Watch in black high-tech ceramic and 18K white gold, limited to 10 pieces. CHANEL RMT-10 calibre with manual winding exclusively designed for CHANEL by Renaud et Papi Manufacture (APRP SA). High-tech ceramic mainplate.

Retrograde minute hand. Tourbillon. 10-day power reserve. Retractable crown.

ww

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hanel.co

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31/01/11 09:37

17th of September 1755. In the offices of the solicitor Mr. Choisy, ayoung Master Watchmaker from Geneva named Jean-Marc Vacheronis about to hire his first apprentice. This agreement is the first knownreference to the founding watchmaker of a prestigious dynasty and it represents the establishment of Vacheron Constantin, the oldestwatchmaking manufacturer in the world in continuous operation.

Ever since this agreement, and true to the history that builtits reputation, Vacheron Constantin has been committed topassing on its knowledge to each of its Master Watchmakersin order to guarantee the excellence and durability of itscraftsmanship and of its timepieces.

Patrimony ContemporaineHallmark of Geneva, Pink gold case, Hand-wound mechanical movement

Ref. 81180/000R-9159

410x265_PatrimonyCont_Mise en page 1 11.02.11 11:24 Page1

JULES AUDEMARS

PERPETUAL CALENDAR

AUDEMARS PIGUET LE BRASSUS (VALLÉE DE JOUX) SWITZERLAND, TEL +41 21 845 14 00

www.audemarspiguet.com

The Jules Audemars Perpetual Calendar watch is a masterpiece of miniaturisation

developed on the basis of the extra-thin self-winding Calibre 2120 and the 2802 module.

The entire mechanism is indeed just 4 millimetres thick. Intended to reproduce the

intricacies of our calendar by displaying the cadence of the minutes, hours, days, date and

months, this complex movement also smoothly handles the irregularity of 30- and 31-day

months as well as the leap-year cycle. The calendar module is designed to require no

correction before March 1st 2100, a date when the Gregorian calendar will imply an

adjustment – exactly the kind of detail true connoisseurs will appreciate.

Pink gold case, brown or silvered dial, applied pink gold hour-markers,

pink gold hour and minute hands.

EuropaStar410x265CRDP0510 9.12.2010 17:00 Page 1

6 EDITORIAL europa star

Since time is in the form of a spiral,meaning that it always returns uponits x-axis but not on its y-axis (or theopposite, if you like), we always returnto the same trends even if they are abit different every time. The ultra-thinmovement, since we are talking aboutit, of 2011 is not exactly the same asthe ultra-thin calibre of the 1960s ofthe last century. Just try, for example,to return exactly into your footprintsleft in the snow or in the sand…Based on the expression of the archi-tect, Mies van der Rohe, that “less ismore,” the artistic minimalism of the1960s seemed to be a reaction againstsubjectivity, against emotional over-load, against the ornamentation thatprevailed up to then. We might alsosay, history repeating itself, that today’snew watchmaking minimalism is areaction against the stylistic overloadand the ornamental and mechanicalexcesses of the preceding years. With too much excess killing excess,we are now returning to an era ofmuch greater simplicity, like a personwho is sickened by the sight of foodafter a very rich meal. In analyzingthis return to stylistic frugality, therehave been many reasons, if not expla-nations, beginning with the ‘crisis’.Watchmakers, however, have nearlyalways evoked this crisis as if it hadnothing to do with them, as if it was

merely a fatality that fell upon themwithout warning. This is faulty reason-ing, in our opinion, because watch-making, like many other sectors, hasnourished the terrain of the crisis withits excesses. Clearly, it was the finan-cial community that started the crisiswith activities that were closer tocasino gambling than healthy finan-cial management, but they evolved ina larger universe that permitted allthis, that pushed them into this. In its own way, watchmaking is a goodmirror of society. Larger, more extrava-gant, more visible, heavier, and moreexpensive were the words of the daythat everyone, not only the bankers,more or less followed. But watch-makers, seeing the land beneath theirfeet suddenly falling away, changeddirection.And, like a single individual, theydecreed that the times of excess wereover, that it was necessary to returnto more measured thinking. They thusturned, in unison, to what they im-agined to be their new savoir—afterthe maximalist era, long live minimal-ism. The creation of new collections ismeasured in many months, and inthis case, they all reached maturity atthe same time, more than two yearsafter the initial direction change. Butthe simultaneous flood of propositionsinvolving three hands and small

seconds also sends a cloudy message.If we in the watch community knowwho has true legitimacy in the thinmovement and who does not, if weknow who has worked steadily andconsistently and who is merely beingopportunistic, the public at largeunderstands this to a much lessdegree. To maximize the minimalistoffer, we again run the same risks.Those who are on a diet of bread andwater for so long will, in turn, becomesick of it all, and thus will want toorder a copious meal. But while wait-ing for the next change of direction,which should not be long in coming,let us slowly savour our pleasure inthe frugal offerings, made of a pureproduct, one devoid of sophisticatedsauces and other garnishing. And,between us, what is more beautifulthan a watch in its most simple form?

RPierre M. Maillard Editor-in-Chief

Maximum minimalism

Sour

ce: w

lppr

.com

‘The minimalism superhero’

Editorial111_Editorial610 17.02.11 15:24 Page1

For relaxed East-West relations.

An imposing time machine full of character, developed with the highest watchmaking

passion: the Patravi TravelTec is a chronograph with chronometer certifi cation,

which displays three time zones simultaneously. Simply and comfortably thanks to the

patented monopusher at 10 o’clock, the travel direction – eastwards or westwards –

can be pre-selected and individual time zones jump across. The mechanism developed

for this is integrated in the highly complex case and remains visible through a side

window. Carl F. Bucherer’s philosophy of the intelligent, useful functions and mecha-

nisms could not have been implemented more perfectly.

www.carl-f-bucherer.com

11_1773_TravTec3D_EuropaSt.indd 111_1773_TravTec3D_EuropaSt.indd 1 27.01.11 KW 4 16:5227.01.11 KW 4 16:52

EDITORIAL6 Maximum minimalism

COVER STORY12 Ralph Lauren: Staying the course and broadening the offering

POST-GENEVA16 Classical offensive and retreat of the UFOs38 Time for the girls52 Watches for real men

BASEL PREVIEW44 Century – elegant, resistant and transparent

MARKETS46 Titoni, China from the inside

CASE STUDY48 Rodolphe – What’s in a name?

POST CARD56 Postcard from Glashütte

RETAILER PROFILE62 Simonetta Orsini – Time in Buenos Aires

WORLDWATCHWEB64 Retailers in the digital era

69 EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

LAKIN AT LARGE72 Comeuppance time down south

ADVERTISERS’ SPOTLIGHTS37 Today’s Spark Tomorrow’s Sparkle58 Ice-Watch® The King of Cool60 Post-80s artists sponsored by TITONI Ltd. return to China

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTThe SeptagraphTM by BorgeauD

10 CONTENTS europa star

www.europastar.com

N° 358 1/2011 FEB./MARCH

Europa Star HBM SA25 Route des AcaciasP.O. Box 1355CH-1211 Geneva 26SwitzerlandTel +41 (0)22 307 78 37Fax +41 (0)22 300 37 [email protected]

© 2011 EUROPA STARAudited REMP 2010

The statements and opinionsexpressed in this publication arethose of the authors and notnecessarily Europa Star.

SPORTING WOOD by Ralph LaurenThe Ralph Lauren Sporting watchwith wood dial, recalls the refinedinterior of Ralph Lauren’s per-sonal 1938 Bugatti Type 57SCAtlantic Coupe. This timepiecefeatures a stainless steel casewith a warmly handsome dialin rich loupe d’orme or elm burl-wood–in honor of the car’s icon-ic wooden dashboard and trimdetail. The Ralph Lauren Sportingis equipped with a manual wind-ing mechanical movement–cal-iber RL98295 made by IWC forRalph Lauren–featuring a powerreserve of 45 hours and a fre-quency of 18,000 vibrationsper hour.

Ralph Lauren Watch andJewelry Co.chemin de Blandonnet 81214 Vernier SwitzerlandTel: +41 (0)22 595 59 00Fax: +41 (0)22 595 59 01www.ralphlaurenwatches.com

THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WATCH MAGAZINE INTERNATIONAL

Sommaire111inter_Sommaire111 22.02.11 08:02 Page2

CMYK Century Times Gems Woman_1 MOGUL 205 x 265 mm Visual Europa Star 2_2_2011

Century Time Gems Ltd. Zihlstrasse 50 CH-2560 Nidau Switzerland Tel. +41 32 332 98 88 www.century.com

The CENTURY watch is a unique creation. Beyond its beauty,

this jewel of time embodies pure technical mastery.

Each CENTURY sapphire is cut and polished by hand.

12 COVER STORY europa star

RRalph Lauren watches are mandated to beclassic, traditional, high quality timepieceswith an uncompromising attention to detail. Afashion icon, Lauren was determined to makea watch brand of which he could be proud,and Ralph Lauren watches are designed toappeal to the sensibilities of America’s mostfamous arbiter of taste and style.

Brief historyIn 2009, Ralph Lauren Watches debuted at theSIHH, with its three core collections, the iconicStirrup, the elegant Slim Classique and themore casual Sporting, using some of the bestmovements in the entire Richemont Group.Last year, as the brand was entering the Asianmarket, Ralph Lauren Watches deepened itsoffering with diamond pieces and some smallerversions in each collection.“When you are a newcomer, you need to buildcredibility,” explains Guy Châtillon, CEO ofRalph Lauren Watch & Jewelry Co. “Our objec-tive is to build a strong foundation with these

three collections. This doesn’t mean that wearen’t going to be working on new products,but for the time being it’s line extensions, notnew collections.We are using the best manufacture move-ments and prestigious materials. Over time, ourcoherent and consistent approach will help usbuild credibility and legitimacy in the industry.”Ralph Lauren watches certainly feature iconicstyling with great movements and they areperfectly positioned for the times, with classic,traditional designs and high quality.This year at the SIHH, Ralph Lauren Watcheshas continued to focus on its three collections,

RALPH LAUREN: STAYING THE COURSEAND BROADENING THE OFFERINGFrom the beginning, Ralph Lauren Watches & Jewelry has had a clear vision about its direction and with thisyear's SIHH novelties the brand is demonstrating that it is successfully on track.

RKeith W. Strandberg

CoverStory111_CoverStory111 17.02.11 09:39 Page2

europa star COVER STORY 13

introducing interesting new shapes, materialsand designs to broaden its offering, both at thelower and higher ends of the price spectrum.

New for 2011Ralph Lauren has broadened its offerings for2011, introducing a new square case shape inthe Slim Classique line, three new Sportingwatches, one inspired by Ralph Lauren’s clas-sic car collection, a chronograph reinforcingthe brand's sophisticated sporty style withelegant guilloche craftsmanship on the dialand bezel, and another chronograph in strik-ing black ceramic, and new steel versions ofthe Stirrup, lowering the entry price to RalphLauren Watches.The most intriguing new watch is the Sportingwith a wood dial, directly inspired by theinterior of Lauren’s model 1938 Bugatti Type

57SC Atlantic Coupe. The dial uses loupe d’orme– or elm burl wood – to echo the Bugatti‘siconic wooden dashboard and trim detail. Theblack calf leather strap is meant to be evoca-tive of the black leather seating in this incred-ible car. This watch is powered by calibreRL98295, a hand wound mechanical move-ment made by IWC for Ralph Lauren (45-hourpower reserve).“We wanted to reinforce the Ralph Laurentouch – this is the first watch inspired byhis vintage car collection,” Châtillon details.“We used Arabic numerals to match the car’scounters and an elm burl wood dial on thecar’s dashboard.”The other new Sporting edition is the 45mmchronograph in black ceramic, a first for RalphLauren Watches. The chronograph’s case andbracelet are ceramic zirconia, a high-tech

SPORTING WOOD SPORTING 45MM CHRONOGRAPH


14 COVER STORY europa star

material used in such demanding and industrialapplications as jet engines, and the ceramic fea-tures a silky mat finish. The result is a boldwatch with black on black styling (except forthe white markers and a red chronograph sec-ond hand) that is nearly scratchproof andextremely light weight that makes it as comfort-able as it is resilient.The movement is the calibre RL750, madeby Jaeger-LeCoultre for Ralph Lauren, with a48 hour power reserve and a frequency of28,800 vibrations per hour. This timepiece isalso available in a 39mm version, with thecentre chronograph hand in classic white.“We looked at industries where strength,robustness, attention to detail, quality andlongevity were important,” Châtillon says.“We looked at aeronautics, sailing, medical,cars and we discovered ceramic zirconia, usedin the aeronautical and medical industries.You can work with a high level of detail andprecision with this material. This new SportingChronograph is full of ceramic except for thescrews and the buckle. It is really a materialthat has strength, resistance and longevity.”

The Slim Classique Square Watch is the firstsquare watch in the Ralph Lauren collection.Inspired by the grand era of Art Deco style, thedial mixes Roman and Arabic numerals to greateffect. Thin and classic, the Slim ClassiqueSquare uses calibre RL430, made by Piaget for

Ralph Lauren, with a 40-hour power reserve.This watch is available in rose gold or whitegold, including a white gold guilloché versionthat continues Ralph Lauren’s devotion to thefine art of guilloché craftsmanship (and fea-tured on the original, round Slim Classique).

SLIM CLASSIQUE SQUARE WATCH


europa star COVER STORY 15

“We wanted to introduce a square watch,while keeping the timelessness and the thin-ness of this collection,” Châtillon recalls. “Ithad to be in rose or white gold, and we wanteda unisex watch. The resulting watch, the SlimClassique Square, sized at 27.5mm, strength-ens what makes Ralph Lauren unique – moder-nity and timelessness. We used a Piaget move-ment, so the watch would be very thin.“I think the Square is very well balanced, witha unique design in line with the Ralph LaurenDNA, while breaking the rules in a good way,”Châtillon continues. “We wanted an eclectic,Art Deco look on the dial and came up with theidea of doing Arabic and Roman numerals.”In the Stirrup collection, Ralph Lauren introducesa large and medium size in stainless steel, forthe first time. To make it easy to see which ver-sions are steel, several design adaptations weremade. For example, the steel versions use openminute markers on the dial versus the railroad-track style markers on the gold watches. Thesteel models are presented on calf leather strapswith pin buckles whereas the gold models areon alligator straps with folding clasps.

The large steel model features the auto-matic, chronograph calibre RL750, made byJaeger-LeCoultre for Ralph Lauren, while themedium steel model is powered by the auto-matic calibre RL514, made by Piaget for RalphLauren, with a 40 hour power reserve.

Staying Ralph LaurenThe brand is keen to maintain the unique aes-thetic of Ralph Lauren while continuing to offerhigh quality, attention to detail and incrediblecraftsmanship. “Breaking the rules and intro-ducing new materials helps create a distinctRalph Lauren identity,” Châtillon details. “Wewanted to widen the collection, with 50 differ-ent models in three collections, for differentcustomers preferences.“The key words that describe Ralph Laurenwatches are qualitative, authentic and distinc-tive,” he continues. “The unique aesthetic ofRalph Lauren is present throughout the collec-tion. We have reinforced the style and soul ofRalph Lauren with the new watches.” OFor more information about Ralph Lauren clickon Brand Index at www.europastar.com

STIRRUP

In addition to the above, Ralph Lauren introduced a highjewellery Stirrup, a timepiece that combines jewellery andwatches. This watch was introduced when Ralph Laurendebuted its new jewellery collection. This version of theStirrup features 1500 diamonds, in 12 different sizes, for atotal of nearly 25 carats.


16 POST-GENEVA europa star

CLASSICAL OFFENSIVE ANDRETREAT OF THE UFOS

RPierre Maillard

AAt a very opportune time, the 17th of January,at the very same moment the SIHH was open-ing its doors and the first guests were liningup to pass through the mandatory electronicsecurity detectors, Richemont published itsnumbers for the last quarter of 2010. Verdict:sales were up 23 per cent at a constantexchange rate (33 per cent in local cur-rencies), providing a turnover of €2.107 bil-lion. In the stands that bordered the vast hall-ways of the Salon, the CEOs rubbed theirhands together while waiting for their regularcustomers. The ‘elements of their communica-tion language’ had been carefully chosen andthe collections they were about to reveal borewitness to this strict selection: ‘rigour, classi-cism and thinness’ would be the key wordsthis year. But for those diehard macho fans of the‘Hummers’ of the wrist or those amorous ofbling bling, they need not worry. There willalways be something for everyone and,despite this neo-classic offensive, they will

have no trouble finding, here or there, whatthey require to adorn their substantial wrists(on this subject, see the article Watches ForReal Men by Keith Strandberg in this issue). If they didn’t find what they wanted amongthe 19 exhibitors at the SIHH, they couldalways slide into one of the limousines thatwere already warming up their engines in theadjacent hallways, waiting to take visitors toprivate suites in a number of hotels along thelakeside or to the GTE, a show for indepen-dent brands. Paradoxically, in spite of the efforts made bythe SIHH, external exhibitions have taken ongreater and greater importance each year.Around this grand flagship, increasing num-bers of brands—and not the least significantamong them—gather to showcase theirwares. The Swatch Group was quite presentthis year and inaugurated two exhibitions—Jaquet-Droz and Breguet—with a world first,the Type XXII ticking at 10Hz, or 72,000vibrations per hour. LVMH also came out inforce with TAG Heuer where they showcased,along with fabulous race cars, another worldfirst—the TAG Heuer Carrera Mikrograph, acolumn-wheel chronograph displaying 100thof a second. Zenith, in full renaissance, heldits exhibition at the Kempinski Hotel, while

Hublot made a big splash at the MétropoleHotel on the other side of the lake.The Franck Muller group organized its ritual‘World Presentation of Haute Horlogerie’ atits site in Genthod near Geneva. A number ofpowerful independent brands also took place,including Corum, which took advantage ofthe occasion to reveal the coherence of itsnew collections (see our next issue). In ad-dition, all of the Geneva-based brands, in amore discreet manner, invited the most influ-ential retailers to their headquarters. We alsomust mention the luxury niche watchmakersthat exhibited along the lakeside, such as DeBethune, Christophe Claret, Jean Dunand,Urwerk, Bovet, Antoine Preziuso, DeLaneauand deLaCour, to cite only a few of the morethan 100 brands present during this hecticweek in Geneva. Given all this outside activity, the SIHH triedto eliminate or at least contain as far as pos-sible this potential loss of visitors and capital.This year, the Salon was much stricter in theselection of its invited guests and the ruleswere more clearly defined and communicatedto the interested parties—quite understand-able since it was the SIHH brands that paidthe plane tickets, hotel rooms and nights onthe town for their guests.

Art.Pierre111_Art.Pierre111 17.02.11 10:44 Page2

europa star POST-GENEVA 17

The importance of consistency Let’s visit, first of all, the corridors of the SIHH(even if, as residents of Geneva, the journalistsat Europa Star owe nothing to anyone and arethus perfectly free in their movements). Wenoted from the beginning that the key word ofneoclassicism was followed to the letter at theSalon and that a strict low-calorie diet wasenergetically enforced, everywhere. Sizes hadbeen reduced, the excess trappings hadmelted away and the faces had been cleanedup. But, in this exercise of generalized fitness,those brands that have always been fit are theones that did better. In this category, theuncontested prize went to Piaget, which sawitself rewarded for never having deviated fromits line, for always remaining faithful to itsgenes—in other words, for being thin and el-egant. “The ultra-flat is our religion,” affirmedthe brand’s CEO Philippe Léopold-Metzger,who was happy to note that it was not thebrand that needed to follow the trend butrather that the trend caught up to it. Piaget introduced an impressive array of 64new models, as well as its thematic collection,designed to specifically celebrate the ChineseNew Year. While the current trend favoursPiaget, the brand realized that it is necessaryto also satisfy its principal market. It did nothave to change its nature in order to offer,

among others, a wonderful demonstration ofelegance with its Altiplano collection. Thisfamily of timekeepers was born in 1957 withthe 2-mm Calibre 9P followed in the 1960sby an automatic version, the Calibre 12P, thethinnest automatic movement in the world.Let’s remember in passing that of the 29movements developed up to now by Piaget,17 are ultra-flat. Metzger is thus right to singthe praises of his brand’s expertise in thisdomain, a domain that has returned to thecentre of attention. He thus expects, after2010, a “very good year and an explosion ofsales, especially in Asia”. While the Altiplano collection is still as thin, it isnow available in three different sizes—38mm,40mm and 43mm. Very exacting and rigorousworkmanship can be seen on the differentdials of the Altiplano family, emphasizing thequintessence of readability and display: batonhands, small seconds, alternating simple and

double baton indices on clear and importantdials. Even with the totally pavé-set dials—Piaget remains, of course, a jewellery house—the Altiplano conserves its luxurious simplicity.Moreover, a new calibre demonstrates thatPiaget’s expertise in thinness is not merely aslogan. The 5.5-mm Calibre 1270P, composedof 200 pieces, can claim to be the flattest tour-billon in the world. Based on two other move-ments, the 1208P (which brings its automaticwinding system using a micro rotor, one of thebig hits of the Salon, as well as its system forcorrecting the time) and the 600P (which pro-vides the tourbillon escapement whose cageweighs only 0.2 grams), the 11270P is a formmovement in the unusual cushion shape thatwas designed specifically for its case. Thesophisticated symbiosis between the form ofthe movement and the case has allowedPiaget’s designers, who inversed the architec-ture and the arrangement of the elements ofthe movement (placing the micro rotor, barreland regulating organ on the dial side) to createa magnificent watch that is only 10.4mm thick.The operational functions can be seen througha sapphire dial that has been laser-engravedwith a sun pattern. At the back of the watch,two openings have been created, one reveal-ing the other side of the tourbillon, the otherdisplaying the power reserve indicator.

ALTIPLANO by PiagetULTRA-THIN TOURBILLON by Piaget

Calibre 1270P by Piaget



The most beautiful watch of the seasonAnother big brand that was already in linewith the neoclassic trend is VacheronConstantin. Above and beyond its simplestmodels, the Geneva manufacture presented awatch that we can qualify, without hesitation,as the most beautiful watch seen during theGeneva watch week regardless of category:the Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time. Thefirst particularity of this magnificent timepieceis that it is the first wristwatch to show the 37time zones used throughout the year by thenations of the world. We can count amongthem 13 half-hour or even quarter-hour timezones, for example Katmandu in Nepal. (In all,there are 43 time zones around the world, ofwhich six are only used during part of the yearfor winter and daylight savings times in theNorth and South poles). The second particular-ity is that the day/night indicator is not in asmall window, as is usual, but can be viewedvia a tinted sapphire disc for half of a darkerzone that rotates over the world map. As poeticas it is practical, it lets the wearer see nightcoming and to immediately understand whichpart of the night is found in some other location.The third particularity and not the least, is thateverything can be adjusted easily using a singlecrown, thus conferring upon the 42.5-mm pink

gold case an allure of classic purity. Driven by thenew 8.10-mm automatic 2460 WT calibre, com-posed of 255 component parts with its oscillat-ing weight mounted on ceramic ball bearingsand featuring a 40-hour power reserve and thePoinçon de Genève hallmark, the PatrimonyTraditionnelle World Time has another advan-tage that is as unbeatable as it is perfectly cali-brated—its price, at €28,900. This will undoubt-edly be a future ‘Watch of the Year’.Moreover, in its Patrimony Contemporainecollection, Vacheron Constantin introduced avery lovely Perpetual Calendar, readable andpure in form, equipped with a 4.05-mmCalibre 1120 QP, which is one of the flattest

perpetual calendars in the world. The brandalso emphasized its personalized series ofQuai de l'Ile timepieces, introduced in 2008,which has added dials with alternating verti-cal satined and opaline finishes as well as a newperpetual calendar movement with a retro-grade date display. More than 700 differentvariations and combinations are available.Finally, Vacheron Constantin is re-editing apiece dating back to 1954. Larger than theoriginal, the Aronde has been revisited andcorrected so that the curves of its ‘swallowwings’ are softer. The piece unmistakablyevokes the organic forms that were in vogueafter the war.

Italian and American nostalgia A similar nostalgia for the ‘dolce vita’ of the1950s presided over the launch of the newPortofino collection by IWC. The Schaffhausenmanufacture has obviously bet heavily on therevival of a very classic collection born in1953. The brand has pulled out all the mar-keting stops, to the point that it seems it hastried too hard to alter destiny at any price. Itsbooth evoked the cinematographic décor of thesmall but very select Italian port that inspiredthe name of the collection. A grand soirée, ‘ANight in Portofino’, offered Italian food andan avalanche of stars (Kate Blanchett, Kevin

PATRIMONY TRADITIONNELLE WORLD TIME by Vacheron Constantin

ARONDE by Vacheron Constantin

PERPETUAL CALENDAR by Vacheron Constantin


www.jean-mairetgillman.com

Ho

ra

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i iii

César Jean-MairetFounder

A passionate watchmaker’s homage to heritage and classicism.

36 Avenue Cardinal-Mermillod1227 CAROUGE – Switzerland

T +41 22 703 4020 F +41 22 703 4029www.jean-mairetgillman.com

distribution enquiries to [email protected]


Spacey, Jean Reno, Zinedine Zidane, etc.). Theevening’s activities were photographed byanother star, Peter Lindbergh. It was a really bigaffair to launch the entirely renovated and com-pleted collection ranging from the very simplethree-hand automatic with date equipped witha Calibre 35110 (a Sellita Calibre SW300), sell-ing for approximately €3,500, to the manual-winding power-reserve model equipped withan IWC Calibre 59210 and featuring an extralarge barrel ensuring nine days of workingreserve. In between is a chronograph withdate and day as well as a Dual Time equippedwith a new in-house 72-hour double-barrelcalibre. Round and elegant, it is offered on aleather strap (from the well-known Italianhouse, Santoni, for the dual time zone andmanual-winding models) or on the very flex-ible and lovely Milanese link bracelets, whichalso evoke an air of nostalgia. IWC’s essen-tially commercial offensive was similar on anumber of points to another offensive led byBaume & Mercier. At the booth of this Geneva brand, nowdirected by Alain Zimmermann, formerly atCartier and IWC and an adept of storytelling,another type of décor also evoked a film studio, but this one was dedicated to theupscale Hamptons, situated on Long Island.Rather than Fellini’s Dolce Vita, it was the

America of the Kennedys that Baume & Merciercalled to mind. Illustrations of happy families,nice couples and charming children, barbecuesat the foot of the sand dunes, elegant interiorsmade of light wood… ‘Life is about moments’was the theme used to initiate this new adven-ture and relaunch of the brand. After havingexperienced a number of re-orientations, it isnow positioned in the category of ‘eleganceat a correct price’, in other words, at pricesranging from €2,000 to €4,000.The exemplary watch of this renewal, evoking

strong retro accents, is the Capeland flybackchronograph, directly inspired from a 1948timepiece. With its form reminiscent of a pebblepolished by the waves, its short horns, its Arabicnumerals, its telemeter and tachometer scales,this watch is very successful in its 1950s styleand is perfectly emblematic of the revivalsought by Baume & Mercier. Driven by an auto-matic Bi-Compax calibre from Lajoux-Perret, itis available in steel or in red gold on a blackcrocodile strap. It has the lovely allure of a time-less classic, although not revolutionary and isperfectly representative of the SIHH 2011.

The playful Germans Another latitude, another type of horlogerieand another approach were found atA.Lange & Söhne. Not having obtained, itseems, the expected sales results, FabianKrone had to cede his position, in September2009, to Jérôme Lambert, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre, who came on a temporary basis toget the Saxon manufacture ‘back on track’.Yet, based on the products proposed, thebrand seemed to be operating quite in linewith its standards. We might recall, for exam-ple, the last launch managed by FabianKrone—a piece with a very interesting digitaldisplay, the Lange Zeitwerk.

PORTOFINO DUAL TIME by IWC

CAPELAND FLYBACK CHRONOGRAPH by Baume & Mercier



Now managed by a new CEO, Wilhelm Schmid,who came from the commercial and market-ing division at BMW, A.Lange & Söhne hasnot deviated from its journey but has added asmall playful touch to its particular type ofwatchmaking—one that is still very Germanand orthodox. It also seems that the manu-facture has geared to a higher speed. Of theforty movements it has created totally in-house since 1994, the date of its renaissance,11 have come out over the last two years, ofwhich five are new movements for 2010-2011 and equip six new models presentedthis year at the SIHH. Among them, one thatstands out is the ‘Richard Lange TourbillonPour le Mérite’, featuring an innovation in theform of a mesmerizing dial that denotes the‘new spirit’ that is wafting through the hills inGlasshütte. A magnificent regulator designedwith three circles that divide the dial to dis-play minutes, hours and seconds, this new‘Pour le Mérite’ tourbillon is equipped with afusée-and-chain mechanism for energy trans-mission. Inspired by a pocket watch realizedby Johann Heinrich Seyfert—the explorerAlexander von Humboldt was among hisdemanding clients—it hides a mechanism thatis as original as it is surprising. The tourbillonseems only partially visible, covered in part bythe hour display. But this part of the dial disap-

pears instantaneously when the hour handreaches 12 o’clock, affording a complete viewof the usual superlative finishing of the tour-billon carriage and the mechanism. When thehand comes to 6 o’clock, the dial returns toits place in an instantaneous jump. Another remarkable realization is the newLange Zeitwerk Striking Time. As its name indi-cates and with its visible hammers and gongs,this timepiece chimes the passing hours andquarter-hours.

A.Lange & Söhne is also considerably enlarg-ing its Saxonia collection with the introductionof a new flatter automatic movement, a man-ual winding version, a dual time model and, inkeeping with the current trends, a Saxonia Thin,whose movement is 2.87mm thick, placed in a5.9-mm case. We will return to the Saxoniacollection in an upcoming issue.

Playing on the ‘dark side’Another brand in the Richemont group that hasseen a change in leadership, Roger Dubuis isnow directly managed by Georges Kern, alsoCEO of IWC. Kern proceeded to a majorrelaunch of the brand by totally redefining itscollections. The year 2011 marks the firststep of this initiative that, while drawing onthe savoir-faire acquired by the brand in termsof movements (30 movements created in 15years, verticalization of production, includingsprings and escapements, although access tothe spring production site remains off-limits),will involve reining in the brand stylisticallywhile redefining its target audience.Roger Dubuis is henceforth qualified as ‘a littleextravagant’, not worried either by ‘a touch ofaudacity’ or by playing a little on ‘the dark side’of existence. ‘Dark’ is also a theme of the new

RICHARD LANGE TOURBILLON POUR LE MÉRITE by A. Lange & Söhne

LANGE ZEITWERK STRIKING TIME by A. Lange & Söhne



La Monégasque collection, evoking gambling,casinos and risk. It is also seen in the world ofwarriors and samurais in the brand’s high com-plications, while the world of divas, femmefatales and seduction applies to the femininetimepieces. Finally, the world of ‘adventurersand thieves’ inspires the future sports watchcollection to be presented in 2012.Although flirting with the limits of politicalcorrectness, Roger Dubuis is more restrainedin its products than in its communication. Inour opinion, this is a good thing. The LaMonégasque collection, in particular, demon-strates this very well. While remaining effusive,always with a few touches of exuberance (asseen in the improbable La Monégasque Clubleather strap evoking the gentlemen’s clubChesterfield, whose dial is carved from tor-toise shell), the new Roger Dubuis style hasbecome more elegant. Without totally bathingin the minimalism that reigned in all the otherbooths, the cases here have thinned down, theproportions have been revisited and superflu-ous elements have been removed. The watchoffers new and more graceful harmonies. Fortyreferences make up the heart of the offer,with prices ranging from CHF 12,000 to CHF70,000, made up of automatic chronographsand other useful complications, limited seriesand the ‘Millésimes’ showcasing the brand’s

mechanical savoir-faire and custom design.Roger Dubuis has also placed the accent onthe movement, having made major efforts inreliability, control, homologation and rational-ization of its totally independent production, allof which is 100-per cent certified with thePoinçon de Genève hallmark. It has also devel-oped 30 calibres in 15 years, a too rapid rhythmthat brings up questions of quality over thelong term as well as of competiveness. The newbase that has given birth to the new family ofmovements is called RD680. This 13"' auto-matic calibre with a micro rotor has beenentirely revisited in both design and fabrica-tion. According to Grégory Bruttin, responsiblefor movement development, these changeshave resulted in the ‘improvement’ of fourcomplications: double tourbillon, flybackchronograph, perpetual calendar and a skel-etonized tourbillon. We will also come back, inan upcoming issue, to Roger Dubuis’ refocus-ing, in terms of style and quality.

Legitimacy in Haute HorlogerieThere was no ‘refocusing’ at Cartier, butrather a marked deepening of its watchmak-ing orientations begun during the precedingseasons. This year, a particular accent wasplaced on haute joaillerie and the Métiersd'art with a splendid Cartier d'Art collection

incorporating stone mosaics, plique-à-jourpaillonné enamel, wood marquetery, mother-of-pearl and grand feu champlevé enamel.(For more on these pieces, as well as the newfeminine Délices de Cartier, see the article bySophie Furley in this issue.) On the Haute Horlogerie masculine side, theteams led by Carole Forestier continue theirefforts to fully legitimize Cartier in this sector.Four new movements have thus been proposedand are used in a Rotonde Astrorégulateur, aMultifuseaux Calibre, a skeleton flying PashaTourbillon and an Astrotourbillon Calibre.The Astrorégulateur is particularly revealing ofCartier’s grand ambitions in this domain. It isimpossible to detail all its inner workings inthis article so we will return to it in an upcom-ing issue. We can, however, simply say that itinvolves an alternative to the traditional tourbil-lon, whose escapement carriage passes by allpossible centres of gravity and averages timedisparities in vertical positions, thus providingbetter isochronism. The watchmakers at Cartiertook a whole different approach when theydesigned this original system for compensating

LA MONÉGASQUE by Roger Dubuis RD680 by Roger Dubuis


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CALIBRE ROYAL featuring multiple integrated complications. Fully designed and built in Pequignet’s Haute Horlogerie laboratory. This unique 13 ¾ Calibre, with a maximum thickness of just 5.88 mm, houses all complications on its original main plate: Double Large Day and Date Windows, 88-hour Power Reserve Indicator, Large Moon Phase and dual direction automatic winding system. 21,600 oscillations/hour (3 Hz). Initial force distribution by a central large barrel axis. High-inertia large balance with compensating screws. These features create an exceptionally accurate and reliable timepiece. This masterpiece of watchmaking innovation and technology represents Plato’s “Beauty is the splendour of the truth”, when the multiple complications of Haute Horlogerie combine in perfect symmetry and elegance.

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for the negative effects of gravity. They placedthe escapement, the oscillator and the secondpendulum directly on the rotor,which, in the ver-tical position, always returns to the same posi-tion, thus offering a single centre of gravity, thusallowing the watchmaker to regulate the oscilla-tor in this unique position. In addition, two dif-ferentials let the variable speeds, which aretransmitted to the rotor by the movements ofthe wrist, be changed into constant speed. Thisensures regular operation of the second pendu-lar that moves with the micro rotor, whoseweight is in platinum. Placed in a very light andsuperbly finished niobium-titanium case (circu-lar-grainedmain plate, bridges that are bevelled,drawn and decorated with the Côtes de Genèvepattern). Stylistically all Cartier—two overlap-ping displays on the dial, transferred Romannumerals, monochrome tones in grey, slate andsilvered—the Astrorégulateur is protected byfour patents and testifies well to the “profoundengagement by Cartier in the development ofHaute Horlogerie,” as affirmed by the brand’smanagers.Another good example is the innova-tive Multifuseaux whose indication of the sec-ond time zone is placed laterally.

Regarding the other brands of the Richemontgroup presented at the SIHH, see our specialJaeger-LeCoultre publication delivered with our

Europe edition, as well as our Cover Story onRalph Lauren and the articles by Sophie Furleyand Keith Strandberg.

Classicism of the independentbrands at the SIHHAs for the independent brands participatingin the SIHH, we noticed the same trends.Classicism, minimalism and vintage influenceswere especially evident at Girard-Perregaux andParmigiani—a small vintage, we might say, inregard to the latter. Parmigiani introduced anew collection, the Tonda 1950, whose namesays it all. It is the first ultra-thin classic watchmade by the manufacture and features hours,minutes and small seconds, as well as a new2.6-mm 13¼"' automatic movement, the PF701. It features a power reserve of 42 hoursand an off-centred micro rotor, decidedly invogue this year and is placed into a fine casemeasuring 7.80mm in thickness and 39mm indiameter. From a design point of view, theessential codes of the brand have been wellrespected, notably the profile of its very char-acteristic horns. And, as usual, the finishing isperfect—nickel-silver main plate with a sand-blasted, circular-grained and rhodium-platedfinish; drawn, hand-bevelled and rhodium-plated bridges; chamfered, milled and circulardesigns on both sides of the gears. In addition,

Parmigiani (which stated that it made 5,000watches last year and whose verticalization isnearly complete following its new productioncentre in Moutiers) is presenting a new versionof its Bugatti Super Sport. The new movementis not on a transversal axis like the precedingmodel, but on a vertical axis that conservesnonetheless the lateral reading of time, madepossible by a system of returning the hour at90 degrees composed of double pinions withconic gearing. Finally, Michel Parmigiani per-sonally delved into the realization of a uniquepiece (with a price tag of CHF 3.5 million) inthe form of a world first: a small table clockwith a Hegira Calendar, working on a cyclic

ROTONDE ASTRORÉGULATEUR by Cartier MULTIFUSEAUX CALIBRE by Cartier

TONDA 1950 by Parmigiani



base of 30 years. We will return later to thisvery interesting timekeeper.As we all know, Girard-Perregaux had a verysad year with the death of its charismatic leader,Gino Macaluso, who passed away in October2010 at the age of 62. His two sons, Stefanoand Massimo, joined by their mother, have takenover the reins of the Sowind group that alsocontrols JeanRichard. This transition has beenhappily carried out up to now, especially impor-tant since Girard-Perregaux is celebrating its220th anniversary this year. These difficult circumstances certainly explainwhy Girard-Perregaux presented only a fewnew pieces at the SIHH. These are essentially

classic or commemorative in nature, such asthe very lovely and stylistically pure GP 1966Tourbillon Anniversary with its elegant tourbil-lon bridge and its superb rocking arms. Anotherreference to the 1966 is its new and very pureSmall Seconds on an enamel dial that, with itsrailroad motion works, is one of the loveliestclassics of the season. Two watches presentanother look to the past, also Vintage 1945,with the famous Art Deco inspired rectangu-lar case, the XXL (even though it measures‘only’ 32.25 x 36.20 mm) and the Lady with acase set with 70 diamonds. In the femininedomain, there is a new version of the Cat's Eye,featuring small seconds.

The two pillarsAt Audemars Piguet, which affirmed hav-ing produced 25,000 watches in 2010, thenew models are divided between the two pil-lars of the brand, the Haute Horlogerie andthe Royal Oak (regarding the new Royal Oakwatches, see the article in this issue by KeithStrandberg). The manufacture, located in LeBrassus, also makes its contribution to thin-ness, purity and classicism with a totally revis-ited and increased Jules Audemars collection:an Automatic version with date and centralseconds hand; a 28.40-mm Extra-Thin, one ofthe flattest movements in the marketplace,the in-house Calibre 2120; a Petites Secondes;a Dual Time; and a Moon-Phase Calendar. Thisallows the brand’s 560 points of sale to satisfythe varied demand of the new adepts of under-statement (the Chinese are quite emblematicof this trend and Audemars Piguet enjoyeddouble-digit growth last year in China).The brand’s most marked new watch is theMillenary 4101, equipped with a new and dedi-cated calibre in an oval form, like its case. Whatis most interesting is that the three-dimensionalconstruction has been inversed to show all themechanical activity at the front of the watch.

GP 1966 TOURBILLON ANNIVERSARY by Girard-Perregaux

BUGATTI SUPER SPORT by Parmigiani

VINTAGE 1945 by Girard-Perregaux



This view of the mechanism required perfectintegration between the movement’s engineer-ing and the case’s design. The regulating organis particularly visible. Located at 9 o’clock, it hasa variable inertia balance with eight weightsand the palettes and the escapement wheelcan be clearly seen through the opening thattraverses the thickness of the movement. Thebridges and decoration accentuate the three-dimensional appearance. On the back of thepiece is the off-centred oscillating weight with aceramic ball bearing reverser. It is a lovely watchpositioned harmoniously at the crossroadsbetween classic watchmaking and very con-temporary design. We also find this delicatepost-modern balance in the new manual-wind-ing Millenary Répétition Minutes (165 hours ofpower reserve assured by two barrels, with athird barrel dedicated to the minute repeater)equipped with an Audemars Piguet escape-

ment. The regulating organ of the Calibre 2190is composed of two balance springs placed in a‘sandwich’ arrangement and inversed 180degrees, which allows for the auto-compensa-tion of any problems related to the balance.

Being your own classicContrary to its colleagues, Richard Mille wasnot tempted to follow the call of renewed classi-cism, unless it is the brand’s own classicism.Adept already for a number of years in combin-ing lightweight with robustness, the brand has,however, decreased the thickness of its move-ments. In this vein, Richard Mille presented anew ultra-flat automatic calibre, the RM 033,measuring 2.60mm in thickness. To attain thisthinness, the brand integrated an off-centredand bi-directional platinum micro rotor (again,another one!). To ensure the robustness of the

fine interlacing elements of this skeletonmovement, the main plate, bridges and bal-ance-cock are made in Grade 5 titaniumplated with Titalyt or PVD (for the bridges). Avariable inertia balance, fluted screws and aceramic crown with a double O-ring jointmake up the other elements of this thin butnonetheless very ‘Mille’ timepiece.Continuing in the domain of the ultra-thin,Richard Mille also presented an ultra-flat tourbil-lon set in a rectangular case, the RM 017 (pre-sented as a prototype last year) that has beenentirely revisited and whose main plate andbridges are also in Grade 5 titanium. Equippedwith a blocking system preventing too muchtension due to over winding, the RM 017 fea-tures a function indicator inspired by the gearboxes of cars. This crown function displays a W(winding), an N (neutral) and an H (setting).Devoid of the encasing circle, the movementis directly mounted on the ‘chassis’ and fixedby four titanium screws and by silent blocks.They are, however, only two of the many prod-ucts coming out of the Richard Mille pipeline.This year, the brand also launched the following:the RM 026, a high jewellery tourbillon that,under its sapphire crystal, includes two three-dimensional snakes made of rubies, emeraldsand diamonds on a black onyx main plate; theRM 029, an automatic large date indicated by

JULES AUDEMARS COLLECTION by Audemars Piguet MILLENARY 4101 by Audemars Piguet

MILLENARY RÉPÉTITION MINUTES

by Audemars Piguet


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two discs and carried by a rotor with a variablegeometry (made up of two adjustable wings onsix different positions as a function of the moreor less active lifestyle of the wearer); the RM030, an automatic featuring a rotor with vari-able geometry that can also be disconnected,thus letting the disconnected rotor turn freelyfrom the movement already mounted on theblock; and the RM 038 designed for BubbaWatson, the left-handed golfer who is nearlytwo metres tall and known for his long drives.After tennis star Rafael Nadal, Watson will testthis ultra-resistant magnesium-tatalium skel-eton tourbillon under real conditions. “My type ofwatchmaking has a little aspect of rock n’ roll,”confided Richard Mille, “but on the technicalplan, it is always very, very serious. I always haveseveral projects in motion at once. This is evenmore exciting given that the lifespan of watchproducts tends to get shorter and shorter, mean-ing that we must constantly create. But it is oklike that.” With 2,500 watches sold in 2010, theadventure is going well and will, as promised byMille, “always remain on a human scale”.

One watch per year and per personOn a scale more ‘than human’, at GreubelForsey, the production—and what amazingquality it is—is limited to 100 pieces per yearin both good and bad years, supported by

around 100 employees. With the rate of onewatch per year per person, Greubel Forseyundoubtedly beats all world records, includ-ing that held by Philippe Dufour, the great‘Master’ with which the brand shares the exi-gency for quality finishing unlike any other.Faithful to its mission, it is evocative of the‘reinvention’ of the great mechanical classicsand suggestive of the notion of ‘rediscovery’(rediscovering, for example, the tourbillon inall its forms, such as the tourbillon 30º or thedouble tourbillon). Greubel Forsey takes thetime to develop and certify its pieces before

perpetuating its inventions, as is the case ofthe Invention Piece 2 with 594 componentsthat pays tribute to the Quadruple Tourbillon.This piece is composed of two double tourbil-lons, one positioned at a 30-degree angleand making one rotation per minute, whilethe other is inversed and makes a rotation infour minutes. They are linked by a sphericaldifferential that averages their operations.With this degree of complexity, where thehour indications become secondary, the priceclimbs very high—CHF 730,000 for eachof the 11 pieces made in platinum and

RM 033 by Richard Mille RM 017 by Richard Mille

DOUBLE TOURBILLON 30º TECHNIQUE by Greubel Forsey



CHF 750,000 for the 11 made in red gold.Another remarkable timepiece, notably for theexcellence of the ‘guarantee’ of its chronometry,is the brand’s Double Tourbillon 30º Techniquein platinum, which is equipped with four co-axialin-line barrels thus obtaining a power reserveof 120 hours at an amplitude of 120 degrees.

The best kept secretA high technical level—basing its approach onthe highest traditions in order to better enhanceits pieces—and a high design quality can befound at another independent, but this timeexhibiting outside of the SIHH: De Bethune.This brand is perhaps the best kept secret of allthe brands created less than ten years ago. Toovercome the relative unfamiliarity of what isone of the most compact, innovative and com-plete small manufactures in Switzerland (40people, 200 to 300 pieces produced per year),De Bethune just hired Pierre Jacques, a formereditor (GMT), former retailer (Les Ambassadeurs,Geneva) and now CEO of the company foundedjointly by Denis Flageollet, watchmaker andDavid Zanetta, a connoisseur and businessmanwith an eye for aesthetics.Denis Flageollet stated that, with De Bethune,“Pierre Jacques has received the keys to ahealthy company. All the design and technicalcanons of the brand have been established;

nothing has been done merely for the shortterm or only for commercial reasons; the styleis unique; the research is advanced; thesavoir-faire has been mastered. He has noexcuse!” We have confidence in him.This year, as testimony to the art of watchmak-ing according to De Bethune, is the DB28.Emblematic of the brand’s particular style withits strong identifying codes—totally originalspherical moon; silicon/palladium balance(balances are one of Denis Flageollet’s favouredavenues of research); triple pare-chute shockabsorber system; self-regulating twin barrels;patented floating lugs that easily adapt to allwrist sizes; beauty of the blued screws; etc.The DB28 is a ‘wearable piece of art’ that is asgraceful, lightweight (case in titanium) andergonometric as it is fully contemporary, if not

even a bit futuristic (with price tags rangingfrom CHF 80,000 for a titanium version toCHF 87,500 for a watch in red gold).Wanting to show those who might be over-whelmed by the contemporary aspect and thusdon’t see the classicism, adapted to the 21stcentury that underlies De Bethune’s timekeep-ing, the brand is also presenting a timepiece inthe form of an authentic regulator for the wrist,the De Bethune Régulateur Tourbillon. Its tour-billon carriage weighs only 0.18 grams, thelightest in the market and spins once every 30seconds. Its architecture comprises 50 compo-nent parts, of which the lightest weighs lessthan 0.0001 gram and the heaviest is 0.0276gram.” A technical exploit in the service ofchronometry. Thanks to its lightness, its fre-quency of 36,000 vibrations per hour and itsmaximum rotation speed result in a minimumof inertia. This high-tech watchmaking move-ment equips a timepiece whose dial features ablued titanium night sky adorned with goldenstars that would not displease those whoappreciate 18th century regulator clocks.Among the characteristics is a central jumpingseconds hand with double palettes that subtlyadds rhythm to the piece. With its very niceworkmanship, the Régulateur Tourbillon isamong the most beautiful pieces seen duringthe Geneva week.

DB28 by De Bethune RÉGULATEUR TOURBILLON by De Bethune



Brand launch Not far from De Bethune, in another hotelsuite, Christophe Claret has ‘leaped ahead’,we might say. After its remarkable Dual Towintroduced last year—the first piece that theconstructor-manufacturer presented under hisown name (he is also a partner with ThierryOulevay at Jean Dunand)—and on the occa-sion of its 20th anniversary, Claret presentedhis second piece, the Adagio. He will introducehis third watch, which is apparently ‘spectacu-lar’, at BaselWorld in March. Christophe Clarethas launched his own brand.The Adagio is a minute repeater with a largedate and GMT, whose design is as pure andclassic (and clothed in a suit of black onyx orlapis lazuli or white gold) as the Dual Tow was‘post-industrial’ with its steel chenilles andpawls. Here, we find an elegant dial, with indi-cations well distributed under deep goldenopenings. Does this represent the birth of anew Claret style? For the answer, see the nextissue, the Europa Star Special BaselWorld2011 edition.

Sunbeams at the GTEAt the GTE, the sun was shining. That ofFrédéric Jouvenot, winner of the GTE SuperWatch Award given for his radiant Helioswatch, is a sun composed of twelve sunbeams

that are shining at noon but dark at midnight.At the centre of the sun is a small circularmodule measuring 5mm in thickness and12mm in diameter, from which emanate the12 sunbeams representing the hours. Thismodule, on which is attached the minute disc,includes a mechanism that causes the hourbeams to pivot a half turn that corresponds tothe hour to be shown. At noon, all the beamsare golden, but then, hour after hour, theyinstantaneously pivot on themselves until allbecome dark at midnight. At 1 o’clock in themorning, the day begins again and the firstsun beam begins to shine. At 1 o’clock in theafternoon, the first black beam appears. A superb mechanical-poetic realization, theHelios offers an original way to read the time,both by using colour and mechanical anima-tion, becoming thus a 24-hour instantaneousreading. For a young brand, this is a lovely mas-terpiece and in keeping with current trendssince the sunbeam animation remains very pureand classic, in a delightful, lightweight andmodern case. The finishing is also excellent(sides of the bezel finely engraved with aGrecian geometric frieze, reminiscent of theplace where Frédéric Jouvenot first ‘dreamed of’the Helios). To purchase this superb timekeeper,you will have to lay out CHF 49,000 for the DLCversion and CHF 47,200 for the titanium

version. (We will look at Frédéric Jouvenot’swatches in more detail in one of our next issues.) This year, the GTE brought together not lessthan 54 exhibitors, all independents but all dif-ferent, offering a form of richness, we mighthave thought, if not for the fact that times aremore and more difficult for the small players!(We will return to the changes that are restruc-turing the watchmaking landscape in ourRetrospective-Perspective 2010/2011 to bepublished in our next issue, the Special Basel-World edition.) It is impossible to detail all ofthe GTE exhibitors here, but we will take alook at a few, especially those in the mechan-ical domain. Undeniably, the major buzz at the GTE wasthe presence of the new ‘former’ watchmaker,Laurent Ferrier. He is considered the newpope of great neoclassic timekeeping, withhis ‘secret tourbillon’ hidden under a roman-tic night sky that is one of the most beautifulenamel pieces seen in Geneva during theweek (the well-known Anita Porchet was theartist). We will also come back to this interest-ing timepiece at a later time. Another watchmaker working in the classicsense appeared at the stand of a new brandwhose name evokes its ambitions: HeritageWatch Manufactory. Created by a handful ofinvestors centred around Christian Güntermann

HELIOS by Frédéric JouvenotADAGIO by Christophe Claret


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with the goal of launching a brand for ‘verita-ble connoisseurs’ with the key word being‘chronometry’, Heritage engaged the exclusiveservices of a well-known watchmaker, KarstenFraessdorf, who had just left a rather unfortu-nate adventure with the Fabrication de MontresNormande. With his head full of projectsdesigned to improve traditional chronometry,Fraessdorf arrived with various key ideas in hisluggage. Among them was a very large inertiabalance, beating at 18,000 vibrations per hour,similar to those used at the dawn of timekeep-ing. The very solid Vivax balance and theSequax escapement, both patented, are drivenby a barrel with two balance springs, eachdeveloping 3.4 kilos, procuring 50 hours of con-stant force on its 72-hour power reserve. Theseare not the only patents awarded to this lovelymovement. Another device lets the balancespring be maintained or removed withoutdeforming it, thus offering the possibility of veryaccurate adjustment. A different mechanism,also patented, facilitates the adjustment of thebalance-cock.Besides the talents of Karsten Fraessdorf,Heritage called upon the graphic gifts ofdesigner, Eric Giroud, responsible for some ofthe most remarkable watches of the last fewyears. From this great collaboration came twoamazing timekeepers: the Tensus, a watch with

a traditional and simple appearance featuringhours, minutes, small seconds at 6 o’clockand power reserve indicator at 9 o’clock andthe Magnus that features hours, minutes andsmall seconds. It is particularly remarkable inits Contemporaine version with a dial that hasvolume but is devoid of anything superflu-ous. Without a doubt, the Heritage WatchManufactory will do justice to its name. At Louis Moinet, the extraordinary creativeefforts of Jean-Marie Schaller over the last fewyears seem to finally be bearing fruit. The year2010 was “excellent” and encouraged thebrand to “expand its research into materialsand different ideas even further”. Louis Moinetwatchmaking, as conceived by Mr. Schaller, hasin fact invested in an area that it can now right-fully claim as its own: its relationship with thestars, which we saw last year in the form of anexceptional planetarium. This year, we find thissame relationship in a piece called Astralis.This triple complication offers a tourbillon quali-fied as ‘astral’ that is on a main plate made ofaventurine, a gemstone shining with lots ofsmall ‘stars’. It features a flyback column-wheelchronograph in blued steel and a 24-hour plan-etarium. This mechanism makes one rotation aday and presents four planets successfully in awindow. The planets are placed on plates madeof meteorite embedded in a disc: Mars, with a

piece of one of the 75 Martian meteoritesinventoried in the world; Mercury, with a frag-ment of the Sahara 99555, a unique meteorite,the oldest known rock of the solar system (itsage is estimated at 4.566 billion years) and thatcould well have come from Mercury, althoughthis is not scientifically proven; the Sun, repre-sented by the Itqiy meteorite, coming from anasteroid that formed after the sun; and theMoon, coming from one of the 100 lunar mete-orites found in the world. Designed and realizedwith a high regard for detail, such as the ‘shoot-ing star’ flyback hand or the ‘dew drop’ of theother hands, with its harmonious Côtes du Juradesign and its 18K 46.5-mm pink gold case, theAstralis is offered in a limited series of 12pieces. It is certainly emblematic of the excellenttimekeeping offered by Louis Moinet. A younger brand, since it was recently createdby two cousins, Laurent and Julien Lecamp,the Cyrus brand demonstrates solid inten-tions in the art of watchmaking with two col-lections. Kuros is a large, well-designed watchequipped with an automatic movement basedon an ETA 2094 calibre, made in gold or ti-tanium, which features a second crown at 9o’clock whose single function is to hide a platebearing the number of the watch. Available ina limited series, the Kuros is exemplary interms of its execution.

KLEPCYS by CyrusASTRALIS by Louis MoinetTENSUS by Heritage Watch Manufactory



In addition to this piece, another impressivewatch is the Klepcys, realized in collaborationwith Jean-François Mojon (designer of the out-standing Opus X, among others). A triple com-plication, it proposes a surprising display (par-tially inspired by some of Urwerk’s advancedresearch). The hour is read over a 180-degreesector with a strong retrograde ‘hand’ com-posed of dice that, when rotating, alternatelymark the day and night. The minutes and sec-onds are read linearly in the interior extensionof this hand, on two respective central discs.Between 1 o’clock and 4 o’clock, a retrogradedate is indicated using a scale of 0 to 9. Finally,a very lovely detail can be discovered at 5o’clock—a hyper-realistic spherical moon thatshows the phases of this astral body thanks toa semi-spherical lid that gradually covers thelunar surface. These ‘beginners’ have created avery remarkable watch.Still in the mechanical domain, another initiativecomes from Pierre Thomas, a brand foundedby Pierre Galli, a dial maker and ThomasEngeler, a watchmaker-constructor. These twomen slipped a large and very airy tourbillon oftheir own design into ancient Fontainemelonmovements, with the ébauches dating back to1870. Placed at 8 o’clock and mounted on twoarms, this large tourbillon offers a splendid viewof its inner workings, itself located in a ‘well’ of

light that traverses the movement. This piece isat the height of their classic ambitions and isanother demonstration of traditional excellenceand purity. With hours, minutes and small sec-onds (at 6 o’clock or at 9 o’clock), it is proposedon a mechanical base dating back to 1930.Superbly finished, the dials are available inblack mother-of-pearl, meteorite, or brown orred lacquer and the exquisitely designed curvedcylindrical case measures 49mm in diameterand 12.70mm in thickness. In terms of num-bers, quantities are modest, with 100 pieces forthe tourbillon model, 200 pieces for the hour,minute and small seconds model, but the qual-ity is great. It is impossible to discuss all the mechanical in-itiatives seen at the GTE or in the Geneva hotels.We will return to many of these brands, some ofwhich are also exhibitors at BaselWorld, in ournext issues.

These marvellous flying follies To end the hectic watch week in Geneva on adifferent note and to demonstrate that if neo-classicism has returned to centre stage,watchmakers on the edge tend to proposesome really crazy timekeepers. We thus, take asmall visit to HD3 and Artya. In their highly different approaches, these twobrands show two opposing horizons of watch-

making. In his provocative fashion, Jorg Hysek,co-founder of HD3, wants to show that thephysical play of the gears, rods, cams andother regulating organs has reached its end.He has now designed a classic and very hautde gamme case, which does not enclose amovement but whose curved crystal is a tactilescreen. Like a smart phone, you can slide yourfingers across the screen to bring up all sortsof virtual timekeepers, fulfilling all the desiredfunctions. This watch can change its appear-ance at will and can store photos or even beused as an agenda. At €4,000 euros, notincluding the various available downloadablemodules, will the Slyde catch on?

At the opposite end, Yvan Arpa, also a bornprovocateur, is betting on the extreme individu-alism of watches, whose cases he treats withlightning. He is now going even further, notwithout a bit of humor and stuffs his move-ments with electronic components used indesigns or imprisons horrible insects in a glueof his own invention. The art of watchmakingaccording to Arpa is devoid of all good tasteand of any notion of political correctness. It isa sort of Dadaist timekeeping. After so much‘good taste’, a little voluntary ‘bad taste’might be considered as acceptable and helpsto put things in their place. O

TOURBILLON by Pierre Thomas SLYDE by HD3 SPIDER by Artya


205mmx265mm

europa star ADVERTISER’S SpoTlIghT

This year at BaselWorld, MIRA is delighted to launch its ladies’

watch collection: Fée Céleste. The collection is a combination

of stylish elegance served by retrograde technology. MIRA’s

designers and watchmakers have combined their talent to create a story-

telling timepiece.

This year, MIRA introduces its own interpretation of feminine watch-

making through three Fée Céleste models, available in diamond-set

steel or embellished with a diamond-set 18K pink gold bezel. The case

has a diameter of 43mm offering quite audacious and modern volumes

for ladies’ watches. The Fée Céleste collection definitively speaks to

ladies’ at the forefront of fashion.

The M107 style is the star product from the collection. The inspiration

came from an article about swans that MIRA’s designer discovered

purely by chance. Swans are also known as “Love-birds”; they are a sym-

bol of “True Love”. They never leave each other once they have formed a

couple. This tale portrays the graceful movement and romance about

swans. MIRA’s designer has illustrated the beauty and purity of swans on

each watch for women to admire.

The 18K pink gold bezel is hand-set with 80 diamonds. Red topazes adorn

the lugs; a feminine touch recalling the color of the MIRA star. Also glitter-

ing on the crown is a diamond set at the center of the brand’s star logo.

The black mother-of-pearl dial is transformed into a piece of art by

MIRA’s talented watchmakers. With its fabulous diamond-tiara between

8 and 9 o’clock, and its gorgeous layered feathers crafted with diamonds

and mother-of-pearl, the curving, bejeweled (totaling 72 diamonds)

image of a swan floats gracefully around the dark lake of the dial, waiting

for her loved one to arrive, this is a simple love story that every woman

dreams of. MIRA’s collections always awaken the imagination.

A retrograde minute arc on the tip of the swan’s tail adds fun and sur-

prise to the reading of the time. In the background is the sparkling black

aventurine, inspiring the wearer’s imagination of a star-studded night

sky. To complete the splendor, the hour display at 12 o’clock is picked out

with 12 brilliant diamonds, they are sparkling like 12 shining stars. And

the brand’s star logo stands out in the sky, representing one of the bright-

est variable stars in the universe, the MIRA.

In the heart of the watches beats a self-winding mechanical movement

offering a retrograde minutes function, highlighted by a beautiful “Swan”

motif on the dial preciously adorned by diamonds, mother-of-pearl and

aventurine. The diamond-set bezel and delicate engraved mother-of-pearl

watch case back contribute to the Fée Céleste’s refinement.

About MiraEstablished in 1896 in Switzerland, the Swiss watch brand MIRA was born

with an inextricable connection with the Universe: its name was derived

from a star, namely, a giant and powerful red binary star 350 light years

away from Earth, residing amidst the constellation of Cetus. The star was

discovered by astronomer David Fabricius in 1596 and later named by

Johannes Hevelius in 1662 as “MIRA”, meaning “wonderful” and “aston-

ishing” in Latin.

MIRA today carries a 4M logo standing for Miraculous, Marvelous,

Magical and Magnificent. These characteristics perfectly fit with its latest

watch collections; Merveille de l’Espace, Odyssée d'Univers and Fée Céleste.

www.mirawatch.ch

Today’s Spark Tomorrow’s SparkleTHE EXQUISITE AND STYLISH LADIES WATCH DESIGN TAKES MIRA INTO A NEW ERA

PR_Mira111_PR.Mira111 15.02.11 11:35 Page1


LLadies’ timepieces were certainly not forgottenthis year as brands at the SIHH, the GTE andthose presenting in the suites of the Genevahotels presented some exquisite ladies’ time-pieces, exclusively and unconditionally designedfor women. New designs, creative concepts,magical mechanics and experimental tech-niques were all called upon to seduce thefemale client who has never had such a largechoice of fine timepieces.

METIERS D’ARTS One of the most delightful trends currentlysweeping the watch industry is the revival oftraditional watch crafts. Enamelling, gem-set-ting, engraving, wood marquetry, the use ofsemi-precious stones and more have returnedto modern day watchmaking after a long inter-mission. This return to the arts follows the gen-eral tendency towards traditional watchmak-ing. It started over a decade ago with therebirth of the mechanical watch, and has nowembraced a multitude of historical watchmak-ing crafts whose techniques came very closeto disappearing forever.

Jewellery brands are perhaps the best quali-fied for artisanal work in their watchmakingworkshops thanks to their expertise in a var-iety of different crafts. Cartier is one such brandthat has been developing its artistic time-piece collections that they call their Métiersd’arts collections. This year Cartier presenteda menagerie of animals using a variety of newand traditional techniques.

Cartier’s menagerieThere are six different timepieces in this newcollection that not only continue these artisticcrafts, but reinvent them in totally new ways.One of the most stunning examples of this is

the Rotonde de Cartier Turtle whose dial is cre-ated as a miniature mosaic with 1,167 piecesof stone measuring only 0.75mm square and0.4mm thick. Onyx, tiger’s eye, falcon’s eye, yel-low Pietersite, carnelian, yellow jasper, palmjasper, Kalahari jasper, yellow agate, mossagate, coral and mother-of-pearl are delicatelycut and positioned to give the turtle its colour,shape and form. All the stones are fixed andcemented to ensure an even surface, a processthat takes over 60 hours to complete.

Another artistic piece in Cartier’s collection thisyear, and that definitely deserves a mention, isthe Rotonde de Cartier Polar Bear. This enam-elled timepiece is created using plique à jourpaillonné enamel. The technique dates back tothe 14th century and is a complex process that

This year’s Geneva shows revealed that the ladies are just as hungry for new watches as their male counterparts, with new products galore.

RSophie Furley

TIME FOR THE GIRLS

ROTONDE TURTLE by Cartier ROTONDE POLAR BEAR by Cartier

New

advertising campaign by Baume & Mercier

Art.Sophie111_Glashutte610 16.02.11 16:14 Page2


results in a stained glass window effect (Forenamel techniques see The witchcraft of watchcraft on www.europastar.com). White goldstars, called paillons, are also applied to theenamel to create a starry night sky effect.

A voyage with Van Cleef & ArpelsVan Cleef & Arpels presented another an-thology of Poetic Complications and Extraordi-nary Dials this year with a number of collec-tions dedicated to the author and adventurerJules Vernes.Jules Gabriel Verne was born in France in 1828and is often referred to as the father of sciencefiction. His most famous novels include TwentyThousand Leagues Under the Sea,A Journey tothe Centre of the Earth and Around the Worldin Eighty Days.Verne’s tales relate the wondersof space, air and underwater travel even beforethe invention of the airplane or the submarine.Verne’s adventures gave Van Cleef & Arpels’sdesigners strong themes for inspiration. “Wetake something, a book, a place, a work of art,and see how we can translate it into watchesand jewellery,” notes Nicolas Bos, Van Cleef& Arpels’s Vice President and Director ofCreations. “Plato, Shakespeare and Jules Verneare all storytellers…we continue their storiesin new directions,” he explains.The stories that the brand has chosen to con-tinue take the watch lover to the South Pole,through the jungle and across the planes ofAfrica using a variety of artistic crafts thatbring each timepiece to life.

Peter Tanisman brings a personaltouch to watchmakingAs Swiss traditional watch crafts are making acomeback across the female watch segment,Peter Tanisman has decided to celebrate awell-known art form from his own Turkishhomeland. Iznik ceramic is named after a townin western Anatolia where it was made andwhere it reached the height of its popularityin the sixteenth century. This highly decorativepottery is instantly recognisable with its floraldesigns and the use of different shades ofblue. Peter Tanisman has interpreted this tra-ditional art in his Caroussel line of timepiecesusing enamel techniques that bring out thebeauty of the Iznik design on both the dialand the spinning barrel below. The timepiecephotographed here is the Nicée model and

depicts two emblematic flowers in Turkishfolklore: The red tulip, associated with eternallove, and the Myosotis, better known as theForget-me-not. The Nicée is created in 18-carat white gold with 62 diamonds and awhite satin strap lined with red leather.

WHAT’S THE TIME CINDARELLA?To wear, or not to wear a watch with anevening gown has long been a controversialquestion. There are certainly many eleganttimepieces that would not look out of place,but should ladies really be checking the timeon such refined occasions? For women whohave to work in the morning, knowing thehour is of utmost importance, and no, a quickpeak at the illuminating screen of a cell phoneis certainly a no no.The solution: a secret watchhidden in a bejewelled bracelet that providesboth a beautiful piece of jewellery and thefunction of a timepiece.Secret watches first appeared in the 1800sand are now making a comeback, much tothe delight of today’s jewellers and highsociety ladies.

A little Magic from DeLaneauDeLaneau has reinforced its reputation as the‘jeweller of the watch’ this year with the unveil-ing of an extremely intricate secret watch. Thecreation is called the Magic and is a sculptureof baguette rubies that spiral around a gold

EXTRAORDINARY DIALS by Van Cleef & Arpels

NICÉE by Peter Tanisman MAGIC by DeLaneau



dome. The difficulty of setting the dome is afeat of jewellery engineering as each perfectlymatched ruby is cut into a different shape andset around the dome. The gem-setter starts atthe bottom and works upwards in a spiral,leaving no margin for error at the pinnacle ofthe dome. A closer look at this delicate time-piece reveals an articulated bracelet with acombination of baguettes and micro-cut dia-monds displaying the huge talent of DeLaneau’sgem-setters. The hidden timepiece below isequipped with a small mechanical movementand is accessed by sliding the dome to the leftor the right for a peak at the time.

Piaget’s Garden PartyPiaget never fails to delight and surprise thecrowds at the SIHH and this year was no excep-tion. On the one side were the world recordslim movements for men, and on the other, aselection of jewellery and timepieces forladies around the theme of a garden party.Cherry blossom, cocktails, birds and gardenlanterns were represented in necklaces, rings,earrings and a selection of ladies timepieces.Piaget’s secret watch is created in white goldwith white chalcedony and precious stonesdepicting cherry blossoms on a white satinstrap. The floral face slides to the side toreveal a secret watch beneath. This femininetimepiece is part of jewellery collection thatfollows the same theme with a cherry blos-som ring and a necklace. For more informationsee our sister magazine www.cijintl.com.

TOM BOYSAt the complete opposite end of the spectrum,the trend for more masculine looking watchesis also gaining in popularity. Many womenlove to steal their husbands’ or boyfriends’timepieces to make a bold fashion statement,and watch brands have been observing thisphenomenon for some time now.

Richard Mille’s sexy snakesRichard Mille is one brand that provideswomen with it all – a powerful watch with afeminine touch. One of the brand’s star intro-ductions at the SIHH was its RM 026 tourbil-lion with two gem-set snakes. These two ser-pents are set with rubies, emeralds, diamondsand red coral (for the tongue) and intertwinewith the tourbillon movement. “We have manyglamorous pieces, but it hasn’t been easydue to our technical/macho image,” explainsRichard Mille. “We pushed for years, but now itis working well,” he says. No concessions havebeen made with regards to quality: a tripartitetonneau case, a tourbillon, a newly developedpower reserve indicator and torque limitingcrown all add to the attraction of this imposingtimepiece that will look good whether it’s onthe wrist of the husband or his wife!

JeanRichard makes a splashAfter the success of its 2010 Aquascope Ladycollection, JeanRichard has released two newversions for 2011. The Aquascope is a sport-chic diving watch with a professional water

resistance of 300 metres and JeanRichard’sJR1000 automatic movement. This retro-inspired collection is a reinterpretation of a1960s model with the brand’s distinctiveround bezel on a tonneau case, rotating alu-minium bezel, satin finishes and red touches.This year’s new releases include the AquascopeLady Day (in white) and the Aquascope LadyNight in an intense black. The Night versioncombines the masculine nature of the blackdiving watch, with its black case, bezel andstrap, and the glamour of a ladies timepiecewith eight diamond indexes and a fabric strap.

MECHANICS FOR GIRLSThe popularity of mechanical movements inladies timepieces gains ground every year aswomen become more knowledgeable aboutwatchmaking. “At the high-end ladies areoften making the choice, but their husbandsare sometimes reluctant to invest a lot ofmoney in quartz” shares Van Cleef & Arpels’sNicolas Bos, “We like to offer the choice - somepeople really like mechanical while othersprefer quartz,” he adds. There is no arguingwith the practicality of quartz, but a mechan-ical movement gives a little extra magic to atimepiece that has been crafted with suchattention to detail.

RM 026 by Richard Mille

AQUASCOPE LADY NIGHTby JeanRichard



Quinting’s crystal mechanicsQuinting is best known for its mystery move-ments that are hidden with the help of sapphirecrystal components. Each Quinting movementis made using several thin toothed sapphirecrystal discs that are superimposed onto eachother. The brand’s chronograph, for example,has 13 thin layers of sapphire, seven of themare stationary and six (the ones holding thehands) are mobile. As an aside, Quinting pro-duced the stunning Mysérieuse movement forDior. Predominantly a brand focused on themale client, Quinting is now offering a myriadof timepieces for women with a variety of dif-ferent gem-settings.

Roger Dubuis treats the ladies At the heart of Roger Dubuis’s Excalibur Ladylies the RD821 in-house mechanical move-ment, hallmarked with the prestigious Poinçonde Genève and certified by COSC, which areboth rare in a women’s timepiece. It isn’tonly the movement that has received RogerDubuis’s attention, this 36mm timepiece incor-porates a number of design cues from themen’s Excalibur collection – a characteristicindented bezel, triple lugs and Roman numerals– giving this timepiece a distinctive femininetwist. The dial is decorated in tapered Roman

numerals that stretch across the face of thewatch, along with a satin sunburst design anda variety of diamond settings.

STRIKING SHAPESWatchmaking may be veering towards a returnto the classics for men, but it seems that theladies are not ready to go back to the small,round timepiece of yesteryear just yet. Newand unusual case shapes made their appear-ance all over Geneva.

Demoiselle D, love-me, love-me-not…The Demoiselle D booth at the GTE was defi-nitely the most difficult place to get into inJanuary. There was always someone in deepconversation with the brand’s husband andwife team, Jean and Véronique Muller, a verygood sign for this newcomer to the watchindustry. Demoiselle D’s timepieces are res-olutely feminine with their cases inspired bythe shapes of flowers (for the DemoiselleRosa and Demoiselle Capucine collections)and orbiting planets (for the Demoiselle Oline). All three collections are unique in theirform and we look forward to seeing and hear-ing more from this resolutely feminine brandin the future.

Cartier’s DelightCartier has always liked to play with forms inits ladies’ collections and this year the brandoffered a new collection called the Délice. The

case is shaped in a twisted oval with diamondlinks and bezel as well as an integrated brushedcanvas strap or bracelet. It is available in threesizes in both pink gold and rhodium-platedwhite gold. The shape is a little disconcertingat first glance, but once on the wrist it is a realdelight. Photographed here is the XL model inrhodium plated 18 carat white gold with 5.23carats of diamonds on the dial, bezel and lugs.

SOMETHING SPECIALThere are different ways to personalise a time-piece and people have been engraving dates,messages and initials on casebacks since thevery first pocket watch. As the global marketplace reaches further and further a field, it isjust as easy to find the same timepieces in

TRANSPARENCY by Quinting

EXCALIBUR LADY by Roger Dubuis

DÉLICE LADY by Cartier



remote places as it is in the big cities, makingthe quest to be unique even harder. Personal-ising a timepiece is one way to have some-thing special and many watch brands are pro-viding ways for their clients to individualisetheir watch.

A frame to fillJaeger-LeCoultre has been offering the possi-bility to personalise the second face of itsReverso watches since the model’s inception,however the brand never really promoted thefact as such. For the Reverso’s 80th anniver-sary this year, Jaeger-LeCoultre has decided toshare its passion for the decorative arts andall the possibilities for personalising a Reversotimepiece. A visit to the brand’s engravingworkshop revealed just some of the specialrequests that have been realised over theyears - from diamond set initials and lac-quered monograms to enamel miniaturepaintings and engraved portraits – a beautifulway for a client to add his or her own creativ-ity to a timepiece and mark the time.

Time in pairsDeLaneau launched an interesting new con-cept for women this January by offering any ofits watches in a set of two. The idea is to createa bond between women by proposing two-of-a-kind timepieces that link two ladiestogether. The pairs could be for a mother anddaughter, sisters, best friends or business part-ners, for example, creating a link between

them and their appreciation of time. The firstpair of DeLaneau timepieces will be created asmirror images in the brand’s Atame collection.For a lady who falls in love with the design ofone of the pairs, but doesn’t necessarily wantto buy two, the link is not necessarily lost asshe will have the opportunity to contact theowner of the twin timepiece and perhapsacquire a new friend as well as a new watch.

“Life is about moments”It is easy for us to get lost in the workings ofwatches, the savoir-faire, the distribution fig-ures and the prices, but it is important not toforget why watches are so dear to us. Most ofus remember our first watch as a child, andmost definitely remember our first luxury time-piece. Whether it was a present from a lovedone or a gift to oneself, a timepiece captures amoment in time: a graduation, a birthday, anew job, a wedding or the birth of a child.

Baume & Mercier presented a brand new con-cept during the SIHH this year - the celebrationof life’s moments - with an emotional contextof seaside living in the Hamptons. “It isn’tabout where you live, but more a mindset,”shares Rudy Chavez, Baume & Mercier’sPresident for North America. “It is aboutspecial moments that transcend generationsand cultures” he explains. Each timepiece ispersonalised by the reason for its purchase,and that is personal to everyone.

So as the January shows closed their doors andthe brands started to tally up their orders, itwas a joy to see that for women celebratingevents in 2011, there would be plenty ofgorgeous timepieces to choose from – fromhaute-joaillerie timepieces to striking shapedcases, mechanical marvels and sporty watches– maybe us girls don’t need an occasion afterall! O

ATAME by DeLaneau

LINEA by Baume & Mercier

Diane Kruger and GRAND REVERSO LADY ULTRA THIN by Jaeger-LeCoultre


44 BASEL PREVIEW europa star

TThe use of sapphire crystal in watchmakinghas become increasingly popular these lastfew years (See our article Crystal clear onwww.europastar.com), but it is nothing newto the craftsmen at Century, who have beensculpting this tough material for more thanhalf a century.

Beauty and lightThe majority of high-end watch brands usesynthetic sapphire crystal to cover and protecttheir dials. The material has amazing propertiesas it is not only close to scratch-resistant, but itrefracts so little light that it provides an almostunobstructed view on the dial. Yet, when it iscoloured, hand-cut and polished like a preciousgem, the light subtly shimmers off the surface,just enough to reveal a hint of the architecture,dimensions and lines within. Each of Century’screations is a crystal sculpture - from the ninefacets of the brand’s Empire line, to the 40facets of the art deco inspired Couture pieces,

and all the way up to the breathtaking 192facets of the Mogul collection - the complexityof each piece is considerable.

Resistance and enduranceCrystal is no easy material to reshape. It hits astaggering 9 on the Mohs scale, closely fol-lowing the diamond that holds the top pos-ition at 10 Mohs. This extreme hardness hin-ders its malleability, making it extremelydifficult to work with, but gives it a lustre thatwill last forever. Century’s master craftsmenand women have been sculpting sapphirecrystal for over 50 years and it is this artistry

Watch crystal has come a long way over the last fifty years, but no one fashions it quite like Century does.

RSophie Furley

ELEGANCE LADY

Century – elegant, resistant and transparent

Century111_Century111 17.02.11 08:01 Page2

europa star BASEL PREVIEW 45

that enables the brand to bring both strengthand sparkle to ladies timepieces in such anelegant way.

New releases – Elegance Lady New this year is the brand’s ‘Elegance Lady’timepiece from its Contemporary TimepieceCollection. All 48 facets of the sapphire crystalthat span the bezel and dial are expertly cutand polished by hand, resulting in a myriad ofreflections that highlight this stylish ladies’timepiece. The Elegance Lady is available intwo sizes – 23mm with a quartz movement

and 32mm with an automatic movement –and is fitted with a black or white mother-of-pearl dial, six diamonds (totalling 0.032 dia-monds) and a steel bracelet.

The Prime Time Chronograph LadyThe sapphire crystal case of the new Prime TimeChronograph Lady has been designed in adodecagonal form. The 12 sapphire crystalfacets produce both a strong design and arobust timepiece that will be able to take onthe knocks and scrapes of today’s busy women.A date at 4 o’clock, central seconds, chrono-

graph subdials, a mother-of-pearl dial and whitecrocodile strap complete this bold timepiece. Sapphire crystal is not something that thewatch industry pays much attention to, maybebecause it is hardly visible, but it is one of themost fascinating crafts associated with watch-making. In our next issue (no. 2/2011) we willbe taking a closer look at how Century’s sapphirecrystal is created, from the drawing board tothe final piece – so stay tuned. O

For more information about Century click onBrand Index at www.europastar.com

PRIME TIME CHRONOGRAPH LADY

Century111_Century111 17.02.11 08:01 Page3

europa star

AAt a time when watchmakers look in the mir-ror every morning and think “China, China,China” as they shave, there is one brand forwhich China is the mirror. For more than fiftyyears (since 1959), this brand has been solidlyanchored in this vast nation. It has traversedthe trials and tribulations of the country,from the Cultural Revolution to the currentopening, from the most intransigent Maoismto today’s most original single-party capitalism.It is thus with a very special awareness—anda particular distance—that Daniel Schluep,representing the third generation of the familyowners of Titoni, looks at the current obsessionfor China, a country that he knows extremelywell and in which he has travelled extensivelyfor some thirty years.Talking about his long time business partnerbased in Hong Kong—a family enterprise alsomanaged by its third generation—Schluep saysthat they “have known each other forever.”Together, each with a 50 per cent share, theyown an import company in Shenzhen, four dif-ferent branches (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhouand Changchun), eleven large brand boutiques(of which four are owned directly), and 700

points of sale in China, of which 450 are Titoni‘shop-in-shops’. All this is used to distributeapproximately 160,000 watches per year,but as Schluep adds, “an additional 100,000watches would not pose a problem in 2011”.

“It is good for Titoni”Contrary to what one might think, DanielSchluep looks favourably on the current rush ofnew competitors into the Chinese market. Hedoes not fear the mass arrival of brands wantingto take part in this immense playing field.Quite the opposite. He thinks that “it is goodfor Titoni”. He goes on to explain that “hardlyseven years ago, there was simply no ‘luxury’structure in China. The opening of this markethas transformed the traditional practices andnow it is possible to work in a much more pro-fessional, planned and efficient manner than

before. During these last seven years of majortransformations, we have also strengthened ourimage and our branding process. With the arrivalof the high luxury brands, of haute horlogerie,selling very expensive watches, the entire mar-ket has seen its watch level gradually rise. Thisperiod has also seen an increase in understand-ing and knowledge of timekeeping. All of thisclearly benefits us. Just think about it for amoment. Ten years ago, it was nearly impossibleto sell a COSC-certified chronometer in China.No one was interested in them. Today, morethan ten per cent of our watches are COSC-cer-tified and, believe me, the Chinese consumerplaces much importance on this fact. When hegoes home, he will patiently check the precisionof his watch. He will participate in all the onlinechat rooms and if he is not happy, he will nothesitate to come back and let us know.”

RPierre Maillard

Titoni, China from the inside

Titoni111_Titoni111 15.02.11 13:07 Page2

46 MARKETS

europa star

Avoiding trompe-l'oeilYet, while he views the current excitement andactivities with satisfaction, Daniel Schluep alsoknows how to differentiate the impacts of mar-keting from the realities in the field. “All thebrands sell watches in all the segments inChina. But, beyond the marketing effects, thereare many brands on the other side of the bam-boo curtain that are merely raising their stocks.It is for this reason that we have redoubled ourvigilance and, in a very precise and detailedmanner, we are closely controlling our sell-out,store by store, display by display, week afterweek. We know exactly what we have sold andwhere we sold it. The eighty people who workfor us are constantly in the field. I can assureyou that our organization has an iron will…”He opens a large file folder in which all thesales points in China are recorded, filed, andphotographed with their sales figures, theirdecorations and their quality of service.In looking through the file folder, it is easy tounderstand the extent of the network thatTitoni has patiently created throughoutChina, where no secondary city has beenignored. It even reaches to the outer marketsof the empire, including Tibet and Mongolia,not to mention the vast Chinese diaspora ofSingapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

A very classic marketFrom a stylistic point of view, has the opening ofthe Chinese watch Eldorado changed things, weask. “Titoni is and will remain a classic brand,with nine clearly defined product families, of

which eight lines are automatic, and one is auniquely feminine quartz line. In the near future,we are undoubtedly going to reduce our col-lection to seven well-targeted lines that willnonetheless maintain our classic orientation.You know, we cannot trust all the marketinghype. I believe that the current strength of thedemand for luxury comes essentially from thetrade itself, even if there will always be a Chinese

billionaire to purchase extravagant watches. Thecommercial base of the Chinese market, how-ever, remains fundamentally classic, even veryclassic. The Chinese consumer wants a seriousSwiss watch, one that is durable and precise. Histhree main criteria are: quality, quality, and qual-ity. And, he also wants totally irreproachableafter-sales service. The brand name is secondary.This, in a nutshell, is what guides us.”Apparently, Daniel Schluep is not worriedabout the increased competition, at least not inthe medium term. “China is so vast that, in themedium term, there is room for everyone. Inthe long term, it is more difficult to say, butbased on what is happening now, I believe thatthe great winner will be the Swatch Group. If

ever we should loose ground, part of our mar-ket share will be taken by the Swatch Groupsince it is the only player to also propose linesand brands in the segments and with the qual-ities that are comparable to ours, with pricesranging from CHF 600 to CHF 1,500 and anaverage price of around CHF 1,000. Our mostexpensive timepiece is priced at CHF 12,000for an automatic watch in a gold case.”

Titoni, a case apartDaniel Schluep continues, “You know, Titoni isconsidered to be a case apart. We are very par-ticular and we follow our own path, with discre-tion and consistency. We are totally indepen-dent, in perfectly good health, and we havevery close relationships with our distributors. Ina few years, the fourth generation of theSchluep family will be in the starting gate. I amthus very confident about our future, while stillremaining aware of the risks. The only limit to

our development is in our dependence onmovements. Ninety per cent of our pieces areequipped with calibres made by ETA, withwhom we have an excellent relationship. Forour products, there is really no viable alternativein Switzerland. We are therefore obliged, likemany others, to actively think about developingour own movement. Even though this wouldrequire a great deal of time and effort, we mustthink about it. To paraphrase Nicolas Hayekwho once said, ‘money is to me like painting isto a painter,’ I would say that ‘movements areto Titoni like painting is to a painter. Withoutmovements, there are no watches.’”O

For more information about Titoni click onBrand Index at www.europastar.com

Titoni111_Titoni111 15.02.11 13:07 Page3

47MARKETS

48 CASE STUDY europa star

WWhen, in 1984, barely out of the applied artsschool, Ecole des arts Appliqués, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the term ‘designer’ was not reallyused in watch ateliers. The creative tasks wereentrusted to designated designers in white labcoats. With his rock ’n’ roll allure—that hemaintains today—the young Rodolphe stuckout like a sore thumb in this conservative andvaguely ‘boring’ universe. He was interestednot only in watch design but he also avidly fol-lowed the developments in the worlds ofmusic, cinema and fashion.Contrary to all expectations, the young artistwith a rebel streak got along quite well with

the firm-handed CEO of Longines, Walter vonKaenel, who was also a highly ranked officerin the Swiss army. Von Kaenel undoubtedlyunderstood that he had, in Rodolphe, anopportunity to rejuvenate the brand. Thus, hegave the young man more and more responsi-bilities. Rodolphe was put in charge of watch

design and of the brand’s image. Often sent toItaly, he would come back with rather alarm-ing reports. He noted the rapid arrival of newcompetitors coming from the world of fashionthat were more reactive, more attractive to anew public and more in phase with currenttrends. His conclusion: Longines must reinventitself. During one of the friendly cocktail hoursthat Walter von Kaenel liked to organize onFriday evenings, the CEO gave Rodolphe achallenge:“Since you are more clever than theothers, make me a proposition!”No sooner said than done. The next Mondaymorning, Rodolphe went to see von Kaenel witha file folder full of drawings—actually preparedmuch earlier following his dreams and inspira-tions. His proposition was to create a sub-brandwhose collections would be inspired by fash-ion, something along the lines of, for example,a ‘Jean-Paul Gaultier by Longines timepiece’.

RPierre Maillard

Rodolphe – What’s in a name?In the beginning, there was ‘Rodolphe by Longines’, then ‘Rodolphe by Rodolphe’, and then simply ‘Rodolphe’,followed by ‘Rodolphe’ at the heart of the Franck Müller Group. Now, there is ‘Manufacture Rodolphe CattinSA’. In the small world of watch designers, Rodolphe is a case apart and the only one, without a doubt, thathas been able to impose a first name as a signature. It must be said that, without really having planned it,Rodolphe was a precursor, the first designer to have been made a ‘star’ by the brand that employed him.

Rodolphe Cattin

WITNESS

Rodolphe111_Rodolphe111 15.02.11 13:01 Page2

Von Kaenel opened his workshops to Rodolphe,giving him carte blanche and three months tocome back with everything—the collection,the prototypes and a communication plan.When asked in the workshops what to writeon the dials of the prototypes, the youngdesigner did not know what to say, so merelyanswered, “just put, Rodolphe”.When the collection was ready, it was presentedin a global seminar by Longines that broughttogether the brand’s international representa-tives in Hong Kong. The response was enthusi-astic and when it came to naming this newcollection, everyone insisted on “Rodolphe byLongines”. Launched immediately, this adven-ture would last eight years, with approximately60,000 watches sold per year.

First steps towards independenceFollowing this success, Rodolphe began receiv-ing requests from all over the world for his ser-vices, but he could not accept since he wasunder contract to Longines.Walter von Kaenelunderstood, however, and gave the youngdesigner what he wanted—his independencewhile also continuing to work for Longines.Rodolphe thus opened his own design studio,working 50 per cent for the Swatch Group and50 per cent for other brands, which offered nodirect competition.But, little by little, the situation began to dete-riorate. Apparently, Nicolas Hayek was some-what irritated by the success of ‘Rodolphe byLongines’. In parallel, but without a directcause and effect, Hayek took over the distribu-tion of his brands in Italy,managed by MarcelloBinda, a close friend of the designer. Leftwith only his single brand, Breil, Binda askedRodolphe to help him relaunch the Binda brandwith the aid of his design studio. It was anenormous success, but one that offendedHayek, who summoned Rodolphe to his office.Expecting to be sharply rebuked, the designerwas stupefied by what happened—Hayekactually asked him to repeat what he had donefor Binda, but this time, do it for Omega. The‘deal’ was destined not to be, however, becauseWalter von Kaenel’s verbal agreement with

Rodolphe precluded working for competitorbrands, including Omega, even if both Omegaand Longines belonged to the same group.Three months later, Hayek again summonedRodolphe to his office. In a new surprise, thehead of the Swatch Group closely questionedhim, calculator in hand, about each job and

each cost. Then Hayek offered a good price topurchase Rodolphe’s trademarked name, hisdesign studio, his employees, basically every-thing. It was a ‘take it or leave it’ propositionand Rodolphe had only the weekend to makea decision. Hesitating and not being able tosleep, he chose, at the end of the night, his lib-erty. Hayek angrily declared that Rodolphewas now the ‘enemy’ and that, in his opinion,he no longer existed. Hayek made the break-up official with a press release but the resultwas totally unexpected. Rodolphe was floodedwith offers of work.

From Rodolphe by Rodolphe toRodolphe by Franck MüllerTwo years later, in 1996, in parallel with hisflourishing activities as a designer carried outwith his associate, Gabriel Guidi, Rodolphedecided to create his own watch brand underhis own first name. He took the plunge with achildhood friend, Denis Bolzli, then owner ofLouis Erard. They had a strong design strategy,daring to create new collections every 18months, and a goal of carving out a distinct andrecognizable niche in the mid-range sector.

europa star CASE STUDY 49

ADORE


50 CASE STUDY europa star

In Switzerland at that time, though, the focuswas on intricate mechanical timekeeping. Itwas the era that saw the creation of the firstOpus timepieces by Harry Winston and thespotlight turned towards watchmaking’srediscovered ‘new mechanical frontiers’. Ageneral move upmarket followed.In 2004, Rodolphe moved upmarket, in turn,with a new partner, Jacky Epitaux, ex- Zenith, aman (now at the head of Rudis Sylva) who camefrom the same region as Rodolphe. The twomen already had the idea of working only witha network of local suppliers and equippingtheir watches with ETA based movementstransformed byDubois-Dépraz.Thewatch’s aver-age price would be around CHF 3,000. Theannouncement by the Swatch Group of gradu-ally stopping delivery of ETA movement kits puta damper on their long-term vision. So what todo?Move to quartz? Stop everything? Or find anindustrial partner, a manufacturer to work with?Rodolphe met with all the prospective brandsat the time. They all were, according to his cri-teria, able to offer a quality movement.They alsowere reasonably integrated manufacturers, thuscapable of ensuring strong distribution and hav-

ing ‘something charismatic’, like Rodolphe him-self. In the end, he met with Vartan Sirmakes, incharge of the Franck Müller group. Rodolphewas wary of his interlocutor, whose reputationleft a lot to be desired, and whowas reproachedby many for a multitude of things. The designerexpressed his reservations, offering preciseexamples of problems that involved suppliersnotably in the Jura region. But Vartan Sirmakeshad an answer for everything and provided solidarguments for his own side. And, Rodolphe felt

that he was a true professional. The two menagreed on the same strategy, which was to pro-pose an original mix of design and haute hor-logerie, offering something characteristic anddistinctive, and working only with the watch-making network in the Jura region. Their agree-ment was signed on 22 March 2005. Sirmakestook 51 per cent ownership of all the companiesthat had ‘Rodolphe’ in their name: Rodolphe &Co (the watches) and Rodolphe Montres &Bijoux (the design).

The winds of recessionDuring two and a half years, everything workedfine. “It was the grande classe,” as Rodolpheliked to say. The designs were validated, theprototypes also, the collections were manufac-tured, the offices were ready (as well as a suc-cessful bar named Rodolphe that was openedin Neuchâtel), and the orders started flowing in.The only thing left was to deliver the watches.But then, nothing happened.

It must be said that, in between time, the firstwinds of the recession began to appear, blowingparticularly early and violent over Watchland inGenthod, near Geneva.To weather the tempest,it was the flagship brand that had to be savedabove all, so Vartan Sirmakes announced thatall the other brands would be put on hold. InGeneva and in the canton of Vaud, 200 peopleout of 428 were laid off. All the others werecalled together to focus on the Franck Müllerflagship that was beginning to take on water.On top of all this, Rodolphe, who harboured acertain bitterness about the situation, hadserious differences with his partner GabrielGuidi. The two men no longer got along at all.In October 2009, Rodolphe decided to keephis 35 per cent share of the company, but toquit, leaving his former friend in charge ofthe brand. He quit all the operational func-tions within the group and thus, once again,obtained his freedom.

Adding a last nameto the first nameBut what was he going to do with his new-found liberty? He pondered the question and,

TEMPOVISION

TOURBILLON


europa star CASE STUDY 51

by his own admission, the watchmaker becamedepressed. He then left for Brittany in France, aregion that he loved—a little like the Jura onthe ocean—where he had time to think. Uponhis return to Neuchâtel, he created a designstudio called Rodolphe Design SA, with a smallgroup of five or six people, not more.In January 2010, after the relaunch of hisdesign business, Rodolphe went to the SIHHwith a friend, Thomas Müller, who was notfrom the local area. Müller sold tropical woodbefore becoming impassioned with watch-making. He joined Aquanautic, then becameresponsible for sales at Bertolucci before return-

ing to Aquanautic, but this time as thebrand’s CEO. When he left Aquanautic, hehad an idea for a brand that would beclosely tied to the region, in Chaux-de-Fonds—a ‘manufacture’ in the old style, inother words, using a solid network made upof complementary suppliers and associates.This idea was not displeasing to Rodolphe.Together, at the SIHH, the two men metwith a number of agents from around theworld that they had known for a long time.

All of them said the same thing, “With the cri-sis also comes opportunity”. But what did themarkets need, what were they asking for? Onthat point, too, everyone agreed. “What themarket wanted were real and beautiful ladies’watches, and for men, not divers’ watches (asthere were already too many on the market),nor copies of Patek Philippe or VacheronConstantin because of the importance ofauthenticity, especially today. What wasneeded was something new, of course, butsomething that made sense… and some-thing elegant.” In terms of price, the marketsalso demanded “an end to the so-often seen

discrepancies between the price and theproduct. The actual price was not so impor-tant since today prices are all over the map.But there was a condition—the price had tobe correct in relation to the product.”The two men agreed on the project, finalizedtheir partnership, and created others over thelong term with the movement designer andmanufacturer, Concepto, with a case maker, andan assembler, all local to the region.They organ-ized their company’s capital (Rodolphe main-

tains the majority) and created the ManufactureRodolphe Cattin SA. The first watches havejust been revealed.

Balls and dropsRodolphe went to work at his drawing board,visualizing purity, softness, a lack of ostentationand a restrained size. Beginning with the femi-nine timepiece, he designed his remarkable firstmodel—a curved watch, playing on its lines likea pebble, ending by little balls integrated intothe case, balls in which were inserted thebracelet and which offered a thousand decora-tive varieties based on their material, their typeof polishing and their stone setting.On the masculine side, these balls transforminto elongated drops using the horns, giving thepiece a soft vigour and a calm avant-gardism, ifwe can describe it thusly.Watches in steel, pinkgold, or black PVD with a variety of mother-of-pearl dials range from CHF 2,000 for a steelladies’ watch to CHF 3,000 for a men’s auto-matic, or even CHF 5,000 for a chronograph.From the beginning, however, Rodolphe Cattinhas also offered a higher level of timekeepersconsisting of tubular skeletonized tourbillons ordisplays using discs, designed in collaborationwith the ‘motorist’ Concepto, as well as minuterepeaters and other complications already inthe pipeline. In the realm of the jewellery watch,the brand proposes remarkable designs setwith diamonds, precious stones and pearls.The goal for the first year is to produce 1,000watches, later reaching 5,000. Some of themarkets that had advised the brand in thebeginning are now open and waiting for theirdeliveries, as is the entire Middle East, whetherQatar, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Oman or SaudiArabia, as well as Russia. Discussions are wellunderway in China with two different groupsand the hour of decision is not far off.As for theother markets, the Manufacture RodolpheCattin expects to open them soon with a newfirst and last name.They say that cats have ninelives. Rodolphe is now on his fifth.O

For more information about Rodolphe clickon Brand Index at www.europastar.com

WITNESS



AAs a result of the economic crisis, many watchbrands have revisited their collections andrefocused on traditional values – elegant,timeless, traditional timepieces that are thin-ner and smaller.However, that doesn’t mean that big watchesare depassé. In fact, big watches are alive andwell and selling strongly – as long as theyare big for a reason.

BIG FOR A REASONThe bigger watches that are succeeding arebig for a reason – sports watches with greatfeatures, watches with incredible compli-cations or watches with high water resistance,for example.Audemars Piguet introduced the new Royal OakOffshore dedicated toArnold Schwarzenegger,the Legacy (48mm).“A brand has to stick to itsvalues and to what it believes in,” explainsOctavia Garcia, Designer, Audemars Piguet.“We’ve been established in big watches since1992 with the Royal Oak Offshore. It’s alwaysbeen part of the way we develop things. It’snot about what’s in and what’s not, it’s aboutwho we are.And these are still selling.“The Legacy is really a powerful watch,” Garciacontinues. “The basis of this piece is the T3.Wehave been playing around with ceramics andwe thought this piece was appropriate for afull ceramic body, as it’s light but really robust.

The word on the street has been that the time for big watches is over and thin, elegant and small is in.Not so fast, say many brands who are succeeding well with larger watches.

WATCHES FOR REAL MEN


THE LEGACY by Audemars Piguet – Ø 48mm

LUMINOR SUBMERSIBLE 1950 3 DAYSAUTOMATIC BRONZO by Panerai – Ø 47mm

MEMOVOX TRIBUTE TO DEEP SEAby Jaeger-LeCoultre – Ø 40.5mm

WatchMen111_WatchMen111 15.02.11 13:41 Page2


We wanted it to be finished like our steelpieces, which are polished and sandblasted,but ceramic is seven times harder than steel, soit was a real challenge.”DeWitt has seen no downturn in interest inbolder timepieces. “The very, very large andheavy-in-look watches are of less interest,because they were like prototypes almost,”acknowledges Jerome de Witt of DeWitt. “Wecan’t continue to make watches that are toolarge. Our 46mm watch isn’t too large, theyare still in very high demand. People have

not stopped buying these watches. OurAcademia line is a very Dewitt line, big, boldand strongly styled.”Franck Muller was one of the first brands to capi-talize on the larger watch trend. “Franck Mullerwatches have always been about design,” saysRon Jackson, President, Franck Muller NorthAmerica. “We are succeeding with designwatches. We’re not doing well because we havebig watches, we are succeeding because wehave design watches that feature great shapesand interesting complications.”

BIG FUTUREBig watches are not dead, in fact, they are stillselling strongly. Today’s normal sized watches,42mm – 45mm, would have been consideredoversized ten years ago. Sure, the 50+mmwatches are losing steam, but large, impress-ive, bold watches are still quite popular.“Being a global brand, successful across theworld, it’s logical that TAG Heuer needs bothlarge and small watches,” says Jean-ChristopheBabin, President, and CEO, TAG Heuer. “44mmis our biggest watch. We never went to 48mm

AQUARACER 500M by TAG Heuer – Ø 43mm

TWENTY-8-EIGHT REGULATOR by DeWitt – Ø 46mm

DUALTOW NIGHT EAGLE by Christophe Claret 32.60 x 40 x 10.70mm

GIGA TOURBILLONby Franck Muller – 41.40 x 34.40mm

LONmm



because it’s not serious.We have a duty to betimeless and a 48mm timepiece will never bean every day watch.”

BIG AND BOLDTruth be told, big for big’s sake is pretty muchover, aside from a few notable brands. U-Boatwas one of the leaders of the big watch trendand they continue being oversized and bold.Ritmo Mundo has recently introduced a fewwatches, like the Persepolis Dual Time and thePuzzle, that are big yet very interesting.

Makers of technical sports watches, likeReactor and Luminox, have seen no downturnin sales of their larger watches. In fact, ascustomers demand more performance, morewater resistance, more shock absorbance,these watches have to be bigger to accommo-date these features.“I think it is just beginning, because big andbold makes a statement and better manufac-turers put more quality into their sport watchesso they stand up better against shock and anactive lifestyle,” says Jimmy Olmes, Presidentof Reactor. With this being said I do believethat watches have to be wearable -- once you

get over 50mm they tend not to be very com-fortable, especially when you have a 50+mmcase with a large crown on the traditionalright hand side.”Bigger watches also fit more people’s lifestyles,as the trend around the world is to dress casu-ally most of the time.“We've witnessed an obvious trend towards amore casual lifestyle that is clearly demonstratedin the attire people wear for work these days

PUZZLE by Ritmo Mundo – 34 x 48mm SR-71 BLACKBIRD by Luminox – Ø 44mm

RM027 by Richard Mille – 48 x 39.70 x 11.85mm POSEIDON by Reactor – Ø 48mm



versus some 25 - 30 years back,” says BarryCohen, President, Luminox. “Suits have almostbecome the exception.As a result,watches havemoved towards a larger more robust casualwatch style.This casual sport watch trend gainedsteam until it became very much the norm. Buttoday we've even seen way oversize watchesbecome so common that the average wearerbegan to wear larger and larger watches too.The very oversized watch remains for me a bitof a mystery as it is so large that it is rathercumbersome and uncomfortable. But peoplecan be slaves to fashion, and so this look isstill seen today.”Certainly, the big just to be big watches are lesspopular today.“While the monster-sized 49mmto 60 mm level has reached the point ofridiculousness, we still see a favourable activityin the 42mm to 46 mm sizes,” says Jeffrey Hess,President, Ball Watches. “One of our surprisehits this year has been our entry level FiremanRacer at a mere 40mm. One of our biggestsellers has been our cornerstone EngineerHydrocarbon series, which is indeed a bigger

bulkier watch. There is a market for taller,thicker watches, although our second biggestseller is the Engineer Hydrocarbon Magnate, aslimmed down version.”From a retailer’s standpoint, it only makessense to have a selection of sizes so that cus-tomers can choose what they want. And intoday’s world, with watch wardrobing andmultiple watch purchases, sometimes duringthe same retailer visit, having big and small,thick and thin, is the right way to go.O

OTTANA TOURBILLON by Bovet – Ø 46mm

ENGINEER HYDROCARBONMAGNATE GMT

by Ball Watch – Ø 40mm

PERSHING 002 CHRONOGRAPHby Parmigiani Fleurier – Ø 42mmPREDATOR CHRONO 24H by Rebellion – Ø 48mm


56 POST CARD europa star

CCelebrating 20 years, for many brands, isn’tsuch an incredible achievement, with somecompanies having hundreds of years of his-tory. For A. Lange & Söhne, however, it’s amilestone definitely worth celebrating.After hearing the challenges this famousGerman brand has gone through, you wouldn’tblameWalter Lange and his colleagues if theycelebrated every day of the year.Consider this: on May 8, 1945, the last day ofWorldWar II, Russian fighter-bombers droppedtheir payloads on his hometown of Glashütte,about 250 km south of Berlin, in an attempt to

hit a retreating German Panzer division. Thebombs blew up most of the hamlet, includingthe main watchmaking facility of his family’sbusiness, A. Lange & Söhne, which specializedin highly technical marine chronometers andhigh-end pocket watches with signatureGerman silver three quarter plates, proprietaryGlashütte lever escapements (for better timeregulation), and high complications (minuterepeaters, perpetual calendars, split secondchronographs and more).Then, in March 1946, even though the Langefamily had never been affiliated with the Naziparty and had done nothing more than makewatches during the war, the factory and allthe Lange’s possessions were seized via De-nazification Order 124. This decree was luck-ily overturned and revoked one month later,but the worst was yet to come for WalterLange. Two years later, on April 20, 1948, thenew regional authority seized the factory andall its assets once again, meaning the busi-ness that had been founded and operated bythe Lange family since its establishment in1845 was now in the hands of the EastGerman government.At the time,Walter Lange was working in thecompany repair shop, but once new manage-ment assumed control, he refused to answerto them— for which he was sentenced to toilin the uranium mines. Lange instead managedto flee the country and settle in Pforzheim,West Germany, another centre of Germanwatchmaking, where he assumed he’d neversee his ancestral watchmaking company, orGlashütte, again, so he went to work in watchdistribution for other companies.

Surprisingly, after all that conflict, Lange isactually thankful to the East German govern-ment for not destroying the A. Lange & Söhnename. After the Post-communist take-over,the company was called the People’s OwnFactory (VEB)A. Lange & Söhne, then MechanikLange & Söhne VEB, and then in 1951, it wasmerged with several other area institutionsto form Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe (GUB). TheEast Germans continued to make higher-endmechanical watches until the quartz revolutionin the early 1980s, when production switchedto inexpensive quartz watches, more than onemillion a year at their height.“By then, the namewas no longer used and, fortunately, never mis-used, for which I shall remain eternally gratefulto the GUB,” Lange, who will turn 87 in July of2011, says, incredibly, unable to hold a grudge.More incredible still has been the rebirth ofA. Lange & Söhne. When the Berlin Wall fellin November 1989, Lange saw some hope ofreviving his family's watchmaking legacy.He secured financial backing with the essen-tial help of watch industry veteran GüntherBlümlein, then went back to Glashütte, founda core group of watchmakers (who still hadboxes of vintage Lange movements and parts),and set about restarting the old company. OnDecember 7, 1990, 145 years to the day afterhis great grandfather Ferdinand Adolph Langelaunched the original A. Lange & Söhne,WalterLange registered the resurrected brand, LangeUhren GmbH. Not long after, Lange boughtback his family's buildings, including the orig-inal A. Lange & Söhne headquarters, wherethe company is once again based.On December 7, 2010, A. Lange & Söhne, nolonger family-owned but part of the RichemontGroup, held a grand party to celebrate its 20thAnniversary as the reborn company. It was heldWalter Lange


Postcard from Glashütte

Postcard111_Glashutte610 15.02.11 11:28 Page2

in the Palace in Dresden and offered a chanceto look back on the history of the company andtoast its bright future. New company CEOWilhelm Schmid, was also introduced. Schmid,47, comes from BMWAutomabiles.It’s truly incredible that Lange still remainsone of the few watch companies able to makethe majority of the critical parts it uses, includ-ing all of the three quarter plates and bridges(out of German silver, more aestheticallypleasing but much harder to work than othermaterials) and its own balance springs, ahuge achievement in watchmaking.

“In a sense, I think I was brave and courageousat the time, because we were starting fromnothing, and it was a real risk,” says WalterLange. “In any case, I started something newand Glashütte again became a centre of finewatchmaking. The mayor of Glashütte oncetold me that if we hadn’t have succeeded, youcould have turned off the lights in the town.

“I didn’t know at all how it would turn out,” hecontinues. “In 1994, when the first watcheswere ready and shown to 12 retailers, theystarted to applaud, and we knew it could work.It was a real relief to hear them clapping. If thenext 20 years of Lange are as good as the first20 years, we will be in fantastic shape.”Anthony de Haaf is the Director of ProductDevelopment for A. Lange & Söhne, and he isimpressed at what the company has beenable to do. “I have been here for six years and

the company has developed in an amazingway,” he says. “It’s been such a success story.We have developed more than 30 move-ments and we have built up the brand intosuch a position, it’s like a dream. There arestill a lot of things to do. The goal is that wewant to be one of the big brands, like PatekPhilippe, Vacheron and others. There are stilllots of great watches to develop. We have towork hard to keep it this way. To hunt is hard,but when you are at the top, you become thehunted, which is even harder.”Walter Lange, Haaf and the rest of the team inGlashütte and around the world are commit-ted to keeping the tradition of Lange alive andwell. “The intent has always been to be one ofthe best watch companies in the world,” Haafsays. “Making the best watches in the world isour goal, which may sound arrogant, but it’sbeen our target from the beginning. Lange isLange and it stands for something, which isan achievement. People buy Lange watchesbecause they are Lange watches, and we haveto take care of this and protect it.”

Having survived Russian bombs, homelanddivision, and a communist take-over,A. Lange& Söhne is here to stay. Congratulations toLange on 20 years and we here at EuropaStar hope that the company celebrates manymore anniversaries.O

For more information, please visitwww.langewatches.com

europa star POST CARD 57

Anthony de Haaf

Postcard111_Glashutte610 15.02.11 11:28 Page3

The Black Eyed PeasSix-time Grammy award-winning, multi-platinum recording artists, The

Black Eyed Peas have announced that they will release a brand-new album,

entitled The Beginning, on November 30th, 2010, on Interscope Records.

The Black Eyed Peas’ sixth album, The Beginning is the follow-up to the

group’s blockbuster CD The E.N.D. Released in June 2009, The E.N.D. has

sold more than 11 million copies worldwide, while spending 52 weeks on

the Billboard Top 200 chart.

The Black Eyed Peas have shot a video for “The Time (Dirty Bit),” first

extract of the new album, with director Rich Lee, who also directed the

Peas’ “Imma Be Rocking That Body” video, as well as clips for Eminem,

The All-American Rejects, Fergie and the Pussycat Dolls.

The watches Ice-Watch® collaborated with the superstar group «The

Black Eyed Peas» by placing a watch “Sili White” in the new music video of

the group. The Black Eyed Peas are massive global pop stars whose music

can be heard in any country around the world. Their unique combination

of electro rhythms, dance, soul, funk and hip hop has won them legions of

fans worldwide and has seduced Mr. Jean-Pierre Lutgen.

Make-A-Wish®The watches Ice-Watch® have joined the many Make-A-Wish® contribu-

tors who make seriously ill children’s wishes come true around the world.

To achieve this, the watches Ice-Watch® have joined the Belgian initiative of

Make-A-Wish South Belgium with a real desire to participate also in the

global effort to obtain donations to help children around the world

by creating a watch MAKE-A-WISH® by Ice-Watch® with the full price of

99 € being dedicated to the association.

Your donation to Make-A-WISH® will make a difference and support

the watches Ice-Watch® in their global efforts at www.makeawishsud.be

We ForestThe watches Ice-Watch® make their contribution to reforestation in

Ethiopa with WeForest®. The name “Ice-Watch®” itself demonstrates the

concern of Mr. Jean-Pierre Lutgen about unseasonal ice-melting and in

particular its concern for the preservation of the environment. With this

in mind, the watches Ice-Watch® have joined together with the many

other donors throughout the world of the international association

WeForest® which is committed to slowing down climate change. The

watches Ice-Watch® have chosen to make their contribution in Ethiopia,

with an investment in the immediate planting of 10,000 trees. If you

would also like to take part in this movement and become a part of the

watches Ice-Watch®’s gesture, all you have to do is buy an Ice-Watch®

WeForest® watch at a price of €99 from the website www.weforest.org.

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CHANGE. YOU CAN.

2010-11-22-ice-watch-EUROPASTAR-EUROPE-205x265.indd 1 22/11/2010 18:29:37

E urope’s economy might not compete with China’s double-digitgrowth figures, but it still comes with a diversity of cultures that

attracts thousands of Chinese every year. Whether it is the magic of the

Louvre Museum in Paris, the charm of the Baroque-styled palaces of the

Belvedere Museum in Vienna or “just” the exceptional atmosphere of

strolling through the medieval old town of Prague – for any Chinese

interested in art history, these glimpses of the European continent are

still an adventure.

A Journey to the WestIt was a similar striking “journey to the West” for three up-and-coming

young artists from Chongqing. Kang Can, Liu Fei and Tian Miao, three

post-80s artists from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, received a sponsor-

ship from the famous Swiss watch company Titoni Ltd., and set off in the

autumn of 2010 for a one-semester study period at the Zurich University

of Arts (ZHdK). Titoni Ltd. provided them with a flat in a small village

on Lake Zurich from where they commuted daily to their studios pro-

vided by the ZHdK. “We had such a great time in Switzerland,” explained

the artists when we visited them at their studios located in a district of

Zurich that was once an industrial area with many factories, and is now

becoming a venue for the creative industry, artists and galleries.

“Located in the center of Europe as well as being a comparatively big city

in a neutral country, and at the same time a safe place for residents and

travelers alike, Zurich was the most suitable place for us to stay,” said the

artists. It was not only the perfect location in Switzerland for these young

Chinese artists to live and work, but also to discover other parts of

Europe: During their free time, they traveled to Amsterdam, Berlin,

Paris, Prague, Rome and Vienna to gain as much experience of foreign

cultures as possible. On their own micro blogs, they shared their

impressions and insights with friends and netizens, not only about living

conditions and studying in foreign surroundings, but also on their visits

to other places. The studios of the ZHdK seemed to be especially exotic

for them because they – besides their usual function – offer space for

basic living facilities such as cooking or even a place to sleep. “Compared

to Chongqing, the working place is very clean, and there was even

heating,” one of the artists told us excitedly. Sometimes, a professor from

the ZhdK would come to the studios and discuss the progress of their

work with them.

During one weekend, Daniel Schluep, CEO of Titoni Ltd., invited the

three artists to his private house near Biel, where they gained some

insights into a family’s life in Switzerland, and where they, as joyfully

expressed to us even a long time afterwards, indulged in eating a chocolate

cake especially prepared for them by Daniel’s wife Doris. Another

surprise came in the form of their Chinese teacher, the famous painter

and art critic Zhang Qikai, who, during a trip to Berlin, traveled especially

to Switzerland for two days: Not only to meet his students in Zurich, but

also to see Daniel Schluep (with whom he cooperated in designing the

first Titoni Artist Watch in 2010) during his private holidays in the

Swiss Alps.

Artistic and personal benefitsThanks to the international environment of the university, exchanges

with young artists from all over the world and the free, inspiring atmos-

phere of Zurich, the Chinese artists benefited immensely from this stay,

both artistically as well as personally. “We have never had the chance to

appreciate so many original works from the great European masters. To

ADVERTISER’S SpoTlIghT europa star

Post-80s artists sponsored by TITONI Ltd. return to China

A SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN THE SWISS ART OF WATCH MAKING AND CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART

RMatthias Messmer

PR_Titoni111_PR_Orient111 15.02.11 11:47 Page2

europa star ADVERTISER’S SpoTlIghT

see them with our own eyes was a very intensive experience of emotions

and inspirations,” said the three artists, who enjoyed extensive journeys

on the European continent besides the academic exchange. Kang Can, a

witted-faced and fashionably-styled artist who likes to demonstrate

China’s one-child policy with good modern humor, recounted how the

study period has broadened his understanding of art history and

opened a new world for his artistic development. “Being face-to-face

with those classic master pieces was very unique and impressive. There

is something in them that simply stimulates.”

In addition to their museum visits (luckily they were just in time for the

big Picasso exhibition at the Kunsthaus in Zurich), the university was

another venue that offered inspiration. “Our classmates were from vari-

ous fields and had not necessarily received art education before. A situa-

tion like this is totally unimaginable in China. Their open-minded

thinking and creative work formats opened a door in art experimen-

tation for me,” remarked the confident and thoughtful female artist, Liu

Fei, who often surprises audiences with scrupulously painted mechanical

details. Another big difference between her home and the West lies in the

fact that artists in Switzerland obviously follow the concept of “l’art pour

l’art,” whereas in her country the artist is usually much more business-

driven. “We have also benefited immensely from the free and good

atmosphere at the Zurich University of Arts insofar as they put great

emphasis on discussions and exchanges of opinion, whereas in China

initiatives by students or active participation are much less of a topic,”

concluded Liu Fei after her stay in Switzerland.

Grand master works andcharming countrysideStill, the grand master works in the

museums and the free learning environ-

ment of the Zurich Art University are

not the only things that nourish, as

the youngest of all three artists, Tian

Miao, remarked about her learning. “I

traveled alone by train to many unheard of Swiss villages and towns. I

strolled around and let myself be captivated by the overwhelmingly

different people, places and atmospheres. It was absolutely enchant-

ing,” she said, her eyes brightening with amazement in her typical

shy smile. When looking at her creation of the various small paintings

produced during her stay, one can see the impressions and feelings left

on her mind.

Daniel Schluep and his Titoni Ltd. are very happy to have developed

the initiative of sponsoring young Chinese artists studying in

Switzerland. “Like the well-known Swiss spirits, Titoni Ltd. pays atten-

tion to good tradition, precision and dares to set new borders. It is thus

our pleasure to have these Chinese artists in the booming city of

Zurich where many important modern art activities have taken place,

such as for instance the Dada movement during World War I. I am very

curious to see what inspirations this experience has brought to them.”

The artists will produce three new works, based on the concept of

“Time” with ideas derived from their study period, after their return to

China. “In addition, I also want to express my thanks to the Zurich

University of Arts. This form of cooperation with an academic insti-

tution is totally new for us, but their readiness and efficiency are really

convincing. Titoni Ltd. would like to see such a scholarship program

for young artists become a house tradition”. Mr. Schluep also

expressed his appreciation to the academic partner and his warm atti-

tudes toward young and promising artists.

www.titoni.ch

PR_Titoni111_PR_Orient111 15.02.11 11:47 Page3

62 RETAILER PROFILE europa star

SSimonetta Orsini is located on a busy street ina beautifully designed building that mixes oldand new. De Leeuw himself is the fifth gener-ation of his family in jewellery retail and hedecided to add watches. “My grandfather hada jewellery store on Place Vendôme in Parisand during the Second World War, he movedhere and opened up this business,” De Leeuwdetails. “I wanted to be in watches. I createdthis watch store, Simonetta Orsini, and wenow have five stores - four normal stores andthe big one here in Buenos Aires.“Watches, for men, are our toys, and watcheswere my toys when I was a kid,” he continues.“It was something that I used to play with –set, assemble, disassemble. 15 years ago, Istarted to add watch brands to our mix ofjewellery. Today, we have 26 brands.We havefocused on building up the business here in

South America. In the past, people didn’t buywatches here, they went to America or Europe,but now everyone from South America comesto Argentina to buy watches.”In addition to his five stores, De Leeuw has bou-tiques with IWC, Panerai and Jaeger-LeCoultre.

ES: How is Business?MDL: These past few years, business hasbeen great. Every year we are growing andSouth America in general is really growing.We made it through the crisis without losingmuch and we are coming out strongly. Wedon’t have credit problems here, we have ourown investors. After the crisis, people gotscared and they brought their money back

to Argentina, so they have it here to spend.Cartier is number one for us, and AudemarsPiguet, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and VacheronConstantin are also very good, they rotate inposition. We do very well with Richard Mille,also. Some brands really suffered during thecrisis - the crisis was like a filter, and we keptthe best. The only brand that I don’t have thatI really want is Patek Philippe.My favourite brand is Panerai. I have about 30Panerais myself. Today, if I have to pick onewatch as my favourite, I would have to say theDuometer from Jaeger-LeCoultre. I wear itvery often, it works perfectly.

ES: What do you like about watches?MDL: At the beginning, when I was a kid, Iliked the movement and the mechanism. Ididn’t care much about the aesthetics. Today,it’s a combination of movement, aestheticsand investment value. I don’t buy a watchthat I don’t think will increase in value. Ofthe pieces I collect, most of them increase invalue every couple of years. I look at watchesas an investment, and I sell watches this way.

Buenos Aires, Argentina is a bustling city that attracts travellers and tourists from all over the world, including othercountries in South America.While there for a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso event, Keith Strandberg visited with arguablythe best retailer in Argentina,Martin De Leeuw of Simonetta Orsini (Posadas 1101, Buenos Aires, Argentina).


Simonetta Orsini – Time in Buenos Aires

Martin De Leeuw

RetailerProfile111_RetailerCorner111 15.02.11 11:59 Page2

ES: What is your biggest challenge?MDL: Today, my biggest challenge is that weare trying to keep the level where we are. Weare very close to the top of the top here. Wewant to be here for a long time and in order todo that, we have to present to our customerssomething new all the time. Last year, weintroduced Greubel Forsey and F. P. Journe.People are thirsty and want to see new things.It’s not easy to be here for the long term.

ES: Is it difficult workingwith thewatch brands?MDL: The brands are not the same.They are allSwiss, but they all work differently. Some likeyou, some think they are better than you, somebrands make you feel like you are nothing.Theyknowwho we are and what we can do, but thetreatment we get could sometimes be better.

ES: How do you do training?MDL: The brands come here to train us, wesend salesmen to Switzerland as well, and wehave watchmakers here that can fix any watchwe sell.We get spare parts and we are author-ized to do service. For our salespeople, we sendthem to seminars all the time, I domy own salestraining as well.We have 80 people in total.

ES: How does the future look?MDL: I see a great future in watches.Today, lux-ury is more accessible. Everyone has the moneyto buy a good pair of shoes or a nice watch. A

watch is accessible luxury. Every human beinghas something related to luxury: good food, anice trip, a good watch. 25 years ago, it was dif-ferent, people didn’t have the same access.

ES: Who are your customers?MDL: My customers are 90 per cent local,which also includes Brazilians.There are manycollectors who come here because they don’thave good retailers in Brazil, but what they dohave is a lot of money right now.We are luckythat people come to Argentina from all overSouth America to buy watches here.We have thought about opening up stores inother countries, but if the store isn’t managedon a daily basis by the owner in SouthAmerica,you don’t sell. People come by and ask forme and if I am not there, they say they willcome back.

ES: Is security a concern in Buenos Aires?MDL: Security is a real issue here. I need mypeople and my customers to be safe.We havebodyguards in every store and cameras andsecurity devices. We were robbed many yearsago. We have been increasing security everyyear. Every store we have, the door is locked,but people are used to it. As soon as theycome in, they feel safe.

ES: Will you be going to the shows and look-ing for new brands this year?

MDL: I go to SIHH and BaselWorld every year.We don’t have the time to look for newbrands while we are there, because we carryso many brands. We don’t want to add anynew brands. Although, there is always somebrand that tempts us and that we want tobuy. I hope that doesn’t happen this year! O

For more info, please visitwww.simonettaorsini.com

europa star RETAILER PROFILE 63

RetailerProfile111_RetailerCorner111 15.02.11 11:59 Page3

64 WORLDWATCHWEB europa star.com

The Internet plays an increasingly important roletoday in the purchase of a watch. As Danny Govberg,President of Govberg Jewelers, stated in the 2010edition of the WorldWatchReport study, edited by

IC-Agency, “more than 70 per cent of clients do research onlinebefore coming through the doors of our store.” Generally, potentialbuyers begin by clicking on a search engine, where they type in thename of the brand, the collection, or the model they are consider-ing for purchase. The searches will lead them to the brand’s officialsite, where they can consult detailed descriptions and photos ofeach product of interest. Many watch aficionados, however, will betempted to purchase their dream timepiece each time they turn thepage of a catalogue. To narrow down their search, they will look atthe price of the models as a more rational criteria of choice. Yet,unfortunately for them, the great majority of official sites don’t listthe prices of their watches.

Desperately seeking pricesThe buyer will then click on the ‘Store Locator’ section of theofficial watch site, looking for stores that are near to him. He willthen contact the store to find the cost of that special timekeeperthat fills his dreams since he discovered it on the web. Withincreasing frequency, retailers are receiving emails from prospec-tive buyers inquiring about the prices of the models they sell.

The price is obviously not the only concern of the online buyer.He will also consult various blogs and chat rooms, such asTimezone, where watch aficionados share their experiences andoffer lots of informed advice to the buyer, whose heart waiversbetween two complications.The recommendations offered on these communal sites can alsoinfluence the choice of retailer and make or break a store’s repu-tation. The buying experience, whether abominable or excellent,may become the subject of conversations in focused chat roomsand may even end up on sites such as Yelp or various social net-works, depending on the location of its members, such asFoursquare. This results in a public evaluation of the quality of thewelcome and the service offered by the retailer.

Internet, the best enemy of the retailer?Armed with all the information and opinions that he could gleanonline, the buyer that crosses the threshold of a retail store isoften better informed than he was in the past. He is also moredemanding in terms of quality of service and the advice heexpects from the salesperson. His better understanding of theproducts also gives him the advantage of being in a better pos-ition to negotiate the price.Sometimes, the watch purchaser goes to a store only when he can-not do something online such as touching the product, holding it in

RMarc-Olivier Peyer, IC-Agency, in collaboration with Europa Star

Retailers in the digital era

T

Like the brands that promote and sell watches, most retailers also have a place in cyberspace. This digital presence reflects the inevitable evolution in the behaviour of watch buyers and,

as a consequence, that of retailers.

Photo: W

empe

IcAgency111_ICAgency111 17.02.11 08:18 Page2

BASELWORLDTHE WATCH AND JEWELLERY SHOW

MARCH 24 – 31, 2011

WWW.BASELWORLD.COM

bsw11_kamp_205x265_e.indd 1 30.07.10 09:10

66 WORLDWATCHWEB europa star

his hand, comparing it to other products, and trying it on. Then, hewill return to the Internet to buy it for a better price or better con-ditions. For retailers, then, the competition may come directly fromthose brands that sell online directly to the final consumer.Confronted with the changes in behaviour of their clientele,retailers must adapt. They must develop new types of serviceswith added value. The Internet can, in fact, help them to do this.

Cyberspace, the land of opportunity for retailersMost retailers today have a website, where they generally pre-sent photos of their store, its location, the list of brands they sell,and their contact information. These elements are still not, how-ever, enough to guarantee the necessary visibility on the Internetto meet the expectations of their clientele. The website is an idealplatform to promote various types of services, such as having theprospective purchaser make an appointment with a salesperson,chatting with the buyer online, signing up potential clients forexclusive store events, and listing guarantee information andafter-sales service benefits. Maier, a retailer located in Lyon,France, carries several brands including Baume & Mercier,Blancpain, Omega, Rolex, and IWC. On their website, they displaythe prices of watches and offer the buyer the possibility of order-ing certain models online.Beyond the website of the store, the Internet also offers retailersthe opportunity to multiply their points of contact with theirclientele, such as being visible in the search engines and onlinemap sites, which is useful when the Internet users are looking forstores in their area. They can also create a Facebook page to havediscussions with the store’s clients, start a blog, email a newslet-ter, and have a presence on sites such as Twitter, Youtube, etc.

All these various opportunities merit an evaluation, but the bestway for a retailer to guarantee his visibility on the Internet is toensure that his site is clearly listed in the ‘Store Locator’ sectionof the official site of the brands he sells. The WorldWatchReportstudy shows that of all the Internet users who look for watchproducts online, less than 2 per cent will specifically research thestores or the sales points that sell them. Online sales can alsorepresent an opportunity for retailers to strengthen their partner-ship with the brands. Last year, for example, TAG Heuer openedan online store with the Parisian retailer, Bry & Cie. Even if behaviours have changed and one part of the relationshipwith the client has evaporated today, there are still sure valuesthat persist, including: a retailer’s warm welcome; his passion forwatches; sharing his clients’ joy when they purchase their dreamwatch; and irreproachable quality service. The retailers that takethese values to heart will certainly benefit from the virtual word-of-mouth amplifier. O

Photo: W

empe

Photo: Ham

ilton

& In

ches

IcAgency111_ICAgency111 17.02.11 08:18 Page3

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Index111_Index510 18.02.11 14:57 Page2

NICHE: The Show is an exclusive

collection of artist-designers from

the U.S. and Canada presenting

fine handcrafted jewelry, glass,

ceramic and wood objects to

qualified retailers from across

the globe.

GABRIEL OFIESH

SARAH ALICE BRITTON

DIANA WIDMAN

LYNNE MEADE

at PLANET HOLLYWOOD - JUNE 4-6, 2011LAS VEGAS JEWELRY WEEK

June 4-6, 2011Planet Hollywood CelebrityBallroom (Mezzanine Level)

REGISTER TODAY!Complimentary registration for qualified retailers.

www.NICHETheShow.com

+1.410.889.2933 ext. 272

Index111_Index510 18.02.11 14:57 Page3

AA. Lange & Söhne 20, 21,56-57 Antoine Preziuso 16 Aquanautic 51 Artya 34 Audemars Piguet 4-5 (Intl)25, 26, 62

BBall Watches 55BaselWorld 65 Baume & Mercier 20, 38,42, 66 Blancpain 66 Bovet 16, 55 Breguet 16

CCarl F. Bucherer 7 Cartier 22, 24, 38, 41 Century 11, 44-45 Chanel COVER II-1 (Intl)4-5 (Eur) China Watch & Clock Fair 69 Christophe Claret 16, 30, 53 CIJ International Jewellery67Citizen 35 Concepto 51Corum 16Cousins Global 70Cyrus 32, 34

DDamoiselle D 41De Bethune 29, 30 deLaCour 16 DeLaneau 16, 39, 40, 42

DeWitt 53 Dubois-Dépraz 50

EEmile Chouriet COVER III(Eur) ETA 50

FFondation de la HauteHorlogerie 33 Franck Müller Group 16,48, 49, 50, 53 François-Paul Journe 63 Frédéric Jouvenot 30

GGirard-Perregaux 24, 25 Greubel & Forsey 28, 29, 63 Guess 31

HHarry Winston 50 HD3 34 Heritage WatchManufactory 30, 32Hublot 16

IIC-Agency 64, 66 IceLink 58- 59 IWC 14, 18, 20, 21, 62,66

JJaquet Droz 16. 52 Jaeger-LeCoultre Specialsupplement, 14, 15, 20, 24,42, 62, 72 Jean Dunand 16, 30 Jean-Mairet & Gillman 19 JeanRichard 25, 40

LLaurent Ferrier 30Longines 48, 49, 72 Louis Erard 49 Louis Moinet 32 Luminox 54, 55

MManufacture RodolpheCattin 48-51 Milus 8-9 Mira 36 - 37

OOmega 49, 66Orient Watch Company 43

PPanerai 52, 62, 72 Parmigiani 24, 25, 55 Patek Philippe 51, 62 Pequignet 23Peter Tanisman 39Philippe Dufour 28Piaget 15, 17, 40, 52 Pierre Thomas 34

QQuinting 41

RRalph Lauren COVER I,12-15, 24 Reactor 54 Richard Mille 26, 28, 40,54, 62 Richemont Group 16, 24 Ritmo Mvndo 54Roger Dubuis 21, 22, 41 Rolex COVER II-1 (Eur), 66

Ronda 71Royal Condar Group COVER III (Intl)Rudis Sylva 50

SSimonetta Orsini 62-63Slyde 34Swatch Group 16, 47

TTAG Heuer 16, 53, 66 Titoni 27, 46-47, 60-61 Tudor COVER IV

UU-Boat 54 Urwerk 16, 34

VVacheron Constantin 2-3,51, 62 Van Cleef & Arpels 39, 40

ZZenith 16, 50

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Editorial & Advertisers’ index

Index111_Index510 18.02.11 14:57 Page4

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This year was the first time since its inauguration in 1991 that I havenot attended the SIHH. It was the brainchild of Alain-Dominique Perrin,the then CEO of Cartier, and it was not met with the wave of enthusi-asm that he had anticipated.Perrin must feel vindicated now because ‘WonderWeek’,as Gregory Pons of Business Montres has chris-tened it, has become what he envisaged: sevendays when Geneva becomes a tourbillon ofgyrating bodies searching out the horologi-cal marvels being exhibited at not onlythe SIHH and the Geneva Time Exhibition,but also in venues such as hotel rooms,boutiques and other atypical locationswhere watch designers and manufacturers,now far too many to mention, reveal theirmechanical wares.I’ve been sitting in the sun on my terrace in Mentonwondering whether or not I did the right thing bynot attending Wonder Week. Down here away from all thebrouhaha, time takes on a different significance, people stroll rather thanrush and appointments are organized in terms of morning, afternoon orend of the day rather than specific times that are to be found on watchdials.Watches simply don’t play a major role in this southern clime, sinceits either the heat of the sun, the rumbling of an empty stomach, aperotime or the end of a movie on television that informs of the hour and dic-tates what happens next.For me, what happened next was that I realized I was running out oftonic to go with my gin. This required me making the day’s majordecision: do I take the afternoon bus into town (there are just two inthe afternoon at two-hour intervals) or do I take shanks’s pony (YeOlde Scottish terminology for legs)? Given that the first bus rattledpast as I was trying to decide, shanks’s won the day and before youcould wind a Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Eight Days Perpetual I was walkingthrough the marina admiring the toys of the über-rich awaiting theirspringtime scrub down.Once in town I purchased a copy of The Times, and since the Januarysales were on I decided to see what was on offer. Suddenly I spied in thedistance a shop window plastered with giant watches and a minus50% sign. Having forgone Wonder Week and silently praising someomnipotent power for rewarding me with this unexpected opportunity,I ran into the shop breathless, more than prepared to spend my hard-earned pennies if I could get myself a Jaeger, Panerai or Longines withthat sort of a discount. Before I could say minute repeater or chrono-graph, a very pretty young lady in high heels that gave me vertigo just

looking at them, wearing a denim mini skirt, outrageous stockings thatlooked like she’d been in a bomb blast and almost wearing a biologi-cally educational low-cut blouse, came up to me and asked if she could

be of any help. By this time my bulging eyes had taken in the sur-roundings of the darkened interior and I stood transfixed

as I slowly realized that I was completely sur-rounded by displays of ladies stockings, knickers,

armless and headless dummies decoratedwith colourful g-strings and tiny brassieres.Watches were noticeable only by theirabsence – with the exception of those self-adhesive ones on the shop windows.Since I’d been in the sun I think my blusheswere almost imperceptible, but my nervous

tick and stuttering led the young lady tobelieve that either I was having or about to

have an epileptic fit. Taking me gently by the arm,she led me to a chair and offered me a glass of water.

Like some senile idiot I said yes and had to sit there under theintense gaze of two other half-dressed shop assistants whilst she dis-appeared into a back room in search of some H2O.A polystyrene cup of Evian later and the rejection of a call to the SAMU(Service d'Aide Médicale d'Urgence), I left the shop feeling about as stu-pid as a man in a swimming costume in the middle of the Sahara lookingfor a beach bar. I managed to catch the last bus home and in a desperateeffort to forget the embarrassment of my afternoon, flopped down in achair on the terrace and looked out over the colourful bay just as the sunbegan its slow ritual of sinking behind the surrounding mountains.They say that the Lord works in mysterious ways. Was this to be mycomeuppance for not attending Wonder Week? Not only had I left mycopy of The Times in the shop, but also I’d completely forgotten to buythe tonic.Well, I suppose you’ve got to laugh haven’t you!

72 LAKIN@LARGE europa star

Comeuppance time down south

D. Malcolm LakinRoving Editor

Lakin@large111_lakinatlarge111 15.02.11 11:05 Page2

Condor Group Limited, 700 Great Cambridge Road, Enfield Middlesex EN1 3EA

Telephone: +44 (0)208 370 4300 Fax: +44 (0)208 370 4321 Email: [email protected]

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Europa Star International edition 1.11

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