Europa Star 3/10

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THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WATCH MAGAZINE EUROPE

BASEL POWWOW EUROPE N° 301 3 / 2010 JUNE / JULY

EUROPE EDITION All Europe - EEC, Central & Eastern Europe, Russia

N° 301 3 /2010 June / July 03

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CH F 1 2 / € 1 0 / U S $ 1 0

BASEL POWWOW

1 Innovations, intentions and interrogations 1 Sports 1 Ladies

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EDITORIAL 1

A great day for Europa Star!

After 68 years of independence, followed by nearly 15 years of publishing adventures as part of several large media groups (United News & Media, Miller Freeman, Bill Communications, VNU, Europa Star has returned to its origins. Now once again in the hands of its founding family, it has regained its former independence.

After his buy-out of the company, my brother Philippe Maillard, already Managing Director of Europa Star for the last 20 years, takes over as head of the company. He is now following in the footsteps of our father Gilbert Maillard and our grandfather Hugo Buchser, who founded the company in 1927. At Philippe’s side, I will continue, as always, to assume the editorial direction of Europa Star.

This is a day that we have been waiting for—and preparing for—for a long time. The passing into the fold of the first large international media group in 1995 did, in fact, help us to join the electronic ‘revolution’ more easily since it offered a number of synergies that allowed us to evolve rapidly. As a result, Europa Star was able to start one of the very first international watch websites as early as 1997.

Following this initial acquisition, the large media groups, still managed by publishers and people in the press industry, began to be bought and sold back and forth. Press and media people finally ceded their place to pure corporate managers who were completely indifferent to their products. Their attention was riveted solely on obtaining the level of performance required by the investors who had become masters of the game. What counted now was

not the content but rather the bottom line.

Europa Star has always been profitable; its bottom line has never been in the red. Our entire team has always had their positions reconfirmed every year, and has, in fact, remained the same for many years. But as positive as it was in the beginning, being a part of a large group began to weigh heavily on our adaptability. It started to hinder our natural development.

We therefore wanted to remove ourselves from these restrictive ties and recover our total independence.

And now that we have it, Europa Star is ready to start on a new adventure.

But we also realize that the current period is as perilous as it is passionate.

Business models are changing all around us. And this change is particularly—and often painfully—felt in the media, which is seeking the right ‘formula’ that will let it pursue its important work and play its essential role.

We don’t have a fixed recipe but we deeply believe that, as the pressure to have everything ‘instantaneously’ becomes greater, the need for reflection, the importance of being able to step back to gain perspective, and the necessity of having a ‘bigger picture’ will become more and more crucial.

Electronic communication in all its forms will never replace the printed page. Of this, we are convinced. But the digital age has already transformed it enormously, and will continue to do so. Therefore, we are, and will continue to be, present on both fronts: that of the ‘instantaneous’ and that of the ‘bigger picture’.

In these two areas, we are already working to bring you a certain num-

R Pierre M. Maillard Editor-in-Chief ber of changes and improvements.

On the electronic side, our site has been completely remodelled. While conserving its ‘look’, the sections have been changed to offer new editorial columns, complete archival retrieval, improvement in search tools, addition of the French versions of ES Première, and the use of video. Soon, you will even be able to enjoy Europa Star on your iPad. On the print side—or in other words the ‘bigger picture’—we are going to gradually strengthen our editorial content in terms of analyses, perspectives, historical articles, the economy and distribution. We also envision publishing thematic supplements. The first one will be a ‘Special World Watch Web Report’, coming out this autumn, that will describe and analyze the various electronic forms of communication used by watch brands and distribution networks.

All of these initiatives have one goal, one objective, that guides our mission: to be a useful and effective tool for the Swiss and global watch industry while being an influential voice in the watchmaking concert—something that we have been up to now, thanks to your support, and will always strive for, as we continue our journey with you into the future.

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1International Jewellery 1Trends & Colours 1American Time Watch Aficionado 1Europa Star Première

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1Europa Star HBM group publications By multiplying its international editions, reinforcing its image and revolutionising the world of the specialised press since 1927, Europa Star’s family and titles are recovering their independence and provide the opportunity to reinforce the trust that link us to all professionals and international consumers of watch and jewellery manufactured products and luxury goods worldwide.

Europa Star HBM, 25 rte des Acacias,CH-1227 Carouge/Geneva, Switzerland

ONE WATCH. T WO BRAINS.

DUOMÈTRE À CHRONOGRAPHE. Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 380/1000® Unprecedented “Dual-Wing” concept with two separate watch mechanisms synchronised by one single regulating organ. Especially created for the first-ever chronograph without a coupling-clutch, accurate to 1/6 th of a second.

HAVE YOU EVER WORN A REAL WATCH?

Jaeger-LeCoultre and UNESCO in partnership for conservation of World Heritage sites. A real commitment to a precious cause. www.jaeger-lecoultre.com

6 CONTENTS europa star

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THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WATCH MAGAZINE EUROPE

N° 301 3/2010 JUNE/JULY

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EDITORIAL A great day for Europa Star COVER STORY Vacheron Constantin – Something timeless Founded in 1755, Vacheron Constantin has lived through many events during its age-old history—the French revolution, the Napoleonic era, the industrial revolution, World War I, the crash of 1929.

POST BASEL The watch industry’s big powwow BaselWorld has become a ritual event. It is the big powwow that attracts watch tribes from all around the world who come to reaffirm their devotion to this vast clan that makes up the international industry of time.

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Innovations, intentions and interrogations Attending BaselWorld is a unique experience. It’s something many of us do year after year with enthusiasm and great expectations.

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Spring buds and ladies watches blossom in Basel After months and months of unexciting line extensions, creativity has finally returned to the women’s watch segment.

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SPORTS Sports watches 2010 – real value is back Just like the watch industry itself, the landscape of sports watches has changed. Where in the past, flashy, not necessarily useful sports watches have dominated the spotlight, that’s no longer the case.

MARKET REPORTS – CHINA Soon a tourbillon watch for 1,500 Swiss francs Recently, Europa Star went to visit the largest Chinese watchmaker, at least in terms of volume, since its Ebohr and Rossini brands account for 23 per cent of the domestic market.

RETAILER PROFILE New Wempe on London’s New Bond Street Take a walk down London’s New Bond Street and you will see some of the world’s most stylish boutiques.

Chief among these is the recently re-modeled Wempe Jewellers.

FAIRS Postcard from Las Vegas – A leap of faith The weather wasn’t the only thing that was hot in Las Vegas during the annual watch shows, business in the United States was heating up as well.

WORLDWATCHWEB® Is luxury compatible with shopping online?

Long hesitant to cross the threshold into the digital world, luxury brands have since integrated the Internet into their communication, marketing, and sales strategies.

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EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

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LAKIN AT LARGE Scotching the snake

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SPOTLIGHTS First Titoni Artist Watch

PATRIMONY TRADITIONNELLE TOURBILLON

by Vacheron Constantin The tourbillon, traditionally fitted with a carriage in the form of a Maltese Cross, rotates on itself once a minute. Along with the small seconds hand, it is located at 6 o’clock. The perpetual calendar displays the day of the week at 9 o’clock, the month at 12 o’clock and the date at 3 o’clock. The leap year indicator is discreetly positioned at 1 o’clock. The equation of time is shown by a small hand located at 10:30.

Vacheron Constantin chemin du Tourbillon 10 1228 Plan-les-Ouates Geneva Switzerland Tel: +41 (0)22 930 20 05 Fax: +41 (0)22 930 20 06 www.vacheron-constantin.com

Europa Star 25 Route des Acacias P.O. Box 1355 CH-1211 Geneva 26 Switzerland Tel +41 (0)22 307 78 37 Fax +41 (0)22 300 37 48 www.europastar.com © 2010 EUROPA STAR Audited REMP 2009 The statements and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily Europa Star.

ONLY ONE WATCH MANUFACTURE CAN SHOW YOU THIS.

Our collection of mechanical calibres, all made in-house, is unique in the world with unparalleled breadth in shape, design and level of complication: for every watch its own calibre. Throughout our 175-year history, we have produced over 1,000 different calibres. Out of the 60 calibres in creation today, the most exceptional are shown here. Absolute leadership in the history of fine watchmaking.

HAVE YOU EVER WORN A REAL WATCH ?

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In partnership with

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

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Jaeger-LeCoultre and UNESCO in partnership for conservation of World Heritage sites. A real commitment to a precious cause. www.jaeger-lecoultre.com

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World Heritage Centre

8 COVER STORY europa star

Vacheron Constantin, SOMETHING TIMELESS… RPierre Maillard

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Founded in 1755, Vacheron Constantin has lived through many events during its age-old history—the French revolution, the Napoleonic era, the industrial revolution, World War I, the crash of 1929, World War II… It would certainly, however, not be correct to say that the company traversed all these changes without the least little incident. One thing we can say, though, is that, more than 250 years after its creation, Vacheron Constantin has not only never stopped its watch production, but today it is more active and stronger than ever. This perseverance can be credited to a rare quality—the absolute consistency in its practice of the art of timekeeping. But can timekeeping be classified as an ‘art’?

Contrary to other human activities, art does not really experience ‘progress’ as such, but rather it undergoes ‘transformation’. In other words, a prehistoric painting in the Lascaux caves or an ancient Greek statue is neither ‘better’ nor ‘less good’ than a Picasso. Taking this into consideration, we could say that this also applies to Vacheron Constantin’s way of practising watchmaking. In other words, a Vacheron Constantin watch of today is neither ‘better’ nor ‘less good’ than a Vacheron Constantin timekeeper from the 18th century. Both are the fruits of a prodigious accumulation of expertise in the realm of timekeeping. Both are part of the same long history. Yet, during this time, the techniques themselves have assuredly experienced progress.

But the watchmaking art that presided over both of their births reposes on the same basic pillars: a mastery of the techniques of the epoch; a design excellence providing product elegance, regardless of the current dominant trend; and the important role of artisanal skills and crafts in

each piece. In this manner, the brand has created its own heritage over the centuries, a heritage that seeks to perpetuate its own form of watchmaking excellence.

This tradition of timekeeping excellence, based on technical equilibrium and aesthetic mastery, has expressed itself in different ways over the years. It ranges from the seemingly simplest and most austere movements (what comes to mind are the ultra-thin calibres [see Europa Star 6.09], which are one of the manufacture’s speciality) to the most complex calibres as exemplified by two of the most recent calibres created for the brand’s Patrimony Traditionnelle

The tourbillon, traditionally fitted with a carriage in the form of a Maltese Cross, rotates on itself once a minute. Along with the small seconds hand, it is located at 6 o’clock. The perpetual calendar displays the day of the week at 9 o’clock, the month at 12 o’clock and the date at 3 o’clock. The leap year indicator is discreetly positioned at 1 o’clock. The time of sunrise is situated at 8 o’clock and the time of sunset is at 4 o’clock. The equation of time is shown by a small hand located at 10:30.

Collection: the calibres 2253 and 2755. But regardless of whether a watch has only two hands or a multitude of astronomical functions, a Vacheron Constantin will always be representative of the same approach to the art of timekeeping—to create something timeless that exemplifies and enhances the single purpose of a timekeeper.

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COVER STORY 9

Fictional photomontage illustrating an analemma pattern in the sky. If one were to take a photo of the sun each day for a year from the same position and combine the images taken, this pattern would be visible. (Photo: Jailbird)

CALIBRE 2253

As an example, let’s take a look at two of the brand’s most recent propositions: the Patrimony Traditionnelle Excellence Platine collection and the Métiers d'Art – La Symbolique des Laques collection.

Astronomical watchmaking During the last SIHH, Vacheron Constantin presented three highly complicated models in the Patrimony Traditionnelle family, all crafted in platinum, hence the name Collection Excellence Platine. Three new calibres equip these timekeepers: the Calibre 2253, a perpetual calendar tourbillon with astronomical indications, the Calibre 2755, a perpetual calendar tourbillon with minute repeater, and the Calibre 1141QP, a perpetual calendar manual-winding chronograph.

All three deserve to be meticulously dissected but, as an example, let us look in detail at the most complex watch of them all, the Patrimony Traditionnelle ‘Calibre 2253’. The sum of a vast amount of accumulated knowledge, this is a tourbillon watch that displays a perpetual calendar, equation of time and the times of sunrise and sunset. This astronomical watch also has a rather uncommon, if not unique, power reserve of 336 hours—14 days—thanks to a system of two pairs of coupled barrels. The power reserve

indicator is visible at the back of the timepiece through the sapphire crystal case back.

Developed from the Calibre 2250 that equipped the Saint-Gervais watch, which Vacheron Constantin presented in 2005 in celebration of its 250th anniversary, the Calibre 2250 required several thousands of hours of development time. Let us remain for a moment on one of the most complex and captivating indications of this calibre, the equation of time. This function allows the wearer to calculate the difference in minutes between the constant mean solar time and the ‘true’ solar time. The ‘true’ solar time varies throughout the year because the Earth’s orbit around the sun is elliptical rather than circular. Thus, the noon hour of the solar time and mean time coincide only four times a year—on April 15, June 14, September 1, and December 24. For the rest of the year, the solar time varies from the mean time by between -16 to +16 minutes. The equation of time indicates precisely this difference, day after day. To succeed in creating this complication (developed for the first time in the 17th century by the famous Nikolaus Mercator), the watchmakers had to create an ‘equation cam’.

This small metallic piece whose profile is in the form of an analemma (see the illustration

above) rotates on itself once a year and from its precise position can be calculated the indication of the ‘true’ noon.

Another astronomical indication of this calibre is the display of the times of sunrise and sunset.

Here again, this indication is provided using a cam although its form is unique because it depends on the longitude and latitude of a particular location. This amazing complication can thus be calculated and realized only for a specific place, with the client himself choosing for which location of the world he wants the times of sunrise and sunset displayed.

High degree of artisanal finishing As would be expected, the finishing of this remarkable astronomical timepiece has to be up to the same level as its technical prowess. The watch is entirely crafted in platinum (case, crown, dial, hands and clasp) and, for the ultimate in refinement, the dark blue alligator strap is hand-stitched with a mixture of platinum and silk thread. A precious white metal and 95 per cent pure, platinum is 30 times rarer than gold and has a higher density and weight.

Stamped with the Poinçon de Genève (Geneva Seal), the watches in the Collection Excellence Platine are finished in an exceptional manner: sand-blasted silvered dial with blued counter hands, circular brushed sub-dials, diamond-polished filets, applied hour markers and Maltese Cross in 18-carat white gold. The decoration of the movement features the Côtes de Genève pattern, circular graining, hand-chamfering, straight graining of the steelwork and the rounding off of the top of the tourbillon bar (this operation alone requires 11 hours of work).

10 COVER STORY europa star

sitaji

sumitogi

okime

maki-e

fun maki

For more information on maki-e, read our column WATCH KNOWLEDGE at www.europastar.com

approach to the pieces in this collection were closely tied to the rich cultural backdrop that the pieces aimed to celebrate and even transcend. Three years ago, the Métiers d'Art collection embodied tribal masks taken from different cultures around the world—some originating at the dawn of time—and this year, the collection, La Symbolique des Laques, is dedicated to the centuries-old Japanese lacquer technique called maki-e.

The maki-e art form is specific to Japanese lacquer and was developed over many centuries during the archipelago’s long history. It reached maturity between the 8th and 12th centuries. A very sophisticated technique, maki-e consists of creating an image or design by sprinkling gold and silver powder onto a wet lacquer (and not just any lacquer but a special type that originates from the Rhus verniciflua tree—or urushi in Japanese).

Métiers d'Art and civilizations

Cultural exchanges

If the Collection Excellence Platine exemplifies mastery in the art of timekeeping, the Métiers d'Art collection accomplishes this in a similar, but different way, by providing each of the age-old artistic skills their own watch environment in which to showcase their excellence.

After the art of grand feu enamelling celebrated in 2004 with the Hommage aux Grands Explorateurs collection, it was engraving’s turn to be honoured with the extraordinary collection of Les Masques in 2007. These watches were designed—and not just by chance—in collaboration with the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva. We say ‘not just by chance’ because the depth of the design and the artistic

Vacheron Constantin, whose connections to Japan date back to the early 1800s, approached Zohiko, one of the oldest and most highly-respected companies specializing in maki-e lacquer in Japan. Established in 1661 and with close ties to the Japanese Imperial Court, Zohiko has refined this highly complex art over the years.

In the same vein as what Vacheron Constantin does in relation to its heritage, Zohiko is also a brand, which is as deeply rooted in a strong artisanal tradition as it is open to the world, a brand that cultivates continuity while always seeking to improve its art form and its practices. The meeting of these two—and in some

ways not dissimilar—companies resulted in a remarkable collaboration of “extraordinary intensity, a veritable human adventure, a voyage, a discovery,” according to Vacheron Constantin. We unfortunately have no space to go into detail about the extraordinary history of maki-e and its techniques but we can certainly admire the fruit of this shared ‘adventure’.

Harmony between lacquer and movement What is most striking at first glance when you hold a watch from the La Symbolique des Laques collection in your hand is the way that watchmaking and maki-e share the space, making room for each other to exhibit their own expressive power.

At the centre of the dial, we find the skeletonised ultra-thin calibre 1003 in 14-carat gold, specifically treated with ruthenium in order to attenuate somewhat the brilliance of the gold, thus balancing it harmoniously with the work of the maki-e. In the same spirit, the two hands of the movement remain confined to the centre, and thus do not encroach into the larger circular space—the dedicated realm of the piece’s decorative motif.

Taken from the animal, vegetal or mineral world, this motif draws inspiration from the reservoir of far-eastern symbolism. Also associated and combined with another design inscribed on the case back in a similar configuration (the back of the skeletonised movement is visible under the sapphire crystal at the centre of the decorated dial), it evokes a multitude of meanings and symbolic combinations at the

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crossroads of literature, poetry, mythology and the world of heroic or divine beings.

The first set of three watches has just been released. (The collection will be issued for three years, with a total of three sets, each with three watches depicting different motifs, for a total of nine in all, each produced in a limited series of 20, for a total of 60 sets.)

Depicting the theme of longevity, the first set brings together ‘The Three Friends of Winter’ made up of pine, bamboo and plum—trees that are strongly resistant to severe cold and that symbolize longevity and loyalty.

Each of these ‘three friends’ is traditionally associated with an animal: the pine that ages so well is joined by the white crane (although legend has it that when it reaches 2,000 years of age, the crane’s feathers turn black); the bamboo that bends under the snow or the wind and then quickly snaps back to normal with as much vitality as a hyperactive sparrow; and the plum tree whose early fruit announces the coming of spring as the nightingale sings the same message. In Japanese culture, these associations gave rise to many expressions whether in the paintings of Zen Buddhism, in the very concise art of Haïku or in other myths and customs.

The very close artistic, artisanal, and cultural association of these two art forms offers Vacheron Constantin an expression that is rich in analogies and that fully showcases the value of the subtle work of the watchmaker.

In these timepieces, maki-e and watchmaking speak to each other harmoniously in a veritable aesthetic and technical dialogue between cultures and civilizations. ‘Occidental’ time and ‘Oriental’ art are created together in the ‘same lacquer’. O For more information related to Vacheron Constantin click on Brand Index at www.europastar.com

COVER STORY 11

Watch in black high-tech ceramic and 18K yellow gold. Self-winding mechanical movement custom-made by AUDEMARS PIGUET exclusively for CHANEL: CHANEL - AP3125 (40 jewels, 21’600 vibrations/hour).

Rotor in black high-tech ceramic with a segment in rhodium-plated 22K yellow gold mounted on high-tech ceramic ball bearings.

Balance with 8 giromax regulating weights. 60-hour power reserve.

^^^ JOHULS JVT

14 POST-BASEL europa star

The watch industry’s big RPierre Maillard

POWWOW

B

BaselWorld has become a ritual event. It is the big powwow that attracts watch tribes from all around the world who come to reaffirm their devotion to this vast clan that makes up the international industry of time. As might be expected, this annual gathering started with a large conference organized by the chiefs of the various manufacturing and marketing tribes.

The very first day, these top leaders announced that: the “sky now has fewer clouds” than last year; the storm that had ravaged the lands has in fact “swept away the excesses”; and, according to the now commonplace phrase, “the strong were able to ride out the storm, and have become stronger in the process.”

Their first observation was that the watch and jewellery industries had succeeded in taking shelter in their wigwams in 2009, and that they were thus able to absorb part of the collateral damage from the economic tempest "relatively" well. As proof of this, the grand chiefs of BaselWorld pointed to the numbers of the various tribal participants: in 2009,

there were 1,956 exhibitors; in 2010, there were 1,915. This modest decline of 2.096 per cent must be taken in perspective, they insisted, in light of the 25 per cent decline in

watch sales. The different tribes had all therefore been able to accumulate some reserves, stored in their underground kivas during the grand festivals of the previous years of folly.

Business could, they predicted, begin again but “with prudence and circumspection”.

“It is the end of the era of exuberance,” warned one of the most respectable grand chieftains of the Basel powwow, Jacques Duchêne, president of the exhibitors committee, who celebrated his 60th year of participation in the event. “Let’s return to true, traditional and tan-

gible values,” he strongly advised, “because the consumer today makes his choices with more forethought, which should benefit those industry players who are the most established and the most serious.”

Is it really over for the grand nuptials of the watchmaking start-ups? Would they be dismissed, all these small players—so ambitious and so determined to disturb the creative landscape—if it were not about economics?

Is there really only space for the “most established” brands?

Would we get a few answers to these and other questions in the ‘watchful’ week that was opening before us? Were the designs of the new pieces smaller for the most part, as everyone said they would be? Were the new designs really more subdued this year?

As we will see by what follows, the answers to these questions are much more nuanced than we might have imagined. There seems, in fact, to be a certain amount of confusion as we approach the turning point between the ultra-permissive epoch that has just ended and the undoubtedly more constrained and measured era that is opening before us. But is this obvious?

THE SIMPLICITY OF INNOVATION. LUMINOR 1950 TOURBILLON GMT Hand-wound mechanical Tourbillon movement P.2005 calibre, three spring barrels, second time zone with 12/24 h indicators, 6-day power reserve.

Titanium case 47 mm Ø.

Titanium buckle.

www.panerai.com

Available exclusively at Panerai boutiques and select authorized watch specialists.

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L.U.C LOUIS-ULYSSE THE TRIBUTE by Chopard

L.U.C. ENGINE ONE TOURBILLON by Chopard

One to one or all in one?

Let’s take for example, the new L.U.C. collection presented by Chopard. (By the way, the family brand is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.) These four new models—very well designed by Guy Bovet, a renegade from the IWC tribe where he worked before—are equipped with four new in-house calibres, which correspond to, all by themselves, the four cardinal points of today’s trends.

The first is represented by the absolute simplicity and sobriety seen in the round automatic L.U.C. 1937, equipped with the first Manufacture Fleurier calibre (based on the L.U.C 1.010 movement designed to be produced on an industrial scale).

The second is a stylistic rupture with the past as shown by the ultra-light L.U.C. Engine One Tourbillon, whose movement—equipped with a tourbillon with an aluminium carriage—is ‘manufactured like a motor block’ and is mounted on ‘silent blocks’ located on the inside of its titanium case.

A completely different type of cardinal point on the watchmaking compass is paying homage to history, which in Chopard’s case takes on an entirely different form in the L.U.C

L.U.C. 1937 by Chopard

L.U.C 150 ‘ALL IN ONE’ by Chopard

Louis-Ulysse The Tribute. With its imposing 49.6-mm diameter, it resembles both a wristwatch and a pocket watch, thanks to an ingenious system inspired by an invention of Karl Scheufele I dating back to 1912, which allows the pocket watch to be attached to a leather strap. The manual-winding mechanical movement created for this homage bears the particular appellation, L.U.C EHG, because Chopard developed this COSC movement—bearing the Poinçon de Genève (Geneva Seal)—in collaboration with the Geneva watchmaking school, the Ecole d'Horlogerie (EHG). Over the next decade, the L.U.C EHG will provide students of the EHG with a kit allowing them

to realize the traditional ‘school piece’ that would crown their studies.

The last, but certainly not least, cardinal point is the solitary star, the haute horlogerie timepiece that brings together many complications, the L.U.C ‘all in one’. This lovely manual-winding timekeeper is equipped with an L.U.C 4TQE four-barrelled tourbillon movement, and features hours, minutes and seconds with a power reserve of seven days. It also has a perpetual calendar with 24-hour indication, day of the week, date in a window, month, leap year, power reserve indicator, time equation, times of sunrise and sunset and precise lunar phases.

Elsewhere, at other brands as well, the ultra ‘all in one’ complication was definitely not missing in action at BaselWorld.

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47-MM J12 RÉTROGRADE MYSTÉRIEUSE by Chanel

The Chanel J12 between maxi and mini A seemingly large gap separating the trend towards high complication—even exaggeration—and the call for simplicity and restraint was fittingly demonstrated by Chanel. On one hand, we found a ravishing J12 with a smaller 29-mm diameter while, on the other, we stared wide-eyed at an imposing 47-mm J12 Rétrograde Mystérieuse.

These two do not reflect merely a battle of the diameters (after all, extremes in diameters can co-exist) but they also represent a ‘conceptual’ conflict between a type of watchmaking that we can qualify as ‘wearable’ and a sort of timekeeping that seeks the unusual, the astonishing, and perhaps even the strange as in the case of the J12 Rétrograde Mystérieuse.

The affable and ingenious Giulio Papi who developed this watch began his reflection with the crown. As we know, the crown has traditionally been placed on the right (which is not the most ergonomic position), drawing inspiration from the pocket watch. In the latter, the crown was generally placed at 12 o’clock but when the watch passed to the wrist, the crown was moved a quarter turn to the right. Noting that Coco Chanel herself had always sought a practical aspect for her

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Another new Chanel watch is the very successful J12 Marine, a natural evolution in this iconic collection. Combining hitech ceramic with a rubber bracelet, it is equipped with a stainless steel unidirectional rotating bezel and disc in ceramic or sapphire. Featuring an automatic movement, it is also water-resistant to 300 metres.

continue nonetheless to occupy, or even sometimes squat (in other words, without paying ‘rent’) in the large and precious media spaces.

creations as much as the purity of their forms, Papi concluded that it was necessary to move the crown directly on to the face of the watch, thereby creating a perfect circle.

With his new concept, however, he was faced with the problem of how to make the hands, especially the minute hand, move around the dial. Was a retractable hand the answer? No, too complex (even though Urwerk had done it). Papi’s solution was to design a retrograde hand that, when it approached the vertical crown placed at 15 minutes, would retreat at the ten-minute marker to reposition itself at the 20-minute position. The missing minutes were then counted down in a window by means of a disc indicating 11 to 19. The great mechanical difficulty in this system resides in the synchronization of the retrograde minute with the disc showing from 11 to 19 minutes.

(For more details on this watch, see Europa Star 2/2010.)

This concept watch, or even if you consider it to be a pure exercise in style, would have assuredly been unthinkable a few years ago.

But Chanel, like many other established brands, saw itself pushed towards innovation by all the young talents who—even if they have not yet found economic viability—

A brand like Harry Winston has perfectly understood how crucial it is to occupy media space. For many years—ten to be exact—this brand has created a series of ‘talking pieces’, its now traditional Opus timekeepers. (It is not by chance that the person who initiated this policy at Harry Winston, Max Büsser, has since become one of the most visible ambassadors of the new ultra-advanced niche brands, with his own MB&F.) For all those journalists who so eagerly waited to discover the new Opus of the year—in this case, the Opus X—Harry Winston was one of the most anticipated appointments of the show. This year, the Opus was created by JeanFrançois Mojon, a watchmaker and engineer who heads up Chronode, a company based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, which specializes in the development of complicated movements.

Mojon designed an unusual construction based on a planetary gear train. Like in a regulator type of watch, the displays of the hours, minutes and seconds are dissociated but it is here that the similarity ends.

The indicators in the Opus X are displayed on three distinct rotating modules that, like so many variable sizes of satellites, rotate around an invisible central ‘sun’, all mounted on a

Talking pieces

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frame that revolves on itself in 24 hours.

Placed in orbit, these indicators are fixed at an 8° angle that follows the delicate curve of the sapphire crystal while always maintaining the same orientation (for example, the hour marker for 12 always remains at the top of the satellite) thanks to a mechanism that carries them in a centrifugal motion in the opposite direction of their trajectory around the circumference of the dial. The indicators therefore revolve continuously while remaining oriented in the same manner. In addition, a second time zone, attached directly to the 24-hour frame, is indicated by pointing to a 24-hour scale that is located on the perimeter of the dial.

Utilizing all the resources of the planetary gear train (a variant of the differential that permits the use of three shafts with different rotational speeds, greatly used in mechanics, for example in automatic gear boxes, but rarely used in watchmaking), Mojon and his team designed a 72-hour power reserve indicator at the back of the watch, in which the diameter of the satellite wheel equals the radius of the crown wheel

Young satellites

OPUS X by Jean-François Mojon for Harry Winston

resulting in a linear indication (based on a principle of epicycloids of La Hire’s Theorem, which states that a circle moving along the periphery of another circle of twice its radius generates a straight line on its radius.)

The spectacular spatiality of the timekeeper is accentuated by the absence of a bezel. A sandwich construction allows the sapphire crystal to be placed right up to the edge of the 46-mm case, thanks to the horns that hold it in place.

Strangely (or on the contrary, ‘logically’, one might say), we find the same idea of planetary gear trains at another very small and very young independent brand, Ressence.

Benoît Mintiens, Ressence creator, a young industrial designer based in Antwerp, came up with the idea of coupling a gear train composed of three orbital satellites within a minute platform to an automatic 2824 calibre.

The minutes are indicated on a scale placed at the outer edge of the dial. Inside this platform, one satellite shows the hours, another the seconds and the third displays day or night.

The visual configuration of the dial changes constantly and the three satellites revolve around their invisible axis like the three moons of Saturn. From a design point of view, this Ressence watch offers superb simplicity with a clear reading of the time, greatly enhanced by a three-dimensional sapphire crystal that is placed directly on the case designed without a bezel.

Beyond the stylistic choices and the ‘motorization’, we see that there is a strong resemblance between the two projects. With his first foray into the fair in Basel, Benoît Mintiens was surprised by the extraordinary welcome

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RESSENCE TYPE 02B by Ressence

he received and was delighted by the solidarity that he encountered with his new colleagues (he took a small stand at the Palace).

Concerned however by the enormous attention paid to his pieces by the Chinese (a horde of ‘journalists’ and photographers invaded his stand and photographed his timepieces from all angles, without his permission), Mintiens took the time to go see Harry Winston in order to verify that no patent had been infringed by either party. He said that he was very well received. Isn’t the planetary gear train as old as the study of mechanics? We wish Benoît Mintiens only great success.

At the chamfered forefront of classicism The presence at BaselWorld of this passionate young man, who was far from being the only one, demonstrates that above and beyond the economic risks, watchmaking exercises a strong power of attraction that shows no signs of abating. What was different this year, however, was that the most remarkable new arrivals were not so much those who presented the most outrageous propositions, but rather those who took a more intrinsically traditional—nearly ‘puritanical’—approach to their creations.

One example was Laurent Ferrier, whose ultra-classic timepiece incited a great many comments. After having spent more than 37

years at one of Patek Philippe’s workbenches, this new arrival is, in fact, not so young—he was born in 1946. Nevertheless, he decided to launch his own brand, in collaboration with his son Christian, a former constructor at Roger Dubuis. To reach their goals, Laurent Ferrier also joined forces with Michel Navas and Enrico Barberini (the ‘N’ and ‘B’ in BNB,

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which they left in 2007 to open La Fabrique du Temps in Geneva), in order to create a watch that could be described as ‘hyper classic’, inspired directly by the grand timekeepers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Faithful to the same philosophy as Patek Philippe, Laurent Ferrier decided to focus on the tourbillon, not to improve its decorative qualities like most other brands on the market today, but rather to improve its regulating power. For this reason, it was placed at the back of the watch.

In its design, Laurent Ferrier opted for a Straumann double balance spring, composed of two opposing springs that allow for the maintenance of the centre of gravity of the balance on its axis. The result is a working precision of the order of plus or minus two seconds per day. This tourbillon works with a 31.60-mm manual-winding movement at a frequency of 3Hz (21,600 vibrations per hour) and has a working reserve of 80 hours. Admirably finished REF. LCF001-J by Laurent Ferrier

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and uncompromising design standards of Thierry Oulevay, the driving force and inspiration behind the Jean Dunand brand, who works with Christophe Claret, the man who takes care of the technical design and fabrication. After the Orbital Tourbillon and the Shabaka, the Geneva brand plunged even deeper into its Art Nouveau and Art Déco roots with the Palace. Inspired directly from the construction principles of the Eiffel Tower, drawing from the mechanical imagination of Chaplin’s classic film Modern Times and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Jean Dunand’s Palace succeeds in intermingling and integrating, in a rather amazing manner, a mechanical construction with a case that is innovative while at the same time reminiscent of this era of splendour. The plates evoke the steel elements of the metallic bridges mounted on ten small pillars visible from the cut-out sides of the case whose arches also call to mind the Eiffel Tower. A tiny linked chain equipped with a minuscule tensioner, recalling the chains of vintage motorcycles, transmits the energy to the barrel. Everything, right down to the slightest detail and the smallest part, has been

(as a very impressed Philippe Dufour stated at BaselWorld), with its chamfered angles—technically and aesthetically more than orthodox— this timeless movement is as precise as it is robust. Placed in a 41-mm classic and perfectly designed case, it features a grand feu enamel dial with painted Roman numerals and Sagaie shaped hands. Totally in line with the grand art of traditional timekeeping.

Modern times A sign of the times, Ferrier’s timeless watch (similar in certain respects to one from H. Moser & Cie) overshadowed almost all of the other spectacular propositions that were to be discovered elsewhere at the show. And there were lots, enough to satisfy all sorts of watch aficionados.

PALACE by Jean Dunand

Among the other truly spectacular pieces was a watch presented this year by Jean Dunand.

We are already familiar with the fastidious

well thought out and designed in keeping with the major motifs of this historical period.

On each side of the flying tourbillon, located at 6 o’clock and surmounted with a 60minute chronograph counter on a sapphire disc, can be seen two linear vertical indicators each evoking an elevator. The one on the right displays the power reserve (72 hours) and the one on the left shows GMT. The 24 hours of the GMT are marked by an arrow that rises vertically. When the disc reaches the top of

INSTRUMENT BR 02 PINK GOLD PINK GOLD or PINK GOLD & CARBON CASE 44 MM

Information: Bell & Ross Switzerland +41 32 331 26 35 . Europe +33 (0)1 55 35 36 00 . www.bellross.com

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HL2 by Hautlence

one scale, the arrow quickly rotates 180 degrees to chart the scale on the other side and moves down in 12 hours. We will come back soon, in more detail, to this imposing single-pusher chronograph, whose titanium case measures 48 mm by 49 mm. Each timepiece is also totally unique.

The great animations The Palace is not the only watch to utilize a chain transmission system. The chain, in all its forms, seems actually to be quite popular (is this a post-V4 effect?). Hautlence, with its concept HL2.0, has pushed the spectacular a little bit further with its offer of a veritable kinetic sculpture, where it has structured the display—as we know, displays are this brand’s specialty—around a jumping hour on a 12link chain moved by a connecting rod system.

Like for the Palace, inspiration for the HL2.0 was drawn from the grand epoch of the industrial revolution, in this case by the steam locomotives of yesteryear.

Hautlence has gone even further by having the escapement assembly move with the jumping of every hour, thus jumping 60 degrees from its former position. Like Laurent Ferrier, the Palace uses a Straumann double balance spring, show-

ing that the most traditional types of watchmaking and the most novel creations both draw from the same sources. To my knowledge, it is the first time that we are seeing the regulating organ not only jumping—balance, balance spring, palettes, palettes wheel, fourth wheel and third wheel all make a rotation in an axis parallel to the wrist— but, even more amazing, one that is driven by the display. Generally, the process is the other way around.

Moreover, because of the positioning of the balance, the compensation for equilibrium errors of the balance spring is similar to that obtained by a tourbillon. We will come back to this watch also, since it is now in the prototype stage. But in passing, we might mention the consistency in the brand’s approach since Hautlence—which has come back from afar after the departure of one of its two founders—has always insisted on favouring research into various and different types of mechanical displays.

Yet, Hautlence is not the only one to dabble in spectacular displays. One of its Basel cousins, the very punk-rock brand, Ladoire, secretly showed us its next project. While we cannot provide any more details, we can tell you that it will be more than just a Grand Complication.

It will be a veritable Grand Animation...

The pendulum swings back On the subject of innovation, TAG Heuer once again made a big splash with its rather sensational announcement of the first mechanical movement without a balance spring—the TAG Heuer Pendulum Concept. For the moment, it is only a ‘concept’ because its definitive development has encountered an obstacle—a large one—that we will return to later in the article.

The principle of this piece, however, is quite impressive and will probably open new and original avenues in timekeeping.

After having attacked, with its V4, one of the elements in the trilogy of classical mechanical watchmaking—transmission—by introducing the use of belts, TAG Heuer is today turning its attention to the second element— TAG HEUER PENDULUM CONCEPT

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regulation—before perhaps moving into the third element, energy accumulation.

TAG Heuer’s objective is to create a mechanical oscillator that is totally different from anything we know today. Having chosen to maintain the same escapement and the escapement wheel, it was the heart of the system, the balance spring, that the brand’s engineers set their sights upon. This is because the balance spring, however well it performs, is nonetheless sensitive to gravity and to shocks, two fundamental problems that are not entirely solved by using other materials such as silicon, for example.

TAG Heuer’s research centred on a totally original technique: a device made up of four magnets. Two of these magnets, a positive and a negative, magnetized in one single direction, are maintained face to face on the inner edge of a fixed rounded support in soft iron, thus forming a sort of Faraday cage. At the centre, in the axis of the balance wheel supported by a traditional bridge, are two magnets on a The first incarnation of the 1887 movement in the TAG Heuer Carrera 1887 chronograph, which, with its very classic design, favours readability, ergonomics and security (double push-pieces with lateral pressure).

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rotating mobile whose positive and negative poles alternate, thus creating a magnetic field on each part of the device.

To make this work, it was necessary to create a special shape for the magnets in order to make their force ‘linear’ (since one of the problems with magnets is that their strength decreases very rapidly, inversely proportional to the square of the distance). It was also necessary to place them in a precise position in order to control them in three dimensions, therefore allowing them to furnish an adequate linear return torque for the alternating oscillations of the balance.

What are the advantages of this system? There are several. The magnetic fields are not sensitive to gravity or to shocks, which eliminates two of the major problems of the traditional balance spring. In addition, the simplicity of their assembly greatly facilitates the work of the watchmaker. On the other hand, there is a serious stumbling block, as was openly acknowledged

by Stéphane Linder, Vice-President in charge of marketing and design—the magnets are very sensitive to temperature, a problem that has not yet been resolved.

The challenge for TAG Heuer then is to find a type of magnet that is the least sensitive to temperature variations as possible. (In a similar way, it is the same problem that watchmakers faced with the balance spring before the invention of Elinvar by Guillaume in the 1920s.)

Once this challenge has been met—who knows when that will be—the Pendulum, with its 6 Hz, 43,200 vibrations per hour, no loss of amplitude, and the possibility to modulate its frequency without overburdening the power supply, we will see significant advantages in terms of precision and performance.

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EL PRIMERO STRIKING 10TH by Zenith

On its industrial side, TAG Heuer this year presented its already famous calibre 1887, a column-wheel chronograph with an oscillating pinion. This was developed, as we officially know now, based on the TC78 by Seiko Instruments. The initial communication ‘bug’ having been promptly corrected (see more on this subject in Europa Star 1/10), the brand was able to then concentrate more serenely on this important realization. TAG Heuer invested 20 million Swiss Francs to develop this original piece along with its industrial production tool, which was configured to manufacture several tens of thousands of movements per year. Clearly, this investment was done within the framework of creating its own movement, assuring TAG Heuer a vital independence in this sector.

The 1887 is a robust movement, designed to be easily serviced while offering high quality performance, thanks notably to a new version of the oscillating pinion invented by Edouard Heuer in 1887, which when associated with the column wheel allows for the ‘coupling’ of the chronograph to 2/1000th of a second. We will also return to this movement in more detail in our next issue.

Zenith in tenth heaven Speaking of chronographs, Zenith—another brand in the LVMH portfolio—presented its

highly anticipated calibre, the El Primero Striking 10th. This innovative piece, which allows easy reading of 1/10th of a second, remarkably demonstrates the re-orientation of Zenith being carried out by its new management under the direction of Jean-Frédéric Dufour.

Zenith is returning to its historical roots, where precision is a cardinal horological value, something ignored by the flamboyancy of the previous years. At the same time, the brand is being repositioned economically to offer real content and value for a ‘correct’ price. In this case, the price is around €8,000 for a steel case and leather bracelet, which competes directly with the all steel Daytona for €7600.

With the Striking 10th, Zenith was ‘simply’ intending to display the natural performance of the El Primero movement. With its 36,000 vibrations per hour, it requires its chronographic hand to make ten jumps per second (remember that one hour has 3,600 seconds).

Up to the present, this particularity was not readable in tenths of a second on the dial. The questions Zenith’s engineers asked themselves were how to transmit them in order to display them?

The classic sweep seconds hand, making either one rotation of the dial in one second, or depending on the case, four or five jumps

per second, does not allow for an easy division of short periods of time, for example divisions of 1/8th or 1/5th of a second. Zenith’s solution was therefore to graduate the periphery of the dial into 100 divisions, which the hand would cover in ten seconds, with each division corresponding to so many 1/10ths of the total.

Still, for the display, it was necessary to find a technical solution to capture these ten divisions per second. At the heart of the system is a double wheel made of silicon that turns at 36,000 vibrations per hour and is directly connected to the coupling wheel. This drives the 100-toothed chronograph wheel corresponding to 100 1/10ths of a second per rotation around the dial completed in 10 seconds.

When the stop is activated, the coupling gear moves precisely into the silicon double wheel.

The hand—via the 100-toothed chronograph wheel—stops instantaneously before one of these 100 divisions. Contrary to comments heard here and there, this very lovely realization is not the first mechanical watch to indicate 1/10th of a second. Among others was a Longines chronograph in the 1970s that utilized the Vernier scale (a principle that bears the name of its inventor who described it in 1631, and that is found, for example, in the calliper rule). The hand is directly extended by a minuscule movable scale ranging from 0 to 9

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At the same time as we were shown the watches, we were told their prices. The new and lovely Submariner Date with a bezel in Cerachrome and blue Chromalight costs 7,600 CHF. What about its green version with a green gold dial? For this, you are looking at 8,100 CHF. As for the new 39-mm Explorer with a Parachrom balance spring and Paraflex shock absorbers, it has a price tag of 5,900 CHF. Then there is the new 31-mm DateJust Lady with a choice of dials in chocolate, olive green, or purple that ranges from 6,500 CHF to 14,000 CHF depending on how many diamonds you want.

SUBMARINER DATE by Rolex

that, by alignment on the seconds scale, indicates the 10th. Another example, closer to our time, is TAG Heuer’s Grand Carrera Calibre 36 Caliper Chronograph, which uses the same Vernier principle but integrated into a mobile scale inside the dial.

On the other hand, this is really the first time that the principle of sweep seconds has been used at the 1/10th level, one that only an oscillation of 36,000 vibrations per hour would allow. Whatever the case, the Striking 10th is certainly emblematic of the new path being followed by Zenith. And beyond that, of our era?

The serenity of two temples Not far from Zenith, at the most preferred location in the show, the booths of the two watch behemoths stand facing each other on either side of the large central corridor: Rolex and Patek Philippe. These structures are, in a certain way, like two temples. One is in the form of an impregnable fortress complete with

an esplanade leading to a grand stairway. The other is white, with softer lines, a bit reminiscent of the Guggenheim Museum.

At these two temples, the often-touted slogan of ‘return to basics’ is not applicable. Why? For the simple reason that neither of these two brands has ever (or nearly ever) deviated from this premise. When you enter into their imposing stands, you know what to expect and, in the midst of the Basel maelstrom, I can assure you that this is very reassuring and welcoming.

At Rolex, the presentation was very pragmatic. The latest models were brought out— no startling news, no rupture with the past. It is always the same thing, but it is always better, and therein resides the secret of Rolex.

With some discreet touches—a few small improvements, the use of different materials, notably Cerachrome, the play of colours—the models become more sophisticated and, as always, are impeccably motorized. Rolex is to watches what German cars are to the automobile—a sure value.

Rolex seems firmly decided to promote its second brand, Tudor, and give it the means to finance its new ambitions. We have seen over the last few months the increase in the brand’s communication that multiplies the initiatives in the domain of sports and other publicity events. This renewed drive for Tudor, led by a young team, is based on two major lines, Grand Tour and Glamour. Emblematic of the current vogue for ‘going flatter’, the lovely Tudor Heritage Chrono, as its name indicates, draws inspiration from the historic brand’s past (founded in 1929). It has reworked and modernized the forms and proportions of the case, bezel, horns, and bracelets of its 1970s timepiece dedicated to car racing. Surfing on the ‘vintage’ vogue, which highlights even more the black, orange and grey cloth strap, this Tudor piece is quite attractive and is priced around €3,000.

HA U T L E N C E H LQ 03 PRICE CHF 60’000.MANUFACTURE’S OWN PATENTED CALIBRE HAND-WINDING MECHANICAL MOVEMENT JUMPING HOURS, RETROGRADES MINUTES, RUNNING SECOND, JUMPING DATE LIMITED AND NUMBERED EDITION OF 88 PIECES 18K ROSE GOLD, BLACK PVD, TITANIUM POWER RESERVE OF 40 HOURS WATER RESISTANT UP TO 3 ATM HAUTLENCE.COM

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These prices are a simple way to demonstrate that, in the price/quality/prestige equation, Rolex has no competition—and is not about to have any in the near future. Why? Contrary to the image of ‘supreme luxury’ that Rolex has acquired and due to the fact that Rolex is obviously out of reach for the majority of the population on the planet, we can nonetheless still say that it is the most affordable of the prestige brands.

In terms of frivolous luxury of the last decade, even if it is not in the best shape these days, we were still able to find great examples of it in the colourful corridors of the big BaselWorld powwow.

Cleansing the eyes Across the aisle at Patek Philippe, in a completely different ambiance and in a segment even more prestigious, we were able to ‘cleanse the eyes’, in a manner of speaking—that is, to clear from our eyes all the excesses that clouded our vision, while relaxing and contemplating what we could quite simply call magnificent timekeeping. There were no sensational announcements but rather constant and continuous work that is perfectly in tune with the times, while the brand has not forgotten where it came from and why it does what it does.

Today, Patek Philippe is stronger that it was before the ‘crisis’, reinforced by the determination of the family, their development choices, and the solidarity of its distribution. At the same time, the brand has taken the luxury of creating its own Poinçon or Hallmark.

The biggest news at the fair was the brand’s chronograph 5170, of which we have already spoken about at length in our preceding issue (see Europa Star 2/10). It is the crowning point of a strategy aimed at gradually developing its own completely in-house offer of manual and automatic chronographic movements, which are designed and constructed in a manner to become immediate ‘classics’.

In order to mark its regained pre-eminence in the domain of the chronograph, Patek Philippe also presented a single pusher flyback chronograph, the Reference 5950A, equipped with

5950A by Patek Philippe

5951P by Patek Philippe

the new Calibre CH-27-525PS. Available in a stainless steel case, this sophisticated 5.35-mm movement is a record, and is individually handcrafted. We should not take the steel case to be a ‘provocation’ but rather as a sort of homage to this industrial material par excellence, and to

the opening of a new niche segment in the market of collectors and aficionados.

The finished product is both very technical— with a railroad motion-works on a silvered opaline dial—and yet vaguely vintage—with the decoration of stylized leaves engraved on the four corners of the dial.

Still in the domain of the chronograph, we moved on to the grand complication with a ‘retro contemporary’ appearance enhanced by the cushion case. Featuring a single pusher, perpetual calendar, lunar phase, flyback chronograph, the Reference 5951P is the world’s flattest. The 400 components of its Calibre CH R 27.525PS Q are contained within a space measuring 27.30 mm in diameter and 7.30 mm in height.

Superbly designed, marvellously proportioned, and classic with perfect readability, this timepiece is one of those that, like we stated above, helped to ‘cleanse our eyes’ during the hubbub at BaselWorld.

TISSOT COUTURIER

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CAP COD TOURBILLON by Hermès

CAP COD GRANDES HEURES by Hermès

Small and large families Family businesses have something that sets them apart. Perhaps it is, quite simply, the time they have before them. This is what we concluded as we went from the Patek Philippe stand to the Hermès booth. The ‘family’ in question at Hermès is a lot larger than at Patek Philippe. Yet, a special spirit continues to dominate the brand’s attitude. Hermès is a ‘protestant’ luxury, if we might use these two

terms in the same sentence, which grows by progressive acquisitions since the company understands that it takes time to learn—and to dominate—various domains including leather, silk, and finally, of course, watches.

Since 1978, with the creation of La Montre Hermès in Bienne (by the sorely missed and very brilliant Jean-Louis Dumas, who recently passed away), Hermès has gradually acquired a large amount of watchmaking savoir-faire and has now entered into the arena with the biggest players.

Luc Perramond, a former official with TAG Heuer during the time of Christian Viros, is the new CEO and General Manager. Parramond replaces Guillaume de Seyne, a member of the family, who moved on to higher responsibilities. Luc Perramond’s aim is to “solidly anchor La Montre Hermès in the circle of prestige Swiss watch brands.” The positioning has also evolved. The brand’s mechanical line, which today accounts for 20 per cent of turnover, is expected to grow to 40 per cent. While the proportion of men’s to ladies’ timepieces is still

25/75 per cent, Perramond says that this will change as the brand’s men’s line increases, with the ratio moving to 40/60 per cent. Parallel to the rise in strength of the masculine mechanical watch, Hermès is getting ready to “put more timekeeping substance into its feminine watches.” To reach these goals, Parramond benefits from two major advantages, especially in these uncertain economic times: an excellent price/quality ratio (the average retail price is about €2,000 with entry level prices as low as €1,000); and the fact that consumers consider Hermès to be a ‘safe investment’. As evidence of this, Hermès enjoyed global growth overall in 2009, with watches registering only a small decrease of 9 per cent, which allowed the firm to weather the economic storm without laying anyone off (100 employees in Bienne, 50 in the subsidiaries). According to Luc Perramond, 2010 has already started with a double-digit growth rate.

As a visible demonstration of its determination to enter into the arena of prestige timekeeping, Hermès intends to develop a series of exceptional timekeepers every year in the domain of the complicated movement. To this end, it will collaborate with Vaucher (whose health is, at the moment, a little wobbly as shown by its announcement of some 50 layoffs), in which

BY

Regulator Fire ARMIN by ARMIN STROM presents: A regulator series for

with hand-winding remains visible through the sapphire

which a complete movement structure has been developed

crystal case back. The series – limited to 100 pieces per

in its own Swiss ateliers. The retrograde date display is the

model – includes WATER, AIR, EARTH and FIRE, available

principal element of this watch, whose hour, minute and

in titanium. The four elements are reected in the design

second indications are positioned out of center. With the

and natural coloring of these very technical yet aesthetical

opening beside the small second hand the concept of

balanced timepieces.

skeletonising is retained and the hand-engraved movement

arminstrom.com

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Hermès is a stakeholder. It also intends to utilize the various types of watchmaking arts and skills such as engraving and enamel.

This year, the first Hermès tourbillon sees the light of day, in an exceptionally classic Cape Cod case, followed by a Lunar Phases model in the Cape Cod series. In Dressage can be found an Arceau Pocket, a Perpetual Calendar and an Annual Calendar while the Cape Cod Grandes Heures features its variable speed hour hand. This poetic and technical treatment of displaying the time opens up a rather special avenue for Hermès—one of ‘tamed time’ or ‘imaginary time’ that the brand intends to further develop. Moreover, Hermès is presenting a series of timekeepers that pay homage to the arts and skills associated with traditional watchmaking with very lovely examples of engraving on mother-of-pearl, grand feu enamelling (inspired by the famous Hermès ‘squares’), and skeletonising. Certainly, a very convincing demonstration.

Architects of (re-conquering) time Another demonstration, but this time of getting back into the saddle, was seen at Ebel.

With a new brand language, new campaign, new products, and new models, Ebel has begun “the job of re-conquering the markets”, which have changed in the meantime, according to Marc Michel-Amadry, one of the co-directors of the brand. “Consumers today want content. They want a strong and timeless brand. And for them, price has become a central element.”

A “strong and timeless brand” is exactly the message the new marketing campaign wants to get across. “We have returned to the initial campaign of the Architects of Time, but have strengthened it considerably. We have taken the

Squaring the circle

CLASSIC SPORT by Ebel

idea of the imprint left by time on all matter by truly sculpting the watches featured in our campaign in clay, sand, chalk, silk, water, etc.,” explains Marc Michel-Amadry. Clearly, the campaign has moved far from the “‘ambassadors’ to centre essentially on the product. It is also being planned out for the long term (at least five to ten years).

In all cases, the new strategy corresponds closely to the very fine work accomplished by Ebel on the ‘architectural’ details that give the pieces their identity. The new Classic Sport is thus still purely ‘Ebelic’ in nature but it has been refined by subtle sculptural work on its singleblock case as well as the structuring of three rows on its wave bracelet. With an aggressive entry-level price of 1,690 CHF (you can figure on 2,490 CHF for a mechanical movement), this is undoubtedly a piece designed to ‘re-conquer’ the market.

The same spirit of ‘re-conquest’ was seen at Maurice Lacroix whose CEO, Martin Bachmann, affirmed, “It is now the moment to reconsider the positioning of the brand for the long term.”

What does he mean by that? Basically, that Maurice Lacroix “wants to be perceived as a contemporary brand, and that the accent will be placed on this modernity,” all while remaining situated essentially in a very affordable price range.

From a stylistic point of view, Maurice Lacroix has abandoned its classic and very elaborate dials in favour of a resolutely contemporary design, whether in terms of its lines or in the utilization of materials. The most convincing example we saw was certainly the Pontos Décentrique Lunar Phases in a superbly designed brushed titanium case, featuring the date at 6 o’clock in a teardrop-shaped opening (the system for the disc return of the date has been patented), hours on a rotating disc, indication of the date of the next full moon, and a superimposed double sapphire disc, one indicating the phase of the moon and the other showing day or night. The 500 pieces of this limited series are priced at

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PONTOS DÉCENTRIQUE LUNAR PHASES

by Maurice Lacroix

7,900 CHF, while the very impressive Pontos Power Reserve sells for 2,950 CHF, and the Day Date for 2,150 CHF. On a more traditional side, the Les Classiques collection, equally well designed by the talented Sandro Reginelli, has grown, now welcoming a number of new functions such as a retrograde day and a large date. The Valjoux chronograph remains classic and very readable.

Yet, to demonstrate that Maurice Lacroix has not lost its special spirit for innovation (while waiting for the famous Memory One), it has surged ahead, leaving the other brands in the dust, by being the first to introduce the famous ‘form wheels’, theorized by Michel Vermot while he was a professor at the Haute Ecole ARC. This is the same Michel Vermot who now heads up the technical department at Maurice Lacroix.

With the Masterpiece Régulateur Roue Carrée, Maurice Lacroix presents a world’s first: an open-worked square wheel that, driven by a wheel in the form of a cloverleaf, points to the hour using a raised corner. The minutes are shown on a central hand while the small seconds hand is at 6 o’clock, and the power reserve (48 hours) indicator is at 3 o’clock.

The great difficulty of this very original device was in defining the spacing and shape of the teeth in order to ensure constant power transmission through the gear. The solution was to

A return to the ébauches

MASTERPIECE RÉGULATEUR ROUE CARRÉE

by Maurice Lacroix

use LIGA technology to create the wheels.

From a visual standpoint, the result is stunning. Adding to the effect is that the dial is actually the movement’s main plate and is finished with a black gold rim. Visible through the sapphire crystal case back is the beautiful anthracite movement with its linear satin finish. This piece is certainly emblematic of the new direction taken by Maurice Lacroix.

This year, working in a price category similar to that of Maurice Lacroix, Eterna presented its Madison Eight Days, which integrates the Eterna Spherodrive device introduced last year.

Completely developed in-house, including its ébauche, this form calibre (14 3/4 x 12 lines) has two barrels linked in series and mounted on a double ball bearing in Zirconium oxide, thus avoiding the necessity for lubrication. Providing superior movement and great stability, this innovation allows for perfect engagement with the gear train. In addition, since the drum of the barrel is only screwed on one side, its bridge can be dismantled and reassembled very easily, therefore greatly facilitating servicing.

Ensuring exceptional precision for eight days of operation—after which an automatic mechanism comes into play to stop the balance—the 3510 movement equips a watch whose large date (with a rapid corrector at 10 o’clock, usable 24/24) is unusually positioned

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at 2 o’clock while the power reserve indicator is located between 7 o’clock and 8 o’clock.

A little know fact, until 1932, Eterna and ETA (which was not called that then) were one and the same entity. At that time, the fabrication of ébauches was called Ebauches SA while the fabrication of finished watches was called Eterna. In 1982, with the creation of the SMH, this two-fold activity was purchased from the Schild family by Nicholas Hayek. He kept the ébauches factory but resold Eterna.

Today, Eterna’s goal is to return more strongly to its past history as a movement manufacturer. The result is a new series of its Calibre 38, a very flexible automatic movement (with a flying barrel on ball bearings), which offers the possibility of having variable displays, such as a date on a disc or on a hand, or even adding a 24-hour hand.

Intended for production on an industrial scale in large quantities, the sale of this movement— with various elements having been standardized—is now open to third parties. By using this movement as a base, Eterna also has a chronographic module with the particularity of being able to mount it on the bridge side rather than the dial side. This can therefore offer an interesting view of the chronographic functions on the reverse side of the watch. (For news on Porsche Design, belonging to the same group, see Keith Strandberg’s article in this issue.)

More Japanese and more global Twenty-five years ago, Seiko exhibited for the first time in Basel. This was not, however, the first time that the Swiss had heard about this Japanese giant. At the end of 1969, ten years after the debut of the mysterious ‘Projet 59A’, Seiko was the winner of the final sprint. On Christmas Day, the Japanese company introduced the Quartz Astron.

This first quartz watch would dramatically alter the global watch industry forever. And, this year at BaselWorld, in celebration of the 40-year anniversary of this major event, Seiko presented the replica of its historic timepiece.

Available in a limited series of 200 pieces, it is priced at €4,300. The Astron Commemorative

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MADISON EIGHT-DAYS by Eterna

CALIBRE 3510 by Eterna

Edition has been described by its designers as “the best quartz movement ever made”. The Calibre 9F is accurate to within 10 seconds over an entire year—something that has never before been seen in a wristwatch. The movement’s quartz crystals are individually chosen and tested and their performance characteristics are then individually fed into the watch’s integrated circuits, thus compensating for any possible tiny variations. Thanks to another integrated circuit, which delivers two pulses per second instead of only one, the Calibre 9F can drive heavier and longer hands, thus conferring upon the watch the allure of a mechanical timekeeper.

The precision of the display has also been revisited. The second hand aligns itself perfectly to each second marker, obtained thanks to the addition of a ‘backlash auto adjustment system’ based on a balance spring!

The new Quartz Astron is thus not an exact replica of its ancestor in the strict sense of the term but rather is a demonstration of the crossplatform technological and mechanical savoirfaire of Seiko. The large Japanese company is continuing then, after the launch of the Spring Drive, to increase the synergy of its areas of

expertise. This year, the Spring Drive technology is adding two very lovely elitist models to the Ananta collection—the Ananta SD Moon Phase and the Ananta SD Chronograph (prices at €4,000 and €6,300, respectively). In a move to demonstrate even further the Japanese stylistic and cultural aspects of the Ananta, the new Ananta SD Moon Phase offers a movement that is distinguished by its architecture and its very evocative and splendid ‘moon-beam’ finishing.

Moreover, the strategic decision of Seiko to gradually move upmarket, to affirm its immense

QUARTZ ASTRON THE COMMEMORATIVE EDITION by Seiko

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ANANTA SPRING DRIVE MOONPHASE by Seiko

heritage (the brand was founded in 1881), and to enhance its international image, has been confirmed with the introduction of the Grand Seiko Collection into the global marketplace.

This represents the best of Seiko’s traditional mechanical watches, a line originally launched in 1960 and selectively reserved until now for the Japanese market only.

In another domain, that of technological research and development, Seiko continues its advanced research on electronic ink with the second generation of this very advanced and

precise technology. The first Electronic Ink (or Electrophoretic Display) was awarded the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie in Geneva in 2006 in its category. At that time, it had only a few hundred pre-positioned black and white segments, while the display of this new generation of electronic ink comprises 80,000 pixels each with four tones of grey. The resulting 300-dpi resolution (the quality of a print image) allows for amazing precision and a very high definition display in the small space of the dial—oops, excuse me—of the screen. This makes it possible to display numbers, letters and images. We can imagine the multiple functions that might arise as well as the resulting user-friendliness of the watch. In the medium-term, at least, this will totally upset the traditional digital display and sweep away the ‘labyrinthine’ presentations of many watch-instruments.

When it comes to innovation, Seiko is not stopping with its electronic ink. It is actively developing a line of solar watches with the stated aim of eliminating the need for batteries. Solar should thus gradually replace quartz.

Without a doubt, the wealth of its offer, ranging from the prestige mechanical timepiece to the electronic ink display, is certainly one of Seiko’s strengths, but it is also one of its weaknesses—or more exactly, it is one of the brand’s marketing handicaps. Contrary to the Swatch Group that can position its different brands in a complementary fashion, Seiko regroups almost all of its varied offer under

one single umbrella (with the exception of subbrands like Lorus, Pulsar or Alba). As far as the Swatch Group goes, the consumer probably does not even know that Certina, for example, belongs to the same group as Breguet. But when it comes to Seiko, this same consumer does not have a clear image of the company, where one proposal and its opposites are all lumped together under the same roof.

Seiko’s current efforts to enhance and improve its international image, which emphasizes its Japanese roots, its historical legitimacy, and its vast savoir-faire, should help get the message across to public about the large palette of its offer.

The visit continues The grand watchmaking powwow at BaselWorld was a vast, heterogeneous, colourful, and sometimes noisy place. It was a theatre where egos intermingled, a scene where all the tribes appear under the sunlights, each in its own way.

For those whom we did not cover in this article, please do not be upset. It is impossible to report on everything at the show. We apologize in advance for not having enough space for everyone. We will, however, come back to many brands over the course of the year. In the meantime, the visit to BaselWorld continues on the following pages with articles by Sophie Furley, Malcolm Lakin and Keith Strandberg. Other brands, tribes and people are waiting for you. O

Technology of EPD

EPD stands for Electrophoretic Display, a method of display with electronic ink technology. Electronic ink is a proprietary material that is processed into a film for integration into electronic displays. Although revolutionary in concept, electronic ink is a straightforward fusion of chemistry, physics and electronics to create this new material. The principal components of electronic ink are millions of tiny microcapsules, about the diameter of a human hair. Each microcapsule contains negatively charged white particles and positively charged black particles suspended in a clear fluid.

When a negative electric field is applied, the white particles move to the top of the microcapsule where they become visible to the user. This makes the surface appear white at that spot. At the same time, an opposite electric field pulls the black particles to the bottom of the microcapsules where they are hidden. By reversing this process, the black particles appear at the top of the capsule, which now makes the surface appear dark at that spot.

ai O s P fďŹ c a v ia l ilio P a n rtn at e Ex r o po f t 20 he 10 S w S h i ss an gh tie Ci

Master Series

masterpieces

Treasure the past, embrace the future | www.titoni.ch

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Innovations, intentions and interrogations A personal view of BaselWorld; its appeal, its impulsiveness, its impetus and its raison d’être.

RD. Malcolm Lakin

A

Attending BaselWorld is a unique experience.

It’s something many of us do year after year with enthusiasm and great expectations, so I suppose by definition that makes ‘unique’ the wrong word to use for the world’s largest international watch and jewellery event. And yet it is unique. Where else can you find nearly 2,000 exhibitors metaphorically vying, in the most elegant and imposing manner, to relieve 100,000 would-be buyers from around the world of their hard-earned cash?

This year, nearly 600 watch exhibitors cornered 61.7 per cent of the show’s overall square metres and how well most of them utilized it.

As a regular visitor, one could be forgiven for being a little blasé about BaselWorld, but if you make a conscious effort of actually taking a critical look at the extraordinary efforts the brands have made to attract custom in recent years, it’s a real eye-opener and a far cry from the days when the smell of grilled schublig sausages and French fries permeated onto the stands whilst the sales people tried to sell their hyper-expensive timepieces.

The Hall of Dreams Nowadays, walking through the Hall of Dreams, along the so-called Champs Elysées or Millionaires Row as some of us tend to think of it, you see everything from the understated opulence of Patek Philippe, Rolex and Chopard, to the dense block of fifteen brands under the Swatch Group’s umbrella - most of which have relatively unimaginative displays, the only exception being Blancpain which deserves a mention for its architectural originality. Off to the right of Swatch Square TAG Heuer’s stunning illuminated architectural colossus stands in stark contrast and on the opposing side of the Hall you can join the myriad of admirers craning their necks upwards as they follow the never-ending meandering of tropical fish in Breitling’s imposing aquarium that sits above its reception area. Further along the aisle

Chanel captures passers-by with a gigantic reproduction of the J12 while Frédérique Constant and Alpina have a more subdued, business-like booth that enjoys a steady stream of visitors. Close to them, Bell & Ross highlight their arresting timepieces in showcase displays set into the brand’s instantly recognizable black booth. Across the aisle from there we find the sumptuous, casual elegance of Century, where browsing is almost as sensual an experience as Anna Kournikova touching your wrist as she corrects your backhand.

The Hall of Desires The first floor of Hall 1, the so-called Hall of Desires, has now become as important a venue as the Hall of Dreams and here you discover a whole series of eye-catching, two-tier stands such as De Grisogono, Hermès, Harry Winston, De Witt, Guess, Nautica, Oakley, etc., all beckoning would-be buyers with stunning

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stands and impressive displays. Amongst the glitz, glamour and grandeur of these exhibitors, there’s one stand that literally takes your breath away and leaves you at a total loss for words … not for its bravura or dazzling display, but for its pure, unadulterated tastelessness: Juicy Couture. With window displays that defy classification, it has to take the prize for BaselWorld’s blot on the landscape, the ultimate in bad taste, a garish eyesore in what is otherwise a palace of luxury. It was the most undesirable monstrosity in a desirable location. I don’t know if the brand sells popcorn, armour or ladies tights, but to quote Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!”

If you enjoy a little humour in your architectural browsing, the Nomos stand was this year’s winner. To avoid visitors using the outside staircase on the stand, or as rumour had it to show disdain about being obliged to have a two-tier stand, Nomos constructed an external staircase designed to give the impression that disaster had struck at the eleventh-hour.

Whatever the origins of the concept, it brought

a smile to many a passing visitor as they carefully studied the broken flight of steps that led to a dead end on the upper floor.

The Hall of Inspirations Across the road in Hall 4, the Hall of Inspirations, there is a special ambience where the décor is uniformly stylish and the visitor is far from the madding crowd of Hall 1. Here you can peacefully browse and window-shop without being jostled by crowds of bustling buyers, prampushing parents and pamphlet harvesting pupils from the local schools.

With comfortable settees and armchairs scattered in the spacious aisles where you can take the weight off your much abused appendages we call feet, you can catch up with not only your thoughts, but also surreptitiously scrutinize which of the independent watch companies exhibiting here are making the most of the important investment required to participate at BaselWorld.

Back on your feet you can stroll unhurriedly around the thirty-five stands and enjoy seeing the latest collections from a whole host of

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interesting brands such as Franc Vila, Marvin, Ateliers DeMonaco, Hautlence, Ventura, Pilo and Ice Link. The most surprising sight however, was an imposing modern black Steinway grand piano that took up almost all of the space on one stand. I waited a while to see if someone would regale me with a private recital, but it wasn’t until I passed by out of curiosity for the third time that I managed to meet up with the pianist who doubled as the man behind the niche collection of Steinway Watches. But more of that later.

BaselWorld’s DNA With 2010 off to what we can optimistically refer to as a ‘reasonable start’ and the panic and recession of 2009 behind us, a little stocktaking might be in order. For a start, 2009 was not as bad as everybody expected and if we’re honest, the official figures for the year were at the level of 2006, which just happened to be a record year for the watch industry.

Clearly the economic recession had its effects and none more so than on many of the smaller independent companies that produce limited

40 POST-BASEL europa star

Nathalie Kottelat and Andrea von Allmen

numbers of timepieces designed to have a mouth-watering effect on the specialist watch retailers and aficionados of the atypical.

Sadly, but inevitably, some of the smaller watchmakers have fallen by the wayside, yet despite the harbingers of gloom, many have restructured their workshops to be not only more self-sufficient in their production techniques, but also to meet the needs of a more demanding and conversant clientele. Nevertheless, and it is an important nevertheless, new names regularly appear on the list of exhibitors because despite the 22.3 per cent slump in the Swiss watch industry’s 2009 export figures, independent watchmakers who have skimped and saved for years to train as watchmakers endeavour to reveal their prowess and perhaps one day join the elite club of world-renowned names. And despite the emergence of new exhibition venues, the most effective location continues to be BaselWorld because of its international reputation.

Of course, budgets are obviously restricted for any of the new kids on the block, however, both the Hall of Emotions (5.1) and the Hall of Inspirations (4.1) offer smaller, more economic stands with potentially the same international exposure as the big boys in Hall 1.

René Kamm, the CEO of the MCH Group, the organizer of BaselWorld, took time out to show me the impressive scale model of the René Kamm

PRIME TIME EGOS CHRONOGRAPH DAY & DATE VENUS by Century

new ‘Exhibition Centre Basel’ that will be completed in 2013 at a cost of 430 million Swiss francs.

I broached the subject of the conflicting dates of the SIHH and BaselWorld and asked if , as some people claimed, there was a move afoot to change the BaselWorld dates to be more inline with the Geneva event.

“BaselWorld was always scheduled as a springtime event and it will remain so, ”René Kamm emphasized. “Although Basel owns the fair, it’s the industry that tells us what and when to hold it. In January the retailers are not ready to analyse their needs so soon after the holiday sales and the Chinese New Year in February and the Easter holidays have an influence on the dates.

“What you have to remember is that we represent the industry and the DNA of BaselWorld is the brands. It is a ‘must’ for our exhibitors, so please don’t expect us to follow the SIHH calendar!”

The 1,915 exhibitors that attend BaselWorld can’t all be wrong and they clearly carry more weight with their opinions than the nineteen brands that participate at the SIHH. End of story.

A very personal selection The scale model of the new ‘Exhibition Centre Basel’

As the so-called ‘Roving Editor’ of Europa Star, I did just that again this year, meandering

throughout BaselWorld, stopping wherever I thought I might discover something of interest and conferring with people in the know. Of course this means visiting the brands where you know you’ll find a timepiece of note and, hopefully, if they have the time, meeting up with the people behind its creation.

Century I’m not quite sure as to why, but it seems that one of the very first visits I make at BaselWorld every year is to Century and this year Nathalie Kottelat and Andrea von Allmen did a double act to reveal this year’s bag of goodies. Time and time again, Century has created unique timepieces with their hand-facetted cases of sapphire and once again the brand has come up trumps, this time with its Venus model.

Venus is a shell-shaped pendant watch in 18 carat white gold set with 161 diamonds (0.58 carats) and a magnificent hand-cut and polished black Century sapphire with a remarkable 130 facets. The dial of the timepiece is set with another 190 diamonds (0.45 carats) and it hangs resplendently from an 80 centimetre long 18 carat white gold ‘Prince of Wales’ chain. The watch has a quartz movement.

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The contrast between the white gold, diamonds and the black sapphire creates a stunning array of mirrored light and when the shell opens to reveal it’s concealed timepiece, ablaze with diamonds, the result is breathtaking. This creation is a jewel amongst jewels and a confirmation and celebration of the creative talent chez Century.

The Century concept using facetted sapphires lends itself to ladies’ watches and this year there were some eye-catching timepieces in the brand’s Couture and Grace Collections.

However, the male of the species wasn’t forgotten. The Elegance watch is made from a 48-facetted sapphire with an anthracite, white or black dial and is equipped with an automatic mechanical movement that simply offers hours, minutes, seconds and date. It’s a perfect example of how pure lines and minimalism combine to express elegance.

The pièce de résistance for men is the Prime Time Egos Chronograph Day & Date – not only quite a mouthful, but also a superb wrist-full. A dodecagonal black sapphire with 12 facets, a black dial highlighted by an oversized red ‘eight’ and a black alligator strap offer the wearer the ultimate chronographic chic. The photograph tells the complete story.

Bell & Ross A diagonal stroll across the aisle took me to Bell & Ross where the Instrument BR01-92 was attracting a lot of attention (see Europa Star 2/2010) – as was the brand’s Instrument BR03-92 Military Ceramic. This watch, as Bell & Ross explain, ‘celebrates the art of military camouflage’, but it was designed for use by pilots in the cockpit of their fighter jets.

Robust in a khaki-coloured mat ceramic case, there is a meaningful contrast with the luminous hands and the tinted, anti-glare glass that makes the watch highly legible both day and night. There are hours, minutes, seconds and date functions from an automatic ETA 2892 mechanical movement. The dial is black and the hands, numerals and indices have a photoluminescent coating. The strap is either rubber or an ultra-resistant synthetic fabric

INSTRUMENT BR03-92 MILITARY CERAMIC VINTAGE BR 123 & 126 CARBON by Bell & Ross

and the 42 mm watch is water-resistant to 100 metres.

In its Vintage Collection, Bell & Ross have combined the styling of its old Vintage timepieces with the ‘look’ of the BR Collection to create a new series called the Vintage BR 123 & 126 Carbon. Here there is a move away from the tough looking square cases to the more elegant rounded case. The Vintage 123 has classic hours, minutes and seconds functions via an ETA 2895 automatic mechanical movement and the Vintage 126 is a twoB1-CLASS LADY

by Gc

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counter (60-seconds and 30-minute) chronograph using an automatic mechanical ETA 2894 movement.

The 41 mm stainless steel watches have an elegant ‘vacuum carbon’ black finish with a galvanic mat black dial. The numbers, hands and indices are covered with a sand-coloured photoluminescent coating and there is an anti-glare sapphire. Water-resistant to 100 metres, the watch is completed with a natural-coloured light-brown leather strap.

This natural evolution of the Vintage Collection underlines the Bell & Ross philosophy of giving priority to readability whilst not overlooking the obvious demands of modern design.

Winners all!

Gc & Guess One of the problems with visiting the Gc and Guess booths is that there are so many visitors – both buyers and browsers – that it takes an age to speak to one of the girls at the reception desk. Having achieved that, getting time with Cindy Livingston, the CEO, is something else – but patience is a virtue and Cindy is very virtuous!

2009 at Gc and Guess combined was far from as damaging as was forecast – 3.3 per cent down on the overall business compared to the previous year. Gc, on the other hand, was actually 4 per cent up and retail sales were up by 9 per cent. Gc Watches are distributed by

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Cindy Livingston

SPEEDWAY COLLECTION by Guess

Sequel AG, which is headquartered in Zug, to 70 countries worldwide though a network of 60 distributors and 5,000 retail outlets.

“We have a very focused strategy at Gc: smart luxury with a good price!” Cindy Livingston explains. “In addition to dealing with individual retailers, we currently have 20 Gc boutiques around the world. We will have an additional ten boutiques opening this year and the aim is to have 50 worldwide.

“The store strategy is to show the breadth of our watches and people are overwhelmed when they see the entire collection. Our prices range from as little as 350 Euros and go to 3,200 Euros for the Limited Editions, which isn’t so expensive when you consider that all Gc watches are manufactured in Switzerland using Swiss movements such as Valjoux and Soprod.

We are also using ceramic and diamonds in a price range of 1,300 to 3,200 Euros.

“We don’t let our retailers overstock and we try to get people to buy right rather than more. We make an effort to control and even out inventories and by so doing the demand for the first quarter of this year is already up by 20 per cent.”

I saw many Gc watches that I’m sure are going to sell well, but the two that particularly caught my attention are the Sport Class XXL Ceramic and the B1-Class Lady. The Sport Class XXL Ceramic is a powerful looking 45 mm chronograph that combines stainless steel and white ceramic. The case is in steel with a unidirectional ceramic bezel with silver tone engraved minutes and the white multi-layered dial has hand-applied Arabic numerals, luminescent indices and hands coated with SuperLumiNova. The bracelet combines steel and white ceramic to great effect and has a deployment buckle with two side pushers to open it. The Swiss made chronograph movement has three counters – 30-minutes, 60seconds and 1/10th of a second, there is a Tachymeter scale around the inside of the dial and it has a date window at 4 o’clock. The watch is water-resistant to 100 metres.

For the ladies, Gc has launched a very elegant watch called the B1-Class Lady, an extremely feminine timepiece that somehow manages to combine grace with a sporty feel. The 32 mm case is in stainless steel and set with seventy 1mm diameter full-cut Wesselton diamonds (0.31 carats), and the mother-of-pearl dial has a central circle in sunray guilloché decorated with 8 full-cut diamonds (0.04 carats) of the same size. The Arabic numerals and indices are handapplied and the watch is equipped with a Swiss made quartz movement. This is all rounded off with Gc’s signature T-bar stainless steel bracelet.

Guess watches, as opposed to Gc watches, are not manufactured in Switzerland, nevertheless they are massive sellers around the world. Three or four annual collections ensure that the brand maintains its trendy image for the fashion conscious watch wearers.

There are quite a few new Guess watches, but the ones that I felt made the biggest splash were those in the Speedway Collection. One has a stainless steel case and the other a black-plated PVD case, otherwise the basic features are the same: sunray blue dial with red details or sunray black dial with orange details; a quartz chronograph movement with elapsed 1/20th of a second sub-dial at 12

o’clock; date at 3 o’clock; elapsed minutes and hours at 6 o’clock; actual seconds at 9 o’clock; blue or orange silicone strap with matching stitching.

Inexpensive fun watches and great value!

Bedat & Co. Dodging between the trams to cross the road to Hall 3 – something I won’t have to do when the new building is completed since there will be an overhead walkway – I attended the Bedat & Co. press conference. Essentially choreographed by Dino Modolo, the multi-talented designer, it was an entertaining hour since Dino Modolo not only enjoys talking about the aspect of design and his creations, but also clearly takes much pride in the final product.

This year’s selection was exclusively dedicated to ladies’ watches, cleverly juxtaposing ellipses with ovals and marrying plain stainless steel or gold surfaces with diamond-settings. I found the Extravaganza model of particular interest, but perhaps the watch that underlines the direction of the brand is the new No 2, a watch that graphically interplays with two ellipses.

Measuring a mere 26.5 mm in diameter this new collection features a variety of finishing details, including original gem-setting, brilliant hour-markers, Art Deco inspired graphic design and mother-of-pearl dials.

No2 by Bedat & Co.

Gc is a registered trademark of GUESS?, Inc.

Bel Gent Class Chronograph 316L stainless steel Carbon fiber Sapphire crystal Swiss Made

Gcwatches.com

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Franc Vila FVA35 SUPERSONICO 5-MINUTE SUPERLIGERO CONCEPT REPEATER

The No 2 model I have chosen to illustrate Bedat’s new direction taken by the designer is in stainless steel with an understated diamondset bezel (26 diamonds for 0.26 carats), steel hands and an alligator strap. The watch is water-resistant to 50 metres and is equipped with a Swiss ETA quartz movement.

Franc Vila “We have to re-invent ourselves every year,” Franc Vila said. “We produce only Limited Editions (88 pieces) so the demand is high.

Now that I have the latest watch in my hand after working for about three years on it, I think that I have reached maturity in watchmaking. I’m not a manufacturer. We create the designs – not the movement.”

Having said that, Franc Vila revealed some of the latest timepieces. The first was the FVa35 SuperSonico 5-Minute SuperLigero Concept Repeater that has a very clear sonority due to the combination of Lightnium – an aluminium-lithium based alloy used in aeronautical engineering and titanium. Light with a high tensile strength it transmits the sound of the repeater with the lowest possible loss of energy to the outer part of the watchcase.

The blackened case is in titanium with the inner part of the ‘carrure’ in Lightnium with the repeater pusher at 8 o’clock. The movement is a mechanical self-winding Calibre FV35 using the brand’s exclusive ‘Gold Concept Rotor’ and has a power reserve of 42 hours. The watch is completed with a black crocodile leather strap with a Black DieHard Extreme steel deployment buckle and a rubber sports strap.

The Cobra Collection introduced the first evolution of the characteristic ‘esprit unique’ watchcase. The new case is dedicated to aficionados of extreme sports and is built to withstand the pressure at a depth of 300 metres. The Cobra timepieces are conceived for hard and intense water activities applying carbon fibre inserts to ensure the protection of the watch.

The latest model is the stunning, but eccentrically named, FV Evos 8Ch ‘Cobra’ Chronographe Grand Dateur Automatique. The case is

FV EVOS 8CH ‘COBRA’ CHRONOGRAPHE GRAND DATEUR AUTOMATIQUE by Franc Vila

in blackened DieHard Extreme Steel and carbon fibre with the ‘carrure’ in blackened titanium.

The chronograph start/stop pusher is at 2 o’clock and the reset pusher is at 4 o’clock.

There is a sapphire crystal front and back with double sided anti-glare treatment.

The 42-hour power reserve movement is a selfwinding hand-finished Calibre FV8Ch with the exclusive ‘Gold Concept Rotor’ and a central Big Date. The guilloché dial is in carbon fibre with a minute counter at 6 o’clock, an hourcounter at 9 o’clock and a seconds counter at 3 o’clock. There is a black rubber strap with a

Black DieHard Extreme steel buckle and a double-sided crocodile leather strap with red stitching to match the red hands, minutes and seconds track around the dial. There is another version of this model with a black and white dial with yellow numerals, yellow seconds and minutes track.

Franc Vila has created an extensive collection of powerful looking timepieces, however his inventive use of lightweight yet robust materials make them easy to wear and his introduction of various complications offer watch collectors something different for their money.

Ateliers DeMonaco Exhibiting for the first time in BaselWorld, Ateliers DeMonaco, which as the name suggests is based in Monaco, claims to challenge existing conventions: ‘We have always dreamt GRAND TOURBILLON REPETITION MINUTE by DeMonaco Pim Koeslag

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MALTON 160 CUSHION EDITION by Marvin

about making a mechanical watch movement that is the most precise in the world and will keep generations of scientists busy trying to figure out how we did it!’

To achieve this, the brand began by designing, developing and manufacturing their own highend movements and complications in-house, although they admit that some parts are produced by specialized Swiss sub-contractors.

Inspired by opposites such as the blue of the Mediterranean and brown rock formation on which Monaco stands, or the belle époque architecture and the modern high-rise buildings of the Principality, or the oeuvres of Picasso and Chagall, the brand tries to capture this dualism in their timepieces. As they explain, ‘The straight lines of our case designs are contrasted with convex curves applied on the inside and outside panels of the case. The tonneau-shaped inner index ring contrasts the case shape. And when and where possible, we use contrasting materials and finishing … as so often in life, opposites create the tension as well as the attraction!’

The timepiece that caught my attention was the Grand Tourbillon Repetition Minute. The manual winding movement offers chiming hours, quarters and minutes on command; a speed regulation of minute repeater with 18carat gold weights; a patented XP® 1 minute tourbillon; a 48-hour power reserve; curved, chamfered and unique three-dimensional engraving; hand-engraved sunbeam pattern on the ruthenium-plated main plate; a silicium escape wheel and lever and a sapphire tourbillon bridge.

The 18-carat gold watch case measures 46 x 50 mm and the skeleton dial has applied Roman numerals cut by hand with the tourbillon opening at 6 o’clock. Water-resistant to 30 metres, the watch is completed by an alligator strap with an adjustable gold folding buckle.

There is also a Ronde d’Or tourbillon timepiece with many of the same technical features but without the minute repeater.

An impressive start for this young company and certainly a brand to watch in the future.

Marvin Passing by the Marvin booth to arrange a viewing of the brand’s latest model, Cécile Maye, the brand’s CEO, promptly stuck a miniature cushioned panda on my watch. Why, what for?

Who knows, but it certainly created a minor stir wherever it was seen.

On my return, Cécile introduced me to the Marvin Malton 160 Cushion watch named after a special edition timepiece dating back to 1906. Having released a round version of the Malton, Marvin is now launching a Malton 160 cushion edition. This new variation is fully in line with the brand DNA: original, modern lines backed by authentic horological knowhow at genuinely affordable prices.

As with all Marvin watches, it has the traditional Marvin trademark signs: a red detail on every dial at the 8 o'clock position (a historical brand reference) and the triple point Marvin crown representing an inverted "M".

The Malton 160 is an elegant, yet sporty watch and is the brainchild of two celebrity creators, namely well-known watch designer Jean-François Ruchonnet, of Monaco V4 and Cabestan fame, and designer Sebastien Perret, who, with his passion for horology, has infused his talent into every Marvin collection since the company's rebirth in 2007.

The watch is equipped with an automatic Swiss-made Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement with fractional time measurement to a quarter of a second, a 30-minute counter at 12 o’clock, a 12-hour counter at 6 o'clock and a small seconds dial at 9 o'clock, with a day/date aperture at 3 o’clock.

The Malton 160 cushion also comes in a three-hand date version powered by a Sellita SW200 and two quartz versions, a chronograph and a three-hand model.

As Cécile Maye explains, “By placing more emphasis on comfort than prestige, quality over appearance, Marvin seeks to create an attachment based on trust. By attending to details that create the difference, the brand seduces collectors of elegance that is sleek, refined and full of character. A beautiful love story, but also one of humour, for Marvin can make fun of itself and reinvent codes. Marvin is seriously funny!”

Not only the watch carries this message, but also the smiling panda that now gazes out at me from my notebook!

Dubey & Schaldenbrand Situated way back on the upper floor of Hall 5, it’s possible that visitors missed the first opportunity to see the watch collection created by Jonatan Gil, the new owner of Dubey & Schaldenbrand. Gil worked alongside Cinette Robert for a year to immerse himself into the running of the brand and develop his own vision for its development and when Mrs. Robert decided to sell, Gil stepped in and, with his determination to succeed and just enough time to prepare his marketing plan, he prepared his first Dubey & Schaldenbrand collection in time for BaselWorld.

Capitalizing on the basic fundamentals that already existed within the company, the ones that forged the brand’s reputation, Gil has now set out to continue the development of the brand’s specific techniques, whilst maintaining an open-minded approach to new technologies if they both enhance quality and introduce meaningful innovation.

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Jonatan Gil

ARTISANS XTRÊME GRAND SHAR by Dubey & Schaldenbrand

The brand’s new Grand Shar is an eye-catching 44 mm timepiece in stainless steel with 60 ceramic baguettes set into the bezel.

Equipped with a base self-winding Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement with three counters, hand-engraved and assembled by Dubey & Schaldenbrand, there is a DS logo cut out from the automatic rotor with a ‘black gold’ finish. There is a 48-hour power reserve and the watch is water-resistant to 50 metres.

The second watch that merits attention is the Artisans Xtrême. A 47.5 mm stainless steel chronograph equipped with a base Valjoux movement, with central hours and minutes, window display at 12 o’clock of the day and month, central pointer for the date, moon phase at 6 o’clock, seconds and a.m./p.m. hands at 9 o’clock, split-time function by large central seconds hand and a chronograph minute and hour counters at 12 and 6 o’clock respectively.

There are two superimposed dials – a mat black central one and a sun-brushed outer dial with a diamond-polished surround. The skeleton hands are coated with SuperLumiNova. This stylish timepiece is also available in black PVD-coated steel, 18-carat pink gold and a white gold version set with baguette diamonds.

All in all, a very fine start for the determined and agreeably enthusiastic new owner of Dubey & Schaldenbrand.

Berthoud & Pouzait Basel being Basel, not everything you want to see is in the confines of the BaselWorld halls.

Such is the case of the new brand Berthoud & Pouzait, which launched its collection in private rooms in the restaurant Rollerhof, alongside the Basel Münster Cathedral.

The names of Berthoud and Pouzait are far from new to the watch industry, in fact they date back around two hundred years. Berthoud

invented a device that kept humidity out of timepieces and for whom Breguet worked as an apprentice. Pouzait invented the ‘seconde morte’ and the ‘minute morte’ and originated the Ecole d’Horlogerie de Genève.

Sven Levy, the President and CEO of Montres Berthoud and Pouzait, launched the first models without any banner waving, in a very discreet manner that somehow managed to underline the quality and importance of the watches rather than the people behind their creation.

The Modèle No 9 Date Distingué is 43.5 mm watch in 18-carat gold with a self-winding movement with a double barrel offering a second independent time zone, a 6-day power reserve indicator at 9 o’clock, small seconds at 6 o’clock and a superb date window attractively and uniquely placed alongside the watch’s crown.

The Modèle No 2 Le Saphir is a 44 mm watch in a sapphire case with 18-carat white gold screws. There is a sapphire crown with a 22-carat gold dial and hands. The bracelet is also in sapphire with a sapphire deployment buckle. The functions are hours, minutes, small seconds at 6 o’clock and a 6-day power reserve at 9 o’clock and an independent second time zone.

The timepieces are made in Switzerland and, in my understanding, the brand is establishing its production facilities in the Jura in order to MODÈLE NO 9 DATE DISTINGUÉ by Berthoud Sven Levy

LIMITED EDITION Spaceleader Chronograph Official supplier to aviation and space Created in cooperation with VOLKSWAGEN DESIGN www.fortis-watches.com

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Jean-Paul Girardin

increase the production facilities and become a genuine ‘manufacture’. It is there the brand intends to create a minute repeater and a perpetual calendar. I look forward to seeing and hearing more about this audacious new brand.

Pilo & Co I have to admit that I have a soft spot for Pilo & Co because they continually produce handsome watches at truly inexpensive prices.

This year there were two new, very elegant watches that caught my attention, the new Tempo, a classical round pink PVD gold-coated case with a silver dial, Roman numerals and blue hands. The watch is equipped with an automatic ETA 2846 movement with a date aperture at 6 o’clock and a central seconds hand.

The other watch is for the ladies and goes by the name of Invidia. This square watch has a pink PVD gold-coated case and is set with 14 diamonds on two opposite sides of the bezel.

There is a sapphire crystal and white dial with Arabic numerals, a central seconds hand, a white leather strap and the watch is equipped with a Swiss quartz movement.

In the David Van Heim Timewear collection launched by Pilo two years ago, the watches are less expensive than the Swiss Made Pilo & Co models, but lack nothing in design and know-how. The latest offering is the reference VH-99 which has a black PVD-coated case with a domed mineral glass. The dial is black with Arabic numerals, there is a quartz chrono-

SUPERSPORTS by Breitling

graph movement, a black leather strap and the watch is water-resistant to 30 metres.

For buyers looking for value for their money, both the Pilo & Co. and the David Van Heim watches will certainly meet their needs.

Breitling Jean-Paul Girardin, Breitling’s Vice President, informed me that the launch of the Chronomat B01 last year was highly successful. The styling of the chronograph, aesthetics of the timepiece and the fact that the watch was equipped with Breilting’s very own in-house manufactured movement, was well accepted in the market.

The brand managed to manufacture 30,000 TEMPO, DAVID VAN HEIM TIMEWEAR, INVIDIA by Pilo & Co

pieces in 2009 and this year’s target is 50,000.

For 2010, there are new models in the Galactic collection for both men and women – a 36 mm version with an automatic mechanical movement and a 32 mm version with a quartz movement, and the Chronospace timepiece, now available in 4 colours; as well as a revamped and very sporty looking deep-sea version of the SuperOcean – suitably water-resistant to 1,500 metres (5,000 feet).

In its Breitling for Bentley series, there is a new GMT model with an exclusive dual time zone movement. Its independent hour hand, combined with a 24-hour graduation, enables instant reading of all time zones, symbolised by the world’s great cities cited around the inner rim. Another distinctive feature of the Calibre 47B is its ‘30-second chronograph’ with a central hand performing a turn of the dial in half a minute instead of the usual 60 seconds.

In the same series there is the new Supersports, which comes as a Limited Edition of 1,000 pieces. The bezel is adorned with an elegant raised and knurled motif evoking the characteristic design of Bentley controls and the watch is equipped with an exclusive Breitling for Bentley chronometer-certified by the COSC: a self-winding chronograph movement with central 60-minute counter, 1/4th of a second chronograph and a 12-hour counter at 9 o’clock with a central scale with hundredths of an hour or hundredths of a minute graduations. There is a traditional fixed tachometric scale with a dashboard-style dial and a ‘variable tachometer’ with circular slide rule. This world-exclusive Breitling-made device – contrary to the usual tachometers that cannot extend beyond 60-second periods – serves to measure average speed whatever the time elapsed, the distance covered or the speed reached. The watch comes with a rubber strap or a Speed bracelet and is water-resistant to

Challenger R Via Paolo Nanni Costa, 12/4/b - Bologna (Italy)

www.haurex.com - info@haurex.com

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100 metres. Professional watches for professionals and those that would like to be.

MARINE ROYALE by Breguet C ‘SECOND MÉTRONOMIQUE’ by Steinway & Sons Swiss COPROLITE by Artya

… and briefly

oped by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht (winner of the 2007 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève for Best watchmaker) for the brand. The 43.7 x 26 mm watch is available in either 18-carat white, red or yellow gold and is limited to 100 pieces of each colour. Equipped with a hand-wound Calibre C50 movement, the watch is waterresistant to 30 metres.

The Model M is in 18-carat gold with a soundboard of 12 strings. Equipped with a Calibre S1853 automatic Swiss movement with matching black gold rotor and bridge, the watch has a ‘tuning-fork’ seconds hand.

There are certainly many Steinway pianos around the world, whether or not the owners are fanatical enough to want the accompanying wristwatch is another question. However, the pieces are beautifully crafted and quite unique in their concept. Let’s take another look next year …

Breguet introduced a great looking timepiece called the Breguet Marine Royale. This 45 mm 18-carat white gold watch has a rotating bezel with a luminous marker and a rubber-covered alarm on/off pushpiece at 4 o’clock with an on/off indicator aperture at 12 o'clock. The dial is in 18-carat silvered-gold displaying a wave pattern manually engraved on a rose engine lathe and has a triangular hand at the centre for setting the alarm time and a date aperture at 6 o’clock and a power reserve indicator between 9 and 11 o’clock. The watch is equipped with a self-winding mechanical movement with a straight-line lever escapement and is waterresistant to 300 metres.

Steinway & Sons Swiss watches were created through the meeting of Fabrizio Cavalca and the piano manufacturer. Quite remarkable in their concept for what must obviously be a very niche market, these timepieces are obviously closely linked to the world of music.

The Model C ‘Seconde Métronomique’ features a precise one-second metronome on the dial.

Deceptively simple in appearance, the watch has a one-second retrograde that was seemingly impossible to produce. Despite this, it was devel-

Finally, a watch with a difference from a man and a company that use difference as their benchmark – Artya. Founded recently by Yvan Arpa, the man behind the Titanic watches launched by Romain Jerome, his new Coprolite model sports a case in bronze, chiselled, hammered and engraved by Manuel Zanetti in Ticino. The watch is equipped with a self-wind-

ing movement, has a 42-hour power reserve and a rotor with a liver of sulphur patina and polished with sodium bicarbonate. The hands are pierced and oxidized and there is a sapphire crystal front and back. The dial, ah, the dial, that’s made from coprolite, which for the uninitiated is the fossilized faeces of Mesozoic reptiles – ‘merde alors’, as they say in the best French circles.

Conclusion Well, that’s it for another absorbing and fulfilling year. Let’s hope that between now and the next BaselWorld, the world’s horological geniuses will have convinced watch lovers to part with more pennies than they did last year.

However, I have one last dominating thought: are watches not becoming too complex?

Obviously watchmakers want to exhibit their prowess by producing more and more innovative complications, but watches are basically for reading the time and as is so often the case with the wonderful horological creations we are seeing these days, there is so much going on, so many technical aspects to attract our attention, especially when skeleton movements confuse the reading, that perhaps we are spending too much time to actually tell the time.

Will purity and minimalism ever return to enable us to use a watch for its original raison d’être?

Now there’s a thought! O

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Spring buds and ladies watches blossom in Basel After months and months of unexciting line extensions, creativity has finally returned to the women’s watch segment.

RSophie Furley

A

At the beginning of the year, new women’s watches had become such a rarity that it was starting to look as though the majority of the watch industry considered the women’s market as a niche! The fact that women outnumber men, that they are the world’s primary consumers of luxury products and that they love wearing watches, didn’t seem to make the slightest bit of difference. Maybe it was a recession strategy: improve efficiency, outsource, gain market share and forget about women! Who knows, but thankfully at BaselWorld things were obviously looking up as women’s watches were everywhere.

Franc Vila takes on the challenge Even the likes of Franc Vila, known for his very masculine collections, launched his first women’s line, although he was the first to admit that it was no easy task. “Designing a women’s watch was the most difficult thing I

FV28 by Franc Vila 80003 by Louis Golay

have ever done; it was even more difficult than the SuperLigero Tourbillon, because it isn’t the watch I want to wear,” shared Vila candidly.

The collection is entitled ‘Tribute’ and is equipped with Vila’s self winding FV28 calibre with a jumping hours function. Each watch has a mighty serving of hand-set diamonds and, like all Franc Vila’s collections, is limited to 88 pieces.

Vila wanted to create something feminine with flowers or plants, but he also wanted something more sophisticated for women with a strong character. “I chose an ivy design for the dial as ivy can break down a wall or destroy a house,” he explains. This is certainly a strong image, and yet the watch manages to stay graceful and powerful at the same time. A sure winner for women wanting to make a statement.

Louis Golay’s pearls of wisdom Another newcomer to the world of women’s timepieces this year is Louis Golay, best known for its ‘pearl-in-a-square’ jewellery. The com-

pany, which dates back to 1887, but which was relaunched last year, has developed a technique of pearl marquetry that is achieved by cutting the pearls in half and setting them in gold or steel, like diamonds. Golay is the only workshop that has mastered this exclusive skill.

Louis Golay hadn’t really considered launching itself into the world of horology, however, as Roman Büchi, the company’s Brand Designer and CEO explains, “People in the watch industry kept asking me if I would be interested in selling them my ‘pearls-in-a-square’, so I knew it was time to make a watch, or someone else would!”

The most spectacular piece is the 80003 in 18-carat white gold and set with 448 diamonds (2.9 carats). However, the diamonds are like wall flowers next to the 109 pearls that entirely cover the dial and case. The 80003 is powered by a self-winding movement and is limited to 25 pieces. There are two other more accessible collections in steel with pearls incorporated into the case, which are less spectacular, but equally unique.

Fendi’s Crazy Carats Over the last few years, animations have become increasingly popular on women’s jewellery and watches. Basically, anything to fiddle, twiddle or tinker with seems to amuse today’s consumers. Fendi has taken this idea one colourful step further with its Crazy Carats Collection. This first-of-a-kind watch has two crowns, one for adjusting the time and one for rotating the index gemstones.

There are three different settings for three distinctive gemstone colour combinations using a choice of diamonds, rubies, sapphires or multi-coloured topaz. The gems are fixed onto individual satellites that turn in place and the passage to the next colour feels surprisingly smooth to the touch.

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The challenge for the brand and its retailers will be to get this fun timepiece into the hands of potential consumers for them to play with. It is a tactile timepiece that is impossible to put down once you start twiddling!

Suprises at Marvin Marvin has been promoting its masculine collections very successfully this last year and the brand even won a prize for the best watch advertising campaign. However, unknown to many, Marvin also has a great women’s range of mechanical watches that don’t require a personal loan to purchase! And the women’s quartz timepieces start at a very reasonable 500 CHF. Pictured here is a 33mm model with a Technotime quartz movement, white motherof-pearl dial, 58 diamonds, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal and a silver strap, and the company’s M111 mechanical model with a Sellita SW200 movement, open dial and sweeping hands – definitely something worth promoting too!

However, that isn’t the only surprise at Marvin.

During the months of June to August, it is possible to order your Marvin watch and pick it up from the brand’s 13th century, fairytale castle in the Swiss countryside. Each client is personally met by the brand’s Community Manager and spends the day receiving a tour of the castle, vineyards and watch facilities, before receiving his or her watch and a bottle of the castle’s own wine. What a great idea for someone looking for a very special gift for a loved

one. Read more about Marvin’s male collections in Malcolm Lakin’s article in this issue.

New movements for princesses Fariytales were also a theme at Ellicott, which launched an exquisite ladies repeater that chimes the 12 strokes of midnight for today’s Cindarellas. One of the publicity images that accompanies the watch is a lady stepping onto a private jet (instead of the pumpkinturned-carriage) and leaving her glass slipper on the tarmac.

Another newcomer to the world of women’s watches is the female watchmaker Saskia Maaike Bouvier, who was exhibiting among the watch wizards of the ACHI (Academy of Independent Watchmakers). It was a pleasure to see such a delightful young lady among all the those male watchmakers. Saskia Maaike Bouvier’s first collection combines a reading of summer time and winter time on an intricate dial that has colourful, decorative elements that render this 45mm timepiece extremely feminine. We will be going into more detail about these, and other mechanical complications for ladies, in the next issue of Europa Star.

Animalalia Flora and fauna have inspired watchmaking since its inception, so it is by no means a new theme, however Chopard has chosen to celebrate a rather atypical line up of creatures in its new Animal World High Jewellery and Watch Collection. Forget butterflies and big cats, this

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CRAZY CARATS COLLECTION by Fendi M018 by Marvin LADY TUXEDO MIDNIGHT by Ellicott SUMMER & WINTER TIME by Saskia Maaike Bouvier

new collection brings together 150 different animals, such as turtles, monkeys, penguins, seahorses and even a ram! Not the most conventionally beautiful wildlife, but put them in the hands of Caroline Gruosi- Scheufele, Chopard’s Co-President and Creative Designer, and the result brings out all the beauty of nature.

This special collection is to celebrate the company’s partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and to mark Chopard’s 150th anniversary.

ANIMAL WORLD HIGH JEWELLERY AND WATCH COLLECTION by Chopard

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There are 15 watches in the collection and 135 jewellery pieces, each one depicting an animal in its environment using beautifully set diamonds and precious stones on a motherof-pearl dial.

SPEEDMASTER LADIES CHRONOGRAPH by Omega VELOCI-T LADY by Tissot HAUSSMAN LADY CHRONOGRAPH by Saint Honoré CHRONO CLASSIC LADY by Victorinox Swiss Army SPORT CLASS XXL CERAMIC by Gc

Tempus Compvtare – A luxurious way of saving the planet Another company heavily involved in the preservation of wildlife is Tempus Compvtare.

Each collection is affiliated with a charity that is dedicated to saving the world’s most threatened creatures. For every watch sold, a third of the net profits are donated to the relative cause. The first two collections, the Shark Watcher and the Sea Shepherd were developed especially for men and the proceeds go to protecting sharks, dolphins, seals and other sealife at risk from humans. (See these collections in Keith Strandberg’s article in this issue.)

However, the third collection, which will be launched at the GTE show next year, is called the Bee Watcher and is being especially conceived for women. Why bees? In the last 50 years the domesticated honeybee population has declined by about 50 per cent, causing much concern among farmers and environmentalists. Bees pollinate 80 per cent of our crops and the commercial value of their work is estimated at US$14 billion in the United States alone. This is a world problem that Tempus Compvtare is raising with this new Bee Watcher Collection. Although the watch is being kept

under wraps until the official unveiling, the company has disclosed that the case will be made of wood and steel and the watch will have a petal design. We can’t wait to see it!

grey, purple or white dial. Tissot is offering a mechanical chronograph for women this year too, with its Veloci-T Lady which is equipped with the all new C01.211 ETA movement. In the quartz arena, there are a number of great chronographs, including Victorinox Swiss Army’s Chrono Classic Lady in chocolate, pink or white, Gc’s Sport Class XXL Ceramic (See Malcolm Lakin’s article in this issue for a full report on Gc) and Saint Honoré’s Haussman lady Chronograph to name just a few.

Chronographs for girls

The frivolity of colours

Chronographs had to be one of the hottest functions and looks for the girls this year. The chronograph gives a fantastic sporty look to a women’s timepiece with its busy sub-dials, as well as being a really useful function for timing everything and anything. At the high-end Omega’s Speedmaster Ladies’ Chronograph Chronometer is a very attractive 38mm selfwinding mechanical chronograph designed especially for women. Each watch is COSCcertified and comes in 18-carat gold with a

Talking about watches in terms of colour always seems to be a frivolous activity for a serious watch magazine. However, for retailers, especially those that don’t make it to BaselWorld, it is important to know what next season holds in terms of colour trends. If there was one colour that jumped out during BaselWorld, it had to be purple, or mauve, or plum, prune or violet, or whatever the different brands had decided to call it. Purple watches were shining from windows all over the fair.

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Check out Hautlence’s HLC03, Mira’s Fée Céleste, Dior’s Fashion Line and Storm’s Vesta and Gemonite models.

Blues, in all their hues, were also really hot.

From midnight blue to turquoise and everything in between. And black and white still remain very popular across the watch spectrum.

A lesson in fashion: Dior For a women’s watch reporter, Dior is one of the most exciting companies to visit, and this year was no exception. With 30 new models in all, timepieces of all shapes, sizes and colours were introduced, presented and tried on. One of the most striking collections was the company’s Christal Haute Couture line. Each timeCHRISTAL HAUTE COUTURE LINE by Dior

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HLC03 by Hautlence M107SBK by Mira GEMONITE CHRONOGRAPH by Storm PATRAVI EVOTEC BIG DATE by Carl F. Bucherer p

piece is 33mm in size, entirely set with coloured precious stones and represents the different outfits or passages of the models on the catwalk. The attention to detail is as elaborate as the work that goes into the creation of a haute couture dress or jacket, with elements reminiscent of embroidery, linings, pleats, feather stitches, shirring and rose motifs. The first timepiece, or passage as Dior artistically calls it, is set with 11 carats of violet iolite baguettes and is followed by a mandarin timepiece with a mother-of-pearl, diamond and orange garnet dial. In third position, comes a green timepiece decorated with white mother-

of-pearl, diamonds, black lacquer and 16 carats of tsavorite garnet baguettes. Each piece is limited to eight pieces and is equipped with a Zenith Elite automatic movement.

Dior’s Press and Public Relations Director, Anne Charrier explains how Dior’s VIP clients often come into the boutique for a new outfit and will buy everything from a dress, to shoes, handbag and a matching wristwatch. With this new Christal Haute Couture Collection, it must be difficult to resist - a salesperson’s dream!

A question of size One of the biggest questions in the field of women’s watches today is choosing a size. Big is still very popular, but the traditionally small women’s watch is also making a marked comeback. It seems that everyone is rather unsure of how many millimetres to use. Some companies

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REF. 881 by Bedat & Co. ECO DRIVE LOOP by Citizen SOLITAIRE LADY by Sarcar f CRAZY MA FOLIE by Boucheron

are producing both big and small collections to try and capture both trends - Chanel (J12 and Première), Dior (Christal 28mm, 33mm 42mm and 44mm, and the tiny La Mini D de Dior) and Ebel who has three sizes for its Beluga collection (Mini 26mm, Lady 30.5mm and Grande 37mm). While others are trying to find a middle ground, around the 38mm mark, which also opens up the Asian men’s market (Carl F. Bucherer’s Patravi EvoTec Big Date, for example).

What a conundrum it is! Only time will tell which way the trend is moving, although there will probably never be one size to fit all.

Circles, rings and loops Interlinking circles and rings have always been popular in jewellery and now they are being interpreted in watches too. There is something particularly pleasing to the eye of a never-ending circle or loop, which works beautifully on a round timepiece. Here are a few examples of brands that had successfully captured the sen-

suality of the circle during BaselWorld: Bedat & Co.’s Ref. 881 has a combination of differently set rings with brilliant cut diamonds and baguettes that intertwine around the dial.

Sarcar Genève’s Solitaire Lady has a diamond set dial that is divided into rings with an offcentred hoop at seven o’clock. Boucheron’s Crazy Ma Folie plays with rings in diamonds and coloured precious stones that create a spiral effect on the dial that is accentuated by a crazy second at seven o’clock. And finally, Citizen has created a concept women’s watch called the Eco-Drive Loop with an arced secEMOTION by Louis Erard FREELANCER SUMMERTIME by Raymond Weil

ond hand that circles the Eco Drive’s solar cell and changes the whole aspect of the watch, giving it a very contemporary and pure feel.

Flash and fancy versus what sells best As watch journalists, we see hundreds of watches per day that are sent to us via email, press kits, USB keys and website links. We are attracted to the craziest complications, the funkiest colours, the most daring stone settings, because they stand out from the crowd.

However, these aren’t the pieces that keep most retailers alive. It is often the simplest, and unassuming pieces that are the most popular, as they don’t cost tens of thousands to purchase and they can be worn with everything.

So not to forget this very important sector of women’s watches, here is a selection of timepieces that deserve attention. In no particular

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BVA SERIE 130 by Bulova LADIES CLASSIC by David Yurman BELLE EPOQUE MASTERPIECE ONE by Damiani GIRO by Bertolucci p

order: Louis Erard’s Emotion with an automatic movement and date; Raymond Weil’s Freelancer Summertime, also with an automatic movement and date at 4 o’clock; David Yurman’s Ladies Classic with a mother-of-pearl dial, signature cable design on the case and Swiss quartz ETA movement; Bulova’s BVA Series 130 with its open heart, self-winding mechanical movement and 44 diamonds.

Jewellers turned watchmakers – Damiani After Harry Winston, Chopard, Graff and Tiffany, Damiani officially joins the ranks of jeweller turned watchmaker this year. Admittedly, the company has been making watches for over a decade, but the company had never really invested in making them a successful product line in their own right. This year, however, Damiani has pulled out all the stops with a number of eye catching collections that unite Damiani’s mastery of jewellery with timekeeping. The highlight of their novelties is most definitely the Belle Epoque Masterpiece One with 90 baguette diamonds and 12 baguette rubies to mark the hours. The timepiece has an external bezel with 56 diamonds and an oversized brilliant cut ruby that can be rotated so that its user can mark a special time of the day.

In addition to the ‘Masterpiece’ setting other

settings are also available in ‘light’, ‘semi’ or ‘full’. This simple, yet stunning collection certainly puts Damiani firmly on the map of jewellery watchmakers.

Bertolucci puts Basel on hold, but not creativity Bertolucci wasn’t to be found in the halls of BaselWorld this year. It is always a worry to notice a gap where a brand used to be, but after meeting with Bertolucci in their premises in a modern Geneva loft, there seems to be no reason for alarm. The company decided to use its marketing budget (which is, incidentally, exactly the same amount as last year) differently.

It is no secret that to exhibit at BaselWorld is an enormous investment and a huge chunk out of any brand’s marketing budget. So for this year and next year, Bertolucci has decided to focus its attention on creating local events and promo-

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tions in its individual markets. “Our retailers have been asking for more promotions locally,” explains the brand’s Marketing and Communication Director, Béatrice Rouhier. “We love BaselWorld and will certainly be back in the future, but for the time being we have decided to invest differently,” she continues.

Bertolucci has a number of new pieces this year to prove that the brand is not holding back on the creative side. Traditionally a women’s brand, Bertolucci has been gradually bringing out more men’s pieces. The pièce de resistance this year is the Forza which comes in an all-black 45mm, PVD, oval case and surprisingly manages to keep all the Bertolucci design codes whilst staying extremely masculine. The Giro is a perfect unisex piece, available in automatic or quartz, that radically changes look depending on its colours and stone settings.

The Serena, Serena Garbo, Volta and Stria lines are all going strong and are as popular as ever with Bertolucci’s female clients. So even if BaselWorld is on hold, the brand certainly isn’t.

(For information: Bertolucci is still exhibiting in Basel, but at an off-site location.)

The recession may not be entirely over, but when there are so many different women’s watches to talk about that it is impossible to mention them all here, things are most definitely looking better.

So stay tuned to Europa Star throughout the year for more features on ladies watches, starting with a focus on women’s complications in the next issue. So until then… O

ADVERTISER’S SPOTLIGHT europa star

First TITONI Artist Watch launched with a touch of Chinese Contemporary Art TITONI HAS LAUNCHED ITS FIRST ARTIST WATCH IN THE PRESENCE OF MR. ZHANG QIKAI, THE FAMOUS CHONGQING-BASED PAINTER AND ART CRITIC. THE SOLEMN AND JOYFUL EVENT TOOK PLACE IN A WELLKNOWN CREATIVE INDUSTRY ZONE IN CHONGQING OPPOSITE THE SICHUAN FINE ARTS INSTITUTE, WHERE MR. ZHANG TEACHES AND ALSO HAS HIS ART STUDIO.

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reating a watch together with an artist from China has long been the dream cherished by Mr. Daniel Schluep, Titoni’s CEO. On April 27, he saw his dream come true when the first Titoni Artist Watch was revealed at Chongqing’s Art Space 501 in the presence of the artist and many media representatives from China’s biggest city, Chongqing, and the nearby capital of Sichuan, Chengdu.

Cooperation with a famous Chongqing-based artist All happened two years ago, when Daniel Schluep visited the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing. He was taken around by a young lady in the so-called Tank-Loft-Contemporary Art Center where artists and professors of the Institute have their own studios. Mr. Schluep spent much more time at the studio of Mr. Zhang Qikai whose motif in his paintings has deeply touched his heart: the Giant Panda.

Titoni’s CEO has always been an art lover, and he immediately felt, that he would like to cooperate with this famous artist together: To bring his dreams in line with the philosophy of Mr. Zhang Qikai, to combine the sense of time with the classical design of the Titoni watch, and – practically speaking – to adjust the usually “large-scale format” of Mr. Zhang’s paintings to the watchmaker’s needs.

“Time” may not mean anything for other artists, but for Zhang Qikai, the relevance of time is ubiquitous in his work and at the same time crucial in his paintings. Born in 1950, Zhang Qikai has held solo exhibitions in China, Japan and in Germany, where he lived in the 1990s. The apparent loneliness of living in a foreign country and a deep understanding of the differences between East and West are ever present in his work. Having returned to his homeland in 2000, he began to use the panda in his work.

The giant panda has not only been upgraded to the status of a Chinese cultural symbol, but is also an emblem for world peace. As a protected species in China, he cuts a lonely, solitary figure in Zhang’s work. The environment where the panda resides varies, but void and quiet are a common characteristic. He is enclosed in the material world and overwhelmed by consumer culture, as if to imply his and China’s predicament with the modern world. On the other hand, the giant panda also seems to provide spiritual sustenance and comfort although a combination of curiosity and suspicion surrounds him.

Giant Panda as the unofficial ambassador of China in Switzerland When Mr. Schluep was confronted with the Giant Panda in Mr. Zhang’s paintings, it was “love at first sight” and an inspiration for creative

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ideas. Since the adorable panda has become an unofficial ambassador of China in Switzerland, TITONI decided to work together with Zhang Qikai on this unique project: the designing of a watch dial by a famous Chinese artist using his subtle ideas and techniques in combination with the best of Swiss fine watch-making. Besides, this first Titoni Artist Watch should – in the eyes of the Grenchen-based company – also symbolize the ever growing friendship between Switzerland and the Municipality of Chongqing.

“Return to the Aerosphere”, the topic of the painting now placed on the watch-dial, evokes timeless feelings with a touch of futuristic surrealism. For Daniel Schluep, to cherish every single moment of life and at the same time to pursue cultural interests is part of his philosophy. “I have always been an art lover, and Mr. Zhang Qikai’s passion with the giant panda and the time-and-space related motifs in his paintings have deeply touched my heart”, said Mr. Schluep during the ceremony. For Mr. Zhang Qikai this cooperation with an international watch brand is a perfect chance to promote Chinese art and foster cultural exchange. “Since Titoni is a high-quality Swiss watch brand which gained trust from Chinese customers over the last five decades, I personally find it an ideal partner to work with”, said the artist in his remarks.

Titoni Ltd. has been in the Chinese market ever since 1959, and has steadily developed its market share with its mechanical, classical watches.

It is not the first time that the Swiss watch brand is showing its special interest for China and its culture: In 2009, Titoni Ltd. adopted the giant panda “Ruirui” at the Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu.

This time, the long-lasting cooperation between the Swiss brand and China has been portrayed in a timepiece that is unique because of the essence of Mr. Zhang’s painting: it gives the viewer the feeling that “time is the greatest limit upon mankind”, as the artist once said with the social encumbrances of every single human being in mind.

Titoni’s first Artist Watch is an officially certified chronometer (COSC) and has been produced in a limited series of only 250 pieces worldwide.

It is a collectible item and will only be sold at the Titoni showrooms in China and Hong Kong, and in some selected retail points. www.titoni.ch

ADVERTISER’S SPOTLIGHT

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SPORTS WATCHES 2010 – real value is back RKeith W. Strandberg, International Editor

J Just like the watch industry itself, the landscape of sports watches has changed. Where in the past, flashy, not necessarily useful sports watches have dominated the spotlight, that’s no longer the case. In the place of these ‘out there’ watches are highly usable sports timepieces that are priced realistically and are versatile, durable timepieces meant to be used and abused.

That being said, however, even sports watches have to strive to stand out from the pack, and they do that in several ways with an intriguing package of features, unique designs, professional specifications, or a combination of all of these.

The attraction of sports watches One of the reasons people are attracted to sports watches is that they are rough and rugged and suited for just about anything.

They don’t have to be water resistant to 200 metres to go into the pool, into the hot tub, running or mountain climbing, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. Consumers buy sports watches so they don’t have to worry about them – no matter what they do.

You can’t wear a sophisticated dress watch to go snorkeling in Hawaii, you’d ruin it, but you CAN wear some of today’s sports watches to the office or a stylish dinner.

Some customers buy sports watches for a specific activity, with an appropriate list of features and specifications, while others buy sports watches to be their primary watch, easily moving from activity to activity, from office to gym and anywhere else.

Here’s a look at some of the newest sports watches introduced on the market this year.

Mix Of features There are some great features that sports watches can offer that other watches can’t – because they are bigger, there is more room for things like chronograph sub dials, tachymeter, telemeters, pulsometers, unidirectional rotating bezels, dual time zones, large, easy-to-read displays and more.

This year, many companies presented sports watches that offer useful features. Here is a selection of the best: TX, part of the Timex Group, continued to introduce traditional mechanical complications in quartz form, at incredible prices. This year saw the debut of the TX 650 GT Fly-back Chronograph, using a movement unique to TX. In addition to the Fly-back chronograph, this watch also offers a tachymeter scale, dual

EXPEDITION MILITARY by Timex

multifunction retrograde displays and a second time zone. Another introduction for TX at BaselWorld was the TX 600 Pilot Fly-back Chronograph in unique grey on grey and blue on blue variations.

Staying in the Timex group, they also introduced a great looking collection called the Expedition Military. Drawing on vintage military designs, this 45mm collection is available in Chronograph and Classic variations. In addition, Timex introduced the Sports Luxury series, featuring Asian mechanical movements with exposed balance wheels, retrograde calendars and power reserve indicators.

Also, Timex introduced the 200 metres water resistant Expedition Dive, the Expedition EInstruments that feature compass, tide and thermometer and the WS4 Carabiner, a caribiner timepiece with a wide screen display that shows time, altimeter, barometer, compass and thermometer.

Breitling debuted its new B01 in-house chronograph movement, available only in its

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CHRONOMAT and SUPEROCEAN by Breitling

Chronomat collection for now. An incredible accomplishment, as an integrated chronograph is one of watchmaking’s ‘holy grails’, the B01 is a result of years of development and testing and will be the basis for a number of complications moving forward.

Breitling also revisited the SuperOcean, going back to its launch in 1957 to gain design inspiration. Water resistant to 1,500 metres, this is an attractive, rugged watch that comes in five inner dial ring colours – blue, yellow, red, silver or black.

Victorinox Swiss Army is staying with its commitment to chronographs – 35 per cent of its watches are chronographs, which is double the industry average. Some of the great watches introduced at BaselWorld this year were the Infantry Vintage, which is the ENGINEER MASTER DIVER WORLDTIME by Ball Watch

first automatic chronograph in the Infantry collection, a new silver dial in the Alpnach Chronograph and the Chrono Pro collection.

For the company’s ladies chronograph see Sophie Furley’s article in this issue.

Ball Watch introduced the Engineer Master Diver Worldtime – this spectacular automatic

BARRACUDA by Cimier

watch, which is a day date world timer, water resistant to 300 metres, was the best value at the show, retailing for $2,200! Incredible.

Tissot’s T-Touch series saw the introduction of the Sailing Touch, with dedicated sailing features. The standard and professional T-Touch watches are feature-laden, giving the customer great ‘bang for the buck’, as they include alarms, a chronograph, temperature, barometer and a compass.

Cimier, who works with an eclectic mix of sporting ambassadors, including Swiss gold medal snowboarder Tanja Frieden, introduced two very attractive Seven Seas automatic models, the Barracuda and the Blue Marlin, automatic chronographs with a second time zone indication on the bezel, along with a day and date display and water resistant to 100 metres.

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Unique designs Sports watches, just by their rough and rugged nature, tend to stick out from the crowd, while at the same time, some brands really strive to be distinctive and recognizable. Some of the brands that succeeded this year include: Devon who introduced the Tread 1, which uses multiple moving belts to display the time, resulting in a look unlike anything else on the market. Designed by Jason Wilbur, the Tread 1 is something unique to the industry – a brand new design that was completely developed in the USA. In addition to this, it is being manufactured and assembled in the United States, using a very small percentage of parts from outside the country.

“All the mechanical parts of the movement are custom manufactured from scratch specifically for the Tread 1; from steel, titanium and aluminium, all CNC machined, wire EDM, and so on,” Wilbur details. “No off-the-shelf parts exist in the Tread 1 except for the battery, the microchip, wires and screws.”

TREAD 1 by Devon

The Bell & Ross BR-01 was a breakthrough in styling and performance, and Bell & Ross is turning heads again with the vintage look of its new Vintage BR, which is capitalizing on an overall trend in the watch industry towards classicism and vintage looks. This watch is no poser, however, as it still has the sports watch chops of 200 metre water resistance and pilot watch looks.

At Linde Werdelin, the brand introduced a new ‘tattoo’ version of the Oktopus, where the case is intricately engraved, based on the designs of Henning Jørgensen, a famous tattoo artist, from Royal Tattoo in Denmark.

Though expensive, 15,600 Euros, it sure stood out from the crowd.

“I see the Oktopus Tattoo as a contemporary piece of art for one’s wrist, Linde Werdelin’s first lifestyle watch where body art meets haute horlogerie,” says Morten Linde, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Linde Werdelin.

VINTAGE BR 123 & 126 CARBON CHRONOGRAH by Bell & Ross

OKTOPUS TATTOO by Linde Werdelin

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Corum Admiral’s Cup timepieces. The Admiral’s Cup is a great design and this year Corum introduced some fantastic versions to mark its 50th anniversary. The Admiral’s Cup is the prototype of the true sports watch that is just at home at the office or an elegant dinner.

Eterna is introducing its Heritage limited edition line and two of the more noteworthy watches in this great collection are the Pulsometer and the Kon Tiki. The Pulsometer is from 1942 and helps track the beating of your heart (which should beat faster when wearing this cool watch, limited to 1942 pieces), while

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professional, including specifications not needed, but often very much appreciated and desired, by the general population.

Oris has had a long association with aviation and this year Oris introduced the BC3 Advanced, redesigned for the first time in ten years. Advanced is the aerobatics class for experienced pilots and this watch was developed with acrobatic pilot Don Vito Wyprächtiger.

In diving, Oris introduced its Col Moschin Italian Special Forces series, which accompanied these professionals on 9,000 metre skydives and 40 metre dives. Water resistant to 1,000 metres, this watch was developed for these commandoes.

ONE by Snyper

the Kon Tiki, water resistant to 200 metres, honours Thor Heyerdahl’s 1973 expedition and is limited to 1973 pieces.

One of the newest brands on the market, Equipe from Detroit, Michigan in the United States combines interesting designs and features with a value price point. Though some of the designs in the collections are a bit derivative, the use of ball joints for lugs and the details from the automotive industry (like pistons, gauges, tire tread straps, etc.) make this brand quite interesting.

Anonimo, following a trend in the industry, introduced an interesting case colour, called Drass, which is gun metal grey that results from sandblasting steel to increase its resistance to wear. “Anonimo has been a case manufacture since 1939, in Firenza, Italy,” says Federico Massacesi, President of Anonimo. “We want to emphasize our cases.” In addition, Anonimo introduced a new opening price point of $2,300 which, according to Massacesi, “is a good answer in today’s market.”

Professional specifications There is still a strong portion of the sports watch market that focuses on watches for the

Another professional watch is the Luminox Deep Diver, water resistant to 500 metres and designed for actual use.

At CX Swiss Military, the record holder for deep dives, the ‘20,000 Feet’ lives on. Massive, the 20,000 Feet is a real tool, capable of going down to depths unheard of – 20,000 feet (6,000 metres), and it’s a COSC-certified automatic chronograph as well. “We came across CRONOSCOPIO MARK II DRASS GOLD by Anonimo 20,000 FEET by CX Swiss Military

BALLJOINT by Equipe

several articles in diving magazines where professional divers complained about today’s diving watches being ‘chocolate box’ watches, good for the yacht club but not of much use when doing some serious diving,” says President Frank M. Bürgin. “We decided to buck that trend and come up with a new interpretation of the ultimate diving watch – ultimate not in price or complications (who needs a tourbillion when diving?), but ultimate as in ‘reduced to the

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valve. Designed to be used in the world’s oceans by professionals, the 45mm Deep Diver timepiece is individually numbered and limited in production. The watch comes in a speciallydesigned, water resistant box, which can be used to store gear like the diver’s mobile phone, camera and more safely while on deck.

Corum, with the Admiral’s Cup, has long had an association with the sea, but since the discontinuation of the Dive Bubble, the brand has been missing a true diver’s watch. This BaselWorld changed all that, with the introduction of the Deep Hull, a 48mm titanium dive watch water resistant to 1,000 metres.

P’6780 DIVER by Porsche Design

max’ – form following functionality, no frills, the perfect back-up instrument that will never let you down.”

Luminox, long renowned for its work with the Navy SEALs, law enforcement and military all over the world, introduced the new Deep Diver this year at BaselWorld. Water resistant to 500 metres and using an automatic helium release

YACHTIMER by Nautica

Doxa has long been one of the most recognized dive watches, thanks to its signature orange dial. This year, Doxa introduced the Sub 800 TI Professional, a lightweight titanium timepiece water resistant to 800 metres.

Porsche Design’s new dive watch, the P’6780 Diver, is the brand’s second diving watch in more than 25 years. This brand-new timepiece is powered by an automatic movement, handles depths of up to 1,000 metres and features a dial that offers excellent readability in the darkness of the abyss. The Diver’s three-part case design is both unique and particularly intricate: acting as the housing for the dial and the movement, a circular stainless steel container hinges back into a bead-blasted titanium bridge structure.

Bremont expanded its revolutionary movement suspension system and the technology refined through the development of its MartinBaker exclusive timepiece to the SuperMarine line. “These watches have to go through all the tests that the ejector seat has to go through, like vibration, shock, climate, temperature extremes, salt and much more,” says Nick English, Bremont Watch Company. ”We had to redesign the way the watch works. We have new technology in the case, so the movement is suspended in a rubber mount. It took two years of testing to develop this. I am pretty sure that this has got to be one of the most tested watches in the world.”

MARTIN-BAKER by Bremont

Breguet introduced an interesting version of its Marine Royale, which is water resistant to 300 metres and features an underwater alarm.

This offers users a way to remind themselves when it’s time to come up from the deep.

Sporting associations Sports and timepieces have a natural symbiosis, as many sports need to be timed. This year marked the announcement of many new partnerships and associations. First and foremost, Cabestan announced its association with Ferrari. Previously with Girard-Perregaux and Officine Panerai, Ferrari has chosen to work with Cabestan on a very exclusive, 300,000 Euro watch that can only be sold to Ferrari owners.

The Scuderia Ferrari One, designed by Cabestan’s Jean-François Ruchonnet, is limited to 60 pieces. “I met the people at Ferrari, and they said that there should be real value in the watch - you can’t just put the Ferrari logo on the dial and try to sell the watch,” he explains. “Every one of their cars has real value. We started with the Cabestan movement, the engine, then built the body around it using materials from Ferrari and Formula 1.”

Speaking of Formula 1, Hublot announced that it is now the official watch of Formula 1,

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supplanting Jacques Lemans. You can expect some Formula 1 themed watches in the near future. Bovet announced an association with high-end car builder Pinafarina, including a limited edition Bovet Tourbillon Grande Date

by Pinafarina (limited to 80 pieces worldwide), while Graham is working with the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One team.

Staying in auto racing, Luminox and Tony Kanaan introduced a new watch designed in partnership with Kanaan and featuring his colours. "At Luminox, we are delighted to be working with Tony Kanaan,“ says Luminox President Barry Cohen. "It’s an honour for a Luminox timepiece to be part of his essential gear. Having him so deeply involved with the design was a true pleasure and we look forward to developing this partnership in the years to come.“ TW Steel and Dario Franchitti worked together on a special watch. “I told Stewart Morrison, a fellow Scot who does the PR for TW Steel, that I’d love to do my own watch, because I love watches, and we came to an agreement,” Franchitti, the winningest British open wheel driver in history, remembers. “We worked on the design together and we launched the watch this year in Indianapolis at the Speedway.

“The company came up with the basic design, then I added my own touches,” he adds. “It was a fun process to get involved in - I wanted some

CHRONO 4 BADBOY by Eberhard & Co.

ST ANDREWS LINKS COURSE TIMER & GMT by Jaermann & Stübi

detailing on the dial, to make it distinctive to me.

The material of the strap was something I specified, it’s really comfortable and has an association with racing. I’ve shown the other drivers in IRL and the reception has been great.”

flexible winding-stem, patented and specially designed for golf, as well as a course timer.

Alpina continued its relationship with the 12 Hours of Sebring, introducing a new Automatic Chrono GMT.

Tissot virtual reality Certina, part of the Swatch Group, just announced the addition of young Swiss driver Fabio Leimer, driving in GP2. The Certina logo will be on Leimer’s race car, his helmet and his overalls.

In golf, Breitling announced its sponsorship of Rickie Barnes, an up and coming American golfer, who is currently ranked 39th on the PGA tour.

BOVET TOURBILLON GRANDE DATE by Pinafarina

2010 was a great year for sports watches, seeing a return to value and to real-world usability, from the depths of the abyss to the dizzying heights of the boardroom, and everything in between.

Jaermann & Stübi introduced a watch called the St Andrews Links Course Timer & GMT ‘The Old Course’, limited to 18 watches, with each watch representing one hole of the internationally renowned Old Course, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of The British Open. Like all the brand’s watches, these 18 timepieces will feature a G-Shock-Guard system with a

One of the key questions watch people ask when they are thinking about buying a watch is “How will it look on my wrist?” Tissot recently introduced a web application called 3D Augmented Reality that will allow you to try watches on in front of your computer screen!

Focusing on the Tissot Touch collection, you will be able to virtually ‘try on' a selection of styles and colours. In addition, all the watches will tell the correct time in digital and analogue.

“It’s really easy -- all you need is a computer and a webcam,” says Duy Quan, Developer for Tissot. “You only need to install the software and then everything is automatic. The program starts the webcam by itself and all you have to do is cut the watch out with a pair scissors and show it to the camera.”

Is this the future of watch shopping? No one knows, but it certainly is fun. O

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Soon a tourbillon watch for 1,500 Swiss francs Recently, Europa Star went to visit the largest Chinese watchmaker, at least in terms of volume, since its Ebohr and Rossini brands account for 23 per cent of the domestic market. Focused on the lower-end of the market, the group is now looking to advance into the mid-range with a number of new collections including Codex, a new Swiss Made brand. Tao Li, the group’s General Manager, talked to us about this strategy

RInterview conducted by Jean-Luc Adam

T

The Chinese industry is entering into a new era, that of emancipation. Everywhere, it is investing in research and development, while also finally learning to design and communicate. The catching-up phase (did someone say ‘copying’?) is finally coming to an end. We are already seeing this in the automobile industry where, of a hundred or so Chinese brands, there will soon be only a handful—some of which will become future giants.

The same evolution is being seen in the watch sector with three groups in particular: SeaGull (founded in 1955, headquartered in Tianjin), FIYTA (1987, Shenzhen), and Ebohr (1991, Shenzhen). What are their goals? To carve out a market share in the lower and mid-range, especially in Asian markets. Tao Li, the Manager of Ebohr, welcomed us to his manufacturing facility in Shenzhen and talked about the original strategy of the group, now composed of several new brands, tourbillons and Swiss Made.

Europa Star: What is behind the Ebohr brand?

Tao Li: China Haidian Holdings, listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, is the owner of the watch brands, Ebohr and Rossini.

ES: Is the group involved in other industries that have nothing to do with watches?

TL: Yes, this is still often the case with Chinese groups. But we are going to sell our copper

ES: What is the watch you are wearing?

TL: Ah, you noticed it. It’s true that it is very large. The case alone weighs 150 grammes. It is a Codex, a new Swiss Made brand from the company Swiss Chronometric, located in Bienne, of which we are shareholders. Here, I have two pre-series models.

ES: Will this watch be entirely produced in Switzerland? What is Codex’s target market?

TL: Except for the cases and the documentation that comes from China, all the rest is made in Switzerland. Codex is positioned on the same level as Longines and is targeting the global market, but with China as its priority.

Tao Li, General Manager of Ebohr, with two pre-series of Swiss Made Codex watches. (Photo Jean-Luc Adam)

wire production factories in order to concentrate on only one sector, watches.

ES: Could you explain a little about your development of the brands such as Rossini and Kana?

TL: The Rossini brand has been around for 25 years and is Number One in terms of sales in China, with more than 12 per cent of the market. It is our basic model, made in Zhuhai, south of Hong Kong. On the other hand, Kana is a new brand for the ladies, which has been developed in cooperation with Swarovski.

These models are set with natural gemstones such as ruby, sapphire, topaz, black spinel, amethyst and garnet.

ES: It is quite large while the current trend is a return to the ultra-flat watch…

TL: Yes, we noticed this trend at the last BaselWorld show, and we are also exploring this avenue. Still, however, Codex aims to be a very masculine watch as its slogan suggests: ‘Codex, Men Addiction’. On the inside is a solid ETA movement.

ES: Nicolas Hayek, President of the Swatch Group and, by extension, its subsidiary ETA, wants to discontinue supplying movements to all the small brands that are proliferating in Switzerland…

TL: (laughing) This is not the first time that Hayek has said this. Besides, this threat does not frighten us since there are other movement suppliers in Switzerland.

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Assembly line in a filtered dust-free atmosphere. (Photo D. R.)

Suisse CNC equipment. (Photo D.R.)

Analysis of precious metals. (Photo D.R.)

ES: Coming back to Ebohr, how many watches did you sell in 2009 and what was the average price?

TL: Ebohr has sold about 600,000 watches at an average price of 1,000 yuans (150 Swiss francs). Our short-term goal is to increase the average sales price to 2,000 yuans. To do this—in addition to our Gold, Classical, Automatic, Tungsten, and Slim series—we

the twin tourbillon; Beijing for the vertical tourbillon and Shanghai for the flying tourbillon. Note, also, that Ebohr will rework the style of each calibre.

complications but they cannot increase their production through only their own watch brands. Yet, they have the capacity to produce many more pieces and so they can lower their prices. We are going to help them.

are going to create the Ebohr Complication range, with a specific logo and design carried out in Switzerland.

ES: What type of movements will these new pieces have?

TL: Automatics and tourbillons.

ES: I have a little trouble believing that Ebohr is going to start making tourbillons…

TL: We will have three suppliers: Sea-Gull for

ES: That’s nice, but it will cost a fortune. Can your clientele afford such watches?

TL: (laughing) These watches will be affordable because we are planning on selling them

for 10 per cent of the price of comparable Swiss watches. Soon, we will introduce a basic tourbillon timepiece for 10,000 yuans (1,500 Swiss francs). There is a real market for low cost complicated watches and Ebohr is looking towards the global market.

ES: How can your suppliers lower their prices to such an extent?

TL: The three movement suppliers I mentioned earlier are real specialists in the fabrication of

ES: Why does Ebohr, like the other Chinese brands, only follow the trends of Swiss watchmakers?

Chronograph from the Jumbo collection, 40-mm round steel case, scratch-resistant thanks to a nano-technological treatment, crystal glass, Japanese quartz movement, leather strap, water-resistant to 30 metres. (Photo D. R.) Watch from the Gold collection, 39-mm case and crown in 18K gold, bezel and dial set with natural diamonds, sapphire crystal and screw-in case back, alligator strap with gold foldover clasp, Swiss ETA automatic calibre 2824, water-resistant to 30 m. (Photo D. R.) Rectangular watch from the Automatic collection, Japanese automatic movement with a frequency of 21,000 vibrations per hour, sapphire crystal, screw-in case back, leather strap, water-resistant to 50 metres. (Photo D. R.)

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Tao Li in front of a CNC monitor. (Photo D.R.)

TL: It is because Swiss watch brands create the watch trends for the entire world. This is a simple fact.

ES: You are in Shenzhen, the new world capital of electronics. Why not develop high-tech movements, such as atomic, photoelectric, electrodynamic or even thermoelectric types?

TL: Guangdong province is also a historical watch zone. But I understand your reasoning. In the domain of sophisticated electronic movements, the Japanese brands have such an advance that we would never catch up to their level. In any case, Chinese people like mechanical watches. In one year, the proportion of our automatic models has gone from 20 per cent to 40 per cent. When they buy a watch, people are not looking to have the most exact time possible.

There is no race for absolute precision in watchmaking. If there were, atomic watches would have become the standard a long time ago.

ES: “It would be irrational to buy a watch to tell time!” declared Jean-Claude Biver, owner of Hublot, in regards to his brand’s All Black model, which is completely black—the dial, the case, the bracelet and even the hands…

TL: He is right and the proof is that logically watches should have already disappeared during our era since we have time everywhere—on our cell phones, in our cars, in the streets, in our Rectangular watch from the Milkway series, transparent case decorated with a Swarovski diamond ‘heart & arrow’, crocodile strap, Swiss quartz movement, water-resistant to 30 metres. (Photo D. R.) Watch from the Automatic collection, 40.5-mm stainless steel case, bezel and crown in yellow gold, dial set with three natural diamonds, 24-hour display, stainless steel/gold bracelet with fold-over clasp, Japanese automatic movement. (Photo D. R.)

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Attaching the sapphire crystals to a watch in the Gold collection. (Photo D.R.)

houses and on nearly all electrical appliances.

This demonstrates the very special relationship that people have with this type of jewellery. To have something more ‘alive’ and more ‘human’, you need a mechanical watch.

ES: Why do watches made by Chinese for Chinese have nothing Chinese about them?

Kana, natural topaz set in the stainless steel case with rubyset crown, sapphire crystal, leather strap, Swiss ETA quartz movement, screw-in case back, water-resistant to 20 metres.

(Photo D. R.) Kana, natural topaz set in the stainless steel case with sapphire-set crown, sapphire crystal, leather strap, Swiss ETA quartz movement, screw-in case back, water-resistant to 20 metres. (Photo D. R.) Kana, natural rubies set in the stainless steel case with rubyset crown, sapphire crystal, leather strap, Swiss ETA quartz movement, screw-in case back, water-resistant to 20 metres.

(Photo D. R.) Kana, natural topaz on the bezel and clasp, ruby on the crown, stainless steel case, sapphire crystal, leather strap, Swiss ETA quartz movement, screw-in case back, waterresistant to 30 metres. (Photo D. R.)

CHINA 73

Setting topaz on a model from the Kana brand. (Photo D.R.)

Tao Li, General Manager, with members of the management team. (Photo D.R.)

Why not draw inspiration from the Chinese culture, a culture that is so rich and so refined?

TL: The difficult times of the Cultural Revolution have destroyed our tradition and our culture.

No one in China wants to return to the past.

Currently, thanks to an open policy, the nation is going through a crazy period with a rapid change in lifestyle. Everything is new.

ES: Contrary to FIYTA or Sea-Gull, Ebohr does not have a widespread sales network in the country. How are you going to sell your watches?

TL: Currently, we have only three Ebohr stores in China. By the end of 2010, we will have 40. We sell mainly through multi-brand stores. However, we believe more and more in

Everything is fresh. People are finally allowed to exist, sometimes to excess.

ES: In the West, we often think of China as a sleeping dragon whose awakening provokes fear. The China of today has obviously sold its soul to Western culture, especially to American culture. The Koreans and the Japanese would never have accepted such a cultural invasion…

TL: What you say is totally true. Once again, many generations of Chinese have been sacrificed. The new generation are better educated and wants to finally enjoy life and be in fashion. For them, Western culture provides all of this.

direct online sales, B2C, business to customer.

We are developing a platform that will allow us to not only present our products and meet the demands of our clients, but also to allow us to have a DIY, Design It Yourself, option.

The client can thus configure his future watch by choosing the various pieces that go into it.

Thanks to our flexibility in production, we can realize this made-to-order piece in two or three days. Finally, we are using our e-shop on Taobao (the Chinese equivalent of eBay) to sell our older models at a hefty discount. O For more information about Ebohr click on Brand Index at www.europastar.com

76 RETAILER PROFILE europa star

New Wempe on London’s New Bond Street

RKeith W. Strandberg

Even in the midst of this very deep recession, we are doing unbelievably well. I have worked very hard to get connections to the Chinese and international markets. The local market has fallen apart, but we have been able to replace it with Chinese and international customers.

T

Take a walk down London’s New Bond Street and you will see some of the world’s most stylish boutiques. Chief among these is the recently re-modeled Wempe Jewellers, run by Lynn Schroeder, General Manageress.

Interestingly enough, most of Wempe's watches are outside in the windows. Once you are buzzed in, Wempe is a luxurious environment without many cases, just welcoming salespeople ready to help you find the perfect watch.

To find out more about Wempe’s operation in London, I sat down with Schroeder in the London store.

Europa Star: How's business?

Lynn Schroeder: We cannot complain, business has been quite extraordinary for us. Since we debuted the refurbished store, in July 2007, we have almost doubled business. The increase in the presence of our store, from 60 square metres to 440 square metres, allowed us to install 22 square metres of window space.

People can now see what we have in stock.

First, we have established a good reputation

Lynn Schroeder

in the first ten years. The second part is my team, which is very knowledgeable and experienced. We try very hard to give customers the whole luxury feel. People are coming in here and buying things they don’t need. They come to treat themselves, to give something nice to a loved one, and we try to give them the feeling that they have achieved something. We celebrate the sale with them, as a business partner, not so much as a salesperson. We try to find the right piece for them, we don’t try to sell them anything.

We have some windows inside, like Rolex, Patek, and some others. We try to listen to our customers and what they need, and we have all the watches in the drawers. We have the window space, where people can see what they like in the windows. We sit the customers down, start a conversation with them and then present the timepieces in front of them on a tray.

ES: Does the locked, guarded door inhibit customers?

LS: I don’t think so. The security system is a necessary evil, we have no other choice. We always try to have a smiling face and open the door before they buzz.

In Europe, it’s different, this is an accepted way of doing things. We are not a department store. We welcome the customers, we ask them what they are looking for, we offer them coffee, we will show them anything they want to see and we are not pushy about it.

ES: What is your background?

LS: I have worked at Wempe for 13.5 years. I started my career in Hamburg, then moved to New York, then Frankfurt, then here in London.

Wempe is a family-owned business and you feel that through and through. You are not a number, they make you feel like you are a part of the success of the company. I am in touch with Mr. and Mrs. Wempe regarding issues here in London all the time. They involve all their

europa star

RETAILER PROFILE 77

FACTS AND FIGURES Name: Wempe Jewelers in London Location: 43-44 New Bond Street How long: 12 years Employees: 13 Size of store: 440 square metres Average sale: £5,000 Range of price: clocks for under £100 – open end (Sky Moon Tourbillon for over £550,000) Best selling watches: Patek Philippe, Rolex, IWC Brands: Patek Philippe, Rolex, IWC, A. Lange & Söhne, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Cartier, Breitling, Glashütte Original, Nomos, Wempe, Vacheron Constantin, Baume & Mercier Jewellery/Watches: 30%/70%

managers in future plans for the next ten years.

I love the opportunity to work internationally.

ES: Who is your customer?

LS: Our customer base has varied much more in the last year, because we can approach a different customer base with the new store. Our customers range from people who have established themselves young and are ready to treat themselves and their family, in addition to foreigners who can’t find what they are looking for in their countries, as well as wealthy people who are not only looking for the right product, but also for the right treatment.

ES: How has business changed in recent years?

LS: I’ve seen that the average price has risen.

When people treat themselves, they want to be educated and they are willing to spend more. The quick sell isn’t there any more.

Some customers tend to have more information now. We want to give them the information they need.

ES: What is the secret of your success?

LS: I’m approachable. I am always here for my customers, business partners and staff. I am always in the showroom, so I can see every customer that comes in. I am in touch with what people want. If people want to talk with me, I am right there.

ES: What do you like about your job?

LS: I have found my dream job. I enjoy being in touch with people. It is rewarding to share the joy they have when they buy something.

I love engagement rings, to help people to pick the right one, following up the process and meeting the entire family. I love the personal relationships.

ES: What is the biggest challenge facing your store right now?

LS: Taking it to the next level is a challenge for us, in terms of turnover. We have grown very quickly, but it’s a challenge to let more customers know that Wempe is making a difference in the industry.

ES: What is the biggest challenge facing the watch industry right now?

LS: The biggest challenge will be the product selection. Watch companies really have to get into people’s heads and find out what customers want to buy. It may be helpful to listen to what the retailers can share about their customers' thoughts.

ES: How do you market your store?

LS: We do co-op advertising with our watch business partners. We try to find the right media to use – there are a lot of high class magazines, but we have to find the right ones to reach out to the right customers. Daily newspapers are very helpful as well, people are responding to our advertisements quite quickly. I am still trying to find new ways to reach our customers. I have been thinking about TV, but I think there is more to be done in the print media.

ES: How important is security?

LS: Unfortunately, security has become very, very important. We had some troubles back in 2005, we have had some attempted robberies - the patterns have changed, they are now coming during the day, so we have a security guard outside all the time. In the redesign, we integrated security measures – we have 20 cameras, we have security fog for the passageway and the windows. We have created special wiring for the watches in the windows, and more that I don’t really want to talk about.

ES: Are you optimistic about the future?

LS: Against all odds, I am very optimistic. I think London is an important city, a centre of Europe.

I hope the financial crisis will be over soon.

ES: What is your favourite watch?

LS: This is a tough question. I have several favourite watches – my first watch I ever purchased was a Rolex Explorer 1. As a treat to myself when I started here in London, I decided to buy a 5712R from Patek Philippe. O

78 FAIRS europa star

Postcard from Las Vegas – A leap of faith

As is typical for Las Vegas, the weather was dry and very, very hot – in fact, the heat set records for Las Vegas with temperatures hovering around 110 degrees Fahrenheit / 43 degrees Centigrade. The weather wasn’t the only thing that was hot in Las Vegas, however, as business in the United States was heating up as well.

RKeith W. Strandberg

L

Last year, the Las Vegas shows were not very well attended, as retailers were focusing more on staying alive than on buying new product. This year, however, exhibitors across the board reported increased traffic, with retailers writing orders. It might be a leap of faith to say that business is on the upswing, Reactor

when it may have just stopped going down, but the general feeling is that it’s time to stop crying and begin to smile again.

Brands doing well The healthiest price range in the industry today seems to be in the $50 - $1,500 range, as this is where people feel alright about buying timepieces. One brand succeeding surprisingly well is Kimora Simmons’ Hello Kitty, which introduced a new range of watches in the $50 opening price point, though the brand still has watches and jewellery that retail for more than $10,000!

Sports watch brand Reactor debuted several new watches at JCK, including a new diving

watch, a revamped tide watch specifically for fishermen, as well as an all-titanium version of its best selling Gamma, and has been extraordinarily successful over the past half year.

As unemployment in the USA has still not recovered, continuing to hover around 10 per cent, many customers don’t feel right about spending a lot of money on a watch. It isn’t until the watches reach the $25,000 to $50,000 level, where customers can convince themselves that they are investing rather than buying, that watches are moving. It’s really all about rationalization – people might not feel good about buying a luxury timepiece for themselves as a treat, but if they think it’s an investment, all bets are off.

Unique and different timepieces are faring quite well, as customers are looking for something no one else has. The new Romain Jerome timepiece that uses ash and volcanic rock from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano started out as a piece unique and due to incredible interest, it is now a 99 piece limited edition.

New brands face a tough challenge Despite the optimism present in the market right now, new brands trying to enter the US

80 FAIRS europa star

world. Due to the fact that there is nothing else like their watches anywhere in the world, they have the possibility to succeed.

“We are very happy with the comments and contacts we received at the show as it confirmed that our passion created a distinctive and unique brand - the elegance and prestige of the Pharaohs mixed with the Swiss quality and technology,” Thierry says. “We definitely plan to promote our watches in the main markets around the world.”

Cautiously optimistic

EYJAFJALLAJÖKUL DNA by Romain Jerome

market will find a tough road ahead. Retailers will continue to be careful, preferring to maximize their efforts on brands that have been performing for them, rather than taking a chance on an unknown. In fact, many retailers are culling their selections, getting rid of brands that haven’t been performing and are reluctant to add new, unknown brands.

Having said that, many brands have been reducing their doors, Cartier, for one, has closed a lot of their retailers, so retailers who have lost brands may be looking to replace them.

One brand that debuted at JCK is Osirec, a distinctive watch line that mixes Swiss Made quality with Egyptian-inspired designs. Thierry Peter Savineau and his brother Pascal are the men behind the brand, and they reported great interest from retailers around the US at the JCK show, their first anywhere in the

Most exhibitors and retailers had optimism for the future and most talked about a general uptick in business on every front. No one is ready to say that business is back, but at least almost everyone is tired of the doom and gloom and ready for something good to happen. O

Thierry Peter and Pascal Savineau – Osirec

Changes in the wind for JCK The shows in Las Vegas are confusing, as the JCK show for the past few years has been in the Sands Convention and starts on one date, Swiss Watch by JCK has been in the suites of the Venetian and starts on another date. Luxury by JCK has been somewhere else, with yet another starting date, and Couture, a competing show from VNU, has been held in the Wynn with yet another start date. It’s hard to keep them all straight.

It’s a lot to ask retailers and journalists to trek all over town, going from show to show. In 2011, the JCK shows are moving to the complete other end of the Vegas strip, to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. A bigger venue, the hope is that this change will make it easier for exhibitors and attendees to get business done. It also raises the question as to whether anyone will make the trip to the Wynn for Couture. Only next year will tell.

82 WORLDWATCHWEB europa star.com

Is luxury compatible with e-commerce?

L

RBy Marc-Olivier Peyer, Head of R&D, IC-Agency, Luxury Digital Marketing™

Long hesitant to cross the threshold into the digital world, luxury brands have since integrated the Internet into their communication, marketing, and sales strategies. They are now launching advertising campaigns online, buying keywords on Google, creating event-focused mini-sites, developing iPhone applications, exploring opportunities offered by augmented reality, interacting with tens of thousands of fans on Facebook, and even opening online boutiques. From Moscow to Tokyo, passing by Shanghai, New York, and Paris, aficionados of exceptional products are ready to exercise their purchasing power on the Internet. There is definitely a market in cyber space, and online sales are going crazy. Louis Vuitton handbags can be bought like the latest Britney Spears album— with a mere click of the mouse.

Yet, a number of existential questions lurk in the minds of some luxury brand managers. Does being online denature the industry’s codes by trying to reinvent them in an invisible universe where the welcome is neither exclusive nor personalized, where leather has no smell, where products cannot be touched or tried on before being bought?

Just type the name of a luxury brand into Google, and you will get an understanding of the scale of the challenges facing a luxury brand on the web today—counterfeit items, low-end ads, heavily discounted products, among others. In cyber space, we are light years away from the prestige universe that luxury brands have taken so many years to construct.

In 2009, more than five hundred million searches for twenty-five watch brands were carried out by Internet users in the ten key export markets of the Swiss watch industry (source: WorldWatchReport 2010, an ICAgency study). By clicking on their search results, how many web surfers looking for exceptional products will land on low-end sites where the presentation of the products is not well done or where the buying experience leaves a lot to be desired.

On the Internet, luxury brands are confronted with an environment that they must learn to control in order to be able to properly position themselves vis-à-vis these new types of players. For example, doesn’t a luxury brand endanger its image by letting its products appear at discounted prices on any given site? Doesn’t it imperil its credibility by letting some of its distributors sell its stock on auction sites such as eBay? On April 20, 2010, the European Commission implicitly recognized the special nature of the sale of luxury products when it adopted new laws regarding competition related to the distribution of goods and services.

The result of intense lobbying on the part of the luxury industry, these rules authorize goods and services companies to distribute their products only to retailers who have bricks-and-mortar stores where consumers can touch and try the items before buying.

The imposition of such conditions on their resellers should allow luxury brands to better control the sales of their products via the Internet. The regulation adopted by the European Commission—which entered into law on June 1, 2010 and will be applicable for the next twelve years— does not, however, give brands total freedom in the organization of their distribution network. It sanctions online sales and places the Internet on the same equal footing with other distribution channels. Thus, a supplier of goods and services is not permitted to limit the quantities sold on the Internet or to raise prices for products intended for online sales. From the time a supplier brings a distributor into its sales network, it cannot stop him from selling online. At the most, it can demand its distributors to use a site that meets certain pre-established standards.

Geographical restrictions linked to e-commerce are also regulated by the European Commission. A supplier may not require its distributors to automatically “re-route” its online clients to another site or to refuse a transaction if the credit card information of the client shows an address outside of the geographical area served by the distributor. In other words, the distributor remains free to sell to those clients who contact him by their own initiative (passive sale). Nevertheless, a distributor does not necessarily have the liberty to deliberately search for clients (active sale) that have been exclusively attributed to another distributor.

This law comes into effect at a time when more and more luxury brands are opening their own e-commerce channels, as shown by such watch brands as Rado, Longines, Bell & Ross, Cartier, and even Hermès. Very recently, the Richemont group announced the acquisition of Net-àPorter, a British website selling luxury products online, which generated a turnover of approximately $122 million last year. Other prestigious watch brands will soon launch their own e-commerce sites, thus confirming the inevitable nature of online sales of luxury products.

The context of the new regulations implies strategic stakes for brands that will have to manage the digitalization of a part of their distribution network without absorbing the existing channels. On one hand, they must guarantee the profitability of their own e-commerce investments, while on the other hand, they must adapt their distribution agreements in order to include conditions authorizing intermediaries to sell online.

Once these contracts are negotiated, it will be necessary to work with resellers and retailers in order to ensure that they offer their clients a buying experience and after-sales service that are of irreproachable quality.

Luxury brands have the means necessary to successfully negotiate the ecommerce bend and to create buying experiences that represent their philosophy on and offline. It is incumbent upon them to create a value chain between themselves and the final consumer and to offer these clients the luxury of interacting with the brand’s universe when they want, where they want, from any computer, anywhere in the world. O

84 WWW europa star

www.europastar.com fully revamped Our new website has been completely remodelled by the Europa Star specialized team in May 2010. While conserving its ’look & feel’, all the sections have been completely refreshed to offer new editorial columns, complete archival retrieval, improvement in search tools, in addition to ES Première in French and the use of video. Soon, you will also be able to enjoy Europa Star on your iPad. Historically, Europa Star was the first to start a global watch information website back in 1997.

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Editorial & Advertisers’ index A, B A. Lange & Söhne 77 Alba 36 Alpina 38, 68 Anonimo 64 Antopi COVER III Armin Strom 31 Artya 50 Ateliers DeMonaco 39, 44 Ball 61 Baume & Mercier 77 Bedat & Co. 42, 44, 56 Bell & Ross 21, 38, 41, 62, 82 Berthoud & Pouzait 46 Bertolucci 57 Blancpain 38 Boucheron 56 Bovet 68 Breguet 36, 50, 66 Breitling 38, 48, 60, 61, 68, 77 Bremont 66 Bulgari 88 Bulova 57 C, D Cabestan 66 Carl F. Bucherer 55, 56 Cartier 77, 82 Century 38, 40, 41 Certina 36, 68 Chanel 12-13, 17, 38, 56 Chopard 16, 38, 53, 57 Chronode 17 Cimier 61 Citizen 56, 63 Corum 62, 66 CX Swiss Military 64 Damiani 57 David Van Heim 48 David Yurman 57 de Grisogono 38 Devon 62 DeWitt 38 Dior 55, 56 Doxa 66 Dubey & Schaldenbrand 45, 46 E, F Ebel 32, 56 Eberhard & Co. 68 Ebohr 70-73 Ellicott 53 Equipe 64 ETA 35

Eterna 34, 35, 62 La Fabrique du Temps 19 Fendi 52, 53 Fiyta 70, 73 Fortis 47 Franc Vila 39, 44, 52 Frédérique Constant 38 G, H Gainerie91 79 Gc 41, 42, 43, 54 Girard-Perregaux 66 Glashütte Original 77 Graff 57 Graham 68 Guess 38, 41, 42 Harry Winston 17, 18, 38, 57 Haurex 49 Hautlence 22, 27, 39, 54 Hello Kitty 78 Hermès 30, 38, 82 HKTDC 74-75 H. Moser & Cie. 20 Hublot 66, 720 I, J IceLink 39 Iguana Design 67 International Jewellery Trends & Colours 84 IWC 16, 77 Jaermann & Stübi 68 Jaeger-LeCoultre 5, 7, 77 Jean Dunand 20 Juicy Couture 39 L Ladoire 22 Laurent Ferrier 19, 20, 22 Linde Werdelin 62 Longines 82 Lorus 36 Louis Erard 56, 57 Louis Golay 52 Luminox 64, 66, 68 LVMH 24 M, N Marvin Watch Company 39, 45, 53 Maurice Lacroix 32, 34 MB&F 17 Mira 55 Nautica 38 Nomos 39, 77

O, P Oakley 38 Omega 54 Orient Watch Company 51 Oris 64 Osirec 80 Panerai 15, 66 Patek Philippe 2-3, 19, 26, 28, 30, 38, 77 Philippe Dufour 20 Pilo & Co. 39, 48 Porsche Design 66 Promotion SpA 81 Pulsar 36 R, S Rado 82 Raymond Weil 25, 56, 57 Reactor 78 Resultco 65 Ressence 18, 19 Richemont Group 82 Roger Dubuis 19 Rolex COVER II, 26, 28, 38, 77 Ronda 69 Saint Honoré 54 Sarcar Genève 56 Saskia Maaike Bouvier 53 Sea-Gull 70, 73 Seiko 35, 36 Seiko Instruments 24

Snyper 64 Steinway & Sons 39, 50 Storm 55 Swatch Group 36, 38, 68 T TAG Heuer COVER IV, 22, 23, 24, 26, 30, 38 Tempus Compvtare 54 Tiffany 57 Timex 60 Tissot 29, 54, 61, 68 Titoni 37, 58-59 Tudor 26 TW Steel 68 TX 60 U, V Urwerk 17 Vacheron Constantin COVER I, 8-11, 77 Vaucher Manufacture 30 Ventura 39 Victorinox Swiss Army 33, 54, 61 W, Z The Watch Avenue 83 Wempe 75-76 Zenith 24, 25

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88 LAKIN@LARGE europa star

Scotching the snake!

I don’t like snakes. In fact I like them even less than Indiana Jones. I know snakes are not actually moist and slippery, but they give me the impression of being repulsively slimy, slithering evilly towards their virginal Eve and taking credit for the human race’s hankering for sex. Consequently I avoid any contact with them, which usually isn’t too difficult what with me being an unmitigated townee - in the cinema I’m the one hiding under the seat when they appear on the screen!

From Eve’s encounter with Sammy the sneaky snake in the Garden of Eden to Kaa in Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book, snakes play a sly and devious role in life (if you can believe Genesis) and in its cinematic equivalent. And to prove my point, snake and sneak not only use the same letters, but also enjoy the same etymological origins. That can’t be a coincidence can it?

Last year, when Bulgari launched its Serpenti watch collection, despite the fact that this beautifully crafted watch was in 18 carat pink gold and set with round brilliant-cut diamonds, it was reptilian in appearance and therefore a no-no as far as I was concerned.

To eliminate the thoughts of this reptilian timepiece, as is my wont, I made one of my regular pilgrimages to Menton via Nice. Thumbing through the in-flight magazine on my way down, a sub-title caught my eye: ‘Five strange spa experiences’. There was a Beer Bath in Prague, a Hay Bath in Innsbruck, Vinotherapy in Bordeaux, a Dr Fish in Bodrum, Turkey, where people immerse themselves in pools of water and let little fish nibble away at their dead skin and finally, joy of joys, a Snake Spa in Tel Aviv where lunatics from the genus Homo sapiens actually pay good money to have snakes massage them by slithering over their bodies.

Yuk! Who comes up with ideas like that?

I arrived in Menton a trembling wreck so I resorted to an ancient recipe for dismissing unpleasant things from the mind whereby you mix large quantities of scotch with small quantities of water in an effort to forget about the snake massage. The next day, I continued to imbibe despite my normal embargo on letting alcohol pass my lips before five o’clock and by early evening, when some friends arrived I was all smiles. Aware of my usual self-imposed habit of

daytime abstention, Big Jake asked, “Why are you drinking so early in the day?”

“To forget!” I told him with a grin as wide as that of a Cheshire cat.

“To forget what?” he asked. “I can’t remember!” I told him in all honesty.

The following morning, I made my way down the stairs and rather unsteadily opened the shutters of the living room, blinked at the harsh sunlight and stepped out onto the terrace. I took a deep breath, looked around and sauntered over to where a piece of rope was lying on the ground – except it wasn’t a piece of rope, it was a bloody snake!

Moving faster than Ben Johnson’s drug-fuelled 100 metres, I’d locked the terrace door and, trembling like a newborn leaf, glared through the glass pane at the monstrous intruder. Showing a hitherto unknown courage, I took a very long twig from the fireplace, opened the door and tentatively poked the snake hoping it had died of fright. Unhappily, it raised its head, flashed its tiny fangs and let out a timorous hiss. Needless to say I was back indoors so quickly I broke the world record for sprinting five metres backwards.

After much conjecture and using my newly discovered Herculean strength, it took three logs of firewood, dropped from a great height, before the snake bit the proverbial dust. Needless to say, I have since been accused of being a murderer and a barbarian, but what would you do confronted by snake you don’t know? Eve I ain’t, and anyway I’d look ridiculous wearing a fig leaf!

Which reminds me of a story about a snake that goes to an optician complaining of poor eyesight. “Try these spectacles,” said the optician, “and come back in a couple of weeks and let me know if they’ve helped.” Ten days later, the snake returned looking rather depressed.

“What’s wrong, aren’t the spectacles any good?” asked the optician.

“Yes, they’re fine. It’s just that I discovered I’ve been sleeping with a hosepipe for the last couple of years!”

Well, you’ve got to laugh haven’t you?

Photos: SERPENTI watch collection by Bulgari

D. Malcolm Lakin Roving Editor