Nomos and Moritz Grossmann are, incidentally, formerly of A. Lange & Söhne, the veritable mothership of the watchmaking industry. While courteous respect reigns between the brands, competition is crystallising around the Glashütte legacy, in particular. Every brand has its pride and believes that it best embodies the original spirit of the place. All of them resumed their former names in the 1990s and 2000s. Yet this legacy cannot be taken for granted, given the turbulent history of the region, which has been reduced to rubble on several occasions. In fact, everything in Glashütte rose out of the ruins. Let us take a closer look.

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Why Glashütte?

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In the mid-nineteenth century, Glashütte was a destitute village. Its economy was deSaxony’s finest hours pendent on metal mining and the mines had dried up. Just as Ferdinand Adolph To understand the history of watchmakLange was asking for financial support ing in Glashütte, you have to start with from the king of Saxony, a development a visit to Dresden and the magnificent programme was being put in place for Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon of the several villages in that rural area. Eleven Zwinger Palace. Peter Plessmeyer, the cuvillages vied with one another to host this rator, welcomes us for a tour of its storied new watchmaking centre. The timing was Automaton clock “drumming bear” (around 1625) halls and its extraordinary mechanical just right, as with the advent of the indusand scientific objects, such as the seventeenth-century me- trial revolution, demand for pocket watches was rising. chanical bear with a drum. Glashütte, the poorest of the localities, was chosen partly beDesigned as an orangery for the king of Saxony, by 1728 the cause it offered to pay for some of the investment, but also Zwinger had evolved into a palace of science modelled on because of its proximity to Dresden. So it was that Lange similar entities in London and Paris: from this period, you arrived in 1845, accompanied by 15 apprentices and fellow can see a cabinet with giant burning mirrors and huge watchmakers; they were the “founding fathers” of the inlenses. “The palace gradually came to specialise in astron- dustry in Glashütte and combined their efforts to produce omy and, as the instruments demand great precision, that the movement typical of the region. However, for many paved the way for the development of watchmaking,” Peter years Lange and his successors would continue to inscribe Plessmeyer explains. “Since Dresden was not a major watch- ‘Dresden’ on their watch dials. making centre, the city acquired its know-how from outside, To start with, Glashütte was a carbon copy of the Swiss watch innotably from British designers of naval chronometers.” dustry – the result of Ferdinand Adolph Lange’s discovery of the The Saxon watchmaker Johann Heinrich Seyffert (1751-1818), in établissage system during his travels in Switzerland. By around particular, set out to rival his English counterparts. He gave the year 1900, this loosely grouped manufacture comprised rise to a whole line of great and extremely productive watch- some one hundred tiny workshops. But gradually, the “copy” makers, as the teacher of Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes began to develop its own interpretation of watchmaking, the (1785-1845), who was himself the mentor of Ferdinand Adolph most famous characteristic being the three-quarter base plate, Lange (1815-1875). Together, the two men designed the famous a “sandwich” design, whereas the Swiss tended to work more Fünf-Minuten-Uhr in Dresden’s opera house which, with its two with bridges. As new markets opened up, the tiny Saxon town huge rectangular apertures, still influences design at Lange. began to carve out an international reputation for itself.

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UP D G O SA LA W N SH N D ÜT S T

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Although the mentor dreamed in vain of industrialising watch production, his pupil did succeed, after countless trips to Paris, London and Switzerland and the filing of numerous patents. Our next appointment is at the German Watch Museum, inaugurated by the Swatch Group in a former watchmaking school in Glashütte.

t rke ma of l a i g 0 o soc ndin 199 nsition t and fou GmbH. Tra nomy Uhren eco Lange the

When Switzerland rebuilt Glashütte Things fell apart at the end of the Second World War, when the east of Germany was occupied by the Red Army. Glashütte, an important supplier for the army, was bombed at the end of the war. The Soviets loaded all the production machinery onto trains bound for the USSR, to increase their own watchmaking capacity, and the village had to start again from scratch. In the planned economy, all the Glashütte companies were forced to merge to create a watchmaking conglomerate, Glashütter Uhrenbetrieb (GUB), for mass production. Exports to West Germany resumed in the 1960s. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990, there were no more than around 70 people still working in the watch industry in Glashütte. Yet another new start was called for! Two men, Günter Blümlein and Walter Lange, joined forces to launch quality production anew and revive the tradition of fine watchmaking in Glashütte. The names of the past re-emerged. And behind them, Swiss investment, with the takeover of Glashütte Original and Union Glashütte by the Swatch Group, and that of A. Lange & Söhne by Richemont at the turn of the century. Today, the two most important brands in this German village are in Swiss hands. From the outset, the support was not solely financial, but also technological. Ideas circulate between Geneva, Le Sentier, Bienne, Schaffhausen and Glashütte. “The watchmaking histories of Switzerland and Glashütte have always between closely intertwined,” stresses Yann Gamard. “Now, we have our place at the heart of Baselworld, and we’re proud to be able to be there, vying with the great Swiss names!” Incidentally, it is strangely ironic that the museum bearing the name of Nicolas Hayek, the “saviour of the Swiss watch industry”, is located in – Germany.

Towards joint lobbying? Today in Glashütte, three brands occupy centre stage, with more than 200 employees and global visibility: A. Lange & Söhne (Richemont), Glashütte Original (Swatch Group) and Nomos. But behind them, a buzzing backstage of smaller brands is also carrying on the region’s watchmaking tradition, most of them bearing well-known names from the past: Moritz Grossmann, Tutima, Bruno Söhnle and MühleGlashütte. As for Wempe, they have installed their observatory in the town, providing the equivalent of the COSC, the official Swiss chronometer testing institute. So where do these independent brands stand? Thilo Mühle of the eponymous brand believes that they need to team up to find the best sales opportunities in the face of the large groups: “Each brand is doing its own development and losing money in the process. We’re stronger together, for example when buying tools or materials, or when negotiating with the distribution networks in Germany.” For the moment, no such alliance has emerged.

So why not join forces to promote the visibility of the Glashütte name internationally? “I believe that the fact that all the brands here bear the name of Glashütte on the dial is already a considerable feat as far as promoting the region is concerned, and it also means that we’re proud to be here,” replies Wilhelm Schmid. “The name is well known to all enlightened watch-lovers. Among the broader public, I wonder how many people have heard of the Joux Valley?”

No bling-bling, no stars Another characteristic also strikes you when you visit this Saxon valley. While the Swiss watch ecosystem has spawned a whole array of futuristic, extravagant and ultra-modern brands during the past fifteen years, such as Richard Mille, Urwerk and MB&F, Glashütte has not experienced any comparable breach with tradition, although it has experienced fundamental breaks in its history – the Second World War and the Cold War – of a kind unknown in Switzerland. Here again, Wilhelm Schmid’s response is: “We’re only 25 years old, we’re still a start-up ourselves! Today, Glashütte occupies the place it deserves on the world watchmaking map: we shall never be as important as Switzerland, because we’re just a few brands in a tiny town. But I see an exciting future: every brand has to contribute to the success of this little valley, each in its own segment, face to face with its own competitors. Each and every one of them has to explain that a watch from here is different from a watch from elsewhere.” So does that mean there is no room for any new start-ups? “One day there will be a Philippe Dufour of Glashütte, maybe one of our current apprentices, but for the moment we’re too young. There are already lots of start-ups here!” Incidentally, the very young average age of the watchmakers in Glashütte is another characteristic trait – several brands have their own watchmaking schools. Yann Gamard supplies his version: “We’re in a region that has survived through solidarity and doesn’t offer much scope for individualism. So I’m not sure that we’ll see any stars of watchmaking, really big names like the ones that have emerged in the industry in Switzerland in recent years. Here, it’s anything but bling-bling.” Thilo Mühle offers a more nuanced opinion: “There will be scope for young watchmakers and start-ups, but not if we follow the Glashütte tradi- RECOMMENDED READING tion, the niche is already saturated. In fact, the brands that were relaunched after 2004 have had far greater trouble developing than their predecessors.” Entrepreneurial ventures can indeed also end in failure in this Saxon stronghold, as demonstrated by the bankruptcy of the C. H. Wolf brand A. LANGE & SÖHNE, THE WATCHMAKERS last spring. In Glashütte’s streets, filled with OF DRESDEN Reinhard Meis whispers of the past, some ghosts are born again as others are laid to rest. > watchprint.com

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O N V SE I L E M V L A ER A N A G UF L

Zeitwerk

Nomos, the ‘aesthete’

A. Lange & Söhne, the ‘mothership’

A very bright, airy building. Contemporary art works on the walls. Toilets lit with blue and red neon lighting! Nomos means ‘rule’ or ‘law’ in ancient Greek. And the law that the brand follows is that of design: extremely pared-down, careful design. “Our identity is strongly bound up with the Werkbund movement,” explains Uwe Ahrendt, CEO of the brand that was founded in 1990 by Roland Schwertner, again on the basis of a name dating from the early twentieth century. The brand developed its own in-house movements over ten years ago; seven calibres figure in their ten collections, which are differentiated mainly by their indices. The brand’s best-seller is its Tangente model. Nomos also offers square watches (Tetra), as well as talking pieces (Lux and Lambda) and, since 2015, the automatic Neomatik versions based on the new DUW 3001 calibre, and the coloured variants, Champagne and Nachtblau. Prices range from 1,000 to over 10,000 euros. The brand is positioned in the accessible and edgy manufacture-watch niche. Moreover, its design has earned Nomos several prizes, including the prestigious Red Dot Award. “Historically, people referred to us as the architects’ brand,” Uwe Ahrendt goes on to explain. “The combination of Glashütte know-how and the beautiful designs of Berlinerblau in Berlin (see p. 52), which is a global cultural capital, is the heart of our production.” Clarity, purity, minimalism!

Not content with having initiated a whole watchmaking industry in Glashütte in 1845, the manufacture launched by Ferdinand Adolph Lange also revived the watchmaking tradition there in the 1990s, under the impetus of his descendent, Walter Lange. Now in his nineties, he still roams the brand-new corridors of his company, which is owned by the Richemont Group. The brand, the signature of which is the dual-assembly procedure applied to the timepieces, has gone upmarket in recent years and produced ever-greater numbers of grand complications. Its output is estimated at around 5,000 items a year, in five collections: Lange 1, 1815, Saxonia, Zeitwerk and Richard Lange. The new building in Glashütte, comprising 5,400 square metres of production space, was inaugurated in 2015. “Bear in mind that the objective was not to fundamentally expand the brand,” cautions CEO Wilhelm Schmid. “To understand the main reason for this investment, you have to look back to 2012, when we found ourselves at a crossroads. We had to decide if we wanted to stay as we were forever, without any scope for alternatives, or if we wanted to be prepared, to head towards a future full of alternatives.” As Wilhelm Schmid knows, fine watchmaking in Germany is not immune to the difficult market conditions affecting its Swiss cousins. As he admits, despite working for nearly thirty years at different management levels in different sectors, he has never experienced a business environment as challenging and complex as today. The main challenge facing the manufacture is that of maintaining rarity. What are the limits for preserving exclusivity? Do you select your buyers? “No, that would be arrogant. Our sole limit is our production capacity. We offer 70 references and 30 calibres: those are natural limits. I could increase output tenfold tomorrow if I only made one movement, but that would not be a sustainable strategy.”

Tangente Neomatik Nachtblau

Dreams sound good. Especially when they come true.

Hommage Minute Repeater The Hommage Minute Repeater with its acoustic time signal is the most exclusive and demanding watch that Tutima has ever built. Never before has such a complication been created in Glashütte. In rose gold or platinum.

TUTIMA UHRENFABRIK GMBH NDL. GLASHÜTTE 01768 Glashütte/Sa. · Deutschland · Tel. +49 35053 320 20 · info@tutima.com · www.tutima.com

Senator Excellence

Benu Power Reserve

Glashütte Original, the ‘heir’

Moritz Grossmann, the ‘intransigent’

When you enter the corporate headquarters of Glashütte Original, you are surprised by the huge, very bright, contemporary atrium. Nicolas Hayek decided to invest here at the turn of the century. “He was always very attached to the concept of vertical integration, and when he came here he saw more than a brand; he saw a manufacture,” CEO Yann Gamard explains. “Like at Breguet, he saw people who lived and breathed watchmaking.” Producing models of great formal elegance and with “fair pricing” as its watchword, the brand is the historical successor of the conglomerate GUB of the communist period; incidentally, it is reproducing timepieces inspired by those of the 1960s and 1970s, in a rare example of Eastern Bloc models being revived. “We never died! We are the sole brand to have survived in Glashütte over the past 170 years. Our cousins all around us bought back or relaunched a name, but the continuity is here,” boasts the CEO. Producing more than 10,000 watches a year, some on machines dating from the East German period, when vertical integration was also widespread, Glashütte Original stands apart from its great rival, A. Lange & Söhne, on several counts, including its use of steel and silicon, and far more automatic movements. The Calibre 36, recently launched in the Senator Excellence model after several years of R&D (in partnership with Switzerland, including Nivarox), is the manufacture’s flagship product. Yann Gamard provides some details: “One of the greatest achievements is its power reserve of 100 hours. And we’re going to add modules, it won’t stay a simple three-hander. For us, it’s a movement that is paving the way to the future.”

This is the first brand you see on arriving at the station. This young brand with its old name occupies an impressive building overlooking Glashütte. Moritz Grossmann, a colleague of Ferdinand Adolph Lange, wrote a number of watchmaking treatises, including one of major importance, on the construction of a “simple but perfect mechanical watch”, which is close to the philosophy of the current brand. Its founder, Christine Hutter, arrived in Glashütte from Bavaria in 1996. A qualified watchmaker, she worked at Lange, Wempe and even Maurice Lacroix before launching the Moritz Grossmann brand, which she started from her kitchen in 2008! “We take traditional elements and bring them into the twenty-first century,” Christine Hutter explains. “My basic idea was to continue the formal purity of Moritz Grossmann pocket watches. I also like integrating pure craftsmanship into the watches, to make them genuine works of art with high-quality finishes. Every gold watch is hand-engraved. Another of our characteristics is that we make our own hands, like Moritz Grossmann did back then.” Ultra-exclusive (an output of fewer than 500 watches a year), vertically integrated to a large extent and intransigent on standards, the brand did not deliver its products to market until 2013, and for the moment has only around twenty retail outlets worldwide. Its two biggest markets are Germany and Japan. It has three collections – Benu, Atum and Tefnut – with prices starting at around 10,000 euros and rising far higher. “We are a quality alternative to the established brands, even in a time of crisis. A Moritz Grossmann can be as worthwhile as a Patek Philippe, a Jaeger-LeCoultre or an A. Lange & Söhne.”

Saxon One

Tutima, the ‘high-flier’

ProMare

Mühle-Glashütte, the ‘athlete’

Founded in 1927 by Dr. Ernst Kurtz, Tutima is the successor Nautical measuring instruments in the hills of Saxony – that to the UROFA-UFAG brand, which supplied watches to the is the niche chosen by Mühle-Glashütte, a company that was German air force. The family-owned company resumed manu- founded in 1869, relaunched in 1994 and is today headed by facturing operations in its founding location in 2011. Proposing a representative of the fifth generation, Thilo Mühle. Even technical and sporty timepieces, Tutima celtoday, you can still find Mühle-Glashütte ebrated its comeback with the Hommage, quartz clocks on numerous large merchant “In the evening my the first minute-repeater wristwatch ever deships. But this side of the business now repveloped and produced entirely in Glashütte. father was a capitalist, resents no more than 10% of turnover, the Hand-wound Calibre 617, which was comcompany having turned to manufacturing but by day he was pletely developed by the manufactory and wristwatches, of which it produces around chief executive of is fabricated on its premises, serves as the 8,000 a year, at prices ranging from 1,500 to basis for the movement encased inside the 3,500 euros, based on Sellita movements. an East German Hommage. Its main market is Germany, followed by state company! It’s “Collectors are particularly interested in China. difficult to imagine our minute repeater limited to 30 items. But “Until 1972 we had our own company, but we have quite a broad collection, since we like many others in East Germany we were for people who didn’t start at 1,900 euros. Our mid-range is situnationalised and integrated into GUB, grow up here, you ated between 2,000 and 5,000 euros,” says where my father was in charge of sales for have to set it in the Alexander Philipp, director of the Glashütte eastern Europe,” Thilo Mühle recalls. “In workshops. the evening my father was a capitalist, but context of the time.” The brand is a two-headed entity, as the by day he was chief executive of an East Thilo Mühle Delecate family which owns the brand has German state company! It’s difficult to imfacilities in Ganderkesee in the west of agine for people who didn’t grow up here, Germany, where Tutima established itself at the end of you have to set it in the context of the time.” the Second World War. Tutima has developed new “made in What makes a maritime watch? “First and foremost, it’s an Glashütte” collections: in 2013 it introduced the Saxon One, the easy-to-read dial. Legibility is in our DNA, it was already a Grand Flieger, the M2 and the Patria, four new watch families. crucial prerequisite for our measuring instrument business. What sets Mühle-Glashütte apart most of all from the other brands in the village is its sports collections. And its price.”

It sounds like a magic formula: take some watchmakers who have been established in Glashütte for six generations and get them talking with edgy young designers from all over the world who are headquartered in Berlin. What you get is the modus operandi of Nomos, which has outsourced its design and visual art department, called Berlinerblau, to the German capital. It is a kind of think tank of 30 people from tomorrow’s watchmaking world. Not content with just designing the watches, they also develop the company website, photograph the watches, shoot promotional videos and create the brand’s exhibition booths and watch packaging. Its bold, coherent identity is instantly recognisable.

The Berlinerblau / Nomos workshops in the German capital city.

“Unlike Switzerland, Glashütte was ruined several times over: it had to undergo a revival after the Second World War and the Cold War. As different political or religious regimes were forever being imposed on them, the inhabitants developed great resilience and the capacity to adapt. There is little resistance to change. That’s why any new technology, such as the use of silicon, is well accepted,” explains Yann Gamard of Glashütte Original. The manufacture’s brand-new movement, Calibre 36 – three years in development – has a silicon balance spring. Conversely, A. Lange & Söhne, which manufactures its balance springs inhouse, refuses to use silicon. Why? “We want watchmakers to be able to repair our watches in 100 years’ time!”

Exclusivity and niche marketing Glashütte watches are even rarer than Swiss watches, which themselves account for scarcely more than 3% of global volume. And the watchmakers in this Saxon village have no intention of engaging in a race for volume. Their strategy of rarity, exclusivity and niche marketing seems to be succeeding. As Wilhelm Schmid at A. Lange & Söhne explains: “I believe that our strategy of being exclusive rather than well-known will help us face up to the difficult market conditions. Exclusivity is the new luxury. And we have proven that our watches are able to retain their value over time.”

TH L R G EA EE F U L AS D S F T U HÜ T OR R E T E ’S Berlinerblau: Glashütte in Berlin

New technologies: the silicon of Glashütte Original

SA T G H N EN E Ç O ER N N AT E IO X N T

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In a watchmaking region that has struggled since the 1990s and been severely affected by the crisis currently gripping its Swiss neighbour, several new brands have recently emerged, such as Utinam, Lornet, Humbert-Droz, and Phenomen. The news of the compulsory liquidation of Pequignet, a cherished symbol of the region, has sent shock waves throughout the community. But the greats of yesteryear, such as Lip, Dodane, Herbelin, and Saint-Honoré are also attempting to reinvent themselves. Some, like Philippe Lebru of Utinam, are seeking to make their energy infectious. To this end, the designer’s boutique is also home to other watchmakers who share his revolutionary ambitions. In particular, they aim to return the region of FrancheComté to the forefront of innovation and style. A pipe dream?

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tinam’ is Besançon’s Latin motto. It means ‘if only’, and expresses a fervent wish. Philippe Lebru chose the word to name his ultra-contemporary clock brand, 100% manufactured in Franche-Comté. In fact, it’s a fitting name, as behind his strong personality, impeccable style and thick beard is a region that wants to wake up and not just be used as a talent pool for the watchmaking industry of neighbouring Switzerland, or as a specialist in after-sales service. All the more so as numerous watchmakers in the Franche-Comté region have paid the price for the slowdown across the border. Here, it’s a question of genuine creativity. Other big names in the region are also trying to return to their former glory, including some featured in the Utinam boutique, located opposite the Museum of Time in the centre of Besançon – such as Dodane and Lip, a symbol which has returned its assembly process to Besançon after years of Chinese production. Philippe Lebru doesn’t have their heritage, but has chosen to build on a regional symbol to offer an updated ‘retro-futurist’ version that can, unlike its older sibling, be found in the trendiest of lounges. The designer witnessed the region’s difficulties in the 1990s, symbolised by the 1994 collapse of France Ebauches, the last major European manufacturer of watch movements outside of Switzerland. After his business studies, he gained some of his first work experience at the movement manufacturer, which he then left to start his own business, one year before its collapse. The experience has certainly left its mark.

it was worthy of the clockmaking greats. In fact, Philippe Lebru invented and patented the self-balancing pendulum movement, which is suspended on an axis, keeping it perfectly vertically aligned. No more need for tedious adjustment to balance the movement’s position in relation to the ground. The energy stored in the mechanism is slowly released by the to-and-fro of the balance, providing a power reserve of eight days. All of the wheels and arbours are exposed and contribute to the aesthetic of the clock, which is also available as a wall clock. The most striking of Philippe Lebru’s creations, after the romantic Hortence and cubic Lala models, is the sparkling, sixtiesstyle ‘Pop Up’ collection, which is available in a range of shades from the brightest colours to classic black and white, via shades of plum and concrete grey. The clocks cost between 3,000 and 14,000 euros, and Utinam produces between 80 and 100 each year.

Franche-Comté out to (re)conquer Japan

Philippe Lebru knows how to make the most of the region’s talent, from experienced Lip employees to the younger graduates of the Ecole d’Horlogerie de Morteau. ‘My apprentice Dylan, who I’ve been training for four years, wants to start his own watch business. It must be contagious!’ With a dozen points of sale across France, he is planning on going international. In Japan, Philippe Lebru has recently installed the largest hanging wall clock ever designed, on the front of a women’s luxury concept store in Tokyo. This monumental red, white, and stainless steel piece, named AoyAmA (‘Blue Mountain’) and The flashy red ‘Pop Up’ clock imagined by The post-France Ebauches era hanging nine metres high, is four metres Philippe Lebru of Utinam, revisiting an old long, with a tangle of circular gears, pendusymbol of Franche-Comté. ‘I always wanted to be an entrepreneur,’ stresslums, and wheels 2.3 metres and 1.5 metres es Philippe Lebru. ‘After leaving France Ebauches, I spent a in diameter. ‘Millions of Japanese citizens can now discover decade designing watches for others, but I also worked in the expertise of Besançon.’ the aviation industry.’ The turning point came in 2005, when While the designer doesn’t consider himself a watchmaker his creative agency found itself in a tough economic situa- in the traditional sense of the word, he wants to contribtion, and he was asked to design a trophy symbolising the ute to the watchmaking renaissance in Franche-Comté and Franche-Comté region as a prize for the four most innovative across France. This is why his flagship store is home not only companies in the region. to the historical Besançon house of Dodane, with its highlyIt was then that he came up with the idea of reinventing active fifth-generation representatives Cédric and Laurent, the once-venerated Franche-Comté clock. His first creation, whose chronographs are used by the French air force, but called ‘Hortence’, was impressive: brushed stainless steel, 2.2 also to newcomers FOB Paris, three young Parisians whose metres tall and weighing 25 kilos, featuring an entirely sus- radically avant-garde timepieces are unique in their ability pended movement and counter weight. Elegant and stately, to turn into uber-trendy pocket watches.

Anthony Simao, Mikael Bourgeois and Benoît Monnet, the co-founders of start-up Lornet, cooperate with a network of local suppliers. The LA-01 by Lornet

Towards new Made in France manufacturing capabilities? In autumn, the successive creation of three brands revitalised the region. First up is Lornet, which launched its first model, the LA-01, in November. The three co-founders launched their business using equity financing. ‘It’s the only watch to be developed, manufactured, and assembled in France! We source almost all of the components from the Franche-Comté region and we want to put our partners in the spotlight, as well as being transparent with our customers about where our components come from,’ explains Benoît Monnet, co-founder of Lornet. The result? A watch Made in France priced at 5,400 euros, with a steel and aluminium barrel shape, as well as a visible mechanism stamped with the viper’s head symbol of the Besançon Observatory. Only the escapement, the barrel, and the reversers do not come from the region, where they are simply not available. Is it just a matter of time before Besançon has full manufacturing capabilities? The momentum for projects to bring about the return of Made in France movements is gathering, at Lip among others. The definitive disappearance of Pequignet, which was until now the only regional player with calibre expertise in the form of its Calibre Royal (although in a higher price range), and which still hopes to find a buyer, would leave a void. Laurent Katz, who took over the brand five years ago, spent considerable effort getting the company, founded in 1973 by Emile Pequignet, back on its feet.

Another newcomer is Humbert-Droz, launched by the family workshops of Reparalux, a specialist in after-sales service. The brand has already designed three models, the HD1, HD2, and HD3. The Humbert-Droz family decided to move into producing finished products to celebrate its 60th anniversary in the watchmaking business. The models, with their classic design, feature automatic calibres from Swiss brand ETA but also from France Ebauches (!) and are notable for their affordable price, from 390 euros. Last but not least from this trio of brands, hungry to restore the region’s watchmaking reputation, is Phenomen, with its avant-garde and extravagantly-styled RECOMMENDED READING models (see them in the Time.Keeper extraordinary watches gallery). The young brand has developed its own escapement (patent pending) in another stepping stone towards an independent watch industry in the region. The first watch designed by the four co-founders will nonetheless feature some Swiss components. The Phenomen LE PAYS DES HORLOGERS project and first prototypes should come to Jean-Pierre Viennet life in the form of a finished model this year. > watchprint.com

WATCHES, CLOCKS JEWELLERY, STONES & PEARLS HORLOGERIE, BIJOUTERIE & JOAILLERIE

HALL

www.emotionfrance.com

Korloff

1.1 A63

Messika Joaillerie

1.1 D59

Michel Herbelin

1.1 A59

Pierre Lannier

1.2 A27

SMB

1.2 E45

Anode

2.2 F40

Berthet Horlogerie

2.2 F38

FOB Paris

2.2 F31

G&L Watches and Accessories

2.2 C43

GL Altesse

2.1 L02

Groupe Schmittgall

2.1 M40

Lydia Courteille

2.2 C36

Manufacture Vuillemin

2.2 F41

Marcel Robbez Masson

2.1 A61

Porchet

2.1 L58

Robur

2.0 F67

TWC

2.0 C75

Utinam

2.2 F44

Verlux

2.0 K47

Waskoll

2.1 G80

Xme

2.0 J05

Alain Boite

3.1 D25

Garaude

3.1 A09

Piat

3.1 D01

Princ Marc

3.1 A07

Michel Herbelin, the survivor

Dodane: from Swiss Made to Made in France

This company, founded in 1947 and with production based in France, is a rare gem: it’s the only company to have been based in Franche-Comté without interruption since it was established. It is still owned by the same family today. What’s their secret? ‘We anticipated the rise of quartz, but above all, we wanted to become a “real” brand with a strong image based around the founder,’ replies head of marketing Maxime Herbelin. ‘80% of our models are quartz, because the majority of our sales are to women.’ The two flagship models are the Newport for men and the Antarès for women. All the movements are Swiss, as Herbelin is supplied by Ronda, ETA and Sellita. The company produces between 80,000 and 90,000 pieces per year (compared with up to 300,000 in the 1960s), at an average price of between 300 and 1,000 euros. Half of its sales are within France.

Dodane, led by the sixth generation of watchmakers in the family, specialises in military and aviation watches as well as on-board chronographs for the French air force. In the company’s lifetime, it has produced up to 120,000 mechanical watches a year. Having taken a break from watchmaking between 1994 and 2001 following bankruptcy, it now produces an average of 600 per year. Dodane released its Type 21 model in 2001. ‘At the time, the model was Swiss Made, but this didn’t really make sense to me. From 2008, we returned to a Made in France model before launching the Type 23,’ Cédric Dodane tells us. ‘Essentially, there aren’t many advantages to producing watches in France, especially if you’re looking for finance from banks, but it’s still our identity! And you can’t forget that the watch industry was French before becoming Swiss.’ ‘I started from zero, from a financially ruined family that had lost its production facility. But in exchange, we gained our freedom and were no longer constrained by the need to safeguard dozens of jobs.’

Saint-Honoré retreats to Switzerland

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Unlike Herbelin, its historical neighbour in Charquemont, Saint-Honoré, decided to move entirely to a Swiss Made model and set up its production on the other side of the border, in La Chaux-de-Fonds. As with their neighbours, their collections are mostly for women, with prices between 400 and 2,000 francs. But there is one difference that undoubtedly explains the brand’s strategy: some 80% of its sales are outside France, where the Swiss Made label is a huge advantage in comparison. ‘We have a Parisian name but we are Swiss Made,’ emphasises Thierry Frésard, who represents the fourth generation in the family company. ‘In Charquemont, France, our historical home, we produce accessories and manage distribution for the European markets. Our best-selling model is the Opera, and our special feature is our interchangeable straps.’

Lip returns to Besançon The major difference at the most famous company in the history of Besançon is that it has returned its assembly process to Besançon after years of Chinese production. Certainly, the cases are Asian and the mechanical movements are Japanese, since France has (for the time being) little to offer in these areas. To overcome the issue, Lip has started a project to resurrect a mechanical calibre that was previously in production, in collaboration with a subcontractor. ‘We are in the process of opening many points of sale, notably in Paris and the Franche-Comté region,’ explains Philippe Bérard, the new owner. Some people think that we’re moving a bit fast, with the launch of several iconic models such as the Henriette, De Gaulle, Himalaya and Nautic-Ski. It’s better to think things through a little more in the future. Overall, we have a good presence in France and significant orders from Japan.’ In 2016, Lip produced more than 30,000 watches. ‘The Henriette model in particular is a pleasant surprise. With its nostalgic name, it’s popular with hipsters. Fashionable young people are paradoxically enthusiastic about Lip’s collections. We rely a lot on nostalgia, but we have to move on.’

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f the most expert Japanese collectors or Singaporean aficionados know of Besançon, it’s without doubt the ‘fault’ of Alain Silberstein. And yet the watchmaker and maverick is far too independent to become the spokesperson for a region in which he shone but with which he has never been naturally associated for his own watchmaking work. Today, Alain Silberstein has put his brand on hold, but in the eyes of any watch connoisseur, he remains one of the founders of the ‘new watchmaking’. It’s a term that didn’t even exist in 1987 when he presented his works in Basel for the first time. What a shock that was! An aesthetic shock, with the appearance of a never-before-seen design with thick, round watches, the use of primary colours – red, blue, yellow – forbidden by all the other watchmakers, and a technical shock, with the introduction of tourbillons that at the time were reserved for a few hyper-traditional brands. ‘The watch-making architect’, as he describes himself, has shaken up the sleepy world of watchmaking and opened the way for all manner of experimentation, proving that it is possible to adapt mechanical watches, which had become technically obsolete, to cutting-edge modernity. What does this visionary make of the current situation in watchmaking, confronted with a crisis that seems to represent a paradigm shift?

‘The Swiss made the mistake of trying to create global watches that looked the same in every country, when they should have prioritised a local approach, as I did at the time in Japan where I had up to 22 boutiques. But having said that, there will always be both mass-produced and artisanal products, a little like with haute couture and with wine, as can be seen with “garage wines”. ‘But the problem for independent watchmakers today is that there aren’t any more independent distributors. Watchmaking relied on independent retailers, partners who physically knew their market. Today, for independent designers, there are little more than a dozen representatives who fit this description. ‘That said, I’m paying close attention to what’s happening with crowdfunding. I find it much healthier than working with financiers and intermediaries. Crowdfunding establishes a form of co-creation, a sharing of ideas and dreams. The proof is in the number of incredible new ideas that are being born while everyone else is obsessing over the crisis. The desire to create watches is certainly there, led by young people. ‘For me, another striking phenomenon is the disappearance of the notion of the brand in favour of the notion of the product, of creating capsule collections. We’re witnessing a turbulent and fascinating time. Several brands are yet to realise that their clientele is ageing alongside them. All the master plans have gone out of the window. Amazon, for example, is hurtling through the luxury market, taking margins of 12%, which risks rocking the boat in many areas. It jeopardises the practice of multiplying the margins by a factor of 7 or 8, as the major brands still do. The notion of service is once again a priority, having been largely neglected during the commercial madness of the last few decades. And then in terms of style, what I find most interesting is the sort of new classicism that’s made a comeback, in the sense that the balance has been restored between movement and style, which is a move away from the terribly show-off period we’ve just been through. We saw too many crazy products that didn’t work. Now, we’re returning to true watchmaking values that welcome all sorts of experiments in form, but do so with respect: respect for the customer, for watchmaking values, and for service.’ When asked whether he intends to return to watchmaking, he answers mysteriously, ‘I would like to attract the third generation.’ Clearly, we’ll be hearing more from Alain Silberstein.

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Consultant and instructor Gianfranco Ritschel is one of the most knowledgeable insiders in the watch business. A veteran of Rolex, Bucherer, Piaget and Sowind Group, this independent trainer in watchmaking knowledge and sales techniques shares ten pieces of advice to help retailers improve returns in the current market turmoil.

Spotting new brands with strong potential: It is wise to be on the look-out for new opportunities beyond the basic brands in your portfolio. Engaging with a watchmaking start-up means taking a commercial risk, but if it sits just right in a properly diverse portfolio of brands, it can raise turnover and profits thanks to better margins. Let’s not overlook the fact that customers’ buying behaviour is changing all the time and so are their expectations.

Choose between range breadth or depth: By limiting your portfolio of brands to a strict minimum, you are sure of total mastery of each brand and their models and will be able to present them to your customers correctly. Your range will therefore have depth for each brand. With breadth of range – lots of brands, in other words – you will probably attract some additional customers, but it will make the task of your sales staff much more difficult, as they have to assimilate all the special features of every model. Also, it is difficult to have a representative offering for each and every brand: you will be pressurised by the brands, who will not tolerate the fact that you restrict yourself to the best sellers, with the result that you’ll become less important for the brand in question.

Accept and make the most of your role of “filter” for the customers: When I go to a good restaurant, the chef makes sure he tells me that he went to the market himself to select the best ingredients. All too rare are the retailers who really regard themselves as what they are, “curators”, with choices that they stand by and defend: “I did not take this model because it did not correspond to my aesthetic criteria or to what I want to offer my customers.” These biases have genuine value and you have to know how to put them across to stand out from the crowd. They make every boutique interesting and unique.

Customer service as a source of profit: It costs less to make turnover with an existing customer than to find a new customer. And the way to do it is through the type and quality of the service, which should pay off in the form of a worthwhile customer relationship. We have to get away from the notion that “we’re there to put problems right”. Who, today, notifies their customer when it’s time for a service, supplies replacement watches or keeps a maintenance logbook – the tools of a long-term service strategy? Who helps customers to log and photograph their watch collection? Who offers insurance policies, warranty extensions or other services that go beyond the simple selling of watches? In my opinion, there is a multitude of ideas to be developed, along the lines of the automotive or IT sectors.

Social media – an opportunity to communicate for next to nothing: Many retailers are still at the stage of sending out an annual newsletter to their customers. But social media and digitisation have changed consumer expectations. Instead of communication, we have to think in terms of permanent interconnection. That’s an opportunity for creative retailers, because this new kind of communication is much cheaper, as well as being fast and dynamic! Customers are so interconnected today that they have turned into information hunters. We have to stimulate that curiosity.

Winning the battle of boutique design: There will always be a deep schism between the retailers’ desire to manage their own space and that of the brands, who want their universe to be recognised. There is no right or wrong, everybody has to find their own solution depending on the goodwill of the different parties involved. But pay attention to the evolution of experiential marketing, which introduces the notion of stage-managing sales to generate a feeling of well-being and stimulate customers to buy. Learn how to surprise your customers with a unique atmosphere.

Find out about your customers, not what they want to buy! In the past, the salesperson tried to find out as quickly as possible what the customer wanted to buy. The smartest among them achieved their end by posing a series of open questions to channel the customers’ choices. Today, we tend to say rather: “Find out about the customer and you will know what he or she likes.” That calls for a fair amount of emotional intelligence and tact on the part of the sales staff, but it is far more effective and interesting. It enables you to sell better, more, and more often.

What are the things that the internet cannot offer? Clearly, more and more watches are being sold over the internet, and the high-end brands can no longer stand in its way. Even worse, they are themselves preparing for online sales. This competition with conventional retail is worrying and requires action. We either start selling online too (in a way that is compatible with distribution contracts), or else we take advantage of what the internet cannot offer – the “touch and feel” that is so important for wearable objects with an emotional impact, and for the immediacy of purchasing.

Replace “price” with “value”: Customers are negotiating prices more and more, and that is becoming virtually the only point at which the sales advisor plays an active role. That is a serious mistake! First of all, try to understand why the customer is asking for a discount: is it a cultural habit? Does she want an unbeatable bargain? Does he not understand the value of the product? Then, apply a very simple rule: the sales advisor should take pains to raise the “perceived value” of the product instead of lowering the price. With the right arguments, customers’ perceptions can change and sales be brought to a positive conclusion. Incidentally, that is why the sales advisor should never use the term “price”! By using the term “value”, you can mould it and raise it in the customer’s eyes. Whereas a price is written in figures and is immutable.

The way you treat customers can be more important than the choice of product! If you compare experiences in restaurants, planes or hotels, it is easy to see how crucial ceremony is. The little attentions paid by the staff, empathy, sensitivity and the ability to tell a story are essential factors. Has your mouth never watered at a waiter’s poetic description of the evening menu?

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The roots of “Watch Valley” are not only Protestant, as the popular image would have it. Jews – from Alsace in particular – contributed just as much to the emergence of the Swiss watchmaking industry as the Huguenots. A historical round-up.

came to watchmaking through trade, often with the objective of mechanising watchmaking. Thanks to their international relations and commercial expertise, the arrival of Jewish families in Switzerland galvanised watch sales. Among the families from Hégenheim, we find the names of Bloch, Brunschweig, Dietisheim, Dreyfus, Franck, Gintzburger, Grumbach, Lévy, Nordmann, Picard, Schwob and Weil.

n pre-1866 Switzerland, Jews were subjected to severe discrimination and made up only a tiny part of the population. The Federal Constitution of 1848 granted freedom of movement and freedom to settle anywhere on Swiss territory to the entire Christian population, but not to Jews. It was only in 1866 that they were granted freedom to settle where they pleased and full civic rights. The new Federal Constitution of 1874 finally granted them freedom of conscience and worship. It was these latter provisions which triggered the first wave of immigration. When Alsace was annexed by Germany in 1871, Alsatians of all confessions were obliged to choose German nationality or leave the country. Numerous Alsatian Jews and, later, Jews from eastern Europe, left for the Jura region around Neuchâtel and Bern, or Geneva and Avenches. In the French village of Hégenheim, located just outside Basel and home to a Jewish community, there lived a handful of Basel-based Jewish watchmakers who were refused the right to reside in Switzerland. The other inhabitants were cattle merchants, cloth merchants or watch dealers. Some of them gradually

Hailing from Allschwil near Basel, the Diedesheim family emigrated to Hégenheim back in 1694. Over time, its patronym was transformed to Didisheim, Diedisheim, Ditisheim, Dietisheim and Didesheim. In 1850, the brothers Marc and Emmanuel Didisheim founded a watchmaking company at Saint-Imier, registering it under the name of M & E Didisheim in 1884. Henry-Albert, Edgar and Hyppolite, Marc’s sons, registered the trademark Marvin in 1893 and, after moving to La Chaux-de-Fonds, turned it into an international brand. From 1893 onwards, they exported wristwatches to the United States and developed their business with continuous efforts to increase mechanisation, a policy that was continued by the third generation. In 1905, the company began trading under the name of “Henri-Albert Didisheim, fabrique Marvin”. Marc and Emmanuel had a brother, Jacques Didisheim. In 1860, he opened a watchmaking workshop at Saint Imier called Fabrique Juvenia Didisheim-Goldschmidt et Cie, a business which was transferred to La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1882. Also, Marc Didisheim’s three sons married the three daugh-

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Hégenheim, the cradle of illustrious names in Swiss watchmaking

ters of Maurice Ditisheim. The latters’ uncle, Gaspard, was the co-founder of Ditisheim & Cie Fabrique Vulcain with his brother Maurice, and the father of Paul Bernard Ditisheim – the founder of Solvil in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Maurice Ditisheim left Hégenheim in 1858 and settled in La Chaux-de-Fonds as a watch broker, trading under the name of Manufacture Maurice Ditisheim. At the Paris World Fair of 1889, the company was awarded a bronze medal for the “Vallée de l’Arve”, a watch with extremely sophisticated complications. In 1894, the watches were manufactured under the trademark “Vulcain”, which entered the annals of history in 1947 with the 120 Cricket calibre, development of which had begun in 1942. Paul Bernard Ditisheim worked first of all in the Vulcain family business. In 1892, he founded the watchmaking manufacture, Ditis, Solvil et Titus. Regarded as the founding father of modern chronometry, he made the most accurate chronometers ever produced and in 1912 achieved the world chronometric record at the Royal Observatory at Kew. He also collaborated closely with Charles Edouard Guillaume, studied the effects of atmospheric pressure and magnetic fields and created synthetic lubricants with the chemical engineer, Paul Woog. He sold his company to Paul Bernard Vogel in 1930. Through his marriage to Suzanne, one of the heirs of the Eberhard family, the businessman was related to the great watchmaking families of the period, notably the Eberhards, Blums and Ditisheims. Théodore Schwob, born in Hégenheim, settled in La Chauxde-Fonds as a horse merchant, then set himself up as a watchmaker by founding Schwob Frères et Cie in 1862. He married his daughter to Adrien Schwob, the son of Joseph Schwob, an Alsatian who had also settled in La Chaux-de-Fonds, firstly as a cloth merchant and then as a sales representative with Zenith. Adrien then set up his own company at Le Locle, sold it, and with Théodore invested a part of his capital in the Henri Sandoz manufacture in Tavannes. The capital of the Tavannes Watch Co, registered on 25 September 1895, thus came from Schwob Frères et Cie (Théodore Schwob) and Schwob et Cie (Joseph Schwob). It guaranteed Henri Sandoz, who was appointed as its director, the means of selling his output. To avoid any mutual competition, the shareholding companies divided up the markets between themselves and penetrated Russia, Japan and the Middle East. Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, Tavannes Watch became the second-largest Swiss watchmaking company thanks to its rationalisation methods based on the American model. While Tavannes did not manufacture chronographs, Schwob Frères et Cie SA sold those of the Timing and Repeating Watch Company of Geneva founded by Prosper Nordmann, whose chronoscopes and repeater watches were identical to those of the Waltham Watch Company in the US. In 1945, Schwob Frères et Cie SA became Cyma Watch Co SA. In 1966, Tavannes Watch Co was bought by Ebauches SA and Cyma Watch Co SA, the latter marketing Tavannes’ products under the Cyma brand.

Born in Hégenheim, the brothers Achille, Léopold and Isidore Ditesheim founded the company LAI Ditesheim in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1883; in 1903 it became Movado LAI Ditesheim. In 1947, Nathan Georg Horwitt, a disciple of the Bauhaus movement, dreamed up the design of the Museum Watch for Movado, the watch which was later to be selected by the New York Museum of Modern Art for display there. In 1911 Eugène Blum, the descendant of a watch dealer from Belfort, and his wife Alice Lévy founded the Ebel Blum & Cie manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Ebel being the acronym of Eugène Blum Et Lévy.

Bienne, home to watchmakers from Alsace and the Jura After the arrival of watchmakers from the French Jura, others left Alsace and settled in Bienne. So it was that companies such as Antima Watch (the Antmann and Appel families), Liebmann and Liema Watch (Sigmund Liebmann), and Goschler et Cie were created. The latter, founded in 1830 under the name of Goschler Frères, and which gained fame with the trademark “Urania”, was for a time managed by Charles Picard, the then president of the Jewish community in Bienne. Léon Lévy, one of eight children born to Gaspard Lévy in Hégenheim, created his own company in Bienne in 1883: Léon Lévy et Frères. Three years later, the company employed 700 people and manufactured complete watches. In 1905, it opened a factory in Moutier. This was dedicated to developing the Pierce brand which, until its demise in 1980, specialised in automatic watches, which have a weight moving parallel to the mechanism, chronographs and complete calendar and moon phase watches. Fritz Meyer founded his first company in Solothurn in 1888 and then, in association with Johann Stüdeli, a second company called Meyer & Stüdeli AG in 1905. The first calibres were called Médana and Roamer. The latter gradually replaced the original name of the company, which became Roamer Watch Co SA.

And the others? A large number of companies founded by Jewish watchmakers have had to be left out of this brief retrospective. For example: Auréole Watch Cie, created by Philidor Wolf, Homis Watch by Schymanski, a family of Polish emigrants, and the Nathan Weil watchmaking manufacture, which in 1913 launched the very first “chronograph counter wristwatches” – or split-seconds chronographs. Whether still in business or consigned to oblivion, all contributed to the development of industrial Swiss watchmaking just as much as the artisanal watchmaking workshops founded before them by Protestants, and whose history is far better known.

M s pe M E O T a FA F T O A kin g… SH IM R IO E PH N AN O D SI S

Fr ee ly M D. BY

CO AL

LA KI N

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Having just left the army in 1927, I made the decision to get away from the formality of an officer’s uniform. With interviews in the city over the following weeks in mind, I wandered along London’s Oxford Street to visit Mr Selfridge’s large emporium to purchase a new outfit. In the past I used a gentleman’s tailor in Cork Street, next to Savile Row, but my finances no longer permitted bespoke tailoring, nevertheless I found a sturdy three-piece tweed suit in Selfridge’s place, bought two white shirts with detachable collars and cuffs and a handsome yellow paisley bow tie with a matching silk square for my top pocket. I also found a splendid pair of two-tone lace-up shoes in brown and white and given the warm weather chose a straw boater - which I hoped to change for a bowler in the near future. Naturally I could no longer carry a military swagger stick so I completed my outfit with a fine silver-topped cane. To enhance my modern look I thought about acquiring one of the newfangled timepieces worn on the wrist, but having survived several incursions in India with my Camerer Cuss Rolex pocket watch, and despite the case being dented from a stray bullet, I favoured that. I returned to my lodgings in the Strand exhausted and sat down before the fireplace, poured myself a glass of port, lit my pipe and opened a letter that invited me for an interview the following day in the city (I cannot mention the name since that would be indelicate as I am not yet in their employ). The following day, I strolled to the city quite exhilarated spruced up in my new clothes. It was a beautiful day, but I have to admit that it didn’t compare to the exhilaration in India of being shot at early in the morning.

’

I’ve just read my grandfather’s diary and I can’t believe all the fuss and bother he went through buying his gear. I suppose he looked cool in those days, but what a business. I mean bow ties and two-tone shoes? Can you imagine life in 2017 having to worry about what you wear for work? I’m with Barkers, Grove & Dean one of London’s leading advertising agencies and I’d be laughed at if I went to work in anything but a pair of faded blue jeans carefully torn at the knees, a pair of four-colour Nike running shoes, no socks and a T-shirt with a portrait of Castro chomping on a Havana cigar. Obviously I have a mobile ’phone and my vaping machine since I’m trying, hopelessly, to give up smoking. I loved the bit about grandfather’s pocket watch though. I’ve got three watches: a divers’ watch for looking sporty and a smartwatch that apparently does everything except boil an egg. The third is a Patek Philippe that my father gave me before he left the planet. He told me that he never actually owned it since he was merely looking after it for the next generation, but I don’t wear it ’cos I’d be mugged before I got to the end of the street and it’s quite possible there wouldn’t be another generation.

… W at ch

TH N w or A A E ds W M P AT ER C E H F BR O F E A R C

heeled clients into his mahogany panelled shop. Am I right? The reason these names sound convincing has to be because of the foundations laid by those venerable watchmakers everyone has heard of: Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Girard-Perregaux and the rest. But some of the newer kids on the block just got lucky. I mean, come on: Laurent Ferrier, Christophe Claret, Romain Gauthier, Roger Dubuis – how far would their horological ambitions have taken them if they’d had the misfortune to be named Kevin Pigg? And then there are those who want the reassurance of genuine historical legitimacy. They dig out their history books and – hey presto – meet Ferdinand Berthoud, Emile Chouriet and Louis Moinet, resurrected and rehabilitated. But the funny thing is, some of the most successful and prestigious watchmakers have flourished, even without a double-barrelled aristocratic French name. Just look at Omega and Oris, Zenith and Eterna. They are all well over a century old, and their names sound old-fashioned, in the way that things sound old-fashioned when they are selfconsciously trying to be modern. But at the same time they exude poise, a confiI mean, come on: dent sense of their place at the centre of Laurent Ferrier, things, and a steely optimism that would Christophe Claret, emember all those hours carry them through the turbulent 20th you spent as a kid, trying to century and into the 21st. Romain Gauthier, think up the coolest name There’s one name I haven’t mentioned: Roger Dubuis – for a band, when you could Rolex. It’s another retro-futurist invention, how far would their barely strum three chords although of a slightly later vintage than the together? Now try naming a watch brand. previous ones (the trademark “Rolex” was horological ambiOur columnist and chief translator Jill registered in 1908). The name is so ubiquitions have taken Metcalfe has a go. tous that you’ve probably never thought them if they’d had twice about it. But what does it actually There’s a well-known formula for budding sound like? A bit cheap, maybe, kind of the misfortune to be writers looking for a nom de plume. You like a cross between Rolaids and… Timex? named Kevin Pigg? take the name of a family pet and combine Well, actually no, it doesn’t. No matter it with a street where you used to live. That how many times you say it, you can’t make makes me Judy Carlton – which is as good a chick-lit name as Rolex sound cheap. It sounds like successful businessmen, any, I suppose. (My daughter ends up as Darth Vader Back – expensive cologne and chunky gold links. The brand itself probably not the best starting point for her literary career.) is so prestigious that the name doesn’t actually matter any I’ve come up with a similar strategy for would-be Swiss more. Maybe even poor old Kevin Pigg could make a go of it. watchmakers: take the first name of a 19th century French writer (two syllables, preferably), add a Huguenot surname (extra points if it’s also a respectable trade) and off you go to Baselworld: Gustave Mercier, Alphonse Chapelier, Victor Chastain, Eugène Delaunay, Edmond Gaillard… You could even add an ampersand for a bit of a calligraphic flourish: Prosper & Girardin, pourquoi pas? You’d save a bundle on marketing and promotion: as soon as the syllables roll off your tongue, your company’s back story is conjured fullyformed in your customers’ imaginations, like Harry Potter’s Room of Requirement. There’s a couple of bewhiskered old chaps in shirt sleeves and waistcoats peering short-sightedly at some complex feat of mechanical wizardry in a dusty candlelit backroom, while a dapper shopkeeper wearing pincenez and tails rubs his hands together as he welcomes well-

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A last word to start

JOURNALISTS:

THE NEW MERCHANTS IN THE TEMPLE? by PIERRE MAILLARD

he watch industry is in crisis, of that there is no doubt, but it’s a storm of moderate proportions compared with the roaring tempest enveloping the media. And it’s not about competing local papers, or even big groups fighting over the same scraps. This time, the trouble bears the name of Google, Facebook, Instagram and Apple (yet again). They are giants, monsters, with an insatiable appetite for everything they can catch in their big data nets. If anyone is to survive the onslaught, they’ll need to find a new model. This existential quest is taking place in a scene of utter chaos. The lines between journalism and promotion, objectivity and commercial favouritism, independence and conflicts of interest are blurred, sometimes to the point of complete erasure. Let’s look at our own domain: the watch industry and the media. We are reaching the end of nearly two decades of incredible expansion for the watch industry, which has drawn into its wake a growing train of hangers-on enthralled by the rich cornucopia before them. Because, you see, the watch industry was generous, distributing its largesse far and wide. Where relationships were close, misbegotten children were born. Some watchmakers even became their own media. They launched into print and the internet, and invaded social media, forums and blogs. Influencers, opinion leaders and celebrities emerged, and watch porn colonised the screens of the connected world with its freckles and follicles. Faced with this invasion of their own backyard, the traditional media found themselves thrown into confusion. They cast around in vain, trying to recover their bearings. Some thought that the answer was to become merchants themselves. After all, as journalists they had access to the watchmaking temple and its high priests; they might as well set up shop and make the most of it. But the fact that “commercial services have taken over from editorial concerns, even to the point of appointing editors-in-chief”, as a former editor-inchief of 20 ans, a French women’s magazine, noted, is a worrying development. Nothing good can come of such promiscuity, for anyone concerned. Our readers are entitled to expect us to fulfil our duty of providing clarity without complacency (we’re not talking about objectivity, which is an impossibility). That’s the minimum that politeness demands. And that is the purpose of the revisions we have undertaken for this anniversary issue, which we hope will mark the dawn of a new era. We are not burying our heads in the sand. We are all part of the same fascinating global watchmaking ecosystem. If we are to continue to inform, analyse, evaluate and share, we need you, the watchmakers. And you, the watchmakers, need us. Is this codependency? No, more like shared independence.

2 7 t h S A L O N I N T E R N AT I O N A L D E L A H A U T E H O R L O G E R I E G E N E VA FROM 16 TO 20 JANUARY 2017 OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ON FRIDAY 20 JANUARY Prior registration required via sihh.org

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