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THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WATCH MAGAZINE EUROPE

Cover Story

Patek Philippe Métiers d’art: “Setting the record straight”

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WATCH BUSINESS MAGAZINE EUROPEAN EDITION N°330 2/15 MARCH

CHF12 / €10 / US$12

BASELWORLD 2015

Business • Strategies • Watch Galleries

Unique, the finely hand embroidered dials by the Maison Lesage offer an invitation to voyage through the intimate world of Gabrielle Chanel. Fine pearls, gold paillons and gold coated silk threads combine MÊtiers d’Art excellence and the refinement of Haute Couture.

18K yellow gold set with 60 diamonds (~1 carat).

THE CHANEL MOMENT

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EDITORIAL

THE NEW CONQUISTADORS

by Pierre Maillard Editor-in-chief

6 | EDITORIAL | europa star

The exo-hand built by Festo in 2012

T

he watchmaking year doesn’t run from January to December, it is counted from one Baselworld to the next. It’s not that everything is decided at this horological World’s Fair – far from it. No, Baselworld just provides an opportunity every year to take a snapshot of Planet Watchmaking. But, I hear you say, there’s also the SIHH, which comes two months before Basel.

That’s true, but the SIHH is played out behind closed doors in a cocoon of luxury.

In Basel, however, the world and his wife are there to see and be seen: top-drawer brands alongside Shenzhen’s mass-market output. As the saying goes, “It takes all kinds to make a world,” and Basel is where these ‘kinds’ rub shoulders.

When people get together, barriers tend to soften a little, even break down altogether. Of course, the big names of the watchmaking world still dominate the scene, but there is a democratic justice in this free-for-all of thousands upon thousands of products, all trying their chance, all crying out, “Look at me!”

From this vast hubbub, the occasional unexpected voice emerges; ideas that had been shunted off to the sidelines, suddenly seized upon with an enthusiasm that no one could have predicted.

At Baselworld, everyone has an equal chance of scoring points, standing out from the crowd, getting noticed. Every year we are surprised by the number of unknowns who, buoyed with optimism,

arrive in Basel with great hopes, certain that they will steal the show.

We are willing to bet that this year’s clutch of eager conquistadors with their shiny new order books will include a sizeable number of ambitious young geeks, determined to become an overnight success in the brave new world of ‘smart’ watchmaking that is being hailed at every crossroads.

So, will 2015 be a critical year for watchmaking? And for watchmaking as a whole, or just mass-market watchmaking? Will the smart watch be the ‘tsunami’ that some predict, or just another new branch sprouting off the watchmaking tree? What is certain is that there will be a deluge of announcements, and we will see the outriders of a new invading army in the aisles of Baselworld: software designers, data analysts, social networking gurus, interactivity wizards, masters of the algorithm, hologram champions... All in a barely-contained ferment of excitement to see what will emerge from Silicon Valley. Yes, the new rivals to classic watchmaking are called,

or will soon be called, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and all those other giants whose combined weight is thousands of times greater than that of the entire watchmaking world.

Who will come out on top of the battle, whose lines are now being drawn up, no one knows. Who, among watchmaking’s heavy hitters, will meet the challenge, and find the winning formula that combines the undeniable charm of classic watchmaking with the dizzying potential of connectivity? The tide may yet turn... Perhaps consumers, put off by the prospect of being constantly connected, may decide that their lovely little watch doesn’t need to be ‘smart’ after all. That’s not what it’s for. It’s just a tiny fragment of eternity that goes ‘tick-tock’ on the wrist. p

W W W. ZENITH-WATCHES .COM | W W W. ROLLINGSTONES .COM

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CONTENTS

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PATEK PHILIPPE SA Ch. du Pont-du-Centenaire 141 CH 1211 Genève 2 Switzerland Tel. : +41 (0)22 884 20 20 www.patek.com

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EDITORIAL Awaiting the new conquistadors

10

SIGNALS

14

COVER STORY Patek Philippe – Métiers d’art: “Setting the record straight”

18

THINK TANK Time - The Grand Illusion

24 28

BUSINESS A glass half-full or half empty?

Market on the move: A review of 2014 and a preview of 2015

34 36 40

46 49

54

PORTRAIT Fossil Group, Swiss made watches for the Chinese market

60 68 73 78 86 92

WATCH GALLERIES Mechanical mastery Tourbillon of tourbillons Subtle sophistication Skulls & skeletons Chronomania Ladies first

24 BUSINESS

34 INTERVIEWS

54 PORTRAIT

60

102 105

STRATEGIES Japanese watchmaking moves upmarket Watches & Automobiles – Petrol power

108

RETAILER PROFILE “Watch brands in Switzerland will come back to the retailers”

114

LAKIN@LARGE Clocks, the Bible and a koala

66 84

THINK TANK

INTERVIEWS TAG Heuer’s strategic departure Antonio Calce at the helm of the good ship Sowind Aldo Magada, Zenith – “The chassis is ready, now we need to build it up” INDEPENDENTS / PART 2 An informal chat with two standard bearers of independent watchmaking – Philippe Dufour and Max Busser MELB Holding – Beyond niche Case studies (Part II): Louis Erard, Slyde, Cabestan, Laurent Ferrier

42

18

GALLERIES

61

DIGITAL PARTNER

AUBE SUR LE LAC, REF. 993/100G

by Patek Philippe Pocket watch with dial and caseback decorated with miniature painting on enamel with silver spangles. The dial displays details of works inspired by five Swiss painters: Alexandre Perrier, Edouard Vallet, Mafli, Ferdinand Hodler and Paul Klee. Both sides of the watch are decorated with enamelled silver leaves embedded in hand-engraved settings. The caseband is set with 54 cabochon diamonds.

Cabochon emerald-set crown.

Two brilliant-cut diamonds on the bow. This one-of-a-kind piece was created to commemorate the manufacture’s 175th anniversary.

THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WATCH MAGAZINE

SPOTLIGHTS 2015 Powerful year ahead for Orient The Citizen Eco-Drive Satellite Wave F900

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8 | CONTENTS | europa star

© Didier Gourdon

CALIBER RM 63-01 DIZZY HANDS

BOUTIQUE RICHARD MILLE GRAND HOTEL KEMPINSKI GENEVA EMBASSY Lucerne

KIRCHHOFER HAUTE HORLOGERIE Interlaken

www.richardmille.com

MONTRES PRESTIGE S.A. Geneva

SIGNALS

Time is money

He loves me, he loves me not

A man from Phoenix, USA visited a second-hand store and found a hidden treasure: a rare 1959 Jaeger-LeCoultre diving watch. An avid watch collector, the man recognized the watch, of which less than 1000 were made, and purchased it for only $5.99! He then went on to sell it for $35,000. Time is money, indeed! (NY Daily News)

Right in time for Valentine ’s Day, the Margot watch from independent watchmaker Christophe Claret features a daisy on its dial. The daisy’s petals randomly disappear, evoking the familiar phrase: “He loves me, he loves me not” (Forbes Life)

1.6 billion

Volatile

After two slow months, Swiss watch exports have increased in January, climbing to 3.7% overall to 1.6 billion CHF. (Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH)

January is a typically volatile month for the watch industry, and 2015 was no different. The month saw an increase in exports of 9.9% in Swiss timepieces to Singapore, and a fall of 8.5% to the United Arab Emirates. (Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH)

First

Survive

Museum director for Audemars Piguet Sebastian Vivas is not all too concerned with the arrival of the Apple Watch, but rather more concerned with male jewellery.

According to Vivas, a bigger threat to the industry would be “if men widely accepted that they could wear gemstones without a time-keeping pretext.” (Quartz)

The CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre, Daniel Riedo, is not overplaying the impact of the rising valuation of the Swiss franc, because “the problem is the same for everybody”. A confident Riedo added,“We will survive because all of the competitors are Swiss franc–based.” (JCK)

Bausele will become the first ever Australian brand to showcase its timepieces at the world’s biggest watch fair, Baselworld. Swiss-born creator Christophe Hoppe, said “I never thought this would happen,” at the prospect of returning home with his watch line created in Australia. (WA Today)

10 | SIGNALS | europa star

Male jewellery: bigger threat?

8%

Rolex will increase its prices in Japan in February. The price of its steel Submariner Date will rise by 8% to 810,000 yen ($6,800), the first price hike since November 2013.

According to a Rolex spokeswoman, the price increase was necessary because the yen had already been weakening compared to the franc.

(Bloomberg)

Control According to Swatch Chief Executive Nick Hayek,“if you do not control the lower market segment, you do not control the overall market.” So far, the business model has paid off with the dominance of its Swatch brand, but that is increasingly being challenged in 2015.

(Tech Crunch)

Suffering

Flat growth

High-end watches are still suffering in the Asian market, as the Chinese government continues to hamper conspicuous spending.

With the demand for diamond and gold-based luxury goods diminished, the Chinese are buying watches with a lower average value than previous years, focusing more on steel timepieces. (Reuters)

2014 showed flat export growth to Hong Kong, which is the world’s top buyer of Swiss watches. Exports from January to November last year totaled 3.81 billion Swiss francs, compared to 3.78 billion Swiss francs in 2013.

(Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH)

350,000

Brick and mortar While many brands are increasingly moving to e-commerce, Japanese watch company Seiko is sticking to the traditional model.“In the future, we might look at [e-commerce]. But honestly, our brick and mortar retailers continue to be the backbone of Seiko’s business today,” says Atsushi Kaneko, Managing Director, Seiko India.

(Business Today)

Market share Japan’s leading watch brands are looking to seize greater market share in the high-end of the North American market. Citizen is resurrecting the former Swiss luxury brand Wittnauer there, while Seiko is pushing its Astron series of GPS-mounted wristwatches through its sponsorship deal with tennis star Novak Djokovic.

(The Japan Times)

Shake-ups

With its focus on high quality luxury timepieces, the Swiss watch industry is very susceptible to counterfeiting. In 2014 about 350,000 auctions of counterfeit Swiss watches were halted, and each year thousands of websites which offer counterfeit products are shut down.

(European CEO)

10%

According to Barclays, just a 10% move in the Swiss franc can impact earnings by as much as 14%-18%. A heavily export orientated industry, Swiss watch brands are particularly vulnerable to the rising value of the Swiss franc. For instance, about 85% of the revenues of the Swatch Group are based on sales outside of Switzerland. (Seeking Alpha)

Over the last year, major shakeups in leadership have occurred at the top watch brands, including at: LVMH’s TAG Heuer, Bulgari and Zenith; Richemont’s Montblanc; Swatch Group’s Omega, Blancpain, Tissot, and Rado.

Following suit, Kering has also decided to appoint dedicated full-time CEOs for each of its subsidiary brands. (Forbes) europa star

| SIGNALS | 11

SIGNALS

Swiss made

Taboo After receiving a timepiece as a gift by a visiting British Minister, Ko Wen-je, the Mayor of Taipei, said “I can just re-gift it to someone or take it to a scrap metal dealer and sell it for cash.”

Why such a brash reply? In Taiwan the giving of a timepiece as a gift is taboo and it is thought to bring bad luck! (Taipei Times)

Year of the Goat

TAG Heuer is entering uncharted waters. Its new smartwatch might not be marked as “Swiss made” because 50 % of a watch’s movement need to be produced in the country to earn the label. The brand’s lack of expertise in communication technology has resulted in a partnership with Silicon Valley to produce its new smartwatch, according to Jean-Claude Biver, Head of Watchmaking at LVMH. (Bloomberg)

1915

Breitling have designed a limited edition watch to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the chronograph push-piece, the invention which allowed the control of chronograph operations separately from the crown. The Transocean Chronograph 1915, featuring a new hand-wound Caliber B14 movement, is fittingly limited to only 1915 pieces.

(Breitling)

Ulysse Nardin celebrated the Chinese New Year (February 19, 2015) by adding a new watch to its Classico collection, inspired by the upcoming Year of the Goat. The 18-carat rose gold Classico Goat timepiece features a minimalist design which supposedly embodies the goat’s quiet and calm nature. (Global Blue)

Made for a woman While men continue to be the dominant demographic for the watch industry, the first wristwatch was made for a woman.

In 1810, Napoleon’s sister, Queen of Naples Caroline Murat requested a watch that could be worn on a thin band, and Breguet delivered a small minute repeater which chimed the time. During that period, men preferred pocket watches and considered hand-worn “wristlets” only fit for women. (Tech Crunch)

Segmented market

Smaller players in the smartwatch market are not trying to make a “do-all” product like the Apple Watch, suggesting a segmented market for wearables.

According to Jeff Orr, senior practice director for ABI Research,“there’s a lot of discussion by wearable manufacturers about specialization and trying to reach a certain demographic.” (International Business Times) As part of its recent 3-year sponsorThe start of 2015 saw ship deal with FC Barcelona, Swiss falling shares for the big watchmaker Maurice Lacroix has introwatch brands. Swatch shares duced a special collection of timepieces, fell 19% in the first three weeks of naturally focused on the male market. The the year, while Richemont shares crown jewel of the partnership is a big clock on the scoreboard at the Camp fell 17%. The new challenge posed Nou stadium. The backlight timepiece by smartwatches and the surging measures 4 meters in diameter, Swiss franc have added to matching the stature of the big the decline. (Bloomberg club. (FC Barcelona)

Big club = big clock

19%

Business)

12 | SIGNALS | europa star

COVER STORY

PATEK PHILIPPE – METIERS D’ART

by Pierre Maillard

“

Métiers d’art… Métiers d’art… Métiers d’art…”

These days, the phrase seems to be on everyone’s lips, as if it were a password that could magically open the doors to international renown. In recent years, artistic crafts have become watchmaking’s new frontier. Far from mourning their demise, we see enamellers, engravers, miniature painters, straw marquetry artists, plumassiers, stone mosaic specialists and embroiderers popping up all over the place.

Thierry Stern comes right out with it: “I want to get a few things straight, for the record.” Faced with this groundswell, the young CEO of Patek Philippe has decided to come out of the woodwork and speak his mind about this resurgence of interest in crafts with which he is eminently familiar. And for good reason. From its earliest days, and throughout the intervening 175 years, Patek Philippe has relied on master craftsmen to create its exceptional engraved, painted, enamelled... you name it... pieces. And they have done it discreetly, without shouting from the rooftops. At certain periods of their history they have continued this practice for the sole purpose of preserving the traditional crafts, when virtually no one else seemed to value them any more.

“We have never stopped producing decorated pieces, not even when artistic craftsmanship seemed to be at its lowest ebb. We have always considered it crucial to continue to give work to artisans, to ensure the survival of their crafts,” explains Thierry Stern. “During some of these periods we have had as many as 80 Dome table clocks in stock. And when you realise that every one of these clocks requires four to six months’ work, and that we generally make a maximum of ten or fifteen per year, you can understand what such a stock represents, not just in terms of asset value, but in accumulated expertise.”

In its 175 years of working with enamellers and engravers, Thierry Stern concedes that Patek Philippe has amassed “a

14 | COVER STORY | europa star

AUBE SUR LE LAC, REF. 993/100G Pocket watch with caseback and dial decorated with miniature painting on enamel with silver spangles. The back of the watch pays tribute to the work by Swiss painter Louis Baudit (1870–1960) entitled Le matin devant Cologny, which dates from 1943. The painting is part of the private collection of Philippe Stern, Patek Philippe’s chairman.The dial, created using the same technique, displays details of works inspired by five Swiss painters: Alexandre Perrier, Edouard Vallet, Mafli, Ferdinand Hodler and Paul Klee. Both sides of the watch are decorated with enamelled silver leaves embedded in hand-engraved settings. The caseband of the 44.1 mm diameter case is set with 54 cabochon diamonds. Cabochon emerald-set crown. Two brilliant-cut diamonds on the bow. This one-of-a-kind piece created to commemorate the manufacture’s 175th anniversary is presented in the centre of a white gold arch decorated with hand-engraved and enamelled leaves, mounted on a translucent blue enamel circular base.

colossal amount of knowledge”. “The artisans love that, because they know that not only do we work on a long-term basis, but our quality standards are among the highest in the world. Each piece must be perfect, museum quality. What is more, some never even go on sale. They are immediately added to our collections, to take their place in our Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.”

THE GREAT CONFUSION

MINING A TRADITIONAL SEAM

Thierry Stern has decided to lay his cards on the table and speak openly about the métiers d’art gospel according to Patek Philippe, because there is at the moment, in his view, “great confusion on the ground. You can’t suddenly declare yourself to be an enameller or miniature painter. This status is the result of lengthy professional development, complex apprenticeships. In my view, a solid background in history and art is essential for anyone embarking upon this path.

Any enamellers who work for us must be among the best in the world. Now that the métiers d’art seem to be flavour of the month, you find many young people who claim to be enamellers, without truly mastering all the intricacies of the profession. There’s enamel, and then there’s enamel. There’s a world of difference. There are workshops today where artisans work virtually on a production line, each one applying a different colour, while someone else prepares the cloisonné.

If you want things to be done properly you can’t work like this, not really taking account of the materials with which you are working, not understanding the chemical compatibility of the colours, not having all the firings and chemical interactions at your fingertips. Not to mention the specific talents and stylistic tastes of every enameller worthy of the name.

But our clients are not fooled. They appreciate the depth of the colours, how they work together, their almost organic subtlety, the quality of the gold wires, the consummate mastery and fluidity of their shaping, the style... these elements are what make the difference.”

Sandrine Stern, Thierry Stern’s wife, is creative director at Patek Philippe. She is in charge of all the artistic pieces, which are subsequently individually assessed by the family company’s management board. She explains the procedure the firm follows to create its works of traditional craftsmanship.

“In the beginning everything is done by hand, starting with the preparatory sketches. These drawings allow us to identify and select the exact techniques or combination of techniques that will be used; these might include various forms of enamelling and miniature painting, but also engraving and gemsetting. The sketches are then formatted and adapted to the specific shape of the Dome table clocks, pocket watches or wristwatches. The decoration must harmonise as closely as possible with its case, in a refined and subtle manner.”

The inspiration for these preliminary sketches could come from anywhere. Even, as on the day of our meeting, from a simple but beautifully decorated thank-you card sent by a retailer. But the main source of inspiration remains the Patek Philippe Museum and the many treasures housed within its exceptional collections.

Lakeside landscapes, odes to nature, exotic animals, birds of every hue, floral motifs, scrollwork, ornaments, portraits... an incredible diversity of immense richness, bearing witness to the long and illustrious history of enamelling in Geneva.

Far from dying out, this traditional craft with its highly decorative motifs has continued uninterrupted up to the present day. “We still favour the traditional approach: our clocks and

watches must be enduring, they cannot be allowed to follow the currents of fashion, which is by definition ephemeral.

Each generation nevertheless brings its own new ideas and its slightly different techniques, and research continues constantly.

But we owe it to ourselves to create pieces that will stand the test of time, that stand outside time, that are timeless.”

PROFESSIONAL JEALOUSY Within this formal and yet artisanal framework there is considerable variety in style and in the elements of craftsmanship.

As Sandrine Stern points out, “Each enameller, each miniature painter has their own tastes, their own inclinations, their specialties and their secrets. We work with around twenty different enamellers in total who, together, represent a huge amount of accumulated knowledge, and to whom we have a long-term

commitment. Some of them work on our premises, but many of them are artists in their own right. As such, they are possessive of their way of working, fiercely independent, defensive of their style. We recognise this explicitly, as every one of our pieces is signed by the artist who created it. Everything goes through our internal team, who check each item. Their expertise comes from a daily diet of 175 years of history and extensive experience working with these crafts!”

“They appreciate and listen to what we ask of them, because we never ask the impossible,” adds Thierry Stern. “When we demand that they push themselves to the limit, it’s because we are intimately familiar with what these limits are, and the difficulties of their craft. They know they are dealing with a team of professionals who know exactly what they are talking about, who will supervise their work, back them up, and accompany them on their journey. They also know that we are committed to this relationship over the long term. From that point of view the continuity of a family business is a welcome guarantee against the vagaries of the market.”

Another factor is the rarity of these pieces, which is part and parcel of their unique character, given that they are all the unique products of the hand that created them. “This paucity, if I can call it that, is a real problem, but it’s a good problem to have,” says Thierry Stern with a smile. “It is certainly a source of frustration, and we have to be able to handle that.

Take, for example, the Sky Moon Tourbillon, which combined a sculpted case with a dial in cloisonné and champlevé enamel. We received 650 requests for the 75 pieces we produced.

It just goes to show... But there is no room for compromise.

We could increase production, but the quality would automatically decline, and that is something we refuse to countenance.” Such is the enduring appeal of Patek Philippe. p

Discover more at www.europastar.BIZ/Patek-Philippe

europa star | COVER STORY | 17

THINK TANK

THE GRAND ILLUSION Does time have a future? Yes, but how much of a future depends on what the ultimate fate of the cosmos turns out to be.

by Jim Holt, Lapham’s Quarterly

EXECUTIVE BRIEF: The passage of time is both subjective and relative.

• • While some believe that time is really an illusion, others argue that it can be objectively measured.

• Such a debate puts into perspective the purpose of the watch industry all together.

I

saac Newton had a peculiar notion of time. He saw it as a sort of cosmic grandfather clock, one that hovered over the rest of nature in blithe autonomy. And he believed that time advanced at a smooth and constant rate from past to future. “Absolute, true, mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature, flows equably without relation to anything external,” Newton declared at the beginning of his Principia. To those caught up in the temporal flux of daily life, this seems like arrant nonsense. Time does not strike us as transcendent and mathematical; rather, it is something intimate and subjective.

Nor does it proceed at a stately and unvarying pace. We know that time has different tempos. In the run-up to New Year’s Eve,

When you’re an adult, Christmas seems to come every five minutes.

For little children, however, time goes quite slowly.”

JIM HOLT Jim Holt is an American philosopher, author and essayist. His articles have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and The New York Times Book Review. He is the author of Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story and Stop Me If You’ve Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes.

for instance, time positively flies. Then, in January and February, it slows to a miserable crawl. Moreover, time moves faster for some of us than for others. Old people are being rushed forward into the future at a cruelly rapid clip. When you’re an adult, as Fran Lebowitz once observed, Christmas seems to come every five minutes. For little children, however, time goes quite slowly. Owing to the endless novelty of a child’s experience, a single summer can stretch out into an eternity.

RAPIDS AND CALMER STRETCHES One way researchers have tried to measure the subjective flow of time is by asking people of different ages to estimate when a certain amount of time has gone by. People in their early twenties tend to be quite accurate in judging when three minutes had elapsed, typically being off by no more than three seconds. Those in their sixties, by contrast, overshot the mark by forty seconds; in other words, what was actually three minutes and forty seconds seemed like only three minutes to them. Seniors are internally slow tickers, so for them actual clocks seem to tick too fast. This can have its advantages: at a John Cage concert, it is the old people who are relieved that the composition 4’33” is over so soon.

The river of time may have its rapids and its calmer stretches, but one thing would seem to be certain: it carries all of us, willy-nilly, in its flow. Irresistibly, irreversibly, we are being

The master watchmakers of ‘La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton’ have captured the 24 time zones on a hand-painted dial whose color palette draws inspiration from legendary cities around the world.

The hours move around the dial while at the center, the yellow arrow remains motionless.

ESCALE WORLDTIME. EXPLORE A WORLD OF COLOR.

borne toward our deaths at the stark rate of one second per second. As the past slips out of existence behind us, the future, once unknown and mysterious, assumes its banal reality before us as it yields to the ever-hurrying ‘now’.

But this sense of flow is a monstrous illusion – so says contemporary physics. And Newton was as much a victim of this illusion as the rest of us are.

TIME AS A FICTION It was Albert Einstein who initiated the revolution in our understanding of time. In 1905, Einstein proved that time, as it had been understood by physicist and plain man alike, was a fiction. Our idea of time, Einstein realized, is abstracted from our experience with rhythmic phenomena: heartbeats, planetary rotations and revolutions, the swinging of pendulums, the ticking of clocks. Time judgments always come down to judgments of what happens at the same time – of simultaneity. “If, for instance, I say, ‘That train arrives here at seven o’clock,’ I mean something like this: ‘The pointing of the small hand of my watch to seven and the arrival of the train are simultaneous events,’” Einstein wrote. If the events in question are distant from each other, judgments of simultaneity can be made only by sending light signals back and forth.

Einstein proved that whether an observer deems two events at different locations to be happening ‘at the same time’ depends on his state of motion. Suppose, for example, that Jones is walking uptown on Fifth Avenue and Smith is walking downtown. Their relative motion results in a discrepancy of several days in what they would judge to be happening ‘now’ in the Andromeda galaxy at the moment they pass each other on the sidewalk. For Smith, the space fleet launched to destroy life on earth is already on its way; for Jones, the Andromedan council of tyrants has not even decided whether to send the fleet.

A FOUR-DIMENSIONAL ‘BLOCK UNIVERSE’ What Einstein had shown was that there is no universal ‘now.’

Whether two events are simultaneous is relative to the observer.

And once simultaneity goes by the board, the very division of moments into ‘past’, ‘present’, and ‘future’ becomes meaningless. Events judged to be in the past by one observer may still lie in the future of another; therefore, past and present must be equally definite, equally ‘real’. In place of the fleeting present, we are left with a vast frozen timescape – a four-dimensional ‘block universe’. Over here, you are being born; over there, you

20 | THINK TANK | europa star

Einstein had shown that there is no universal ‘now’. Whether two events are simultaneous is relative to the observer. are celebrating the turn of the millennium; and over yonder, you’ve been dead for a while. Nothing is ‘flowing’ from one event to another. As the mathematician Hermann Weyl memorably put it, “The objective world simply is; it does not happen.”

Einstein, through his theory of relativity, furnished a scientific justification for a philosophical view of time that goes back to Spinoza, to St. Augustine, even to Parmenides – one that has been dubbed ‘eternalism’. Time, according to this view, belongs to the realm of appearance, not reality. The only objective way to see the universe is as God sees it: sub specie aeternitatis. We should all be like William Blake and say, “I see the past, present, and future, existing all at once/Before me.”

A MATHEMATICAL PROOF OF THE NONEXISTENCE OF TIME The revolution in our understanding of time that Einstein initiated was pushed to a more radical extreme by his close friend (and fellow eccentric) Kurt Gödel. Gödel is often considered the greatest logician of the twentieth century. He is most famous for his ‘incompleteness theorems’, which showed that arithmetic was, in an interesting sense, beyond the reach of logical provability; but he also dabbled in theoretical physics. Both Gödel and Einstein left Europe because of the Nazis (although Gödel was not Jewish), and both ended up at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

The two men liked nothing better than to stroll around Princeton together trading ideas. In 1949, on the occasion of Einstein’s seventieth birthday, Gödel presented him with an unexpected gift: a proof of the nonexistence of time. And this was not a mere verbal proof, of the sort that philosophers like Parmenides, Immanuel Kant, and J. M. E. McTaggart had come up with over the centuries; it was a rigorous mathematical proof. Playing with Einstein’s own equations of general relativity, Gödel found a novel solution that corresponded to a universe with closed timelike loops. A resident of such a universe, by taking a sufficiently long round trip in a rocket ship, could travel back into his own past.

Einstein was not entirely pleased with Gödel’s hypothetical universe; indeed, he admitted to being “disturbed” that his equations of relativity permitted something as Alice in Wonderland –

like as spatial paths that looped backward in time. Gödel himself was delighted by his discovery, since he found the whole idea of time to be painfully mysterious. If time travel is possible, he submitted, then time itself is impossible. A past that can be revisited has not really passed. So, Gödel concluded, time does not exist.

Unlike Gödel, Einstein could never quite liberate himself from the grip of time. “To those of us who believe in physics,” he wrote in 1955 to the family of a friend who had recently died, “this separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, if a stubborn one.” When his own turn came, a few weeks later, Einstein said, “It is time to go.”

BLACK HOLES, GATEWAYS TO THE END OF TIME Over the decades since Einstein’s death, physics has subjected our everyday notion of time to still more radical dislocations.

The frozen timescape of relativity theory has been revealed to have gaping holes in it: black holes. That is because time is ‘warped’ by gravity. The stronger the gravitational field, the slower the clock hands creep. If you live in a ground-floor apartment, you age a trifle less rapidly than your neighbor in the penthouse. The effect would be a lot more noticeable

We all want to ask: What the heck was going on just before the Big Bang? if you got sucked into a black hole, where the gravitational warpage of time is infinite. Quite literally, black holes are gateways to the end of time: to Nowhen.

If time behaves dodgily around black holes, it may vanish altogether at the tiniest of scales, where the fabric of space-time dissolves into a ‘quantum foam’ in which events have no determinate temporal order. Temporal matters are even stranger if we look back at the Big Bang, the cataclysmic event that ushered our universe into existence – and not just the universe, but also its space-time container. We all want to ask: What the heck was going on just before the Big Bang? But that question is nonsensical. So, at any rate, we are told by Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time. Invoking what he calls “imaginary time” – a notion that has been known to puzzle even his fellow physicists – Hawking says that asking what came before the Big Bang is as silly as asking what’s north of the North Pole.

The answer, of course, is nothing.

‘BOLTZMANN BRAINS’ Does time have a future? Yes, but how much of a future depends on what the ultimate fate of the cosmos turns out to be. The possibilities come down to Robert Frost’s choice: fire or ice? Ever since its birth in the Big Bang, some 13.82 billion years ago, the universe has been expanding. If this expansion continues forever, the universe will end in ice, at least metaphorically speaking. The stars will burn out; black holes will evaporate; atoms and their subatomic constituents will decay.

In the deep future, the remaining particles (mainly photons and neutrinos) will spread out into the void, becoming so distant from one another that they will cease to interact. Space will become empty except for the merest hint of ‘vacuum energy’.

Yet in this future wasteland of near nothingness, time will go on; random events will continue to occur; things will ‘fluctuate’ into existence, thanks to the magic of quantum uncertainty, only to disappear again into the void. Most of these future ephemera will be single particles, like electrons and protons. But every once in a while – a very great while – more complicated structures will spontaneously wink into being; say, a human brain. Indeed, in the fullness of time, quantum physics could allow for an infinite number of such disembodied brains, stocked with (false) memories, that will appear and disappear.

In the scientific literature, these sad and evanescent entities are called ‘Boltzmann brains’ (after Ludwig Boltzmann, one of the pioneers of modern thermodynamics). One such deepfuture Boltzmann brain would be identical to your own brain as it is constituted at this very moment. Thus, in some inconceivably distant epoch, your current state of consciousness would be recreated out of the void, only to be extinguished an instant later – not, perhaps, the kind of resurrection you were hoping for.

All that could be true (says current physics) provided the universe continues to expand eternally, growing ever emptier and darker and colder: a scenario that might be called the Big Chill. But there is another possible cosmic fate. By and by, at some point in the far future, the expansion that the universe is currently undergoing might be arrested – maybe by gravity, maybe by some force that is currently unknown.

Then all the hundreds of billions of galaxies will begin to collapse back on themselves, eventually coming together in a fiery all-annihilating implosion: the Big Crunch. Just as the Big Bang brought time into existence, the Big Crunch would bring it to an end.

Or would it? Some cosmic optimists have argued that in the final moments before such a Big Crunch an infinite amount of energy would be released. This energy, the optimists say, could be harnessed by our deep-future descendants to power an infinite amount of computation, giving rise to an infinite number of thoughts. Since these thoughts would unfold at a faster and faster pace, subjective time would seem to go on forever, even though objective time was about to come to an end. The split second before the Big Crunch would thus be like a child’s endless summer: a virtual eternity.

SLAVES AND HOSTAGES Virtual eternity, gateways to Nowhen, the unreality of time…

Do any of these lotus-eater ideas really hit us where we live, in the lifeworld? Probably not. Like Einstein himself, we are stubbornly in thrall to our temporal illusions. We cannot help feeling ourselves to be slaves to one part of the timescape (the past) and hostages to another part (the future). Nor can we help feeling that we are quite literally running out of time. Arthur Eddington, one of the first physicists to grasp Einstein’s relativity theory, declared that our intuitive sense of time’s passage is so powerful that it must correspond to something in the objective world. If science cannot get a purchase on it, one might say: Well, so much the worse for science!

What science can tell us something about is the psychology of time’s passage. Our conscious now – what William James dubbed the ‘specious present’ – is actually an interval of about three seconds. That is the span over which our brains knit up arriving sense data into a unified experience. It is also pretty clear that the nature of memory has something to do with the feeling that we are moving in time. The past and the future might be equally real, but – for reasons traceable, oddly enough, to the second law of thermodynamics – we cannot ‘remember’ events in the future, only ones in the past. Memories accumulate in one temporal direction and not in the other. This seems to explain the psychological arrow of time. It does not, unfortunately, explain why that arrow seems to fly.

“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.”

ETERNALISTS VERSUS PRESENTISTS If all of this leaves you utterly bewildered about time, you are in eminent company. John Archibald Wheeler, one of the great physicists of the twentieth century, took to quoting this in a scientific paper: “Time is nature’s way to keep everything from happening all at once.” In a footnote, Wheeler writes that he discovered this quote among graffiti in the men’s room at the Pecan Street Café in Austin, Texas. That such an eminent thinker would resort to quoting from a men’s-room wall isn’t surprising if you consider the contemporary free-for-all among physicists and philosophers and philosophers of physics over the nature of time. Some maintain that time is a basic ingredient of the universe; others say, no, it emerges from deeper features of physical reality. Some insist that time has a built-in direction; others deny this. (Stephen Hawking once claimed that time could eventually reverse itself and run backward, only to realize later that there had been a mistake in his calculations.)

Most physicists and philosophers today agree with Einstein that time’s passage is an illusion; they are eternalists. But a minority – who call themselves ‘presentists’ – think that now is a special moment that really advances, like a little light moving along the line of history; this would still be true, they believe, even if there were no observers like us in the universe.

If there is one proposition about time that all scientifically inclined thinkers can agree on, it might be one due to the nonscientist Hector Berlioz, who is reputed to have quipped, “Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.”p

Courtesy of Jim Holt and the Lapham’s Quarterly, in which this contribution was published in the Fall 2014 issue.

Lapham’s Quarterly is a literary magazine established in 2007 by former Harper’s Magazine editor Lewis H. Lapham. Each issue examines a theme using primary source material from history. Lapham’s Quarterly is published by the American Agora Foundation, a notfor-profit foundation dedicated to fostering interest in history. www.laphamsquarterly.org

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BUSINESS

A GLASS HALF FULL

by Frank Muller, consultant, TheBridgeToLuxury.com

High-end French wines also belonged to a category that encountered a drop in exports depending very much on the Chinese market, too, whereas leather goods are reported to have gained – especially due to stronger demand in the US and Japan.

T

he answer whether in 2014 the glass of wine was half full or half empty for the luxury industry is a moot point. It was, indeed, a challenging year. Obviously, geo-political developments occurring in the Middle East, Ukraine, Hong Kong or China impacted business. Also lower than expected economic growth rates in the BRICstates plus the still sluggish economies in Europe had a negative influence.

In general, sales in the last four months were disappointing and thus contradicting most of the positive market projections forecasted earlier in the year.

While some categories still enjoyed very good results others experienced a substantial slow-down of growth.

Despite a difficult Russian market the German premium car industry, for instance, was on the winner’s side in 2014.

Despite a difficult Russian market the German premium car industry, for instance, was on the winner’s side in 2014.

It reports for its main brands Audi, BMW and Mercedes record sales. With almost 190,000 globally delivered cars Porsche was up 17%. According to management

24 | BUSINESS | europa star

statements, Rolls-Royce and Bentley will also achieve new all-time highs.

The industry of high-end watches, however, faced a difficult year. Hong Kong as a major hub for the Asian business was disturbed by political uncertainties.

And China’s continuous efforts to curb corruption decelerated growth further for two markets that alone amount to approx. 25% of the total business.

Basically only the USA and Japan substantially contributed to growth (+5% resp. 17%). However 2014 resulted in a record year. The export of Swiss wristwatches, as an important market indicator, reached 22.2 billion CHF in 2014 with an increase of 1.9%. As far as luxury watches are concerned (export value +3,000 CHF/piece) the growth is of 2.7% in value as in number. Yet, compared to the average annual rate of 12.5% between 2000 and 2012 (!), the watch luxury segment has strongly lost momentum in the last two years with increases of only 2.8% in 2013. This segment will again represent some 65% of the total Swiss export values. Overall, the watch industry is in a phase of restructuring that will lead to a reduction of its more than 1,500 brands that introduce more than 10,000 novelties per annum.

AN INCONSISTENT INDUSTRY PICTURE A look at the development of last year’s share prices of the major luxury groups reflects the inconsistent industry picture: LVMH +11%, Hermès +10%, Kering +3%, Richemont 0%, Hugo Boss 0%, The Swatch Group -24%.

The US alone will not be able to lift up the whole industry.

For 2015 the outlook promises no major changes compared to last year. China is expected to continue a controlled growth of its economy; anti-corruption measures will remain on the political agenda.

In 2014 consumption in Japan was only temporarily boosted as consumers anticipated an increase of the VAT-rate of 5% to 8%. The last months were not strong. Assuming that the conflict in Ukraine will not end soon demand in the whole region of former Soviet Union will stay at very low levels. In Europe, France and Italy are not expected to provide any substantial boost. After a flat

2014, Germany may return to stronger growth but will depend largely on foreign tourism. The decision of the Swiss central bank to detach its currency from the Euro again will have far reaching repercussions. And the US alone will not be able to lift up the whole industry. Last week, the Swiss Central Bank freed the franc against the euro. With now much higher prices, this will be a further negative impact on luxury – especially for the export orientated Swiss watch industry.

Luxury remains all about mood and currently too many “no fun” topics pull the markets down (e.g. global terrorism).

The industry’s slow down of growth will continue for the time being. Given current high stocks at the manufacturer and retailer level and the general time lag after phases of downturns The Bridge To Luxury (TBTL) expects a stronger pace of global sales to return only in spring or mid 2016 earliest.

TOUGH CHALLENGES In the meantime especially independent and smaller brands will face very tough challenges concerning international distribution access, sufficient margins and liquidity. Tight cost control and streamlining of operations along the value chain will be an industry imperative.

Although the time for anti-cyclical investments into branding and innovation is there, many especially smaller companies will not be able to afford it. This will accelerate the process of the industry’s further concentration as the large groups with their economies of scale are able to leverage businesses better.

As a consequence, an increasing number of independent brands under difficulties will be available for acquisition while fewer investors will be interested in venturing into luxury.

Yet, in the long run the luxury industry still can expect to expand substantially

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with an increasing number of HNWI individuals globally and this especially in the emerging markets. Already today, Credit Suisse estimates the global private wealth at 260 trillion US$ and expects a further build-up of fortunes.

In 2015 TBTL foresees five major industry topics alongside the typical external factors such as political stability or currency exchange rates:

1

The further merge of the on- and offline universes driven by new technical solutions. Innovative apps will provide fresh knowledge to consumers with regard to global pricing transparency, stock availability and better services; and on industrial levels the merge will lead to new ways of defining supply chains (e.g. logistics).

2

Even though on a case-by-case analysis the luxury groups will be more cautious in opening up more (and expensive) mono-brand boutiques, the aim remains to integrate vertically.

Besides traditional considerations such as margin maximisation, the absorption of classical retailing has become a new requisite if companies want to be able to control and thus to take full advantage of the potential of internet sales.

3

Consumer sophistication and individualisation: the time it takes until new markets mature in brand and product knowledge has narrowed considerably. In economies like China consumers nowadays take a much closer look before they purchase luxury items.

And they are less brand loyal than traditional shoppers. One way to react to more cautious customers and their higher standards in product evaluation is to individualise the offering for more and personal exclusivity feeding a universal growing social trend. The other one is innovation, of course.

4

The increase of branded jewellery as one main future industry drivers with above average growth rates.

5

Tourism will determine business further. For Europe a weak euro will initiate more visits from around the world. International travel destinations for high-end tourism need to adapt further though (e.g. Chinese breakfasts in luxury hotels are still an exception).

Consumer brands should react more strongly, too, for instance in welcoming tourists on airport billboards in appropriate languages. The marketing mix needs to consider foreign holiday periods to use resources better (availability of merchandise, well timed events etc.).

For the luxury industry TBTL does not expect an important momentum coming from smart watches. First of all they are consumer-wise not considered luxury goods per se. Second, the watch industry no longer enjoys the specific young and life-stylish brand creditability compared to Apple, Samsung or Sony to be reckoned a purchase alternative. Thirdly, the watch industry lacks the technical capability to define the interfaces between hard- and software dimensions the way the IT giants are able to. p

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BUSINESS

MARKET ON THE MOVE:

RUSSIA FRANCE

USA

ITALY

CHINA HONG KONG

BRAZIL

2014

was a year of note for the watch industry. The Swiss, for instance, exported a record number of timepieces abroad. Previously untapped markets were also developed, as increasing wealth in countries ranging from Brazil to China to Russia contributed to increased global sales. But the start of 2015 has hinted that the permissive economic climate of last year will not last.

Geopolitical issues, economic slow-down and fluctuating exchange rates have resulted in a more difficult climate for purchasing high-end luxury timepieces, suggesting that the watch industry is not isolated from broader global issues. Watch brands have started to adjust,

28 | BUSINESS | europa star

reprioritizing their target markets and demographics in preparation for the year to come.

To asses key trends and provide a prognosis for 2015, we partnered with Digital Luxury Group and seven of its international correspondents, including insiders from Brazil, China, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Russia, and the U.S.A. Each provided a retrospective analysis of 2014 and a projection for 2015 for their respective market.

Their findings suggest that for 2015 to be a year of success, brands must refocus on the midrange market and get their prices right. They must also be aware of the purchasing power of the international tourist, and take seriously the potential of fashion and smart wearables. u

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USA: REPRIORITIZING A MATURE MARKET, WITH A TWIST

by Ariel Adams, Founder & Editor in Chief, aBlogtoWatch

I

n 2013, growth was almost a given in the luxury watch industry, as emerging countries like China offered the promise of new clients in untapped markets. Because such developing markets were not yet mature, marketing strategies, pricing, and growth were relatively straightforward. But the landscape is different in 2015. The watch industry no longer has as many new developing markets to tap into and brands are once again re-focusing on mature markets such as Europe and the United States.

But as long as watch companies answer to shareholders, they will always need to focus on profits. Doing so in mature markets is simply more difficult, because they require more consumer education and higher marketing costs as part of a brand’s sales strategy.

2014 also saw brands once again focus on the extremely rich demographic. It is a trend likely to continue into 2015, for two reasons. First, the extremely rich are relatively more insulated from changes in the economy. The fact that they have more disposable income allows them to maintain their usual consumption patterns even in economic slowdown.

Second, brands are also more easily able to increase prices for the extremely

30 | BUSINESS | europa star

rich demographic, which can absorb rising prices better than the low to midrange demographics. At the risk of alienating consumers on the lower scales of the market, brands should once again offer solid value propositions and product choices under $5,000.

The “fashionification” of luxury watches, as seen in 2014, is also likely to continue. Brands are increasingly defying their own roots and attempting to become fashion brands by placing a price premium on their name. Such a strategy might work with less educated consumers, but in the long run it can result in the loss of brand equity. The danger is losing cache with educated consumers and alienating their traditional consumer base.

On a more positive note, the marriage of communications technology and watches in 2015 should make horology more mainstream. The release of the Apple Watch, as well as other smartwatches, should have a major impact on how consumers think about watches, which will add an interesting flavour to how the watch industry continues to evolve in 2015 in the United States.

Success in 2015 will therefore be based on a combination of product availability, the amount of marketing dollars spent,

ITALY: ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE HOPE OF TOURISM

by Carlo Ceppi, European Sales Manager, Officine Panerai

T

he Italian market for high-end watches evolved in 2014. On the one hand, increasing globalization and a generational shift placed familyowned businesses - which have traditionally characterized the domestic market – intro crisis. On the other hand, the stagnation of the Italian economy has stymied the usually dynamic Italian market and increased the burden on local consumers.

Although Italy remains one of the major markets for the high-end watches industry (5th globally, with 1.23 billion

The stagnation of the Italian economy has stymied the usually dynamic Italian market. and overall brand awareness. As a result, the most sophisticated and wellfunded brands will likely succeed, while the smaller players are likely to struggle.

Larger brands will continue to shift power into their corners by introducing more own-brand boutiques, which will increase their hold over the market, adding even more pressure on smaller retailers.

CHF according to FHS), the market is increasingly concentrated. Specifically, international tourist destinations, such as Rome, Milan, Florence and Venice, are locations where the overwhelming majority of buyers are foreign. Those cities have also been the scenes of new mono-brand or flagship boutique shops, directly operated by brands or franchised to local partners. Increasing international competition has resulted in a concen-

trated market in Italy, and the country’s strong tourism potential and an emphasis on mono-brand boutiques are key areas for potential growth in the market going forward.

HONG KONG: TARGETING THE MID-RANGE MARKET

CHINA: THE POWER OF THE TOURIST

to boost sales. The watch market will also cater to middle class consumers in the mid-range luxury price range, focusing on increasing the value for money of Swiss watches.

FRANCE: PARIS: A BAROMETER OF THE NATIONAL CLIMATE

by Joseph Chu, Honorary Consultant, Prince Jewellery and Watch Co. Ltd, & Advisor of Federation of Hong Kong Watch Trades & Industries

by Henri Liu, Editor in Chief, Watch Brand Intro and Operation

T

he luxury watch market in China in 2014 was notably different than previous years. While entry-level luxury watches did well, the high-end sector of the market showed a downward trajectory in the country. The biggest surprise of 2014 was perhaps that Chinese travellers continue to purchase strongly overseas.

As a result, the global marketing strategy of luxury brands is expected to increasingly target the Chinese market, as well as favourite travel destinations for Chinese tourists. Because the proportion of watches sold to Chinese tourists at overseas outlets will continue to grow, we should expect less local retail activity in the domestic market. With regard to trends for China in 2015, the major brands will focus on promoting classic elegant dress watches through the introduction of new collections or the re-launching of old ones. The mid to low-range price points will be emphasized, with a renewed focus on on-line retail and ladies’ watches.

A

fter 11 consecutive years of rapid growth, 2014 saw slowing sales figures in Hong Kong. The luxury watch and jewellery sectors suffered most, recording an average drop of 13% compared to 2013. Some individual watch retailers even recorded a drop of more than 30%! Changes in government policy and negative sentiment towards Chinese visitors contributed to the declining market.

As a result, wealthy Chinese consumers changed their travel plans and travelled to Europe and North America instead.

Fluctuating currency exchange rates also dented the luxury market in Hong Kong.

The sudden appreciation of the Swiss

by Laurent Picciotto, Founder, Chronopassion

T

he French market in 2014 was complex: the period from January to May was a difficult one, but sales picked up again in December, yielding positive results. The start to 2015 has also been surprising, and the reasons can be found in Paris: The attacks of January 7 on Charlie Hebdo helped to drive tourists away, while the strong Swiss franc compared to the Euro drove up retail

Luxury watch brands may start to lower retail prices in hope to boost sales.

Franc and the strong US dollar dampened the desire to buy luxury goods for both locals and tourists visiting Hong Kong. Anticipating a continuing downward trend in 2015, luxury watch brands may start to lower retail prices - following the likes of Patek Philippe - in hope

prices by as much as 20%. Curiously, these events have not had a negative effect during the first two months of the year, which might be explained by pre-emptive calculations by some consumers to buy early. For those same reasons, 2015 can be a notably difficult

u

europa star | BUSINESS | 31

year for the watch industry in France.

The situation will also not be helped by the launch of the Apple Watch in the spring, which can pose a risk to the industry similar to the quartz revolution thirty years ago. Only time will tell….

BRAZIL: ADAPTING FOR LONG-TERM GROWTH

term, achieving unprecedented visibility.

Importantly, the brand’s general perseverance on the market has allowed it to also consolidate its position for the medium and long-term as well.

Looking to 2015, beyond the prospective of weak economic growth, we will have to consider the impact of the strong Swiss franc and the depreciation of the real.

2015 will be marked by an adaptation by the market, because the weak growth of the economy and the fluctuations in exchange rates might not necessarily result in predictable consumer behaviours.

RUSSIA: TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD

by Richard Courbrant, President & CEO, TWG

T

he Brazilian market has undergone a substantial change over the last years, showing an effort to consolidate a presence in a developing and growing market. This has included the installation of regional brand managers and the creation of own-brand subsidiaries in the country, a trend that still persists.

While such changes are not immediately substantial, their impact can only be analyzed based on performances in the medium-term. For instance, Hublot’s new marketing strategy during the World Cup in Brazil was a success in the short-

by Yury Khnychkin, Contributing Editor Watches, Robb Report

T

he Russian watch market rapidly devolved over the last one and a half year. Geopolitical and financial issues, including a weakening rouble, the degradation of Russia’s relations

The weak growth of the economy and the fluctuations in exchange rates might not necessarily result in predictable consumer behaviours.

32 | BUSINESS | europa star

The degradation of Russia’s relations with the West over Ukraine, and the decline of oil prices, have all created a ‘perfect storm’ that has affected the watch industry. with the West over Ukraine, and the decline of oil prices, have all created a ‘perfect storm’ that has affected the watch industry.

Limited travel by Russians abroad lowered sales to Russian tourists in European and American boutiques in the summer.

At the same time, the weakening rouble dropped the prices of timepieces by up to 40% compared to Europe and the USA. While Western tourists also took advantage, mostly Chinese visitors emptied out Moscow’s boutiques in December 2014. So too did Moscow’s upper-middle class, who bought everything from real estate to premium cars and wristwatches. But after the impressive sales of December, Moscow boutiques are now looking like museums: they have spectators but no buyers.

This already implies a very difficult forecast for the Russian market in 2015. Consumer demand will largely depend on factors like oil prices and exchange rates, as well as the persistence of Western financial sanctions on Russia. The 2015 market will depend on how well Russia deals with internal issues and keeps herself free from complications abroad. As a former Russian imperial statesman once stated, La Russie ne boude pas; elle se recueille (Russia is not sulking, she is composing herself). p

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INTERVIEW

TAG HEUER’S

by Pierre Maillard

“

I feel excited to be here; I never planned to take on any responsibilities at the age of 66,” declares JeanClaude Biver by way of introduction. Not long after he was handed the keys of TAG Heuer he invited some journalists to a meeting over one of his famous cheese platters.

“But I’m only here temporarily. I’ll leave when TAG is making 2 billion Swiss francs per year... No, I’m joking!” (Today TAG Heuer is approaching an annual turnover of one billion.)

He has his triumvirate gathered around him: Guy Sémon, general manager for sales, production, R&D and industrial development, CFO Michel Moussellon and Philippe Rudolf, head of HR. The team predates him, but they were short of a helmsman, which is how he defines the task that lies ahead – a task he sums up as “implementing an ambitious strategy of conquest.” So which territories does he hope to conquer? “There are some amazing opportunities in the CHF 1,500–5,000 segment. It’s a huge vein to tap into.”

But how does he explain this strategic U-turn, after a decade of upward mobility and advanced technical innovations?

There is almost certainly a need for greater complementarity between LVMH’s watchmaking brands, with Hublot at the top of the pyramid, then Zenith, and, lower down price-wise, TAG Heuer. Then there is the market reality. While TAG Heuer’s innovations in escapements, allowing for measurement to 1/100 of a second, even 1/1000, and the V4 have been much in the headlines, the fact remains that 60% of TAG Heuer’s sales are of quartz watches.

“TAG Heuer was very marketing-focused,” explains Guy Sémon. “We were looking for watchmaking legitimacy, but on our own terms, we didn’t want to just reinterpret classic complications, we wanted to innovate. That helped us to understand what watches were all about, but TAG Heuer is a high-volume brand, and our average price is CHF 3,000. We will therefore be building on these innovations, transforming them into accessible products for the general public. Our

34 | INTERVIEW | europa star

innovations will come down from Mount Olympus and rub shoulders with our commercial products.”

The burning question is: what role does the expected rise of the smart watch play in this new strategy?

“I confess, I’ve changed my mind. Ten months ago I didn’t believe in them at all, but now I’m sure, we’re going to see a tsunami: a tsunami on Lake Neuchâtel!” But, as Guy Sémon notes, “If a company like Apple is investing billions in R&D, it’s because something is going to happen. So we either sit back and wait and see what happens, or we react. We decided to react. If a consumer has CHF 1,000 to spend, he will have a choice between a Swiss made quartz watch or a smart watch. Do you think he’ll continue to buy quartz?”

But don’t worry, “All is not lost,” points out Jean-Claude Biver. “It’s not so clear-cut. Swiss watchmaking is also an image, it’s prestige, soul, emotion, and it’s sexy. And what’s more, this watchmaking fibre, this authenticity, can be applied to the smart watch. We have loads of ideas, but we will not bring out any new product until it is completely ready.”

Guy Sémon offers a clue: “We are fully aware of one important aspect: the obsolescence of electronics. We are therefore working on the concept of forwards compatibility. We are also looking very hard at the issue of autonomy. But, as you know, a watch is a device of limited dimensions, that tells the time. And the technology has to fit inside this limited size.

Batteries take up a lot of room: you could say that watchmaking today is facing a genuine housing crisis.” p

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INTERVIEW

ANTONIO CALCE AT THE HELM Four years with Piaget, eight years with Panerai, nine at the head of Corum...

Trained engineer Antonio Calce’s career path has given him an insight into all the aspects of a brand, from its industrial setup to product development, not forgetting design, marketing and distribution.

On the strength of this impressive CV, in January 2015 he was appointed CEO of Sowind, which comprises Girard-Perregaux and its manufacture, and the Jeanrichard brand. We met on the shores of Lake Neuchâtel.

Interview by Pierre Maillard

Europa Star: The Kering group, whose watchmaking and jewellery division is run by Albert Bensoussan and which, as well as Sowind, controls Ulysse Nardin, Boucheron, Pomellato, Dodo and Queelin (Gucci being separate) has given you responsibility for Sowind.

Coming after Corum, this is quite a challenge, isn’t it?

Antonio Calce: Yes, I’m quite aware of that. A brand like Girard-Perregaux is something quite exceptional. There is 200 years of history, unparalleled expertise and remarkable quality. I must admit, when I first visited I was very impressed with the standard of what I saw. It is a truly remarkable tool.

When I arrived, the first thing I did was go and shake the hand of every single one of the 250 or so people working in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and I explained to them what Kering was, and what the group’s values were. Sowind is lucky, I told them, because the group has great respect for its people. As the boss of a brand, I arrive with my roadmap already laid out

36 | INTERVIEW | europa star

for me, but I also have quite a lot of decision-making latitude.

It’s an astute strategy from the group’s point of view, because it allows me to have a genuinely entrepreneurial attitude.

And what is on this roadmap?

AC: The aim is to put this magnificent brand back in centre stage and give it a new lease of life, by bringing greater coherence while remaining true to the values that served it so well in past decades. The great advantage is that we are rebuilding on very solid foundations, and the framework for the coming ‘reconstruction’ is already clear to see.

And what is this framework?

AC: In order to reaffirm our identity, we need to go back to our history. Girard-Perregaux has a considerable historic heritage, a strong identity and a watchmaking tradition of unique rich-

ness and depth, and it can also lay claim to one of the first rational manufactures built in Switzerland. This historical aspect needs to be thoroughly explored. That’s the solid foundation I was talking about. In addition to this historical and patrimonial framework there is another aspect, which is to put the product back at the centre of our marketing strategy.

As far as GP’s products are concerned, one sometimes has the impression that the brand has brought out its models haphazardly, at the risk of diluting its image somewhat...

AC: Absolutely. I believe it is vital that we improve the structure of our product range by developing and clarifying it, but without breaking from what has been done in the past. And also, we want to cover a broader range of price brackets than we have previously. We are therefore planning to build upon five discrete pillars.

The first is the 1966 Collection, an emblematic range dedicated to chronometry, refinement and classicism. As you may recall, it was in 1966 that GP brought out the first high-frequency movement, vibrating at 36,000 vph, the Gyromatic HF. We will offer a larger palette of products in this collection, in four sizes, and for the first time we will introduce a steel watch with manufacture movement.

The second pillar is the Vintage 1945 collection. This form watch with rectangular case, inspired by Art Deco design, is destined to become a showcase for the house’s creativity.

Here we will see some exclusive features, the use of métiers d’art on specific themes, and partnerships with some prestigious historic names. After the success of the Le Corbusier line, we want to go further in this direction, collaborating directly with the Le Corbusier Foundation.

The third pillar is the sublime Cat’s Eye, already a very successful collection. We want to expand it to encompass different sizes and different materials, in order to flesh out the range.

The fourth pillar is the emblematic Trois Ponts d’Or. Up to now we have only made extremely high-end tourbillons featuring three gold bridges. We hope to build on this signature feature by producing classic versions of these three bridges as well as highly contemporary versions, adding other functions in addition to the tourbillon, perhaps a dual time zone, or a large balance, for example, in order to create a proper family.

For the fifth pillar we will be launching a new chronograph, which is an eminently legitimate course for the manufacture: sporty, but chic and elegant at the same time. Here too we will be adding steel. Finally, cutting across all these five pillars, we will be working on our Haute Horlogerie pieces, which will bring an extra dimension to each collection.

Does the recent acquisition of Ulysse Nardin by Kering change things?

AC: Some synergies will be put in place in terms of distribution, such as setting up joint subsidiaries in the USA and Japan. But we will be returning our focus to a probably limited number of exclusive points of sale. We will define a specific business strategy for each market, offering a bespoke mix of around 70 references (out of 150) which will vary according to the expectations of these different markets. The aim is to give the brand greater depth and density, by steering distribution in a more targeted, more evidence-based manner.

What about Jeanrichard?

AC: Jeanrichard must become more complementary within Sowind than it currently is. It got a little ahead of itself, and we now need to refocus this promising brand, repositioning it slightly below its current level, with more affordable products (without manufacture movements, unlike GP which is equipped with 100% manufacture movements), a more limited number of models and a more clearly-defined scope.

We are just starting out on a very gradual process of redefining the brand’s focus. p

europa star | INTERVIEW | 37

INTERVIEW

“THE CHASSIS IS READY, NOW An interview with Aldo Magada, recently appointed CEO of Zenith

by Pierre Maillard

A

ldo Magada has recently been appointed head of Zenith. His aims were neatly summed up by JeanClaude Biver, head of LVMH’s watchmaking division, as well as TAG Heuer’s CEO as of quite recently: “The previous CEO, Jean-Frédéric Dufour, rebuilt Zenith’s chassis. It will be Aldo Magada’s job to build it up.”

What does the man himself think? “The chassis, the foundation on which everything was rebuilt, is the El Primero movement.

But confining oneself to this definition is like looking at an X-ray of the brand, rather than at its face. It’s better to look at the Open 69. This watch alone is an accurate summary of what we are: a classic case with a special dial, two classic counters and an opening onto the inner workings of the movement. Elegance and technicality. That’s the direction we will be going in.”

The first step will be to reorganise the product range. “There was too much choice at the buffet,” notes Aldo Magada.

“We’re going to reorganise it along three axes: the chronograph, the classic three-handed watch and ladies’ watches.

The chronograph epitomises our historical legitimacy: the only 5 Hz on the market, timekeeping, El Primero. In the future all our chronographs will be equipped with it. But we will also push the envelope; we’ll continue with our Haute Horlogerie, working on innovations like our gyroscopic escapement, as well as the métiers d’art and micro-painting.

The ‘three hands’ line will become the Elite range, which is very well positioned; it’s designed to give a new, fresh face to classic watchmaking. Prices with manufacture movement start at CHF 4,900. Our average price is between CHF 7,000 and 8,000. We will continue to press our advantage in the ladies’ watch sector. Not many people know that in some countries, China for instance, our ladies’ range represents 60%, a performance we owe largely to our mechanical manufacture movements that will fit inside 33 mm cases.”

40 | INTERVIEW | europa star

Aldo Magada

Another important sector is after-sales service. Aldo Magada spontaneously brings up this essential aspect, which is all too often overlooked. “Excellent after-sales service is vital for any company with long-term ambitions, which is our case. It is part of the task I have been set by our shareholders, who act with great patience and are in for the long haul. Today we produce around 40,000 movements per year, plus several thousand more that we deliver to third parties. But the El Primero has been around for 45 years, it is a thoroughly proven movement. Our after-sales needs to meet the same standard of excellence. And that is now the case.”

What about distribution? In these uncertain times, with political upheavals in various quarters and a strengthening Swiss franc, what adjustments will be needed?

“In terms of distribution, the focus of our activity will be directed towards maximising the potential of our most dynamic markets. Our most important anchor points are China (which for us has not slowed down, we are simply selling less gold there), Hong Kong, South-East Asia, Japan, a very important market, Switzerland, because of both its local market and tourist sales, and the USA, where recognition of our brand has advanced in leaps and bounds. Our second objective is to vigorously strengthen sales in Europe. We believe that Germany, for instance, holds great potential for a classic and technical brand such as ours. Finally, we will continue to expand in the USA. And, of course, we will be ready to make the most of any other opportunities that might present themselves.” p

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INDEPEDENTS / PART 2

Philippe Dufour

Max Büsser

AN INFORMAL CHAT WITH TWO STANDARD BEARERS OF • One is the figurehead of independent watchmakers. His strategy is simple: do everything yourself, and do it with panache!

The other is the wunderkind of the new wave of independents. He creates his ‘unidentified horological objects’ with the support of a broad circle of ‘friends’. No prizes for guessing that they are Philippe Dufour and Max Büsser.

• Aesthetically, their watchmaking styles could not be farther apart. And yet, as staunch champions of the joys and challenges of independence, in the fullest sense of the word, they are firmly on the same page.

• Europa Star brought them together over a leisurely lunch (*) to hear their thoughts and impressions on the subject. Here are some excerpts from our fascinating discussion.

by Pierre Maillard

(*) Recommended by Europa Star Bistrot Dumas, Avenue Dumas 7, 1206 Geneva, 022 347 74 22

42 | INDEPEDENTS / PART 2 | europa star

IS INDEPENDENCE EASIER OR MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT WAS 15 YEARS AGO? Max Büsser: I joined the business 24 years ago. At that time, there wasn’t so much money about, and watches were not considered particularly glamorous. The clients of fine watchmaking were connoisseurs, well-informed collectors. Today, watchmaking is in fashion, but 80 to 90% of buyers these days know next to nothing about it, and have no interest in learning. However, in my particular case, with MB&F, which made 279 pieces in 2014, and which hopes to produce the same number in 2015, I am targeting a well-informed clientele, as is Philippe. The majority of our buyers are educated collectors.

Philippe Dufour: Yes, it’s a paradox. I recently spoke with retailers in Singapore. It’s more difficult now than it was 15 years ago; your well-informed clients turn up with their jeweller’s loupe, they’ve already read up on the internet, and they just want to check that what they have been told is true.

It doesn’t bother me because I know that what I deliver is of the highest standard, but it can be daunting for some.

MB: Independents that make mistakes or who deliver unreliable products do the rest of us no favours at all. Retailers need to be very brave to take on an independent brand. So when one of them screws up, when they lose that trust, we all suffer.

PHD: Independents are not allowed to make mistakes. The big players can afford to bring to market pieces that are not absolutely perfect. They believe that the well can never run dry. After all, they can always hang on to the piece in aftersales for six months or more, if necessary. But not us.

MB: Watchmaking clientele is like an estuary: on one side, you have the broad channel, the immense crowd that is targeted by the big brands, and on the other there are some little streams, those few thousand individuals who are prepared to buy the products of independent manufacturers.

MB: It’s hard to find sellers and retailers that really love the product. To sell an independent brand you have to work at it; you have to set up your network of clients, explain, demonstrate. For the big brands, 80% of that work is already taken care of.

PHD: Our relationship with our clients goes far beyond the purely commercial. In Japan, for instance, (Editor’s note: where Philippe Dufour is practically a god in watchmaking circles) it is very important to meet the person who designed the watch. They don’t need George Clooney to act as middle man. True celebrity is in the product itself, nestled inside the case.

PHD: With the brands, the designers are no longer the decision-makers. Finance and marketing have the biggest say, and they make sure they get the biggest bang for their buck.

MB: Marketing has taken the pre-eminent role. These days, your average client looks at the brand more than the product.

The brand has become all-powerful, we’re witnessing a LouisVuittonisation across the whole of watchmaking. I’ve been to some huge retail outlets whose sales staff know next to nothing. The business has grown exponentially, communication budgets have rocketed, so why make the effort? In fact, direct sales are the best thing for cutting-edge independents.

PHD: I sold my first watches in 1992–1993. My first four pieces, I sold through Hour Glass in Singapore. After that I made a lot of direct sales. But in certain countries, such as Japan, you’re obliged to go through a distributor; you have to respect the system that’s in place.

T SIMPLICITY by Philippe Dufour

MB: Porsche, for example, couldn’t care less about the anonymous customers who buy all the 190,000 models they produce each year. The person who buys a Pagani, on the other hand, of which there are only a hundred or so in existence, is helping the brand to survive; he’s participating in a creative process. The same goes for us: our clients are part of our creative adventure. The concept of critical mass is key: one of the reasons we remain independent is to have the luxury of staying small. In 2013 I took an executive decision that we wouldn’t grow any more. When you get too big it becomes less of a pleasure, management takes over. Yes, you make money, but what’s the point? Creating and remaining creative takes huge amounts of energy and costs a fortune.

Designing one calibre per year, as we do, is all well and good, but it requires a substantial cash flow. We can’t afford to hoard our money, we have to reinvest constantly if we are to retain our independence.

DOES WATCHMAKING HAVE A SOUL? MB: The soul of watchmaking is the soul of its creator. If the creative impulse is strong and if it’s personal, the object will have a soul. If it’s made by a faceless corporation, it will have no soul. When I wear an Urwerk, for example, I think about Félix Baumgartner and Martin Frei, who worked like Trojans to make it a success. They put their heart and soul into it, and you can feel that.

PHD: We are selling emotion. All the marketing people use the same formula, but for us it’s real.

MB: Your watch is your novel.

PHD: Yes, I’ve written three and a half now, nearly four. And I wrote them all by myself! u

europa star | INDEPEDENTS / PART 2 | 43

MB: If the message put across in order to sell a watch is about social status, the watch automatically loses any soul it had.

Watchmaking is a technically obsolete art, and this, paradoxically, is our saving grace. In 1989, as a young engineer just out of the EPFL (Editor’s note: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne), I paid some watchmakers a visit. They told me: “We don’t care how much you know. What we do is pointless.” That’s when I knew I wanted to be a watchmaker.

FINANCING INDEPENDENCE MB: MB&F would not be here today without the six retailers who first placed their trust in me, and therefore financed me.

I was only able to do it because, before creating my company, I was CEO of Harry Winston, and consequently had a solid address book. You can’t put a price on that. Or on the editorial support of the press, which immediately picked up on our original approach. Without this support I would never have succeeded. But what do we hear today? No one wants to take the smallest risk any more. “Come back in a couple of years, if you’re still here!” they say. All the independents that are successful today were self-financed. All those that relied on outside investors are now on life support. You need to have an entrepreneurial spirit, and that comes through in the product.

PHD: It’s like bringing up children; it’s harder if you need to use crutches. For instance, for my Grande Sonnerie, I put out a call for someone to make gear trains. I would have had to put half a million Swiss francs on the table. If I’d had a crutch, I would have leaned on that, and I would made that investment. But as I didn’t have the money I did it myself; I cut all my own wheels. It took me two and half years without a break.

In 1992 I sold the piece for CHF 600,000 (Editor’s note: at today’s rates the price would be closer to two million). I didn’t make any profit on the first six. With the 7th and 8th, money finally started coming in. Solitude was a necessary ‘good’.

MB: It bears repeating: having an external shareholder is the biggest mistake. Your motivation changes: you have to grow at all costs, rather than being content to find the best way to express yourself.

PHD: In the beginning everything is fine, all investors are ‘patrons’. Six months down the line, the same people are only interested in the return on their investment.

MB: Having said that, the entry price is far higher than it was fifteen years ago. But, on the other hand, we have tools that didn’t even exist back then: the internet, social networks.

44 | INDEPEDENTS / PART 2 | europa star

I HM6 SPACE PIRATE by MB&F

However, it’s also true that all the brands are using these channels to shout their message as loudly as they can. Those who prefer to whisper have trouble making themselves heard.

Independents sometimes feel like the dwarf at the bar.

PHD: And you also need some financial muscle. I started out in 1978. In the beginning I did restoration work and made watches for other people. I submitted the patent for my Grande Sonnerie in 1992, but it wasn’t until 2003 that I finally managed to balance my books.

SOLIDARITY PHD: One of the great qualities of independence is the community spirit that binds us together, the open exchanges, the positive contact, friendships even, and perhaps most of all, the transfer of knowledge. That’s our role: to pass on our expertise, and to reach out, in all senses of the word. Why not work with Chinese enamellers, or Japanese master watchmakers? Why not work with external artists? We have to globalise the phenomenon, open up, share. That’s also what independence is about.

MB: Independents do a lot of things together. We’re mates, we work together, we exchange information, we exhibit our products in the same places. Of course there are always opportunists, but they aren’t hard to spot. p

GODFREY GAO and Links of London

linksoflondon.com

Hall 1.1 Stand A77

INDEPEDENTS / PART 2

BEYOND • Three years ago, Georges-Henri Meylan, CEO of Audemars Piguet from 1997 to 2009, created MELB Holding with “a group of friends, including some former Audemars Piguet people”. The basket of this ‘little big guy’ contains two very different brands: the classic H. Moser & Cie and the rebel Hautlence, both bought when their companies were in difficulties.

• In the small world of independents, MELB Holding stands out as a beacon of hope for the future of brands that may be too fragile to stand alone against the vagaries of the market, or to break down the barriers to entering the shop windows. Indeed, its course is being followed with attention and anticipation by many small, fragile vessels.

• At the side of Georges-Henri is his son Edouard who, after the Celsius adventure came to such a painful end (see Case Study, ES 1/15), is now masterfully overseeing the renaissance of H. Moser & Cie. An informal chat in the lounge of the Geneva Kempinski Hotel.

by Pierre Maillard

MELB Holding is also Precision Engineering AG. Precision Engineering, which was spun off from H. Moser & Cie, produces balance springs and escapements, and is one of the few alternatives to Nivarox-FAR (Swatch Group).

46 | INDEPEDENTS / PART 2 | europa star

IS MELB HOLDING A MODEL FOR OTHER INDEPENDENTS? Georges-Henri Meylan: Our own model is simply the Swiss Confederation. Although they live under the same roof, each canton retains autonomy over a number of key domains: education, police, health, social policy, taxation, etc.

MELB Holding runs along the same lines: the brands cluster around a common ‘trunk’. General services such as management and distribution are shared. This strategy led to the creation of MELB Asia Ltd., managed by my other son, Bertrand, which distributes our two brands plus another independent, De Bethune, in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

But around this trunk, this common platform, each brand keeps its own individual DNA. The important thing is to reach critical mass so that we can tackle the markets together, given that distributors are gradually disappearing. We benefit from many economies of scale.

Edouard Meylan: We get a lot of enquiries. Many brands see this model as a good solution, and think that MELB Holding will be keen to invest. But let there be no mistake.

We are only interested in creating partnerships on the condition that constructive work can take place, that structural exchanges are possible, that everyone can bring something to the table; it must be a win-win situation. u

“We are now completely ready,” Georges-Henri Meylan confirmed to us. “We have a new alloy with absolutely extraordinary properties.

Some very large brands come to us for special, complex orders, and they are surprised by what we can deliver, in terms of COSC chronometry, colours, shapes, etc.

We now produce some tens of thousands of balance springs and regulating organs.”

GHM: Our aim is to create a structure that will stand the test of time, with clear ideas and a well-defined direction. We want to go beyond niche. H. Moser & Cie, for instance, is not cut out to be a niche brand. It’s a magnificent small brand, which is not the same thing at all. And today, in a world where marketing costs more than the product, and in an unfavourable economic environment, the pressure on the little guys continues to grow. But for the time being, our first task is to get our two brands on their feet, and to make them profitable.

EM: The construction phase is behind us, we have established our position, our marketing tools are in place, we have the products. Now we need to grow.

As far as H. Moser & Cie is concerned, we have rationalised production and costs and we have given our collections a makeover, made them sexier than before. Everything is in place. We also have the feeling that our ‘Very Rare’ marketing strategy is starting to take, starting to stick in people’s minds.

Quite clearly, things are starting to happen.

STRONG FRANC GHM: But, as independents, we are more sensitive than bigger outfits to events such as the strengthening of the Swiss franc. In a stroke, two years’ efforts and meticulous price adjustments are down the drain. It’s like a blow to the head. But it’s not the first time this has happened, and we’ll find a solution. When I started out in watchmaking, the dollar was at 4.50, sterling was at 12.50 and the French franc was at 4!

48 | INDEPEDENTS / PART 2 | europa star

Having said that, the Swiss National Bank probably had no choice. Our currency was just a plaything for speculators. The problem is that it happened too suddenly. But it will be the Swiss retailers that suffer the most. And for us, they are very important.

EM: Price is crucial. It’s at the heart of our activity and it’s the first thing you have to think about when you design a new product, or when you decide to improve production. We don’t yet have a big enough name to brush the others aside.

Our prices have to remain ultra-competitive.

GHM: We haven’t brought in external investors who have made their fortune elsewhere and come to watchmaking with the idea that they can make a killing. Building a brand requires a long attention span, it’s a long-term undertaking.

EM: We want to make MELB Holding a genuine network of cross-disciplinary expertise, bringing together partners, whether financial or industrial, that a small, isolated brand could not gain access to.

GHM: It’s more difficult to be independent today than it was pre-2008, before the financial crisis, and the subsequent economic and social crises. The pressure exerted by the big groups has become enormous. And although the majority of retailers have no choice but to submit to it, some of them, and not necessarily the smallest, are starting to reach out to the independents. The relationship we have with Bucherer is an example of true partnership.

But you have to work very hard for it, find solutions, take initiatives. In terms of distribution, we are looking to replicate elsewhere the model that has worked so well for us in Asia, beginning with the Americas. There, the important thing will be to bring complementary independent brands together, to help each other out.

EM: If you are to succeed, developing a strong concept is just as important as the product itself. It’s vital to helping people understand our brands’ DNA and getting their message across. You must work the values. For example, the idea of entrepreneurship which is behind H. Moser’s long history; that’s a real entrepreneurial saga. We realised that, not only are many of our clients entrepreneurs, but we also promote this ideal, both externally and internally; for example, we encourage our employees to act entrepreneurially in terms of the activities we undertake, like our participation in the Swiss Entrepreneur of the Year award. Being independent fundamentally means being an entrepreneur. p

INDEPEDENTS / PART 2

(PART 2) NO. 4:

LOUIS ERARD Several battles won, but the war continues

A

beacon of hope amid the difficulties that are assailing the independent brands today, Louis Erard proves that, with time, it is possible to break through, even if you’re small (the company has 28 employees), and provided that you are flexible and responsive to all the challenges that may arise. It’s not pretty: Director General Alain Spinedi says he has been “on a war footing since 2003”.

That year marked a turning point for the brand, then apparently at death’s door. Entrepreneur Alain Spinedi took over, and made the decision to focus solely on mechanical movements.

Hence the brand’s motto ‘Swiss Mechanical Watches’, which has stuck, despite the fact that many Louis Erard watches now run on quartz. “When there are 800 brands worldwide, it’s not easy to turn up with the 801st. In the beginning, no one needs you, in theory. In 2003 we adopted an original position, for an independent brand, producing models that cost between 600 and 2,000 francs, equipped with ETA movements.”

What happened then? A series of crises, during which the brand managed to keep its head above water. The first occurred in 2007–2008, when ETA announced that it was unable to increase deliveries of mechanical movements. “We were obliged to raise the price bracket up to 3,000 francs. In parallel, we launched our first ladies’ watch collection. Up until then we had only offered men’s mechanical watches.”

The second crisis fell in 2009, and affected the entire watchmaking industry, which lost 25% of its turnover. Here too, Louis Erard managed to limit the damage, recording a drop in sales of ‘only’ 6%.

But the third crisis would be the most challenging: the strong franc. And with the recent decision of the Swiss National Bank to abandon the ceiling on the Swiss franc / euro exchange rate, the short-term prospects are far from encouraging. “In Italy, for example, because of the strong franc the price of our watches

has virtually doubled. And over the same period, Italians’ buying power and salaries have certainly not increased. Quite the opposite, in fact. And this is a big challenge for us.” Hence the decision to abandon mechanical purity and include some quartz movements, in a bid to retain the starting price of 600 francs.

Alain Spinedi is trying to remain optimistic. “Wherever there’s a crisis, there’s an opportunity.” His brand recently proved this adage with a particularly adroit move: further to Swatch Group’s decision to desert Swiss retailer Gübelin, Louis Erard will now be represented by the powerful watchmaking shop network. “Through these crises we have grown from a niche brand to a more complete company. Our image has strengthened.” Starting from zero in 2003, Louis Erard today has a turnover of almost 12 million Swiss francs, and is approaching 20,000 units sold. Nevertheless, the threats remain: alongside the increasingly strong franc, there are geopolitical upheavals in the Middle East, Ukraine and Turkey. “These days many markets have become unpredictable.” Switzerland still accounts for one third of the brand’s sales, ahead of Russia, whose economy has taken a turn for the worse. The brand is now looking to open new markets, including in China.

Twelve years on, would Alain Spinedi do the same again, if he had to start over? “At the time it was possible to launch a midrange brand, but not any more. It’s no longer a particularly profitable niche for a newcomer. Anyone starting out today would have to bring some new ideas to the table.” Alain Spinedi is disappointed by the current lack of diversity in the watchmaking landscape: “There’s been a kind of lockdown, particularly in terms of distribution. Not so many years ago, watchmaking was a rich source of imagination and inspiration for many designers and entrepreneurs. Today we see the same stereotypical brands in shopping centres all over the world.” (SM) u

europa star | INDEPEDENTS / PART 2 | 49

NO. 5:

SLYDE

“Digital can also equate with luxury”

S

lyde presents itself as a ‘luxury digital manufacturer’. Launched in 2012, the Swiss brand proposes an original concept: transforming movements and complications such as tourbillons into a virtual reproduction, and displaying them on the watch’s digital dial. Average price: 8,500 francs. “We give access to complications at an affordable price,” points out Nicolas Courcoux, Slyde’s sales director. The first watches were delivered at the start of 2012.

At the time, no one had heard of smartwatches. Mr Courcoux instinctively rejects the comparison, however inevitable it may be. “We do not offer any kind of connection to a mobile phone. There are no buttons, everything is tactile. But if you want to draw a parallel, I’d point out that the mobile phone did not replace the Leica. What is more, our power reserve is between three days and three weeks, depending on use, which is far more than a smartwatch. The main challenge for the smartwatch remains the very short battery life.”

The result of a partnership between famous watch designer Jörg Hysek and investor Alain Nicod, who specialises in new technology, Slyde navigates the waters between two worlds.

The product was in development for three and a half years, and required significant investment, of the order of 10 million francs.

The bottom line? “We are almost in the black. But in watchmaking, profitability is a long-term undertaking. Paradoxically, the crises have helped us. Consumers in China and Russia are looking for Swiss made Haute Horlogerie at a cheaper price point, which is what we are offering. Also, we don’t need to source dials, hands or movements, which are bottlenecks in the watchmaking market.”

The fall of the ruble is nevertheless having a negative effect on the brand’s sales, almost 50% of which come from Eastern European clients. “But we have a solid base in Japan, Dubai, Paris and the United States. And unlike other brands, we are fortunate to have two sources of revenue: watches and digital movements. The latter are solely for Slyde models.”

The company has a presence in around a hundred multibrand stores around the world. “It’s not easy to convince retailers to take a chance on a new brand. These days, some watchmaking groups and large independents are monopolis-

50 | INDEPEDENTS / PART 2 | europa star

ing the storefronts. In our case, we also have to convince retailers that digital technology can be considered a luxury, that we are complementary to the top brands.”

Today, Courcoux sees three possible escape routes for small independent brands: focus on the high-end market, have access to significant capital, or develop a truly revolutionary product.

“Or, even better, all three.” In his opinion, many small independent brands are under imminent threat. “Many of them were able to survive thanks to China and Russia. Russians in particular are keen on unconventional brands. The fact that both these markets are falling off at the same time represents a serious problem for the industry. Not all of them have had enough time to develop the more mature markets.”

“Sooner or later, you end up being bought out by a group; it’s inevitable,” opines Nicolas Courcoux, pointing to the recent example of Ulysse Nardin (now a subsidiary of Kering). “A number of independent brands, even some quite large ones, are currently looking for a buyer. A lot of them are unprofitable. In a group, the profitable brands can cover the losses of those that are not.” (SM)

Today, Courcoux sees three possible escape routes for small independent brands: focus on the high-end market, have access to significant capital, or develop a truly revolutionary product. “Or, even better, all three.”

NO. 6:

CABESTAN

Ultra-luxury to beat the volume trap

W

ith thirty models released in 2014 and prices around 200,000 francs each, Cabestan has situated itself firmly in the ultra-luxury sector. Lionel Betoux, a trained engineer and former Rolex employee, took over the brand in 2013 when it fell on hard times. Since then prices have come down somewhat, while the number of pieces produced has trebled. “As volume is not an issue for us, we are in a market that is less susceptible to crises than the mid-range.

But we do have to keep an eye on the profitability threshold.”

The new owner describes the challenge as “extremely complex” but “fascinating”. Employing around ten people, the artisanal brand benefits from the watchmaking expertise of Eric Coudray. Balance springs aside, all components are

manufactured in-house. “The most important aspect for independents is innovation, in terms of both product and design.” But with such a restricted client base, successful communication of the brand’s values is vital. “The watch alone is not sufficient; promotion and everything that goes with it must be effective. You need to create visibility, but also sympathy, with clients and retailers.”

With such low volumes, any fluctuation in orders placed by retailers becomes critical. “A retailer might promise to take some stock for the autumn, then change their mind. Each event of this nature has an impact.” (SM) u

europa star | INDEPEDENTS / PART 2 | 51

NO. 7:

LAURENT FERRIER

Back down to earth after stratospheric début

T

he highly respected watchmaker Laurent Ferrier decided to launch his own brand in 2010. Today, he describes this period of his life as “euphoric”.

In the brand’s launch year, the Galet Classic model won the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in the men’s watch category. The award brought global visibility to the young brand, which started to make a move on the Asian market – Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. It then dipped its toe into what at the time looked like promising new waters in the Ukraine.

In the last two years it has entered more mature markets: the United Kingdom in 2013 and the United States in 2014.

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From the brand’s launch Laurent Ferrier, whose prices range from 40,000 to 260,000 francs, has sold around sixty tourbillons. An enviable result. But the initial euphoria has evaporated, and things have come back down to earth. The main reason is the general slowdown in the Asian marketplace. “If the market had continued to grow at the same pace we’d still be feeling euphoric today! The hard thing is to keep going through the lows. You just have to grit your teeth and move forward, but there is no reason why the Asian market shouldn’t recover. In Ukraine, however, the situation has deteriorated more comprehensively.”

In the watchmaker’s view, “image is not enough.” Another vital component is having the necessary resources, in the form of substantial investment, to meet the expectations of a particularly demanding clientele. “We’re a very small outfit.

We don’t have the support of a billionaire who can prop us up with half a million francs at the end of the month. Our suppliers are also having problems, which they then pass on to us.” (SM) p

19.03.2015 - 26.03.2015 Please meet us at : BASEL Meeting Room Ground Floor Radisson Blu Hotel Steinentorstrasse -254001, Basel, Switzerland.

Phone: +41 61 227 2727 +971 56 6038082

For more information : Tel 00971 4 7016900, Fax 00971 4 2221078 E-mail : allwyn.lewis@alfuttaim.ae

PORTRAITS

FOSSIL GROUP, SWISS MADE WATCHES

The American giant is hoping to conquer Asia on the strength of its catalogue of prestigious brands at affordable prices.

But first, a stopover in Switzerland.

Explanations.

by Serge Maillard

A

t Antima, a Fossil Group subsidiary in Biel, the very fabric of the building symbolises the DNA and the ambitions of the American watchmaking giant. On the first floor is an open-plan office housing dozens of designers, all busy thinking up new faces for the watches of tomorrow for one of the world leaders in the fashion sector. In the ground floor workshops the atmosphere and decor are completely different. Here you hear local accents, you see watchmakers’ tunics; this is where the prototypes dreamt up by the designers upstairs are brought to life. So it’s fashion, but with a Swiss made label. And that basically sums up the current aims of Fossil Group, which established itself in Switzerland in 2002 through the purchase of Antima.

Christelle Vaccari, Senior Director of Design and Development for Antima, gives us the grand tour. She is often away at meetings with her main interlocutors, the design director at Fossil Group’s Dallas headquarters, obviously, but also the heads of licensed brands Emporio Armani in Milan and Burberry in London. These are Fossil’s two main Swiss made brands (recently joined by some of Tory Burch’s watches, and not forgetting the group’s most ‘Swiss’, though arguably less wellknown brand, Zodiac) in an extremely wide-ranging portfolio.

In addition to the aforementioned brands, it includes Fossil, Skagen, Michele, Michael Kors, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Diesel,

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Armani Exchange, Relic, DKNY, Adidas and Karl Lagerfeld.

This all adds up to around 30 million watches per year.

The majority are made in China, but a growing proportion (400,000 last year) bear the prestigious Swiss made label.

“We’re constantly in communication with Emporio Armani and Burberry. They have to sign off on all our sketches: they are quite careful, given that it’s their name going on the dial!” points out Christelle Vaccari. All these newcomers to the watchmaking scene must adapt to the way things work in their new sector of activity. “Between the first pencil stroke

u

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and delivery to the shops, it takes between one and two years. Sometimes our contacts in Milan and London don’t understand why it takes so much longer than a handbag!”

Things nevertheless move quickly, she assures us: “We represent fashion brands. On average, that means four new collections every year.”

DISCRETION IS THE ORDER OF THE DAY

Martin Frey

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Fossil Group is a giant. It’s the fourth-biggest watchmaking group in the world, with a turnover of around 3.5 billion dollars last year (three-quarters of which come from watch sales). But it is nevertheless a discreet giant. Photographs of its CEO, Kosta Kartsotis, are rarer than hen’s teeth.

Luckily for Europa Star Martin Frey, European MD for Fossil Group, agrees to show his face. He didn’t have far to come: the Texan giant established its regional headquarters in Basel in 2004. Here too, there is an evident desire to get closer to the ethos of ‘Swiss made’ and the historic heartland of watchmaking. “For us, the Swiss made label is becoming more and more important, particularly for winning over our

Asian clientele. American consumers also notice it more now, which was not necessarily the case before.” Today, the USA still account for 50% of sales, Europe 34% and Asia-Pacific just 16%.

As the director acknowledges, Fossil retains a somewhat mysterious aura, even for other watchmaking groups and brands. “It’s only been about two years since we started communicating more about our activities in Switzerland.” The group has more than doubled its watch sales in the space of five years. “We came through the 2009 crisis. It even helped us. Unlike other brands, we didn’t cut off our relationships with component suppliers. As soon as the crisis was over we were able to scale up production.” Their catalogue is likely to grow even more. “We are regularly approached by fashion brands wanting to go into watches. But if they are too similar to a brand we already produce, we don’t take it any further.

Nevertheless, I think there is still potential, particularly in producing jewellery under licence.”

Capitalising on fashion brands with an established reputation and well-defined identity, and transposing their success into the watchmaking world, thanks to an industrial war machine, is a simple but apparently effective recipe. “In China

It has already concluded partnerships with Intel and Google, the initial results of which will be presented at Baselworld.

The group is also talking more specifically about ‘smart accessories’. “There is huge potential, because people are looking for more interactivity,” notes Martin Frey. Let’s see what Baselworld holds.

TENS OF MILLIONS OF FRANCS INVESTED IN SWITZERLAND

we still have great potential for growth, thanks largely to the Swiss made label. People like our designs, and we have an interesting brand portfolio. Luxury still counts, but I think in China a large sector of the population will be interested in the mid-range. Price matters too! Our prices go from 75 francs for brands such as Adidas or Fossil, up to above 2,000 francs for Burberry and Emporio Armani.”

SMART WATCHES ON THE HORIZON The brands in the Fossil Group catalogue are present in around 30,000 points of sale worldwide. “Ideally, we will go to our retailers with a package of brands from our portfolio.

But we don’t impose it as a sine qua non condition for getting hold of one of our brands. We use persuasion instead!”

Of all the watchmaking groups, Fossil is probably the one that has most clearly advertised its ambitions in terms of smart watches. Closer to Silicon Valley than its Swiss counterparts, a more recent incomer to the watch business, but also in the front line thanks to its entry- and mid-level positioning, the group would be foolish not to take an interest.

Pending the smart watch’s debut, the last big milestone reached by the watchmaking group was the creation in 2012 of its first Swiss made calibre, the STP1-11, assembled in its Manno factory in Ticino. This strategy was dictated partly by Swatch Group’s decision to scale back deliveries of components. “But it wasn’t just that,” insists Martin Frey. “If we hope to become a major player in the Swiss made sector over the long term, we have no choice but to produce our own movements.” Some of these calibres have already been delivered to third parties, “although we don’t aggressively promote this activity,” says Frey.

The potential ramifications of the new ‘Swissness’ law were also a factor in this strategic decision. In Glovelier in the Jura, Fossil Group already makes cases and movement parts such as rotors. The factory is about to grow: by next year it should house 100 employees (compared with 20 today), in a surface area four times what it is today. In the midst of the strong franc crisis, when China is in slowdown and staff are being put on short hours, it’s quite a bold decision. Only the financial clout of a watchmaking giant could make it possible.

Fossil Group, which is also preparing to launch some women’s movements, “is thinking in the long term about adding complications to the STP1-11.”

When it is not equipping its Swiss made watches with inhouse calibres the group, which employs around 400 people in Switzerland (and more than 15,000 worldwide), calls upon Soprod, Dubois-Dépraz and Technotime to supply its automatic movements, with Ronda for quartz. Other brands in its portfolio will in the future include Swiss made watches, according to Martin Frey. “But we must be very careful about the quality of our products. As we are newcomers to the Swiss made business, we can’t afford to make mistakes!”

The giant is firmly established in Switzerland. Its new 10,000 m2 Basel headquarters, currently under construction, will house around 350 employees beginning from next year. And it can’t be a bad thing, being so close to Baselworld... These technical and administrative investments in the cradle of watchmaking should, in the medium term, amount to several tens of millions of francs. p

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GALLERY

MECHANICAL The ‘Grand Siècle’, which saw the art of engineering reach a pinnacle of refinement, still echoes down to us three centuries later, in the second decade of the 21st century. Not all the explorers of the future have turned to the promised miracles of ‘smart’ technology. Some of them, without the slightest trace of nostalgia, continue to tread the traditional paths and pursue the art of mechanical mastery. May their quest be a long and happy one.

O DB28 GS by De Bethune The bold nature of the DB28 GS is revealed through both its aesthetic and its technical attributes. It fully complies with the strict rule of wearer comfort that De Bethune applies to all its models, and particularly those in the DB28 collection.

It owes this exceptional comfort to a combination between the lightness of the titanium case, the softness of its handpolished finish, the 12 o’clock crown position, and above all the presence of the patented floating lugs system that adapts to wrist size and movements. A natural rubber strap featuring a microlight motif, a first in the brand’s collections, also contributes to making it extremely pleasant to wear.

This model has fully benefited from the special attention lavished on refined hand-crafted finishes in the workshops at L’Auberson, such as the microlight decoration of the bridges and mainplate, the flat polishing of the deltoid-shaped bridge, and the deep azure shade of the hands achieved using the ancestral flame-blueing technique.

It also meets the high demands and reliability standards imposed by the De Bethune Technical Department on its inhouse calibres, notably by equipping them with the innovations and patented inventions that are the fruit of 13 years’ research by the engineers in La Chaux.

The DB28 GS proudly displays unimpeachable water resistance to depths corresponding to three full leagues under the sea. Its DB2115 calibre is equipped with a self-regulating twin barrel ensuring a 6-day power reserve – a performance that can be tracked by means of a blue indicator at 3 o’clock.

The presence of the silicon/white gold balance wheel and balance-spring with flat terminal curve ensures the ideal inertia-mass ratio for an optimal frequency of 28,800 vph suited to wristwatches.

The work done on the regulating organ follows well-known physical laws. The patents for the curve of the balance-spring as well as the annular balance, featuring maximum inertia and minimal weight, composed of a disc made of openworked silicon (a light material in the centre) and white gold (a heavy material on the exterior), all present significant technical advances contributing to the performance and precision of this calibre.

BREGUET TRADITION AUTOMATIQUE SECONDE RÉTROGRADE 7097 by Breguet Breguet’s latest creation, the Tradition Automatique Seconde Rétrograde 7097 pays tribute to the Souscription and Tact watches made by Abraham-Louis Breguet in the late 18th century. Like them, its mechanism reveals the bridges, wheels, escapement, barrel and various other parts that are normally placed beneath the plate. The small offset dial at 12 o’clock – another characteristic of the great master’s legendary ‘à tact’ watches – on the new Tradition 7097 model is overlapped by a retrograde seconds segment promoting optimal readability. The iconic ‘pare-chute’ system of the Tradition collection positioned at 4 o’clock adds a perfectly symmetrical touch. This Breguet invention serving to protect the balance-staff from shocks was the forerunner of the ‘Incabloc’ and other anti-shock systems.

Exalting the brilliant, visionary spirit of Abraham-Louis Breguet, this exceptional creation not only honours the past but also looks firmly to the future with particularly innovative technical characteristics. Witness the inverted straight-line lever escapement with silicon horns and the silicon Breguet overcoil balancespring – both serving to guarantee exceptional rating precision.

Mechanical automatic 505SR1 calibre, 38 jewels, 3 Hz, inverted straight-line lever escapement with silicon horns, silicon Breguet overcoil balance-spring, 50-hour power reserve. 18K white or pink gold, 40 mm case. u

europa star | GALLERY – MECHANICAL MASTERY | 61

ACADEMY GEORGES FAVRE-JACOT

by Zenith Still located in the premises where it was born in 1865, Zenith is celebrating its 150th anniversary by introducing an exceptional watch imbued with the visionary genius of its founder, Georges Favre-Jacot. Genius was indeed required to transpose the fusée and chain system borrowed from historical marine chronometers to the tiny space of a wristwatch. This highly complex device serves to compensate for the progressive reduction in the force of the barrel as the power reserve is discharged, and to maintain the perfect stability of the force with no loss of amplitude. In concrete terms, the mainspring transmits its energy to the helicoidal fusée devised by Zenith via an 18-cm chain that wraps itself around the barrel. By adjusting for variations in tension, the fusée ensures the regularity of the force distributed to the gear train and then to the silicon escape wheel. 150-piece limited edition.

Mechanical hand-wound constant-force El Primero 4810 calibre with fusée and chain transmission connected to the barrel, COSC-certified chronometer, 36,000 vph, 797 parts (including 575 for the fusée and chain), 30 jewels, 50-hour power reserve.

HMS TEN by Romain Gauthier The HMS Ten celebrates the 10th anniversary of Romain Gautier and features off-centre hours and minutes, small seconds, partially open dial, hand-finished, in-house movement visible through display back and ergonomic flat caseback crown.

The dial of the HMS Ten is a harmonious composition of circles and arcs. Inside the chapter ring lies the smoothly finished off-centre hours-minutes subdial bearing the R. Gauthier logo, flanked either side by clous de Paris decoration. On the lower portion of the subdial, sectorial seconds allows visual access to the movement below, with the balance wheel and distinctive gear driving the seconds on show.

The three parts of the dial are fixed invisibly from beneath, lending clarity and classicism to the displays.

The 41 mm diameter case is distinguished by pure, clean, unbroken lines around its full perimeter. However, it is the absence of a normal crown that reveals just how remarkable the movement is. Placing the crown flat on the caseback increases winding efficiency because energy does not need to be transmitted through 90°. It also reduces wear and stress on the components. The large diameter of the crown enables the watch to be easily wound, even while on the wrist.

HMS Ten is available in three limited editions of 10 pieces each: platinum case/blue dial, white gold case/champagne dial and red gold case/anthracite dial.

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20-SECOND TEMPOGRAPH

by Louis Moinet

INSTRUMENT COLLECTION DSTB

by Arnold & Son

Louis Moinet merges traditional watchmaking with modern innovation to reveal the magic of its 20-Second Tempograph.

Powered by a new movement composed of more than 260 parts – LM Calibre 39 – this astonishing model stages an unprecedented feat. In a perpetually repeated choreography, the central retrograde hand performs a fascinating dance in 20-second cycles, before returning to its initial position to resume its progress. Meanwhile, an openworked disc at 9 o’clock in subtly graded shades of white, grey and black marks off three 20-second segments measuring each minute.

The hours and minutes appear on an off-centred subdial at 5 o’clock, while the balance wheel, gear wheels and retrograde mechanism are all clearly visible. Testifying to the expertise required to give life to such a sophisticated horological composition, the inner bezel ring is adorned with a clous de Paris hobnail motif in keeping with the finest watchmaking traditions. This model is issued in a 365-piece titanium edition and in 60-piece iterations of the pink and rose gold variations.

Mechanical automatic LM39 calibre, developed and crafted

by Louis Moinet and Concepto, 28,800 vph, 261 parts, 36 jewels, Glucydur balance wheel, oscillating weight adorned with côtes du Jura. 48-hour power reserve. 18K 5N pink gold case, original Louis Moinet design, 43.5 mm.

Arnold & Son celebrates its 250 years of history by offering an exceptional model honouring both its British origins and the traditions upheld by the field of Swiss Haute Horlogerie. In tribute to its founding father John Arnold, who together with his son produced the first marine chronometers to be offered in substantial quantities and at reasonable prices, the Instrument Collection DSTB beats to the tune of a new manufacture movement featuring one of the complications most closely associated with the House: deadbeat seconds. In keeping with the original spirit of innovation, the calibre enables this fascinating mechanism to be admired on the dial side through a unique construction.

Not only does the deadbeat seconds hand perform one-second jumps for all to see, but the three gilt bridges, wheels and yoke are also clearly visible. In a nod to marine chronographers, the latter is shaped like an anchor. Adding the ultimate touch of refinement to this creation, an elegant lacquered white subdial displays the hours and minutes at 4 o’clock and uses special layering to create striking 3D effects. 50-piece limited edition.

Exclusive mechanical automatic A&S6003 calibre, 32 jewels, 28,800 vph, hand-chamfered bridges and yoke, radiating côtes de Genève and circular graining, skeletonised oscillating weight, blued screws, 50-hour power reserve. 18K red gold, 43.5 mm case. u

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tise in the development, production and hand assembly at TAG Heuer in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, the Monaco V4 Phantom is a stylish modern version offering ultra-light weight and extra shock resistance. Its sharp design is particularly unusual for a grand complication watch.

HLRS01 HONEYCOMB by Hautlence

MONACO V4 PHANTOM

by TAG Heuer Totally black. Totally matte. Stylish. Uncompromising. Almost stealthy. The case is made entirely from carbon fibre, as are the seven bridges of its legendary movement, which is equipped with the famous microscopic toothed micro-belt transmission (the size of a hair, no wider than 0.07 mm) with its linear weight which moves on a rail and ball bearings: please welcome the Monaco V4 Phantom.

The new feature of the 2015 version is found on the case and the movement’s seven bridges, all made of CMC (Carbon Matrix Composite). A special technique was used to create them out of ‘directed carbon’, which means that the carbon fibres are placed in a certain direction in the mould, then micro-blasted, giving them a regular and particularly elegant ‘matte black vertical brushed’ appearance. The entire dial is composed of shades of dark grey and black. The hands are faceted and satin-finished, with a titanium carbide coating and anthracite grey Super-LumiNova®. Only the jewels (a total of 48 stones in the movement) reveal discreet little touches of red.

Combining cutting-edge mechanical movement design, technical performance using carbon fibre, and horological exper-

64 | GALLERY – MECHANICAL MASTERY | europa star

The HLRS01 Honeycomb, the latest addition to the HLRS collection created in Hautlence’s Contemporary Watchmaking Workshop, once again offers an intriguing and seemingly weightless approach to time display. Its textured honeycomb background surrounds and embraces the two split-level overlapping offset dials, accentuating the 3D impression created by the iconic Hautlence jumping hours, retrograde minutes and subsidiary seconds displays. This strong sense of depth, as well as readability, are enhanced by the luminescent numerals and indexes, while the sleekly curved and resolutely ergonomic black DLC-coated titanium case delivers a blend of strength and lightness. The HLRS01 Honeycomb is powered by the characteristic Hautlence in-house manual winding mechanical movement, featuring the brand’s famous hand-chamfered connecting rods system. p

SPOTLIGHT

20152015 - POWERFUL YEAR AHEAD ORIENT POWERFUL YEARFOR AHEAD

FOR ORIENT

T

he business scene in 2014, notably the latter half of the year when circumstances such as the rapid drop in crude oil prices caused uncertainty in the global economy, proved to challenge the steady growth of the overseas businesses of ORIENT WATCH. However, it was a year of greater growth for our business in the Japanese market. Sales of ORIENT STAR, a brand synonymous to automatic watches, have seen significant and consecutive annual increases owing to the success of the new models. Inspired by the concept of “A Shining Star”, our ORIENT STAR brand of

authentic automatic watches was developed in 1951, one year after our company’s founding. With technology proven over our long history and a sophisticated design, we have developed diverse model varieties, including the World Time and Retrograde. The series is comprised of two lines: Contemporary Standard and Classic. The Contemporary Standard line offers, among other models of varying design, a lineup that includes Chronograph, GMT and Retrograde designs. They deliver value worth far more than their price tags, winning great acclaim as men’s watches with high quality and advanced features.

T ORIENT STAR (2015 Winter Model)

I M-FORCE (2014 NBR 24-Hour Race)

I SUN & MOON (Regular Model)

2015 is also an important year, as the 65th anniversary of the founding of ORIENT WATCH CO., LTD., for which we plan to release commemorative models. One such model is the special edition of the ORIENT STAR Modern Skeleton, which was released late last year to popular acclaim. It symbolizes a perfect combination of color tones, coordinating a beautiful brown index with matching rosegold indices and a stainless steel case with a rose-gold bezel. Paired with a stainless steel bracelet, 2000 units of the model will be released worldwide in September 2015.

The other limited-production model will be a special edition of ORIENT’s popular model, the SUN & MOON, which has received worldwide acclaim. The series has a mechanical movement that features a three-hand calendar, a small day hand and a 24H day and night dial displaying moving symbols, which indicate the sun and moon phases.

Our special edition model of the series distinguishes itself from the regular models with two color types, rosegold and gray, and a leather bracelet for both. 3000 units of the model will be released worldwide in October.

Aside from the commemorative editions, we will also be releasing other appealing models. For example, ORIENT is sponsoring the efforts of Subaru Tecnica International Inc. (STI), the motorsport division of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., at the NĂźrburgring 24-Hour Race.We

will equip the vehicle with our M-FORCE watch, developed with a strong mechanism that is able to withstand the rigours of speed and impact that are sustained during a challening race.

Based on the very first M-FORCE model, launched in 1997, the 2015 edition will take on a larger size to meet contemporary trends. It also has stronger appeal in its durability and high water resistance, which are the fundamental features of M-FORCE. As for our quartz series, we will release Speedtech, a limited edition model developed through collaboration with SUBARU BRZ GT300, featuring power-generating quartz movements. This high-tech quartz model stands on technological innovation representative of a maker of mechanical watches, providing fans of Japan-made watches with what they have come to expect. Moreover, in 2015 we will focus on channeling our efforts in marketing to ensure more consumers become aware of the appeal of the ORIENT and ORIENT STAR brands. p T SPEEDTECH

GALLERY

TOURBILLON While no more than twenty years ago, tourbillons were a rarity, today they have invaded watchmaking to the extent that they now risk seeming mundane. The enduring popularity of the tourbillon perhaps owes more to the complexity of its construction and the fascinating spectacle it plays out on the wrist, than to its actual timekeeping qualities. Because, as we all know, Breguet invented the tourbillon to resolve an issue peculiar to the pocket watch which, worn vertically in the pocket of a gentleman’s waistcoat, was constantly subjected to the effects of gravity from the same direction. A wristwatch, on the other hand, changes its position all the time. Unless, like Antoine Preziuso below, you put three of them together...

But, technical considerations aside, there is no reason to deprive oneself of the pleasure of having a microcosm such as this on the wrist!

O TOURBILLON OF TOURBILLONS

by Antoine and Florian Preziuso

This new timepiece was conceived, designed and produced

by Antoine Preziuso in collaboration with his son Florian. It combines rigour with technical perfection, and is protected by three international patents.

It has been the focus of several years’ reflection and research by Antoine and Florian Preziuso. The result: the new Tourbillon of Tourbillons, showcasing a complication that embodies a savoir-faire derived from 35 years of independent watchmaking.

The strong point of the design lies in its three tourbillons on a revolving plate, whose combined effect is to grant the watch greater precision whatever the wearer’s position.

The hand-winding mechanism of the AFP-TTR3X calibre arms a twin barrel that ensures optimal efficiency and a generous power reserve. The last wheel and pinion of the going train drive the heart of the system via a central planetary triple-differential gear which, in turn, drives a revolving plate bearing the three tourbillons. Each tourbillon is placed at an equal distance from the centre of the plate, with their respective axes forming an equilateral triangle. Each of the three tourbillons completes one rotation around its axis every 60 seconds; it takes just 10 minutes for the revolving plate to complete a revolution with the three tourbillons around the dial.

The primary factor that guarantees precision is that the frequencies of the three balances keep step with each other thanks to the resonance achieved by the proximity of the tourbillons, which oscillate at a stable frequency.

Five Tourbillon of Tourbillons timepieces will be available in 2015 – including a case version, the ‘Power GTS’ Gold – in titanium and steel. The design is light yet robust, with gold support columns and detachable horns in solid 18K gold.

J12 TOURBILLON VOLANT SQUELETTE by Chanel This tourbillon with its diamond-set comet whirls around airily, as if freed from gravity. The complication par excellence, this noble tourbillon, which has no upper bridge, is the result of a close collaboration between Chanel and Swiss master-watchmakers Renaud & Papi (APRP SA). The breathtaking, finely perforated dial offers glimpses of its skeletonised Haute Horlogerie movement, which plays with variations of black – matte, polished or shiny – and the countless reflections of its diamonds. Limited edition of 20 pieces.

Matte black high-tech ceramic case. 18K white gold bezel.

Perforated black dial with 18K white gold flange, set with 74 brilliant-cut diamonds. 18K white gold tourbillon cabochon set with 19 brilliant-cut diamonds.

Tourbillon ‘comet’ set with 30 brilliant-cut diamonds. 18K white gold hands set with 21 brilliant-cut diamonds. 18K white gold crown set with one brilliant-cut diamond. Titanium caseback.

Matte black high-tech ceramic bracelet. Titanium triple-folding buckle. Manually-wound mechanical movement. u

europa star | TOURBILLON OF TOURBILLONS | 69

‘HANNIBAL’ MINUTE REPEATER WESTMINSTER CARILLON TOURBILLON JAQUEMARTS

by Ulysse Nardin

1770 ROSE GOLD

by Manufacture Royale This timepiece, named 1770 after the year Manufacture Royale was established, captures the very essence of the brand. On the one hand, it has the creative verve of a bold and contemporary design, straight from the imagination of renowned designer Eric Giroud. On the other, the expertise that comes with the grand tradition of Swiss watchmaking, channelled into a movement that has been developed and built entirely inhouse, and whose centrepiece is one of watchmaking’s most compelling complications: the flying tourbillon. As though suspended in its carriage, offset at 7 o’clock, it leaves us free to admire the escapement, complete with a lever and an escape wheel in silicon, the ultimate innovative material to ensure a movement’s precision and performance. Entirely decorated and finished by hand, this same movement is housed inside a pink gold case, itself bracketed by two ‘brancards’, the hallmark of Manufacture Royale. The openworked dial creates multiple levels to offer glimpses of the movement in a technical and contemporary spirit.

Mechanical hand-wound, MR03 calibre, flying tourbillon with silicon escape wheel and lever, flat balance spring, screwed balance, chamfered, circular-grained, straight-grained and mirror-polished bridges and plate, all by hand, côtes de Genève, 208 parts, 19 jewels, 21,600 vph, 108-hour power reserve.

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Ulysse Nardin brings history to life with a retelling of Hannibal’s epic march over the Pyrenees and the Alps by elephant, in the third century B.C. In its latest creation, the manufacture portrays Hannibal on horseback, in the thick of the action, alongside his warriors riding an elephant. All these characters have been transformed into jacquemarts (moving figures) and are sculpted in white gold, as are the landscape and mountains in the background. The entire scene is set on a dial cut from genuine Alpine granite.

These animated figures move in time to the four chimes that sound the minutes, quarters, hours and any other combination set by the wearer. The spinning tourbillon at 6 o’clock adds a final flourish to this exceptional timepiece, which is produced as a 30-piece limited series.

Mechanical hand-wound movement, Westminster chimes, tourbillon UN-78 calibre, 1-minute tourbillon, minute repeater with jacquemarts to sound the hours, quarters and minutes on 4 notes (E-C-D-G), 36 jewels, power reserve approximately 70 hours. 44 mm platinum case.

TOURBILLON SAPHIR ULTRANERO by Bulgari In the complicated watch category, the Tourbillon Saphir Ultranero stands out in several ways. The supremely classic tourbillon complication is housed within a sapphire crystal case supported by a titanium structure. Its DLC (DiamondLike Carbon) treatment creates a surprising contrast, combining the transparency revealing the skeleton movement with the jet black of the underlying structure. The impact is emphasised by the hour markers and green microtubes enhanced with Super-LumiNova® inserted into the central part

INACCESSIBLE TOURBILLON RÉPÉTITION MINUTE by Franc Vila This flying tourbillon combined with a minute repeater is distinguished by some unique characteristics, starting with the choice of platinum for the case and bezel. While admittedly very prestigious, this material is rarely used in this type of watch, since its density makes is less than ideal for propagating sound. But Franc Vila’s background in chemistry together with his years of accumulated know-how enabled him to solve the problem by combining alloys of varying density, for making both the case and the parts relating to sound diffusion. Another innovative feature is that the minute repeater is wound not by the traditional slidepiece, but instead by rotating the bezel. Each timepiece is unique.

Mechanical hand-wound FV No.3 calibre, 315 parts, 29 jewels, 21,600 vph, flying tourbillon with minute repeater, up to 90-hour power reserve. of the case. The overall architecture of this creation is also unusual: the construction of the Tourbillon Saphir Ultranero resembles the shape of a drum. The screws holding the titanium structure and sapphire crystal are secured to the outer face of the case, giving it a distinctive look while also freeing up some of the inner space taken up by the mechanical handwound manufacture movement.

The movement is built on a sapphire crystal plate and some of its parts – such as the barrel drum and the tourbillon carriage bridge – are skeleton-worked. Issued in a 30-piece limited series.

BIG BANG TOURBILLON POWER RESERVE 5-DAYS INDICATOR by Hublot Hublot presents the first tourbillon in the new-generation Big Bang line, equipped with the hand-wound HUB6016 mechanical calibre that has been designed, developed and produced entirely by Hublot. u

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Remodelled with new bridge and mainplate architecture, this traditional tourbillon is joined by an additional complication, namely a power reserve indicator. An exercise in style, this watch demonstrates Hublot’s fusion of tradition and modernity, between the classicism of the skeleton tourbillon and the dynamic design of the new Big Bang case.

Up to 115-hour power reserve. Titanium or 18K King Gold, 45 mm case.

MERRY GO ROUND by Okletey A new name in watchmaking, Okletey makes an audacious debut with Merry Go Round, an aesthetically bold flying tourbillon in a watch that combines unusual forms, materials and nuances. The rectangular steel case with black PVD treatment encloses a silver dial, composed of a central circle with an original guilloché motif surrounded by a skeletonised spider-web structure. The tourbillon completes the tableau.

Sharing the dial is a power-reserve indicator at 9 o’clock and, at 11o’clock, an opening that reveals the differential.

Mechanical hand-wound movement, 1-minute flying tourbillon, 27 jewels, 21,600 vph, up to 100-hour power reserve. p

CELTIC DOG by Kerbedanz Celtic Dog is inspired by a symbolic animal associated with the moon, which to the Celtic peoples represented the hunter, the warrior, or a messenger from the hereafter. The book that accompanies this tourbillon watch keeps this memory alive with explanations of the legends and symbols that surround Celtic dogs. Individually numbered, 41-piece limited series.

Mechanical hand-wound KRB-01 tourbillon calibre, 27 jewels, 28,800 vph (4 Hz), twin barrels, 120-hour power reserve, special Kerbedanz engraving on the back of the movement. 18K white gold case, 43 mm. Solid white gold dial, blue enamel, Celtic Dog bas-relief. Interlocking curves in white gold, in the style of the La Tène culture, alluding to the Celtic Dog.

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GALLERY

SUBTLE In an uncertain world facing wide-scale upheaval, a back-to-basics aesthetic, prizing simplicity of form, purity of line, discretion and elegance that soothe the senses, and valuing precision in movements, have become cardinal virtues, like a balm for our tumultuous times.

O SLIM by Hermès A style exercise around the concept of the blueprint, which exalts the essential, this watch with its soberly pared-down lines and simple purity is the fruit of a partnership between Philippe Delhotal, creative director of La Montre Hermès, and French graphic designer Philippe Apeloig. The original typeface for the hours, with its light touch and dynamic styling, gives the watch a remarkable elegance.

The Hermès Slim forms an extensive new collection, from the 25 mm pink gold or steel version, with or without diamonds, the uncommonly understated 39.5 mm perpetual calendar model, not forgetting the three-handed 39.5 mm versions in pink gold or steel, or the 32 mm pink gold or steel model.

curate measurements that were soon to lead to the birth of the chronograph.

For this new model the dial of the Grande Seconde has been subtly reworked: the seconds hand is now placed at the very heart of the dial, while the retrograde date indication occupies the space that is traditionally reserved for the seconds hand in this model. The need to combine Independent Seconds, Calendar and Hour and Minute functions has led to the creation of a totally new calibre for which a patent has been applied for.

L.U.C QUALITÉ FLEURIER

by Chopard For the fourth time in its history, Chopard Manufacture is presenting a model bearing the Fleurier Quality Foundation label. To underscore the technical qualities of this authentic precision instrument, the refined dial of the new L.U.C Fleurier Quality Foundation is focused on readability: the sunburst satin-brushed ruthenium base strikes a remarkable contrast with its gilded hands. The slender applied gilded baton-shaped hour-markers are surrounded by a minute track.

The 39 mm-diameter, 18K rose gold case with a transparent back houses the L.U.C Calibre 96.09-L, featuring Chopard’s exclusive ‘Twin’ technology stacked barrels ensuring a power reserve of approximately 65 hours.

GRANDE SECONDE DEADBEAT

by Jaquet Droz The Independent (or ‘Deadbeat’) Seconds is a very rare complication created during the Age of Enlightenment, at a time when Pierre Jaquet-Droz was crisscrossing Europe to present his timepieces at the royal courts of a continent in an intellectual fever. This new technique meant that the direct-drive seconds hand no longer advanced in a linear fashion, but rather made a small jump every second, giving extremely ac-

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chanical movement comprises no fewer than 250 parts and 28 jewels. An ingenious mechanism allows the second time zone to be adjusted by the crown, jumping one hour at each push, rather than turning freely, thus maintaining absolute precision with local time. The movement’s traditional finishes of Côtes de Genève and hand-chamfering can be admired through the sapphire crystal back, while the dial exudes refined elegance. The GMT indication at 6 o’clock embraces the small seconds, mirrored by the retrograde power-reserve indicator at 12 o’clock. 12-piece limited series.

PERPETUAL CALENDAR by Moser This perpetual calendar watch, with a pink gold case and smoked dial, has succeeded in apparently simplifying the extreme complexity of its movement.

While the date is displayed in the usual way, the month display is as ingenious as it is discreet with the twelve hourmarkers playing a double role representing the 12 months of the year, which are indicated by a short central arrow hand.

As for the leap years, they are discreetly shown on the movement side through the transparent case back. Hand-wound mechanical in-house HMC 341 calibre.

Hours, minutes, seconds, perpetual calendar, power-reserve indicator. Pink gold case. Smoked dial.

GMR by Voutilainen As befits such a virtuoso of complicated timepieces, this new watch by Kari Voutilainen incorporates a second time zone with 24-hour indicator and a retrograde power-reserve indicator. As always, the movement is developed and handcrafted from start to finish inside the master watchmaker’s workshops, in the peace and tranquility of the Swiss village of Môtiers. Fashioned from maillechort, this top-flight me-

VILLERET GRANDE DATE

by Blancpain For the first time in the Villeret collection, Blancpain is offering a timepiece with a large date. This elegant and useful complication enables optimal readability of the date by means of a display comprising two broad apertures.

The Calibre 6950 beating at the heart of this timepiece comprises two barrels and an ingenious large date mechanism equipped with a protective shock-absorbing system. This remarkably accurate and reliable automatic movement also features a variable-inertia balance with a silicon balancespring and gold adjusting screws. With its classic doublestepped red gold case and its opaline dial, the Villeret Large

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in a mini version with a 35 mm diameter, this new wristwatch is an appealing interpretation of the Giant model.

The absence of lugs gives the impression of wearing the emblematic Swiss Federal Railway clock on the wrist, while ensuring perfect comfort for everyday usage. Available with a leather strap in the traditional red or black Mondaine colours, or with a Milanese mesh steel bracelet. A domed magnifying-effect crystal enhances the overall effect and makes this a collector’s item for all design lovers and Swiss train enthusiasts. Quartz movement.

Date embodies all the values of traditional watchmaking and bears the signature pure lines and timeless aesthetic of the entire Villeret collection.

SBB MINI GIANT by Mondaine Authentic, iconic, simple, timeless. The new Mondaine SBB Mini Giant bears what is probably one of the world’s most famous dials: the functional and reassuring design found on all Swiss railway clocks. Loyal to the original while now available

MUSEUM® CLASSIC by Movado While the history of Movado includes more than 100 patents registered and over 200 international prizes won since its founding in 1881, the year 1947 was a momentous date in the evolution of the brand and indeed of design as a whole.

Based on the principle that time measurement is first and foremost linked to the Earth’s rotation around the sun before being a mathematical division, artist Nathan George Horwitt drew an entirely numeral-free dial bearing only a 12 o’clock dot symbolising the sun at its zenith. Acclaimed for the purity of its design, this model went down in history as the Movado Museum® Watch. While the new Museum® Classic model retains the original artistic simplicity of the dial with its famous dot at 12 o’clock, this variation is enriched with subtle aesthetic details orchestrated in an understated way. The toneon-tone details endow the black lacquered dial with a subtle sense of depth, while the lugs prolong the flowing lines of the steel case and a black calfskin strap sets the finishing touch. p

GALLERY

SKULLS Is it a sign of our troubled and uncertain times? Or just a passing fad? The fact remains that the skeleton watch, a distant mirror of the ‘vanities’ of the Renaissance and at one time considered old-fashioned, is enjoying something of a revival, alongside the proliferation of skulls and other symbols that remind us how little time we have here on Earth. But it is also, perhaps primarily, a way for the watchmaker to demonstrate his technical mastery, by displaying the inner workings of his movements.

O SKULL GREEN EYE by HYT The only way to capture the essence of the Skull is to look it straight in the eye. This is the first time that, when you look at the time, time stares right back. Because Skull’s eyes are alive. The right eye becomes gradually darker as the 65 hours of power reserve go by. The left eye conceals a continually rotating seconds dial. An ‘out of the box’ watch if ever there was one, Skull dispenses with minutes to fully focus on the liquid hours, the signature of an HYT watch. The fluid travels along a glass capillary in the form of a skull, a significant technical challenge in itself. Also, the power had to be precisely calculated to push the liquid around the sharp angles while maintaining accurate timekeeping over 12 hours. The two vertical bellows are in constant motion as their imperceptible expansion and compression drives the liquid through the capillary, making the skull even more alive. 50-piece limited edition.

Mechanical hand-wound movement, exclusive HYT calibre, 35 jewels, 28,800 vph, hand-chamfered bridges with Geneva striping, rhodium-plated bellows. 65-hour power reserve. Black DLC titanium case, 51 mm. Black DLC titanium dome at 6 o’clock.

BR-X1 by Bell & Ross Bell & Ross continues to innovate with the launch of the BR-X1, a high-tech chronograph with a sporty design, which is as robust as it is sophisticated. Revolutionary in its design, the BR-X1 is the first watch of a new collection from Bell & Ross and the beginning of a whole new chapter in the saga of the brand. An extreme version of the BR-01, whose iconic square shape is directly inspired by aeronautical flight instruments, the BR-X1 is much more than a topof-the-range contemporary sports watch: it is the Ultimate Utility Watch. As tough as a 4x4, but as light as a drone, the BR-X1 stands out because of the innovative design of its 45 mm case made from grade 5 titanium. The square case is covered with a high-tech band made from ceramic and rubber, which protects the edges from potential impacts.

Its innovative rocker push-buttons made from high-tech ceramic with ergonomically-designed rubber inserts are used to activate the chronograph functions. The objective: to make them as solid and easy to grip as possible. A rubber button grip insert is also built into the case at 9 o’clock, to make it easier to activate the chronograph functions, even when wearing gloves.

Its rare skeleton chronograph movement combines Haute Horlogerie finishes and extreme lightness. The X-shaped

upper bridge, treated with black DLC, reads like a mark of its identity. The central hour and minute hands are read traditionally, while the small seconds hand is positioned at 3 o’clock. The skeleton date dial is positioned at 6 o’clock.

The minute timer on the chronograph function is positioned at 9 o’clock; instead of a hand, it features an ultra-light aluminium disc resembling the blades of a turbine. The tachometer scale, essential for calculating speed, appears on the ring; each chronograph function is marked with a subtle touch of red.

RENAISSANCE ORANGE TORNADO by Aerowatch Sophisticated and ultra-contemporary, albeit with a timeless touch drawing upon the values of traditional horology, the new Renaissance Orange Tornado radiates genuine visual power. Its generous black-coated case frames a skeleton-worked movement developed and assembled in

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the Aerowatch workshops. Forming a resolutely graphical composition, the slender mechanism affords a view of the coiling of the barrel-spring and the constant rotation of the interacting wheels and pinions. The orange-clad hands and hour-markers create a dynamic contrast with the all-black look, while ensuring perfect readability.

Mechanical hand-wound Unitas 6498 skeleton-worked calibre with NAC treatment, hand-bevelled bridges, 17 jewels, 18,000 vph, 42-hour power reserve.

SKELETON PURE EARTH

by Armin Strom The Skeleton Pure Earth by Armin Strom showcases the unusual layout of its parts, which are arranged in layers.

The entirely skeletonised Calibre ARM09-S reveals subtle depth effects and contrasts, accentuated by the black PVD-treated plate. This mechanical movement not only displays an unapologetically contemporary design, it also delivers first-rate performance, exemplified by an eight-day power reserve driven by a twin barrel. An alliance between the traditional Swiss art of skeletonisation and futuristic horology, the Skeleton Pure Earth exudes a unique style, harmoniously blending strength and elegance. 100-piece limited edition. Stainless steel case with black PVD treatment, 43.4 mm.

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BRIDGEPORT MECHANICAL SKELETON by Tissot Tissot is an innovator by tradition. Even though its heritage speaks loudly in the Tissot Bridgeport Mechanical Skeleton, the company’s trademark innovation is undeniably present.

Indeed, this pocket watch is Tissot’s first savonette to have a skeleton movement at its core. It shows the beauty of its inner workings, which enable it to stand the test of time. Not

only will this piece please watch enthusiasts, its vintage style and great looks will make it the ultimate fashion accessory.

Hand-wound mechanical movement. 316L stainless steel case with rose gold PVD coating option and see-through caseback. Supplied with chain.

LAC ‘TORTUE DE JOUX’

by Claude Meylan Claude Meylan looks to the grand tradition of form watches to once again sculpt time. The fully skeletonised mechanical movement appears to float between two sapphire crystals.

At the heart of the mechanism, the hour and minute wheels guide the hands in their hourly dance. Decorations inspired by the characteristic shutters on the homes of the watchmaker-farmers of yore can be admired here and there, each hinting at the expert hand of the craftsman who brings these delicate finishes to life. The meticulously sculpted bridges create a harmony of forms and play on subtle contrasts in colour with the plate, further accentuated by the transparency of the whole.

APOLLO PREMIUM SKELETON

by Manjaz Doing justice to its ‘Time to Swiss’ campaign, Manjaz plunges into the very heart of traditional Swiss watchmaking, offering glimpses of the mechanical movement that beats inside the Skeleton ref. 7703M. Some of its secrets are divulged through an S-shaped opening in the dial: S for Swiss, of course.

However, this finely crafted mechanism, whose balance oscillates at a high frequency of 8 vibrations a second, only reveals its true colours when the watch is turned over. The mechanism can also be viewed through the sapphire back.

Mechanical automatic movement, SW200 skeleton calibre, 25 jewels, 28,800 vph, 40-hour power reserve. Stainless steel, 41 mm case. Steel bezel and crown with pink gold PVD treatment.

TURBINE SKELETON REF. A3038/1A by Perrelet

Mechanical hand-wound movement, fully skeletonised 165 CM14 calibre, bridges and plate in two coordinating colours, hand-finishing, 42-hour power reserve. 316L tonneau-shaped steel case, 40 mm wide.

The iconic Turbine by Perrelet gets a complete makeover to welcome its first skeleton movement: redesigned dimensions, new aesthetic details, evolved materials. The Turbine Skeleton reveals the internal structure of its entirely openworked automatic manufacture P-381 calibre. Exalting the beauty of this sculptural composition, the black aluminium

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turbine is fitted directly on the under-dial, itself openworked, so as not to obstruct the view of the heart of the watch. Spinning at full speed, the Turbine Skeleton provides glimpses through its openings of the mechanism’s architecture. The view is accentuated by the contrasting effects between the black of the turbine and the pink gold of the bezel and inner bezel ring, while the red-clad seconds hand lends the ultimate touch of style to this composition distinguished by its inimitable design.

Black PVD-treated stainless steel case, 44 mm. 4N 18K pink gold bezel and inner ring.

British design and Swiss watchmaking expertise. Crafted in anthracite DLC-treated titanium, the openworked dial provides glimpses of the mechanical calibre decorated with Geneva striping.

Mechanical hand-wound movement, modified version of the ETA 2824-2 base calibre. Polished and brushed anthracite DLC-treated titanium case, 45 mm.

SON OF SOUND SKULLS & BONES by ArtyA

THE BRITAIN ICON CHECK FOR MEN LIMITED EDITION by Burberry Part of the brand-new Britain Icon Check collection designed

by Burberry’s Chief Creative Officer and CEO Christopher Bailey, this timepiece issued in a 20-piece limited edition is a compendium of the famous British brand’s design codes.

Created in the 1920s, the ‘Check’ motif featured on the lining of its famous trench coats finds new scope for expression in the form of a grid pattern serving as a watch dial. The latter, like the watch movement, was entirely built in Switzerland, sealing the encounter between the best of

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As always, the independent ArtyA brand never does things in half measures. Having popularised the skull in the watchmaking world, it now delivers an extreme interpretation of this motif with its Skulls & Bones model. The entirely hand-sculpted skulls stud the watch from dial through case to bracelet. A first skull appears in the centre of the dial, with six further hand-sculpted skulls performing a macabre dance around it. Carved into the steel bezel, a series of bones, crosses, totems, guitars and pistols echo the skulls on the bezel, accentuating the three-dimensional effect.

The massive, deliberately provocative bracelet shatters convention and takes the Skulls & Bones into an unprecedented creative dimension, since there can no longer be any talk of a watch and its bracelet. The watch is the bracelet and the bracelet is the watch.

Mechanical automatic movement, oscillating weight equipped with three special 38 mm bullet cartridges, 42-hour power reserve. 316L steel 47 mm case. Silver bracelet/strap with handcrafted skulls.

SKULL by Ollivier Savéo

MEMENTO MORI, CARPE DIEM – ONE HAND by Strom

Raw strength. Produced in a limited edition of just 33 pieces, entirely hand-decorated and made in Switzerland out of rose gold, its perfectly transparent sapphire body reveals a human skull wreathed in flames, on which the hour and minute are displayed. Concealed behind the skull face is an automatic movement with a 38-hour power reserve. A powerful but delicately-worked piece: handle with care!

Automatic ETA 2824 movement, 38 hour power reserve. 18K rose gold case, 18K rose gold interior. p

No one knows when their hour will come. Until it is time for us to make that final journey, the Memento Mori, Carpe Diem – One Hand invites us to live to the full the time we have left, shown on a single hand. Minutes and seconds are forgotten, only the present moment – or rather the present hour – counts. Giving form to this philosophical, and rather hedonistic, reflection is a hand-crafted watch. The skullembellished case has been made by hand, while the guilloché on the dial is produced using 150-year-old rose engine lathes. 99-piece limited series for each dial execution – black or bone white.

Mechanical automatic movement. Hand-crafted sterling silver case. Black or bone white guilloché dial with a single hand showing the hour.

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SPOTLIGHT

SYNTHESIS OF CITIZEN TECHNOLOGIES REALIZES 2015WORLD-LEADING - POWERFUL PERFORMANCE YEAR AHEAD FOR ORIENT AND USABILITY

THE CITIZEN ECO-DRIVE SATELLITE WAVE F900 Imagine a timepiece that provides ultra-accurate time by syncing with GPS satellites orbiting around the Earth.

Introducing the new CITIZEN Eco-Drive SATELLITE WAVE F900, the world’s thinnest1 light-powered and GPS satellite-synchronized watch, featuring the world’s fastest2 signal reception speed.

CITIZEN has continued its quest to improve upon the world’s best GPS satellite-synchronized watch. The result is the EcoDrive SATELLITE WAVE F900, which will be officially presented at Basel World 2015. It synthesizes CITIZEN’s groundbreaking technologies and reflects the brand’ spirit of relentless innovation and quest for improving even the finest details.

Speed is a key theme of this technologically advanced timepiece. As one of its main features, the watch captures atomic clock time signals transmitted by GPS satellites in as little as 3 seconds—the world’s fastest signal reception speed, while it also receives position information. It also features a high-speed twin-coil motor, enabling very fast hand movements and improving the dual-time display and chronograph functions.

The Eco-Drive SATELLITE WAVE F900 also features the world’s thinnest case and a band made of Super Titanium™, a material made by applying the highest levels of CITIZEN’S surface hardening technology, Duratect. Once again evoking speed, it provides the wearer with a light,sleek and streamlined design. The world-famous Eco-Drive technology powers the watch using any natural or artificial light source, eliminating the need to replace batteries.

(1) As of March 2015 for a multi-functional light-powered GPS satellite-synchronized watch (according to the research conducted by CITIZEN WATCH CO., LTD.) (2) Speed of up to 30 seconds when receiving the position information

ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS INCLUDE: • Light-Level Indicator: Displays the amount of electricity generated by light absorbed by the dial, making it easy to gauge the charge level

• Chronograph: Delivers highly accurate (1/20-second) measurement over 24 hours

• Superior accuracy of ± 5 seconds per month • World time in 40 cities • Perpetual calendars • Crystal Sapphire with Anti-Reflective Coating

HISTORY OF THE ECO-DRIVE SATELLITE WAVE

In 2011, CITIZEN launched the Eco-Drive SATELLITE WAVE, the world’s first watch capable of synchronizing with satellites in space to accurately display the time from anywhere in the world. A dedication to precision led to this pioneering invention, and subsequent models in the Eco-Drive SATELLITE WAVE series have continued to improve upon the core technologies year after year.

Eco-Drive SATELLITE WAVE (2011)

Eco-Drive SATELLITE WAVE –AIR (2013)

Eco-Drive SATELLITE WAVE (2014)

Eco-Drive SATELLITE WAVE F100 (2014)

THREE CORE TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPED WITH THE BELIEF THAT “BETTER STARTS NOW”

Indeed, CITIZEN’s history as a true manufacture d’horlogerie embodies our belief that “Better Starts Now”3. At CITIZEN, we never consider anything we make to be truly “finished”, rather we relentlessly work to make it “better”. Examples of moving the industry forward include our original light-powered Eco-Drive technology, a combination of patented material-processing technology and surface hardening technology, Duratect, which produces Super Titanium™, and state-of-the-art satellite-synchronized timekeeping technology like the Satellite Wave. The latest and most advanced versions of these key technologies are united in the creation of the Eco-Drive SATELLITE WAVE F900.

• ECO�DRIVE Eco-Drive is CITIZEN’s proprietary technology that powers watches by capturing any natural or artificial light. Absorbed light is converted to electrical energy in a solar cell, with any surplus energy stored in a rechargeable battery. Having earned the reputation as an eco-friendly company, CITIZEN first developed this technology in the 1970s4.

• SUPER TITANIUM™ Super Titanium™ is our special titanium material, made by CITIZEN’s proprietary titanium processing and surface hardening technology, Duratect. It is resistant to scratches with more than 5 times the hardness of stainless steel, light weight, hypoallergenic and resistant to rusting. Super Titanium™ maintains its beautiful look and luster, while providing all day comfort.

• SATELLITE WAVE Satellite-synchronized watches capture atomic clock time signals sent by satellites orbiting 20,000 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. Captured from any location on the planet, this technology brings ultra-precise timekeeping to Eco-Drive SATELLITE WAVE F900 wearers.

(3) “BETTER STARTS NOW” is Citizen’s belief that no matter who you are and what you do, it is always possible to make something better — and now is the time to start doing it. (4) CITIZEN won the “Eco Mark Award 2014” gold prize in Japan.

GALLERY

CHRONO If there is one complication that never seems to go out of fashion, it has to be the chronograph.

Who really uses this function, intended to measure the passage of short stretches of time?

Probably just a tiny percentage of those who buy them. But it doesn’t matter! After all, a chronograph, just by its appearance, gives its wearer the illusion that they are in control of time.

O CARRERA CALIBRE 18

CHRONOGRAPH by TAG Heuer

To create its new Carrera Calibre 18 Chronograph, TAG Heuer has drawn inspiration from a true icon: the first chronograph specially designed for racing drivers, made by Jack Heuer in the 1960s. It’s all there: the original Panda effect with two anthracite counters standing out against a silver-toned dial; robustness together with tried and trusted functionality, and even the historic Heuer logo. Topped by a spherical sapphire crystal inspired by the original model, this vintage-touch automatic chronograph is also equipped with a telemetric scale on its inner bezel ring. This function was formerly used by the military to measure their distance from artillery fire based on the speed of sound. Modern-day adventurers can use it to see how far they are from a storm. Mechanical automatic TAG Heuer chronograph calibre 18. Polished steel, 39 mm case.

modern and timeless. Its distinctive features include a broad scratch-resistant high-tech ceramic bezel with a star-shaped cut-out to facilitate handling, and white ceramic numerals for optimal contrast. The second time zone is easily read off the red-tipped hand together with a 24-hour graduated rotating bezel equipped with an ultra-accurate ratchet system. The dial is exceptionally readable, with white luminescent hour markers standing out against a black background, oversized hour/ minute hands and luminescent counter hands. Mechanical automatic Breitling 24 calibre, COSC-certified chronometer, 25 jewels, 28,800 vph. Polished steel, 48 mm case.

LONGINES CONQUEST CLASSIC MOONPHASE by Longines

CHRONOLINER by Breitling

Having served as ‘official supplier to world aviation’ in the 1950s and ‘60s, Breitling now finds inspiration in a model from that era to present its new Chronoliner. This chronometer, like all Breitling chronographs COSC-certified, is pursuing the brand’s longstanding aeronautical tradition in a spirit that is both

A reflection of Longines’ presence at the world’s most prestigious equestrian events and almost two centuries of watchmaking tradition, the new Conquest Classic Moonphase captures one of the essential qualities of equestrian sport: elegance. This new chronograph with moonphase display subtly combines Longines’ horological expertise, its association with the equestrian world since 1878, and its innate sense of sophistication. Proposed in various executions, this model will appeal to men in search of a refined timepiece to wear amidst the excitement of the race course. u

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Mechanical automatic, L678 (VAL 7751) calibre, 25 jewels, 28,800 vph, 48-hour power reserve. Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, 24-hour indicator, chronograph, moon phases, day, date, month. Steel, or steel with 18K pink gold cap, or 18K pink gold, 42 mm case. Bracelet/strap: steel, steel and 18K pink gold or alligator with triple safety folding clasp and pushpiece opening mechanism.

The distinctive sign of high-quality watch movements, Geneva striping embellishes the skeleton oscillating weight. With this 100-piece numbered limited edition tribute timepiece, Raymond Weil highlights its attachment not only to watchmaking values, but above all to the family values with which its high-quality creations are imbued, flying the flag for Swiss watchmaking expertise.

STARTIMER PILOT CHRONOGRAPH GRANDE DATE by Alpina Well accustomed to the art of developing high-performance professional aviation watches, Alpina is enriching its emblematic Startimer Pilot collection with a new chronograph featuring a large date display. Its black dial is inspired by the 1970s Alpina aviator watches, displaying impeccable legibility thanks to the contrasting effect created by the silver-toned counters. While the hour and minute hands are enhanced with white Super-LumiNova®, the chronograph seconds hands bears the classic Alpina signature: a red triangle at its base.

The sturdy steel case houses the high-precision AL-372 quartz movement that powers all the chronographs in the Startimer Pilot line. The technical khaki green strap is entirely in tune with the spirit of the watch, and this model is also available with a metal bracelet. Stainless steel 44 mm case.

MAESTRO EDITION LIMITÉE RAYMOND WEIL by Raymond Weil A timepiece to reflect a life’s work was the quiet homage the company wished to pay to its founder. A subtle reference to Raymond Weil’s favourite complication, an automatic winding mechanical heart, equipped with a 42-hour power reserve, sits inside this COSC-certified chronometer. Each timepiece is engraved with a unique number on its movement and comes with a certificate issued by the COSC. The 45mm 18K rose gold case shelters a dial featuring Raymond Weil’s hand-written signature. The chronograph pushbuttons to start, stop, restart and reset the chronometer sit on either side of the crown.

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appreciate the new leather strap with Velcro strip and an extension for wearing over climbing gear or to hang the watch from a rucksack when both hands need to be free.

Different dial executions, including versions in two colours, guarantee a style to suit all tastes, including an all-over black version with rubber strap.

Solar-powered quartz movement with battery charge indicator. Functions: hours, minutes, perpetual calendar with day and week display, two alarms, dual time, weather with relative and absolute air pressure, altimeter with altitude difference, chronograph with lap times and split times, logbook, compass, timer, regatta countdown, azimuth, back-lighting.

Anti-magnetic titanium case with black PVD treatment.

PREMIERE by Albert Riele The incarnation of the aesthetic of Swiss brand Albert Riele, this chronograph seals the launch of its flagship Premiere collection. Its design, inspired by classic lines, is picked out with carefully orchestrated details that give it a contemporary touch, such as the matte black chronograph counters that stand out against the silvered dial. They are echoed by the inner bezel ring, encircled by a date scale. The expressive hands with their robust architecture offer maximum legibility, including at night, thanks to the luminescent coating that also covers the hour-markers. Ronda 5040.F quartz calibre. The watch is fitted with a leather strap and supplied with an additional steel bracelet.

T-TOUCH EXPERT SOLAR

by Tissot

CHRONO WORLDTIMER QUARTZ

by Hamilton

The Tissot T-Touch Expert Solar follows a trail blazed by the first touch-sensitive, solar-powered watch. This new line incorporates even more advanced technology together with innovative details such as the compass rose on the bezel and the Super-LumiNova® arrow on the minute hand so that both time and direction can be easily read, even in the dark. The 20 touch-sensitive functions will unanimously prove their worth on a daily basis, while adventurers will

All pilots need a chronograph, while aerobatics pilots require particular functions, such as the precise marking of the four minutes corresponding to a freestyle programme – which is why the latter is marked in yellow on the dial.

This watch, equipped with a quartz movement specially developed for Hamilton, also offers a whole series of functions that are highly useful both in flight and on the ground. A simple press on the 10 o’clock pusher switches it between

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chronograph and Worldtimer functions, a change clearly visible on the dial from the mode-selection indicator at 2 o’clock. The 24 time zones are printed on the inner bezel ring. Finally, the model also features a day/night indication as well as a countdown engraved on the bezel. Satin-finish 316L stainless steel, 45 mm case.

PROFESSIONAL AUTOMATIC EDITION

by Aviator The pilot watches in the Professional line stand out for their functionality, precision and reliability. Enclosed in a simple case, the dial has the look of flight instruments inside the cockpit. Oversized pushers allow pilots to operate the chronograph while wearing thick gloves, while the different colours – red and black – ensure they can be instantly told apart in urgent situations.

Everything about this watch has been designed to make the pilot’s job easier. Beginning with the Valjoux 7750 automatic movement, unanimously acknowledged as one of the most reliable and most precise chronographs in the world, and the cuff-style wristband that can be adjusted for wearing over gloves. 316L stainless steel, 42 mm case.

Delivered with a black leather strap and a steel bracelet with folding clasp.

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BERGSTERN SPORT by Bergstern The imposing 316L steel 45 mm case is topped with a robust bezel that radiates strength and masculinity. The bright blue dial, accented by a guilloché motif, doesn’t go unnoticed. Its

generous luminescent hour-markers ensure perfect legibility while the red sweep seconds hand makes its mark. The same red defines the chrono counter hands to further highlight the sporting personality of a chronograph cut out for competition. Quartz, Ronda 5030.D calibre.

GRAND PRIX 1914 by Korloff The chronograph face of this amazing watch, with its black carbon fibre dial with Arabic numbers, racer red accents and Super-LumiNova® treated hands, features tachymeter, hours, minutes, seconds and date. The formal face, with its pierced Geneva-striped dial featuring a 1914 Grand Prix MercedesBenz stylised dash, has two time zones showing hours and minutes in an exhibition dial.

Landeron boasts timelessly classic appeal with a deliciously vintage twist. Inside beats an authentic Landeron 248 calicali bre, made circa 1950. Fully restored, part by part, by Cuervo y Sobrinos, this movement brings back to life one of the most emblematic chronographs of the Swiss brand with a Latin soul. With its distinctively fifties dial featuring a 45-min45-min ute counter and small seconds, the Historiador Cronógrafo Landeron Limited Edition forges a link between past and prepre sent, from the streets of Havana to Swiss watchmaking. 18K pink gold, 41 mm case. p

HISTORIADOR CRONÓGRAFO LANDERON LIMITED EDITION

by Cuervo y Sobrinos Cuervo y Sobrinos takes aficionados on the trail of its rich past with an original interpretation of a vintage model from the 1950s. Proposed as a fifty-piece limited series – a nod to this iconic decade – the new Historiador Cronógrafo

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GALLERY

LADIES We are used to hearing about ‘ladies’ watches’, as if a watch for women should be as worthy and dignified as a ‘Lady’. But watchmaking, when it approaches women’s territory with an open mind, can shed its rigid masculine straitjacket, allowing colours to explode, shapes to transform and leaving lines free to wander. The future of watchmaking depends on it getting in touch with its feminine side.

LVCEA by Bulgari Designed exclusively for women, Lvcea fuses history with modernity, function with design, in a tribute to the sundial.

This new line evinces a discreet strength, perpetuating the traditional jewellery-inspired values cherished by Bulgari, and radiating a sophisticated simplicity that is probably one of the toughest creative challenges. Like all the models that form the pillars of the Bulgari collections, in 2015 Lvcea is sporting new sizes and variations, appearing in a gem-set gold version with an alligator strap, and in white gold with a diamond-set case and bracelet. 18K pink or white gold case, bezel and bracelet set with brilliant-cut diamonds; white gold bracelet set with brilliant-cut diamonds or alligator leather strap; mother-of-pearl dial and brilliant-cut diamond hour-markers. Self-winding movement, indication of the hours, minutes and seconds.

J12 SOFT BLUE, SOFT MINT & SOFT ROSE by Chanel For the first time since its creation, the white J12 is venturing into colour, wearing three new hues on its bezel: pale blue, tender pink and mint green. Three powder pastels, limited to 1200 pieces in each shade.

ÉLÉGANTE by FP Journe FP Journe has developed a revolutionary horological concept for his first ladies’ collection. It was designed and conceived exclusively for women, with extremely precise technical specifications to offer this watch an autonomy of 8 to 10 years when worn and up to 18 years in standby mode.

It took 8 years of research for Journe to develop this innovative movement that combines comfort of use and the performance of an electro-mechanical watch with femininity, elegance and precision. The Elégante keeps time impeccably, allowing it to be stopped and started again. This is the dream of all women, and of all watchmakers as well.

All the mechanical elements of the Elégante movement are manufactured by FP Journe, based on the brand’s own criteria of excellence in state-of-the-art Haute Horlogerie. The electronic components were developed by a Swiss engineer and made in Switzerland according to exclusive and exacting standards, with a microprocessor specifically created for the watch. This electro-mechanical watch features a mechanical motion detector, visible on the dial at 5 o’clock. When the watch is motionless, it stops after approximately 30 minutes.

In standby mode, the microprocessor continues to keep time, while the mechanical parts – gears, rotors and hands – stop moving in order to save energy. When the Elégante is worn again, it automatically sets itself to the current time, taking the shortest path – either clockwise or anti-clockwise. u

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CONSTELLATION PLUMA by Omega Last year, Omega unveiled its collection of Constellation Pluma timepieces characterised by the unique design engraved on their mother-of-pearl dials. These sophisticated watches take their name from the Latin word for feather, subtly hinting at the delicate design that accentuates its most striking element.

This year, Omega has unveiled an evocative interpretation of the Constellation Pluma whose light coral-coloured dial is reminiscent of the warm sunshine on a summer day. Similar to its sisters, this 27 mm timepiece is decorated with 11 diamond indexes in 18K gold holders and a soft-wavy pattern that flows between the iconic claws on the bezel. Its polished and faceted central hour, minute and seconds hands are crafted from 18K gold and coated with white Super-LumiNova®, so the time can be read in a variety of lighting conditions.

The 18K red gold bezel of this ladies’ wristwatch is paved with 32 full-cut diamonds and presented on a bracelet with brushed stainless steel links and polished 18K red gold bars. The Omega Co-Axial calibre 8520 at its heart is visible through a domed scratch-resistant caseback and the precision and reliability of this mechanical movement is such that the timepiece is offered with a full four-year warranty.

lected to convey the Ramage pattern, as it makes it possible to represent faithfully, and in any colour, the minute details of this sophisticated fabric design. Accomplished by the Louis Vuitton La Fabrique du Temps Manufacture, it takes around 30 hours for the craftsman to hand-paint each dial, requiring scrupulous attention to detail. The snow-setting on the dial accentuates the miniature hand-painting. Each diamond is meticulously selected, as stones of different diameters must work perfectly together to create the snow effect. The mix of snow diamond-setting and miniature-painting creates an optical illusion with luminosity, depth and graphical intensity.

Each model features an alligator strap to match the colours of the dial: shiny pink, matte turquoise or shiny red. This watch collection is now available in Louis Vuitton stores.

MIDNIGHT FEATHERS AUTOMATIC 42 MM by Harry Winston

CRUISE 2015 PINK, TURQUOISE AND RED by Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton presents a jewellery watch collection inspired by the Cruise 2015 show, celebrating a multitude of colours.

One pattern stands out: the ‘Ramage’. In this collection, Louis Vuitton combines modernity and traditional expertise with the help of métiers d’art techniques: miniature-painting and snow-setting. The miniature hand-painting technique was se-

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In 2012 Harry Winston brought together two age-old forms of expertise whose paths had hitherto never crossed: watchmaking, the infinitely complex art of time measurement, and plumasserie, the rare and almost forgotten craft of creating art from feathers. The new Midnight Feathers Automatic 42 mm uses feathers to suggest the amber-tinted roots of vetiver, bulrushes and cedar wood. Each watch is a unique experience as each hand-crafted dial naturally varies with the individual feathers and the craftsman’s touch. With infinite patience, each remige, or flight feather, is selected, coaxed into shape then laid in its exact position on the dial, using a loupe for the great-

est possible precision. The visually striking marquetry plays on alternating colours, further accentuated by the harmony between the pink gold of the case and the chocolate shades of the alligator strap. Mechanical automatic, HW2008 calibre, 28,800 vph, 28 jewels, silicon flat balance spring, skeletonised rotor in 18K white gold, Geneva striping, circular-graining, chamfered bridges. 18K polished pink gold, 42.5 mm case.

Open back, sapphire crystal.

centre pattern. The crown, also made of steel, is set with a blue sapphire, while the steel bracelet or alligator leather strap accentuates the singularly graceful appeal of this model.

GRACE OPEN ART by Eterna

HAPPY SPORT 30MM AUTOMATIC by Chopard

The inner qualities of Grace Open Art are revealed by a circular aperture in the dial, which is made of either shimmering white or black mother-of-pearl. This provides a view of the regular oscillations of the balance, the mechanism that determines the accuracy of the automatic movement. A wave-

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Steel and diamonds: a daring modern alliance that gives rise to a perpetually reinvented icon – the Happy Sport. It now returns to the scene with a smaller, more elegant dial and a self-winding movement.

Have it all! The motto is fitting for the women who wear the Happy Sport 30 mm Automatic. Its proportions have been redefined in a ‘mini’ version while retaining the self-winding movement introduced in 2013 with the 36 mm model.

Happy Sport: a daringly free creation.

The new Happy Sport 30mm Automatic is available with a polished steel or diamond-set case. Five floating diamonds whirl around its silver-toned dial featuring a spiral guilloché

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like swathe of diamonds emanates from the window and describes a gently contoured path across the dial. Indices, numerals and other design elements have been consciously omitted to guarantee the undivided attention this artistic interpretation deserves. The bezel is set with 57 Top Wesselton diamonds. The case itself, in yellow or white gold, features slender crosspieces that serve as lugs. A fine satin wristband perfectly rounds off the Grace Open Art. ETA calibre 2824-2 Open Art.

GRANDCLIFF MILADY CHRONO

by Pierre DeRoche Mechanical watchmaking meets haute couture in this timepiece from Pierre DeRoche. At its heart beats an automatic chronograph movement with big date. They come to life within a highly stylised composition that is further accentuated by 64 diamonds (1.28 ct). The final touch of glamour, an unusual bodice-inspired alligator strap, makes this GrandCliff Milady the ultimate sensual watch.

COCKTAIL COLLECTION

by Ernest Borel

SURYA SOLAR DEITY

by Frédéric Jouvenot

The Cocktail watch, with its unique design patented in the 1940s, is a marvellous example of the creative genius of Ernest Borel. The brand has revived this historic piece and brought it up to date. Available in five colours, it reproduces the fascinating original kaleidoscopic effect created by an openworked disc that turns with the passing of time. Now with six diamonds set into the dial, it is more elegant and visually captivating than ever, like a perpetually changing kaleidoscope.

Self-winding mechanical movement, calibre ETA 2671. Steel case, with optional pink or yellow gold PVD treatment, 31 mm.

Patented kaleidoscopic dial. Leather strap. Supplied with a second leather strap.

Frédéric Jouvenot has achieved a world first: the only watch ever created to show the time not with hands, figures or discs, but with twelve jumping petals! As radiant as the Indian sun god that inspires it, the Surya watch has two faces corresponding to the cycles of day and night. At midday all its petals shine a luminous green, one by one turning black as the hours pass. At midnight all the petals become dark, and reflect their light back into the night sky, before commencing another 24-hour cycle. At the same time, the minutes continue to tick by in the centre of the dial, where they are indicated by a rotating disc. It took two years to perfect the mechanical movement and the three-dimension-

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al setting of the gems on the dial. Automatic mechanical movement. Patented hour display with 12 three-dimensional jumping petals. White gold case, bezel set with 54 diamonds (2.15 ct). Limited edition of 88 pieces with green tsavorite and 88 with pink sapphires.

FENDI MY WAY LIMITED EDITIONS by Fendi Colourful, joyful and above all incredibly glamorous, the Fendi My Way collection comes in four new 50-piece limited series. The watch flaunts its ultra-feminine curves, accentuated by a cambered diamond-set case and a removable fur collar known as the ‘Glamy’. Available in Arctic fox or soft silvery blue, kiwi green and bright orange, it radiates a mesmerisingly seductive appeal while retaining an appealingly multifunctional nature. Today’s sophisticated woman can choose to wear the watch that matches her mood: fur-free for daytime or complete with the Glamy in the evening for an authentic style statement. Wildly chic and imbued with the expertise of the Fendi fur ateliers, these four limited series are fitted with an Elaphe snakeskin strap in a colour to match the Glamy. The small-size version of the watch is studded with 421 diamonds (approx. 1.87 ct), while the larger variation sparkles with 667 diamonds (approx. 3.06 ct). Quartz movement.

THE TWIRL by Gucci Gucci Timepieces & Jewelry introduces a new addition to the Twirl range of timepieces for women, in a stylish pink and black colourway. Created in polished pink gold PVD with black Guccissima calf leather, the latest variant of the iconic Twirl watch reflects this season’s trend of coloured golds.

The Twirl is named for its ability to rotate and thus, hide the dial. This transforms the watch from a timepiece into a chic accessory, in a single motion. Once turned over, the case back shows an engraved GG pattern, echoing the recognisable

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motif on the leather bangle. This new edition comes with a 23.5 mm case enclosed in a broader 33 mm bangle. The sunbrushed black dial displays the Gucci logo at 12 o’clock and Swiss Made stamp at 6 o’clock.

CRESCENDO by Century An extraordinary and unique piece, Crescendo seduces at first sight with its innovative design. Once again, the master craftsmen at Century have brought to life a totally new face, using one of the most advanced jewellery techniques: snow setting. Nestled right next to one another, the different diamond cuts create a subtle and sophisticated effect. Individually selected, the sparkling stones appear to have been placed randomly, evoking the floral swirls of the hand-engraved dial, like the most precious dewdrops.

Surrounding the bezel, this display recalls the wonder we feel before an immaculate carpet of snow pierced by the first blooms of spring. Crescendo dazzles with the 64 translucent facets of the Century sapphire in a palladium hue. Cut and polished entirely by hand, their radiant effect is accentuated by the delicate curve of the case in 18K white gold. Model in 18K white gold with 592 snow-set diamonds (2.938 ct). Century sapphire with 64 facets cut and polished by hand. Hand-engraved gold dial. Quartz movement. Alligator leather strap.

ESTELLE by Champs Elysées A new name in Swiss fine watchmaking, Champs Elysées, based in Neuchâtel, proposes delicately crafted, beautifully gem-set timepieces. Its Estelle watch takes inspiration from the world-famous Place de l’Etoile in Paris, giving the Champs Elysées name its full resonance. With its pavé dial, diamond-set bezel and yet more diamonds set on its case, Estelle comes draped in a total of 2.9 carats, composed exclusively of stones graded D and E for colour (with a very small proportion of F). Through precious materials such as 18K pink gold and white mother-of-pearl, together with an automatic movement, Estelle combines the signatures of traditional watchmaking with the refinement of jewellery, developed with Swiss-made expertise.

HYPERCHROME DIAMONDS LIMITED EDITION by Rado The Rado HyperChrome Diamonds collection now offers a new, limited edition of 600 models featuring the unparalleled hightech shine of plasma ceramic. No model is more refined than this new addition with 56 glittering diamonds on the rose-goldcoloured bezel encircling the dial. The masterful monobloc ceramic 36 mm case houses an automatic movement. Optimum comfort and a streamlined, fluid case construction with spe-

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ellipse of the case. These soft, harmonious lines enclose an engraved mother-of-pearl dial that is further embellished by a central ellipse of 50 brilliant-cut diamonds. Feminine down to the smallest detail, even the crown of the Gilda ‘Precious White’ is set with 14 diamonds, completing this lesson in sobriety and sophistication. Quartz movement. Steel, elliptical with rounded profile, 32.1 x 38 mm case. Bezel set with 129 brilliants (0.945 ct).

cially developed, sleek side inserts combine to bring a flash of brilliance to even the most discerning of wrists. Mechanical automatic, ETA 2681 calibre, 83/4 ligne, 25 jewels, 38 hour power reserve, black oscillating rotor, decorated movement.

LADY BARREL by Silvana

GILDA ‘PRECIOUS WHITE’ by Eberhard The latest creation from Eberhard & Co., Gilda ‘Precious White’ is the elegant proof that white is not an absence of colour but a merging of every colour into one. Symbolic of the white canvas onto which creativity will flow, it embraces a double cascade of diamonds which highlight the gentle

Almost a century after launching its first ladies’ models, the Silvana brand reiterates its vibrant tribute to femininity. With the new Lady Barrel collection, the watch becomes a piece of jewellery, gently moulding and embracing the wrist. Through this collection, Silvana revisits the tonneau or barrel shape to achieve the perfect balance between soft angles and sleek curves, sparkling with 42 diamonds. Standing out against the elegant eggshell white dial, Roman or Arabic numerals (depending on the version) are interspersed with white diamonds. A vermillion red satin strap or pink PVD-treated bracelet sets the finishing touch to the visual harmony that gives this watch its personality. Tonneau shape, stainless steel with 5N PVD coating, 38 x 28 mm. 42 diamonds (0.1 ct). Quartz Ronda 762 movement. u

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movement beating at its heart. Polished and brushed 18K pink gold, 38 mm case. Bezel set with 124 diamonds (0.868 ct).

Limited edition. Watch made exclusively to order.

EMPORIO ARMANI AUTOMATIC LADIES by Emporio Armani Designer Giorgio Armani now expresses his unique signature through a feminine timepiece combining the brand’s pure, uncluttered aesthetic codes and Swiss watchmaking expertise, with an automatic movement beating at its heart.

The elegant pink gold-plated case reveals lines inspired by the Art Deco movement, while 82 diamonds light up the sides of the case. The mother-of-pearl dial is graced with understated hour-markers and the crown is set with a smoky brown quartz cabochon. Subtle and refined down to its smallest details, the watch is fitted with a sapphire caseback revealing its mechanical automatic STP1-11 calibre. Pink gold-plated stainless steel, polished finish, 34 mm case.

THE BRITAIN ICON CHECK FOR WOMEN by Burberry A model made exclusively to order, The Britain Icon Check for Women reproduces the iconic motif in precious gems hand-set on a mother-of-pearl dial. The diamonds magnify the woven design created in the 1920s, accentuated by the stones incrusted in double rows on the bezel. Entirely crafted in Switzerland, this exceptional model also embodies traditional watchmaking expertise with the brand-new automatic STP3-13 swan’s neck

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ETRUSCA by Matthia’s & Claire Matthia’s & Claire presents Etrusca, once again displaying its watchmaking and jewellery-making talent. The gem-set yellow gold model, an addition to the existing jewellery collection, harks back to a historical period known for its magnificent goldsmithing: the Etruscan civilisation. The Ticino-based brand reproduces its distinctive ancient granulation technique, which involves adorning the surface to be decorated with thousands of tiny gold granules and soldering them to the piece of jewellery without changing their appearance. The bezel and bracelet links display this 7th century B.C. technique, now interpreted in a timepiece.

18K yellow gold, 34 mm case. Quartz ETA movement. p

STRATEGIES

JAPANESE WATCHMAKING

Global sales of Japanese watches reached two billion dollars in 2013, a level not seen since 1998. This growth is accompanied by a bid to reposition towards the luxury sector, a move currently restricted to the domestic market. Is this perhaps a sign of Japan’s resurgence on the world watchmaking market?

by Pierre-Yves Donzé, Associate Professor at Kyoto University

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he Japanese watchmaking industry is currently enjoying a return to growth. In 2013 the watchmaking division of the Seiko group, which also includes watch movements, recorded a turnover of nearly 151 billion yen (1.4 billion dollars), compared with 121 billion the previous year and 107 billion in 2010. Figures like these have not been seen since the 1990s, and they make the company the second biggest watchmaking producer behind Citizen (162 billion in 2013).

After two unsettled decades, Seiko has implemented a deliberate strategy to reposition itself in the luxury sector. We should note that Seiko group also includes Orient Watch, a specialist in entrylevel mechanical watches, which turned over 9.8 billion yen in 2013.

Like Seiko, Citizen Watch is also hoping to move up into the luxury bracket, signalling its intention with the successive buyouts of Bulova (2008) and Swiss group Prothor Holding (2012). This has given Citizen access to mechanical movements for its own luxury watch collec-

tion Campanola. Although the company doesn’t advertise the fact widely, its products are extremely original: they are essentially Citizen watches equipped with Swiss movements.

Casio, for its part, is enjoying great success with its G-Shock watches. Nevertheless, its focus on digital watches and its positioning in the entry-level to mid-range sector are obstacles to its achieving the kind of growth that is possible for those groups active in the haut de gamme.

Its watchmaking turnover has hovered around 70 to 80 billion yen since 2000.

THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF MECHANICAL WATCHMAKING One of the main features of the Japanese watchmaking industry’s regrowth is the return to market of high-quality mechanical watches, a segment that remained underdeveloped up to the start of the 2000s. The evidence suggests that the purpose of this strategy is to move up-

I GRAND SEIKO

market, as the Swiss brands have been doing since the end of the 1980s.

The overall production figures for the Japanese watchmaking industry, which is dominated by analogue quartz movements, mask a fundamental change that became evident at the end of the 1990s: the return of high-end mechanical watchmaking. Measured in terms of global sales (in Japan and abroad), the proportion of mechanical watches (including movements) fell over the course of the 1990s, from 10.9% of total volume in 1992 to 4.5% in 2000.

Nevertheless, mechanical watchmaking has genuinely made a comeback on the Japanese market since 2000.

The proportion of mechanical watches sold domestically by Japanese watch companies grew from 1.7% in 1992 to 17.2% in 2000, and up to 42.5% in 2013. Moreover, the average cost of mechanical watches sold in Japan has risen from 3,000 yen in 1992 to 30,000 yen in 2000 and 48,000 in 2013. It is worth noting that, for the time being, the move upmarket in Japanese watch-

making has principally been restricted to the domestic market. Over the same period, there has been only a slight increase in the average value of mechanical watches sold abroad (2,200 yen in 1992 and 5,600 yen in 2013). The upgrading of Japanese watchmaking is therefore restricted essentially to the domestic market.

It is also worth noting that Japanese mechanical watchmaking is of an extremely high standard. Seiko, for instance, has adopted internal standards with the aim of ensuring high accuracy in its Grand Seiko high-end collection which are more stringent than those used by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC). In the same vein, over the 1990s the group brought in-house the necessary skills for making the complications that have been so successful for the Swiss luxury brands.

For example, in 1997 Seiko obtained a Japanese patent for a tourbillon watch of its own design (no. 9-54169), which was also filed in the United States the following year (US patent no. 5838641), although this innovation is not used in any current models.

FEATURES OF JAPANESE LUXURY WATCHMAKING The desire to develop in the high-end sector is by no means new: some thirty years ago, the Seiko group launched its own range of jewellery watches known as Credor (1982). Back then, this strategy of diversification into luxury was focused on the domestic market. Credor watches, consequently, did not start to be exported until the end of the 1990s.

Since 2000, the launch of high-end mechanical watches has followed the same pattern. They are primarily intended for Japanese consumers who are loyal to the Made in Japan label displayed alongside the watches in the shop windows.

Outside the archipelago, the Seiko group has launched its own global network of monobrand stores, the Seiko Boutiques.

The first opened in 2004 in Paris, and the network currently comprises around forty sales points, approximately half of which are in the Greater China region.

The implementation of this network is an obvious sign of a desire to internationalise the outlets for Japanese luxury watchmaking.

Japanese watch manufacturers, unlike the Swiss watchmaking groups, use only a limited number of brands: the distinctions are largely made within the collections of a single brand. Each one corresponds either to particular technologies, such as, for Seiko, the GPS-enabled Astron, or to specific markets, such as the Prospex sports watches, the Premier classic dress watches, or Velatura sailing watches. The company thus retains its identity, which gives it a decided advantage on the domestic market, where Seiko has an excellent reputation for the quality of its watches. With this kind of branding, its positioning could nevertheless appear somewhat vague to nonJapanese consumers.

Let’s look at two of the Japanese group’s emblematic watches. First, the Grand Seiko, the luxury model launched onto the market in 1960 to compete with Swiss watchmaking. This sub-brand covers mechanical, quartz and hybrid (Spring Drive) watches, all of which are characterised by their high precision.

They are positioned in the highly competitive price segment of affordable luxury, where they rub shoulders with Omega and Rolex.

Another emblematic watch in this group is the Seiko 5, a simple, cheap, high-quality self-winding mechanical movement that was launched towards the end of the 1960s. It was originally intended for the mass market in Japan and elsewhere in Asia. The interest of this watch, dozens of versions of which have been brought

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out to date, is the recent relaunch of the original model for the Japanese domestic market. Virtually identical to the original, it sells for around 100 francs to consumers who are nostalgic for the 1960s.

CONSTANT QUEST FOR INNOVATION Another feature of Japanese watchmaking, aside from the push to upgrade, is its ongoing pursuit of new technologies.

The development of solar watches – quartz watches that run without a battery – is an excellent example. Citizen was behind this technological innovation, which gave rise to its Eco-Drive line (1995). The technology was quickly integrated into many models marketed by other Japanese manufacturers.

In fact, solar watches are not just a technical innovation: they have a major marketing dimension. They enable watchmakers to offer consumers a long-lasting quartz watch and position themselves as environmentally responsible companies.

In the same vein, Casio launched the

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Oceanus line (2004), subsequently renamed Edifice for the western market.

Seiko has also invested in the development of battery-free quartz watches. The technology used is the same as that of quartz watches equipped with automatic winding systems based on a rotor, which supplies the energy needed to power the quartz module. The first model was launched in 1988 with the Kinetic brand. Seiko continued to bring out further models (more than 90 in 1996) up to the unveiling of the first completely hybrid model, the Spring Drive (1999), incorporating elements of mechanical and quartz movements.

Another new technology adopted by Japanese watch manufacturers is the radio wave controlled watch. These are quartz watches equipped with a module that automatically receives a signal from an atomic clock, ensuring a constantly high level of accuracy. The use of radio signals in many countries around the world (e.g. Japan, China, Germany and the United States) means that these watches can be widely used. Some

models combine radio-controlled technology with solar power. At Baselworld 2011 Citizen unveiled a new model, controlled not by radio waves but by GPS satellites (the Eco-Drive Satellite Wave), which enables the exact time to be obtained anywhere in the world.

Finally, Japanese watchmakers are also notable for the number of models that incorporate communication technologies. As an example, let us take the IrWW (Infrared Wrist Watch) developed by a pool of Japanese watchmaking manufacturers and communication companies, which enables digital data to be exchanged via infra-red with computers and mobile phones (2000).

They also developed the portable phonewatch (2003). However, these new types of watch did not enjoy the hoped-for commercial success. It is also interesting to note that the first companies to launch smart watches on the Japanese market were not watchmaking companies, but electronics giants Sony and Panasonic, looking for new outlets to fuel growth. p

STRATEGIES

PETROL POWER Partnerships between watch and car brands are primarily marketing operations. But they can also result in the creation of some exceptional timepieces. With some watch manufacturers, these partnerships may also be related to the fact that the boss is mad about cars... Some examples.

by Jean-Luc Adam

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utomobiles and watches share a common language of engineering and power. Or do they?

In a ‘simple’ calibre with a rate of 28,800 vph, the balance vibrates 700,000 times per day. In comparison, an engine running at 2500 rpm for an entire day corresponds to only 4.5 hours’ running time for a simple watch movement. Let us not forget that an Haute Horlogerie watch is a work of fine craftsmanship whose price is often comparable with, sometimes even far beyond, that of a luxury automobile, an industrial product whose manufacture is governed by a whole raft of standards. And when you’re out on the town, your Lamborghini will remain in the garage, while your Blancpain will not leave your wrist.

Cars and watches: the partnership has a venerable tradition in the luxury sector, exemplified by the loving old couples Bentley and Breitling and MercedesBenz/AMG and IWC. The only exception is the entirely self-sufficient RollsRoyce! It’s win-win: the car builder inherits the aura of the watch brand, and the watchmaker strengthens its image through the automobile, often by creating special collections and limited editions. Here is our selection.

BUGATTI & PARMIGIANI FLEURIER In 2004, when Bugatti launched the Veyron – 16 cylinders, 1001 hp, 4-wheeldrive, ceramic brakes, 0–100 km/h in 2.5 seconds, max speed 408 km/h – the German company had already found a watch manufacturer of sufficiently high calibre to create a ‘Bugatti watch’: Parmigiani Fleurier. For a long time the

manufacture was the specialist in the servicing and restoration of antique watches, to the extent that the precious timepieces of the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva and the Kremlin Museum in Moscow were entrusted to its care for restoration. This incredibly exacting work proved an invaluable source of inspiration in terms of style and engineering. In 2004, when Parmigiani unveiled the Type 370 in parallel with the launch of the Veyron, a watchmaking bomb was detonated: the highly original cylindrical watch bares its movement as if it were an engine, and the facing dial allows its wearer to tell the time without taking his hands off the wheel. Even better, as it has no crown, the twin-barrelled mechanism is wound by a ‘starter’, giving a power reserve of 10 days; it also has a ‘clutch’ on an axle for precise time setting, universal joints to provide a flexible link between external and

u

europa star | STRATEGIES | 105

MILLE MIGLIA & CHOPARD

internal functions, isolation mounts to absorb vibrations and a ‘differential’ to optimise satellite link-up. This limited series of 200, at more than 200,000 francs each, has now sold out...

FERRARI & HUBLOT The same quest for the ultimate can be found in the MP-05 LaFerrari by Hublot, which was determined to erase the memory of previous disappointing partnerships between other watchmakers and the prancing horse. And it succeeded spectacularly: Baselworld 2013 was fascinated by the concept watch, starting with its imposing elongated case, reminiscent of a racing car body. The 46-40 mm calibre from Nyon is a fitting partner to the 12-cylinder from Maranello: the energy stored up in 11 barrels running through the mechanism like a spinal column provides a record power reserve of 50 days. It’s the equivalent, for a car, of a 1,200-litre tank! With 637 components, the movement also beats the record for number of parts, and its architecture with suspended vertical tourbillon on the front face is a first. The titanium case is covered with a monumental windscreen-shaped sapphire crystal that brings to mind an

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Italian racing car. The hours and minutes are displayed on cylinders, along with the power reserve countdown in days and hours. The seconds are read off the front face, above the tourbillon cage. The Hublot LaFerrari also shows off its internal engineering, the black and red of its gears, axles, rubies and reinforcing bars highlighting Ferrari’s signature colours.

So, where’s the crown? Under the case.

Winding is accomplished with an electric screwdriver, just like the lightning-quick wheel changes in the F1 pit. All 50 units, at 300,000 francs apiece, have already been snapped up.

In 35 years at the head of the firm, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and his sister Caroline have propelled Chopard to the summit of jewellery making and Haute Horlogerie worldwide. The manufacture has continued its output of marvellous watchmaking complications (L.U.C) and expanded production of movements and components (Fleurier Ebauches). It is also a highly respected finisher; it smelts its own gold, an advantage it shares only with Rolex. Two of its collections really helped Chopard to take off: Happy Diamonds (an audacious combination of diamonds and steel) created by Caroline Scheufele, and Mille Miglia by her brother ‘KFS’, as he is known in the company.

The Mille Miglia collection appealed to car lovers at a time (1988) when the auto industry was undergoing a wholesale invasion by plastic. Mille Miglia bucked the trend, bringing back the glory days of automobiles with gleaming spoked wheels, slender wooden steering wheels and plush leather upholstery.

KFS was simply indulging his passion for cars, which he inherited from his father, a vintage car collector. His stroke of genius was to associate the brand with the Mille Miglia, thus transforming

the old sports car rally into a prestigious event for classic and vintage cars.

The car association is probably best expressed in the L.U.C Engine Tourbillon with its floating movement mounted on silent blocks held by three lever arms, openworked dial, profiled lugs like the wings of an automobile, machined ‘valve covers’ on the titanium movement, and a power reserve indicator styled after a fuel gauge. The cherry on the cake is that since 2014 Chopard has been Porsche’s official timekeeper.

TIMEKEEPING & TAG HEUER Without ultra-precise timekeeping there would be no motor sport today. Jack Heuer is the protagonist who gave birth to generations of motor racing legends.

Everything began back in the ’60s, when Jack heard that racing driver Clay Regazzoni would be paying a visit to Longines. The Scuderia driver had been sent by Enzo Ferrari, who had no faith in the poorly executed timekeeping technologies in use at the time. Jack quickly understood what was at stake, picturing Longines in Formula 1 when Heuer was the timekeeping king...

In fact, timekeeping was a family affair for him. It began in 1882 when the Heuer Leonidas factory filed its first patent for measuring time to 1/10 of a second, followed in 1912 with a patent for 1/100 second timekeeping. At that time the business enjoyed unprecedented success, producing up to 300,000 chronographs and 30,000 chronograph wristwatches per year. In the 1960s, Jack oversaw the development of the first flat automatic chronograph, requiring a colossal investment that cleaned out the coffers. How was the world going to learn about this revolutionary chronograph when there was no money for advertising? Fate came to the rescue in autumn 1968, when Jo Siffert became an overnight star after winning the F1 British Grand Prix. Jack immediately went to visit the Swiss driver at his home in Fribourg, and Siffert agreed to wear the Heuer logo on his overalls

in exchange for a sponsorship deal. It was a success, popularising the famous Chronomatic calibre and making Jack Heuer one of the first companies to use a target marketing strategy, a strategy continued in later years with Hollywood stars, among them Steve McQueen.

But, back to Ferrari: Jack, not wanting to be pipped at the post by Longines, hotfooted it to Maranello. There, he promised Enzo Ferrari that he would solve timekeeping’s technical problems in exchange for a Heuer decal on all the GP Ferraris.

In the meantime, Heuer’s technicians were perfecting the ACIT (Automatic Car Identification and Timing System) which featured an on-board mini-transmitter, providing automatic identification and timekeeping accuracy down to 1/1000 of a second. Heuer quickly became timekeeper for Formula 1, with spectacular results for the brand.

Today, TAG Heuer is one of the blockbusters of the watchmaking industry, generating over a billion francs in annual turnover. And it is probably the brand that pays the greatest tribute to motor sport, with its Monaco, Carrera, Grand Carrera and Formula 1 collections. p

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RETAILER PROFILE

“WATCH BRANDS IN SWITZERLAND

The strong Swiss franc, brand relations, consumer behaviour: Vevey-based retailer Julien Meylan takes us behind the scenes of a multi-brand watch store.

by Serge Maillard

W

ith their two boutiques in the town’s main square, overlooking the lake, they are masters of the watchmaking scene in Vevey. These days it is virtually impossible to buy a watch in the picturesque town on the Swiss Riviera without visiting their premises. Welcome to the domain of the Meylans, watchmakers for six generations. Originally from the Vallée de Joux, they moved down from the hills to Lausanne, before setting up shop as watch retailers in Vevey in 1990.

Europa Star had lunch with 32-yearold Julien Meylan, who runs the family business with his brother Yannick and their father Lionel, who opened the first Vevey shop, and whose name is on the door. “He began by having a look around the town; he noted all the brands that weren’t in the shops, and went to Baselworld to order them,” recalls the young manager.

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as our level of expertise. It is a welcome reward for our work!

Last year the retailers, who have been a fixture in Vevey for 25 years, allowed themselves an extramural adventure, and opened a third shop at Glacier 3000 in Les Diablerets. Their efforts were richly rewarded: since last December, Rolex and younger sister Tudor have joined the Meylan fold. “We run everything as a family. The fact that there are three of us is an advantage; each of us has a slightly different perspective. We all help to take things forward.” Interview over a paella.

Who are your clients?

Julien Meylan

Europa Star: Did you approach Rolex, or did Rolex come to you?

Julien Meylan: It is true that some brands do contact us spontaneously (laughs). In the case of Rolex, we have wanted to sell their watches ever since we opened our retail operation in Vevey, back in 1990. They came to us last year.

They appreciate the region that we cover and the way we run our shops, as well

JM: We’ve always worked mainly with local clients. We are fortunate to have loyal customers who really know about watches. These days we also attract Chinese, Indian, Russian and British tourists, mainly at our Glacier 3000 boutique at Les Diablerets. But our core market is really local.

How has client behaviour changed over the last decade?

JM: Thanks to the internet they are far better informed, and they really know what they want. Before, they would come in to buy ‘a watch’. These days, when they come into the shop they already have a very precise idea of the model they want, even the exact reference number. Sometimes,

our clients know more about a particular model than we do ourselves! But such cases are rare, I assure you! (Laughs.) Our sales staff are equally qualified to show you a Victorinox or a Breguet.

So how do you actually train your sales staff, with a catalogue that grows every year?

JM: When I come back from Baselworld I give them a presentation of all the new products from the show. Ideally, I would take them with me, but we have to keep the shop open... Watchmaking brands also organise training courses for us, which usually last a day. More for Rolex: for them it’s two whole days in Geneva. And for our watchmaker, three weeks!

sometimes goes too far. Luckily, given that we are active in the Swiss market, we are close to the manufacturers, and we can communicate with them easily.

We are known for our seriousness, and also for our honesty. When we don’t like a given practice, we let them know.

For example?

JM: Some brands produce limited editions just for their own boutiques, to bring customers in. We don’t appreciate being treated as ‘half agents’: when we are an agent for a brand we should have access to all its products. Because of that some of our clients miss out, because they can’t get to the brand’s own shop.

Has brand behaviour also evolved over the same period?

Do you think this apparent lack of interest by the industry in its retailers is cyclical, or is it something you’ll have to get used to?

JM: They clearly want to have more control over the sale of their products.

The brands have greatly reduced their points of sale in recent years; they have dropped some retailers and at the same time opened their own boutiques around the world. There has been a ‘shakedown’, and in some cases this was probably necessary. But the need for control

JM: I think the brands will come back to the retailers, provided that the chain of value is preserved right up to the final client. When a brand representative has to come and announce to a Swiss retailer that they can no longer sell their brand in his shop, I can tell you it’s really heart breaking. But professionals must have a thorough knowledge of

watchmaking, expertise and contacts.

Don’t forget, single-brand boutiques don’t generally target the same clientele as retailers. When a client comes to you, even if they have a specific model in mind, they appreciate being given a choice, sometimes from among different ranges of the chosen brand, sometimes within the same family of complications.

As retailers, we are complementary to the single-brand boutiques. Things are different in other countries, however: retailers are perhaps harder to manage than an own-brand boutique.

Today you have around thirty brands in your catalogue. Is this a way of ensuring your independence?

JM: Yes, our assortment is well diversified between Swatch Group, LVMH, Richemont and independent brands. For us, the main thing is to be able to offer our clients an interesting and varied selection.

Nevertheless, there must be some pressure on you for shop window presence. How do you manage this placement diplomatically?

JM: Brands often want the same thing: if it were up to them, we’d have just one window, and they would have it all to themselves! When choosing what goes in the window we try to ensure a regular turnover, to keep everyone happy. You can always find a solution through dialogue.

What was 2014 like for you?

JM: It was an excellent year. We are growing. The icing on the cake was the arrival of Rolex and Tudor. And we always reinvest our profits. Brands appreciate the way we work. We’re not content with simply selling watches, these days that’s not enough. We organise special events and experiences around our sales. u

europa star | RETAILER PROFILE | 109

For example?

JM: Whenever a client buys a Breitling watch, my father, who is a pilot, takes them for a trip in his plane. They’re not so keen on coming with me. I’m a parachutist! (Laughs) There is also significant added value in the visits to manufactures, which we regularly organise for our clients. The Jaeger-LeCoultre manufacture, for instance, is very interesting, as you are not behind glass and you can observe the work of the artisans up close. Omega is equally interesting, although very different. There you see the whole industrial, ultra-modern side of watch production.

And finally, our shops have their own workbenches where our own watchmakers are constantly at work. We offer introductory courses in watchmaking and gemology. It’s useful, because not only do our clients understand how their watches work, they also get why it can sometimes take a long time to service them...

After-sales service has been described as a ‘ticking time bomb’ for the industry (Read our article in previous issue, ES 1/15). You are in the front line. That must sometimes put you in the firing line of your clients, too.

JM: Information is key: if we simply say, “We’ll send you an estimate,” clients assume that it will take a couple of days. If we warn them that it may take a bit longer they are more ready to accept it. Uncertainty is the hardest thing to deal with. Today, for the most responsive brands, a quotation will take around a week, and servicing itself takes an average of four weeks.

Clients who have suffered shoddy servicing, or who have had to wait a long time, can be very disappointed. These days, after-sales service is our best marketing tool. Some brands have made sig-

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nificant investments upstream, to capture sales, and not enough downstream, to ensure efficient servicing. It bears repeating: information really is key. Sometimes, a client will change the date on their watch at the wrong time, and is shocked that no one warned them this could cause problems. After-sales is choking on these kinds of cases. And clearly, there are more and more mechanical watches on the market worldwide, which require a great deal of maintenance, and investment in consequence.

shelves at our busiest time of the year.

The perpetrators were never found.

Unfortunately, the people who carry out such burglaries are very seldom punished. The sanctions are far too light.

And in our country, private security guards may carry weapons if they have a permit, but only as a deterrent. They aren’t allowed to use them: they could be prosecuted if they actually shot anyone! We need a firmer policy.

2015 has opened with the problem of the strong Swiss franc. How are you reacting?

JM: First of all, some new brands are joining us, including Cartier! There will be more surprises over the year. The cherry on the cake is the LaPendulette, which we will soon begin selling under our own name. I created my first table clock when I was at the watchmaking school in the Vallée de Joux. We took the idea further, and we now have a prototype in the shop. p

JM: It will inevitably create both a slowdown for the market, and also an increase in prices. But we are less affected than retailers in cities like Lucerne and Geneva. There, tourists will shop around to find the cheapest watch. But we rely on an established, loyal and local clientele for whom price is not the only purchase criterion.

Another pressing concern for Swiss retailers is shop security.

JM: Indeed. We were robbed back in December 2008, at the worst possible time. We found ourselves with empty

What’s new for 2015?

The catalogue of Lionel Meylan SA Omega, Hublot, Breitling, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget, Longines, Chopard, Tudor, Girard-Perregaux, Dinh Van, Piero Milano, Michel H, Oris, Victorinox, Rolex, Breguet, Zenith, IWC, Bulgari, Corum, Ulysse Nardin, Pomellato, Serafino Consoli, Morganne Bello, Sevenfriday, Tissot, Frédérique Constant, Alpina, Cartier, Hermès, IsabelleFa Contact: Lionel Meylan SA Place du Marché 4 / 1800 Vevey Tel.: +41 21 925 50 50 / www.lionel-meylan.ch

B41/F76

B55/F82

B16

M628

M531

Unit D, 10/F, World Tech Centre, 95 How Ming Street, Kwun Tong, Hong Ko Tel: (852) 2345 4466 Fax: (852) 2797 8409 ansonmfg@ansonband.com http://www.ansonband.com

Tel: +41-22 776 8670 Fax: +41-22 776 8671 swissoffice@ansonband.com

EDITORIAL & ADVERTISERS’ INDEX A, B Adidas 54 Aerowatch 79, 80 Albert Riele 89 Alpina 88, 110 Anson 111 Antima 54 Antoine Preziuso 68, 69 Apple 26 Apple Watch 10, 12, 30, 32 Armani Exchange 54 Armin Strom 80 Arnold & Son 63 Artya 82 Audemars Piguet 10, 46 Audi 24 Aviator 90 Barclays 11 Baselworld 10, 57, 108, 109 Bausele 10 Bell & Ross 79 Bentley 24, 105 Bergstern 90, 91 Blancpain 11, 75, 76 BMW 24 Boucheron 36 Breguet 12, 61, 68, 109, 110 Breitling 12, 87, 105, 110 Bugatti 105 Bvlgari 11, 71, 92, 93, 110 Bulova 102 Burberry 54, 57, 82, 100 C, D Cabestan 51 Carl F. Bucherer 25 Cartier 110 Casio 41, 102, 104 Celsius 46 Century 98 Champs Elysées 98 Chanel 4, 5, 69, 93 China Watch & Clock Fair 77 Chopard 74, 95, 106, 110 Christophe Claret 10 Claude Meylan 81 Corum 36, 110 Citizen 11, 84, 85, 102, 104, 113 Credit Suisse 26 Credor 103 Cuervo y Sobrinos 91 De Bethune 46, 60, 61 Diesel 54 Digital Luxury Group (DLG) 28 Dinh Van 110 DKNY 54 Dodo 36 Dubois-Dépraz 57 E, F Eberhard & Co. 99 Emile Chouriet 38, 39 Emporio Armani 54, 57, 100 EPFL 44 Ernest Borel 33, 96 ETA 35, 49, 83, 96, 99, 100 Eterna 95, 96 Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) 10, 11

Fendi 97 Ferrari 106 Folli Follie 47 Fossil 54, 56, 57 F.P. Journe 93 Franc Vila 71 Frédéric Jouvenot 96, 97 Frederique Constant 110 G, H Gainerie 91 65 Giorgio Armani 100 Girard-Perregaux 36, 37, 110 Google 57 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) 52 Greubel Forsey 44 Gucci 97, 98 Hamilton 89, 90 Harry Winston 44, 94, 95 Hautlence 46, 64 HKTDC (Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair) 101 Hermès 24, 73, 74, 110 H. Moser & Cie 46, 48, 75 Hublot 32, 34, 71, 72, 106, 110 Hugo Boss 24 HYT 78, 79 I, J Intel 57 IsabellaFa 110 IWC 105, 110, Jaeger-LeCoultre 10, 110 Jaquet Droz 23, 74 JeanRichard 37 K, L Karl Lagerfeld 54 Kerbedanz 72 Kering 11, 24, 36, 37, 50 Korloff 91 Lapham’s Quarterly 18, 20-22 Laurent Ferrier 52 Leica 50 Links of London 45 Longines 87, 88, 107, 110 Louis Erard 49 Louis Moinet 63 Louis Vuitton 19, 94 LVMH 11, 12, 24, 34, 40, 109 M Manjaz 81 Manufacture Royale 70 Marc by Marc Jacobs 54 Matthia’s & Claire 100 Maurice Lacroix 12 MELB Holding 46, 48 Mercedes 24, 105 MB&F 42, 44 Michael Kors 54 Michele 54 Michel H 110 Mille Miglia 106 Mondaine 76 Montblanc 11 Morgane Bello 110 Movado 76

112 | EDITORIAL & ADVERTISERS’ INDEX | europa star

O, P Officine Panerai 30 Okletey 72 Olivier Savéo 83 Omega 11, 94, 103, 110 Orient 66, 67, 102 Oris 110 Pagani 43 Panasonic 104 Parmigiani Fleurier 105 Patek Philippe COVER I, 14, 15, 16, 17, 31, 105 Perrelet 81, 82 Philippe Dufour 42, 43, 44 Piaget 36, 110 Pierre DeRoche 96 Piero Milano 110 Pomellato 36, 110 Porsche 24, 43, 107 Promotion SPA 55 Prothor Holding 102 Q, R Queelin 36 Rado 11, 98, 99 Raymond Weil 88 Renaud & Papi 69 Revelation COVER IV Richard Mille 9 Richemont 11, 12, 24, 109 Rolex COVER II, 3, 10, 51, 103, 106, 108, 110 Rolls-Royce 24, 105 Romain Gauthier 62 Ronda 57, 89, 91 S, T Samsung 26 Seiko 11, 58, 59, 102, 103, 104 Serafino Consoli 110 Sercab COVER III Sevenfriday 110 Silvana 99 Skagen 54 Slyde 50 Sony 26, 104 Soprod 57 Sowind 36, 37 Strom 82 Swatch 11,12 Swatch Group 11, 24, 46, 109 TAG Heuer 11, 12, 13, 34, 40, 64, 86, 87, 107 Technotime 57 Thwaites & Reed 114 Tissot 11, 27, 80, 89, 110 Titoni 29 Tory Burch 54 Tudor 108, 110 U, V Ulysse Nardin 12, 36, 37, 70, 110 Victorinox 109, 110 Voutilainen 75 W, Z Westar 53 Zenith 7, 11, 34, 40, 62, 110 Zodiac 54

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LAKIN@LARGE

CLOCKS, THE BIBLE

by D. Malcolm Lakin

I

arrived in the big metal tube heading for Australia wrapped in an overcoat, scarf and gloves against the European weather. The problem is winter in Europe means summer down under. The twenty-one hour flight, which included two dinners and breakfasts plus a two-hour stopover in Changi Airport in Singapore, saw me arriving in Sydney feeling like the wrath of God. I got a “G’day” from both the man at Passport and Visa Control and the custom’s officer, who, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt, understandably raised his eyebrows in astonishment at my winter garb. He dutifully checked my ‘Incoming passenger card’ that affirmed that I was not carrying any forbidden fruit, had not been in any wilderness areas over the last 30 days, had no animals or parts of animals on my person and that I had no criminal convictions – which is ironic given how the British first peopled Australia in 1788.

The next day, feeling vaguely human again, I visited one of Sydney’s ‘musts’ – the massive Art Deco Queen Victoria Building in Haymarket that was built in 1910 to replace the older market for tailors, mercers, florists, hairdressers etc., that dated back to 1898.

The Queen Victoria Building has undergone two or three really expensive facelifts since then and now houses more than 160 shops, boutiques and restaurants on five levels. There are magnificent stained glass windows, a quite extraordinary glass dome and of particular interest to me, two very large hanging mechanical clocks: The Royal Clock and the Great Australian Clock.

114 | LAKIN@LARGE | europa star

The Royal Clock by Neil Glasser

The Great Australian Clock by Chris Cook

The Royal Clock was designed by Neil Glasser in 1982 and made by Thwaites & Reed of Hastings in England. It is activated on the hour and displays six royal scenes including King John signing the Magna Carta and the execution of Charles I – whereby the head of the king rolls off the block every hour – all of which is accompanied by Jeremiah Clarke’s ‘The trumpet Volontary’.

The Great Australian Clock, designed and made by Chris Cook over four years and was completed in 2000 for the Millennium celebrations. It weighs around four tonnes, is ten metres high and has 32 smaller clocks displaying the times in cities around the world along with 33 illustrated scenes from Australian history from Aboriginal and European perspectives with more than 130 hand carved figurines. The dome, doors and numerals are coated with 23-carat gold leaf and an Aboriginal hunter continuously revolves around the clock symbolizing the never-ending passage of time.

Needless to say I heard several humorous Australian stories during my trip, most of which I certainly cannot print here. However, there is one I heard about a devout Australian who lost the Bible he always carried with him when he was admiring the wildlife in one of the many forests.

Some weeks later he decided to go into town and purchase a new one. He opened his front door to leave when he saw a small koala standing there with his Bible. He bent down and took it from the koala, clasped it to his chest and, looking skywards, said, “It’s a miracle.”

“Not really,” replied the koala, “your name and address is written inside the cover.”

Well, you’ve go to laugh haven’t you. p

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