Mining the past, for the future - Some of the industry's most celebrated names have been developing a foundation to preserve traditional skills ...
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THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020 | S1
INNOVATION
ILLUSTRATION BY NICHOLAS KONRAD/THE NEW YORK TIMES; PHOTOGRAPHS BY PASCAL MORA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES; NIELS ACKERMANN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES; RETO ALBERTALLI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES; ASSOCIATED PRESS; RALPH BAUMGARTEN
Watch faces Clockwise from bottom right: Kari Voutilainen; Felix Baumgartner and Cyrano Devanthey, working on the second Naissance d’une Montre; Robert Greubel; Stephen Forsey; Vianney Halter and Philippe Dufour.
Mining the past,
for the future
Some of the industry’s most celebrated names have been
developing a foundation to preserve traditional skills
BY KATHLEEN BECKETT
but, as that idea now seems untenable,
the current goal is to introduce a post-
One winter’s day a few years ago, while graduate program to train students
driving with a reporter around the from watchmaking schools in tradi-
snow-blanketed villages of Switzer- tional skills.
land’s Vallée du Joux where the world’s “The watch industry has survived 500
finest watches are produced, Philippe years despite many challenges,” Mr.
Dufour became nostalgic. Forsey said. The foundation now wants
He drove past the technical school to guarantee that it survives another
where he had learned as a boy how to 500.
make a watch by hand, from start to fin- While the foundation’s founding
ish. But now, the man widely regarded members — Mr. Greubel, Mr. Forsey,
as the greatest living watchmaker la- Mr. Dufour, Mr. Halter and the watch-
mented during the drive, “young people maker Kari Voutilainen — are celebrat-
know how to make this part or that, but ed experts in their field, they had terri-
very few know how to make everything. ble timing.
At factories, they need more machine For initial financial help in 2008, “we
operators than they need watchmakers. turned to the bigger companies but the
So the schools don’t teach it.” financial crisis hit and budgets were
In the watchmaking center in and trimmed,” Mr. Forsey said. Yet the skel-
around Neuchâtel, about 50 miles away, etal team soldiered on.
other independent makers were be- In 2012 Greubel Forsey began to
moaning the same situation. In 2005 showcase the foundation and, Mr.
Stephen Forsey and Robert Greubel had Forsey said, “demonstrate some ances-
formed the watch company Greubel tral skills,” in its booth at the annual Sa-
Forsey and “we found it difficult to find lon International de la Haute Hor-
skilled people,” Mr. Forsey said. The in- logerie, best known as S.I.H.H. By 2016,
dependent watchmaker Vianney Halter the fair’s organizer, the Fondation de la
was having the same problem. Haute Horlogerie, had dedicated a show
“We all,” Mr. Forsey said, “found it dif- space to the foundation.
ficult to find young watchmakers with But the foundation will not participate
the needed skills in watchmaking.” in Watches and Wonders, the renamed
The reason was clear, he said: “Switz- and reorganized S.I.H.H. scheduled to
erland had gone through the crisis in the open April 25 in Geneva, because, Mr.
’70s and ’80s” — the rise of quartz-pow- Forsey said, he and Mr. Greubel feel “the
ered watches, which the mechanical format of a big event” will not be com-
watch industry still refers to as the patible.
Quartz Crisis — “so there was pressure Over the years, the foundation has de-
on schools to reorient their training. veloped various programs, including
They needed technicians, not watch- workshops and master classes for stu-
makers who could make a part in the an- dents and collectors, held in Mexico City,
cestral method.” New York, Toyko and Dubai, United
More discussions revealed it was not Arab Emirates, and one is now being
just watchmakers who were concerned. planned for Paris sometime this year. It
Retailers and collectors were as well — also has been making videos of various
because trained workers are needed to skills, and is working on how to make
service watches, and those skills were in them available to watchmakers.
danger of disappearing. The point, Mr. Forsey said, is not just
The men thought the remedy was ob- to pass on the techniques in danger of
vious: For the watch industry to have a dying out, but “to raise awareness of
future, it needed to respect and to pre- watchmaking as a valuable profession
serve the past. “We thought perhaps if culturally. We try to infect them with the
we grouped together we could get some virus.”
support,” Mr. Forsey said. Although the goal is for the founda-
And that is how, in 2008, the Time tion to stand alone, it has no headquar-
Aeon Foundation was formed. ters or staff of its own — to keep costs JAPAN Tokyo Ginza Tel: 81-3-5537 7888
Its objective: to safeguard endan- low, Mr. Forsey said — but all its projects SINGAPORE Marina Bay Sands Hublot Boutique Tel: 65-6688 7890
gered skills and techniques, whether, still take time and money.
MALAYSIA Suria KLCC Hublot Boutique Tel: 603-2181 7037
THAILAND Central Embassy Hublot Boutique Tel: 66-2160 5733 BIG BANG
VIETNAM Sofitel Metropole Hanoi Hublot Boutique Tel: 84-243 9329 222
Mr. Forsey said, “it be through work- So Mr. Forsey and Mr. Greubel came VIETNAM Union Square Ho Chi Minh City Hublot Boutique Tel: 84-28 36 36 3276 MP-11 SAPPHIRE
shops, events, communication, or sup- up with an idea: making one-off watches
porting new collaborative projects.” The to be sold at auction. The program is
men initially wanted to create a school FOUNDATION, PAGE S4
.
S2 | MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
DYNASTY
Under calm control
How does the family-owned Patek Philippe respond
to strong demand? By limiting growth
Flexible
GENEVA
Thierry Stern, the
chief executive of
BY ROBIN SWITHINBANK Patek Philippe, says
his ambition is to
Thierry Stern looked pleased when, in grow the company
an interview in early December, he said by no more than 3
2019 would be a record year for Patek percent each year.
Philippe. “If the economy’s
“I’m not running after records every not so good, we can
year, though,” Mr. Stern, the chief execu- decrease also.”
tive, said, declining to detail the compa-
ny’s turnover. “This is the beauty. We
don’t have any shareholders. We don’t
care.”
Patek Philippe has been in the hands
of the Stern family since 1932 and, de-
spite repeated reports of interest from
major luxury groups, is still independ-
ent. It does not make its financial results
public, but according to estimates by the
Swiss private bank Vontobel, in 2018 it
had sales of 1.45 billion Swiss francs
($1.49 billion), making it Switzerland’s
fifth-largest watch company.
But unlike the four ahead of it, a list
that is topped by Rolex and Omega,
Patek Philippe’s output is small in com-
parison. Mr. Stern says Patek makes
62,000 watches a year. Rolex is believed
to make more than a million.
Mr. Stern, who succeeded his father,
Philippe Stern, as president in 2009, said
his ambition was to grow the company
by no more than 3 percent each year. “If
the economy’s not so good, we can de-
crease also,” he said.
But there is little sign of retreat. In
2005, when I first interviewed Mr. Stern
and his father, he said the company was
making 30,000 watches a year, less than
half the current figure.
And, Mr. Stern said in December, the
company employed 460 people in 1996
when it moved to its headquarters in the RETO ALBERTALLI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Geneva suburb of Plan-les-Ouates. That
number has risen to 1,600, with 600 when big companies want to buy Patek cent from 2016 to 2018. Patek opened its know why a watch is for sale.”
more staff members worldwide. because that means we are doing some- first branded showroom in Shanghai in Growth, or maybe no growth. However, he said that if the company
To accommodate the growth, the com- thing right. But we are not for sale.” 2005. “This is the beauty,” Thierry learned that a retailer was selling
pany already has moved into part of a Instead, he said, he intends to be at “I’m not afraid to stay behind,” Mr. Stern said. “We don’t have any watches to customers involved in such
sprawling almost 1.2 million-square-foot the company for what he called “many Stern said. “We are already in 74 coun- shareholders. We don’t care.” resales, and the retailer did not prevent
building being finished alongside its years” before offering the keys to one of tries. I don’t have the capacity, and I such activity, the company would end
headquarters. Mr. Stern said the com- his two sons. The elder, at 18, is studying would not destroy another market just the retailer’s Patek account. “If I have
pany funded the construction cost of for the hospitality industry, but the to shift watches to China. But also, we go were focusing too much on Hong Kong.” the proof, then I act,” Mr. Stern said.
more than one billion Swiss francs, add- younger, who is 16, is studying watch- step by step. This is how we do our busi- If he has a concern, Mr. Stern said, it is He said rising prices in the primary
ing with a wry smile, “We don’t like making and working part time at the ness. It’s worked in the whole world.” the rise of what the watch industry calls market had changed Patek Philippe’s
banks.” factory. “I didn’t have two children to He said the approach had protected “flippers,” buyers who purchase high- customer profile.
While there have been some changes, take over Patek,” Mr. Stern said. “They Patek’s business when markets had de- demand watches to resell them at a pre- “We are losing so many people who
Mr. Stern, 49, said he continued to follow have to make their own choice. We will clined. In December, for example, the mium, a practice he says he wants to are enjoying watches, because they can-
in his father’s footsteps. “It was clear for always find somebody that will take federation reported that exports to curtail. But he said he was not working not afford it anymore,” he said. “But we
me and my dad that we should keep the care of Patek Philippe.” Hong Kong, which it lists separately with retailers to solve a problem in are also gaining a whole new young gen-
same strategy,” he said, although Patek Looking to the next decade, Mr. Stern from mainland China, were down by 26.7 which prices of pieces such as Patek’s eration who are very successful, made a
has benefited from digital tools like In- said that he had no plans to expand into percent in November year over year, steel Nautilus have skyrocketed on the lot of money and who are willing to in-
stagram. In the 2005 interview, he said, new territories and that he was not eroded by the city’s continued civil un- pre-owned market, sometimes to more vest in Patek. That has really changed.”
“we are not a fashion brand,” an ap- pushing hard in China, which his com- rest and related economic recession. than double list price. Mr. Stern remains bullish about his
proach he has maintained. petitors have identified as critical to tra- “Hong Kong has not really affected “Maybe sometimes the retailers are company’s fortunes.
Last year, there were news reports ditional watchmaking’s long-term suc- us,” Mr. Stern said. “We are down maybe part of it,” he said, but he does not lay all “I don’t see why Patek Philippe
that Rolex wanted to buy Patek. “I think cess. According to the Federation of the 30 percent, which is quite good. Some the blame at their doors. “We buy back a should be in danger as long as we are
I made it quite clear that I will not sell,” Swiss Watch Industry, Swiss watch ex- brands are down 70 or 80 percent. That’s lot of watches every year from the sec- very careful,” he said. “The tough part is
Mr. Stern said. “We should be proud of it ports to mainland China rose 32.8 per- a disaster. But that’s their mistake. They ondary market, because we want to to stay independent.”
Placing his bet
Focus
John Reardon,
below, formerly the
international head
of watches for
A former Christie’s executive has introduced Christie’s in New
York, has intro-
a resale site specializing in Patek Philippe duced Collectability,
an online site to buy
and sell Patek
it the most expensive wristwatch ever Philippe timepieces.
GENEVA
auctioned. (It displaced the Paul New- His inventory al-
man Rolex Daytona that sold for $17.8 ready includes
BY NAZANIN LANKARANI million in 2017.) about 100 second-
Mr. Reardon said he was as stunned hand watches.
Are watches a good investment? as everyone else in the room when the
“Absolutely not,” John Reardon said hammer came down.
during an interview in November. But in “It was an emotional moment when
late December he still introduced an on- Patek became king again,” he said. “But
line business focused exclusively on the sale just confirmed my belief that I
trading secondhand Patek Philippe was betting on the right horse.”
watches and accessories. Collectability, his online site, will buy
Mr. Reardon, 45, knows something and sell watches, and also promises
about the value of watches. He was in- what it calls “an education in Patek Phi-
ternational head of watches at Christie’s lippe” through articles about specific
in New York, where for six years he references and question-and-answer
oversaw about $100 million a year in pieces with high-profile collectors like PHOTOGRAPHS BY CALLA KESSLER/THE NEW YORK TIMES
watch sales, until he left in August to be- the British musical star Ed Sheeran.
gin working on his new site. He previ- And its fledgling Instagram account — percent of which are pocket watches. there, it’s a question of finding it.”
ously worked in Sotheby’s watch de- #collectabilityllc — is where Mr. Rear- “I can post a watch on Instagram, and While wristwatches generally get
partment for two years and, from 2001 to don has begun engaging with the 20 and without soliciting offers, people are of- most of the resale attention, “I have
2010, was in sales at Patek Philippe. 30 year olds who are his target audience. fering to buy it,” Mr. Reardon said. “If been predicting that the pocket watch
“If you are buying a watch to make “The idea of Collectability was born you are a trusted watch source, you market would ignite for some 20 years
money, then hold on for the ride, be- many years ago,” Mr. Reardon said. “I don’t need a store on Fifth Avenue.” now,” Mr. Reardon said.
cause the odds are not in your favor,” Mr. always dreamed of having my own busi- “If you bring me a watch, I will tell you “It has not happened yet, but I’m out
Reardon said. “Only collectors who buy ness focusing on my passion, Patek Phi- all the existing scholarship about it,” he there buying them like there is no to-
what they know and love do well in the lippe. I didn’t want to go into the retail said. “I could write you a check, or ad- morrow.” (One vintage pocket watch did
long run.” world because one is limited by the sup- vise you on the best auction route and rather well in 2014 when Sotheby’s sold
In November, Mr. Reardon was in Ge- ply given by brands. And I didn’t want to your estimation strategy. I’m happy to the Patek Philippe Henry Graves Super-
neva helping with Christie’s fall watch spend the rest of my life in the auction have those conversations. I love this complication for $24 million.)
sales as a senior international consult- world, because as a family man, it is dif- stuff.” Mr. Reardon is also betting that Patek
ant, an independent contractor role he ficult to travel all the time.” While the market for pre-owned Philippe’s clocks are undervalued and is
plans to maintain. Shortly after the in- Collectability operates out of a re- Patek Philippes is red hot today, compe- bullish about the Ellipse line of wrist-
terview, he was taking telephone bids at stored 19th-century firehouse, a prop- tition also is fierce with resale sites like watches as what he described as “an al-
the Only Watch charity auction when a erty in New Jersey that Mr. Reardon is Chrono24 and WatchBox vying for a ternative to the Nautilus,” the compa-
Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime renting. It already has an inventory of piece of a market estimated in late 2018 ny’s highly prized series.
wristwatch sold for $31 million, making about 100 secondhand timepieces, 25 to be worth $16 billion annually, accord- In his new business, Mr. Reardon in-
ing to Jon Cox, an analyst at the finan- tends to capitalize on the knowledge has
cial services company Kepler acquired from his own research into
Cheuvreux. Patek Philippe’s history and from a dec-
“Based on global sales in the last 18 sale drives their profits. ade of working for the brand.
years,” the WatchBox co-founder Danny “Original-owner goods are hard to He has close ties to the family-owned
Govberg said, “we estimate that there is find out there,” Jeff Harris, a watch company — he writes the Collector’s
close to $500 billion in watches sitting in dealer based in Los Angeles, said in a Guide column for its international mag-
people’s drawers, with an additional $50 telephone interview. “Dealers make azine and is the author in 2008 of “Patek
billion in new watches entering the mar- money on mint condition watches, but Philippe in America: Marketing the
ket each year. Our annual sales are now depending on the market, they can lose World’s Foremost Watch” and of two col-
$200 million, and our goal is to grow money on the average, recirculated, pre- lectors’ guides — but he said it had no
sales to $500 million in the next three to owned.” financial interest in Collectability.
five years.” Mr. Reardon has been gathering his Despite his realistic view of watches
Even Richemont, the Swiss luxury inventory from contacts made during as investment fodder, Mr. Reardon does
conglomerate that owns brands like his two decades in the watch business. have a lot of faith in the future of the sec-
Cartier and Piaget, entered the field in And he said he believed there was more ondhand business.
2018, buying Watchfinder & Company, a stock still available than many assumed “I believe that pricing for vintage
British trader said to be that country’s was out there. “Up until the 1960s, half of watches will reach levels not imaginable
largest seller of secondhand timepieces. Patek Philippe’s output went to America today,” he said. “But I am only about four
For all these businesses, finding qual- through the Patek USA distributorship,” months into this, let’s speak again in a
ity watches in perfect condition for re- Mr. Reardon said. “We know what’s out few years.”
.
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020 | S3
FORECAST
On 2020 ... and beyond
LVMH’s watch executives discuss relevance, business
growth and the demand for sustainability
piggybacked on the high-profile event, capitalizing on the gath- merly held in March, to open April 30, immediately after
BY ROBIN SWITHINBANK
ering of the world’s watch retailers, press and collectors by Watches & Wonders.
For the first time in more than a decade, there is no Swiss watch scheduling their own presentations and launches. Among them “We felt the postponing of the two fairs was potentially ex-
fair in January. So enter LVMH Watch Week. In Dubai. were businesses owned by the French luxury giant LVMH tremely damaging commercially and for our partners and sup-
The new event is set to be an early barometer of the watch Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, including TAG Heuer, Hublot pliers,” Jean-Christophe Babin, Bulgari’s chief executive, said in
industry’s mood as the new decade begins. and Zenith, which organized what they called Geneva Days, a recent interview.
The Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, best known and the LVMH-owned jeweler Bulgari, which invested heavily Why Dubai? “On a group level,” said Ricardo Guadalupe,
as S.I.H.H., was held at this time of year in Geneva largely as a in its watch division over the last decade. Hublot’s chief executive, “we thought Dubai would be more fun.
showcase for Richemont brands like Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre This year, however, those four houses are gathering for a two- The city is also a huge hub, the middle of the world. For Hublot,
and IWC. But now it has been rebranded Watches & Wonders day event, starting Monday, at the Bulgari Resort Dubai. They the region represents 10 percent of our sales.”
and scheduled to open April 25. say it was motivated by the S.I.H.H. change and by the decision Ahead of LVMH Watch Week, we asked each of the four chief
The change will affect not only those brands but also ones that to reschedule Baselworld, the struggling Swiss watch fair for- executives what they expect.
STÉPHANE BIANCHI JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BABIN RICARDO GUADALUPE JULIEN TORNARE
Head of the LVMH Watch Division and TAG Heuer Bulgari chief executive Hublot chief executive Zenith chief executive
chief executive Bulgari’s watch division had a decade to remember in LVMH, which bought Hublot in 2008, does not publish Zenith is the smallest brand in LVMH’s watch divi-
Since taking the reins at LVMH’s watch division and the 2010s, fueled by the creative vision of Fabrizio the individual sales figures of its watch companies, sion. The Swiss investment bank Vontobel estimated
the TAG Heuer brand in late 2018, Stéphane Bianchi Buonamassa Stigliani, director of its watch design but Ricardo Guadalupe said Hublot’s production lev- the company’s 2018 turnover at 110 million Swiss
had been quiet about his strategy. But the man re- center, and significant investment in Swiss manufac- els had increased to about 60,000 watches a year. francs ($113 million), compared with 810 million
cruited by Bernard Arnault, LVMH’s chairman, said turing facilities. A raft of awards and record-breaking “We’ve only really been on the market for 15 years, francs for TAG Heuer and 625 million francs for
that in 2020 he would introduce a new TAG Heuer watches — like its Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT, and only making between 40,000 and 60,000 pieces Hublot. “We are small and we need to grow,” Mr.
platform based on “passion for action, mental introduced last year and, at 6.9 millimeters, said to be for five or six years,” he said. Tornare said.
strength, high performance and avant-garde,” backed the world’s thinnest mechanical chronograph — have The company was transformed from a dusty Swiss There have been some signs of growth. The Defy
by new products as well as new retail and marketing pushed the Italian marque into the highest echelons watch brand into one of the first names in global lux- range was introduced a few months after his appoint-
strategies. of contemporary mechanical watchmaking. ury by the arrival in 2005 of the Big Bang, a watch that ment in 2017, and Mr. Tornare said Zenith had in-
In a pronounced shift, Mr. Bianchi said TAG Heuer The company’s renaissance means its flagship introduced Hublot’s fusion watch design philosophy, creased its annual production to 23,000 pieces from
would focus its partnerships on motor sports and indi- pieces are all recent releases. “Ten years ago, we had mixing materials like gold and rubber in a single de- 21,000.
vidual sports, moving away from many connections to eliminate all the models we used to sell,” Jean- He also said he expected 2019 sales to have in-
arranged by his predecessor, Jean-Claude Biver, who Christophe Babin said. “They were nice, but not nec- creased by 12 to 15 percent, and that a focus on sales to
was often quoted as saying that he wanted to see the essarily mirroring what the brand stands for, which is consumers rather than to retailers, who might or
brand “everywhere.” a fusion between Italian design and Swiss engineer- might not actually sell the timepieces, had helped
That means that the business will no longer work stimulate performance.
with top-tier soccer leagues in Germany or Spain and Mr. Tornare said the history of Zenith, founded in
that it will not extend its relationships with the model 1865, had given it an advantage over many of its com-
Cara Delevingne and the graffiti artist Alec Monop- petitors. The El Primero automatic chronograph
oly. “Our brand spirit should be maverick,” Mr. movement, created in 1969, still is its cornerstone —
Bianchi said. “We want to prioritize people authenti-
cally linked to the brand.”
Mr. Bianchi said that early this year, TAG Heuer
would introduce a new website in line with its “strong
DANIEL AUF DER MAUER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
sign. (Now, Mr. Guadalupe said, 95 percent of the
company’s watches are sold on rubber or rubberized
straps.)
In Dubai, Hublot intends to introduce the Big Bang
Integral (above), an evolution of the brand’s most rec-
ognizable model, offering a collection of bracelets in
titanium, gold and ceramic. “We’ve done bracelet
watches before, but we’ve just had the watch and put
a bracelet on it, which is the wrong way to do it,” Mr.
Guadalupe said.
He expects the new style to capitalize on the fash-
DOMENICO STINELLIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
ion for bracelet watches, led by brands such as Rolex,
Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. If in three
ing. In that time, we’ve provided Bulgari watches years’ time, “we’re doing 20 percent of our sales on
with a very strong design character, with designs that bracelet watches, that would be incredible,” he said. CLARA TUMA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
do not exist at our competitors. Now, the backbone of “The idea is to grow and for these sales to be addi-
our sales are models that were all born during the last tional.” and that kind of legacy gives the company authentici-
decade.” But he struck a note of caution. “Growth is going to ty. “We’re selling watches to different generations,
That story is to continue in Dubai with the introduc- be challenging,” he said. “When I started in the indus- but one thing that always comes back is that people
CLARA TUMA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
tion of several styles, led by the Serpenti Seduttori try 30 years ago, Switzerland was exporting 5 billion want to understand what they buy,” he said.
ambitions around retail and digital.” Those include Tourbillon — powered by what Mr. Babin called the Swiss francs in watches. Today it’s 20 billion Swiss Yet, “history doesn’t mean you have to be boring,”
opening new TAG Heuer boutiques even as the com- smallest women’s tourbillon movement now on the francs. But doubling our business in the next 10 years he said. “In the watch industry we wanted to be so
pany stops working with some of its third-party retail market — and the Divas’ Dream Minute Repeater will not be possible.” luxurious, but we missed the point in the past. We
network (it ended 20 percent of those relationships Malachite (above), which he said was the world’s He said that in 2018 Hublot recorded double-digit need to entertain people. They want to have fun.”
last year). “We have to rebalance wholesale and re- thinnest minute repeating watch (one that chimes the growth, but that growth fell to single figures last year. In Dubai, Zenith plans to introduce the Defy 21 Carl
sale,” he said. time on demand) for women. “Hong Kong has suffered,” he admitted, referring to Cox (above), a 200-piece limited-edition watch with a
This year, TAG Heuer marks its 160th anniversary, Bulgari also intends to introduce five models for its the impact that continued civil unrest and an eco- 1/100th of a second high-frequency mechanical
focusing activities around its most commercially suc- Octo Finissimo line of ultrathin watches, including its nomic recession have had on luxury watch sales in chronograph. Mr. Tornare said the partnership with
cessful product, the Carrera sports chronograph. The first in steel. “Most clients start with steel watches that region. Mr. Cox, a British record producer and DJ, fitted the
brand plans to present one limited-edition piece in and it will appeal to a broader spectrum of buyers,” “But our figures show our brand is strong,” he said. company’s new advertising slogan: “Time to reach
Dubai (above) but hold most of its key launches for Mr. Babin said. “We don’t rely on greater China and the Chinese.” Ac- your star.”
Baselworld. “Carrera is a huge part of our turnover, While some industry executives have expressed cording to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Indus- Mr. Tornare said the fragile global political climate
and the new collection will be a huge launch for us,” concern about the challenges of the global political cli- try, exports to Hong Kong, which it lists separately continued to threaten the Swiss watch industry. “No
Mr. Bianchi said. mate and the rapid growth of smartwatches, Mr. from mainland China, were down by 26.7 percent in region is healthy today,” he said. “It’s quite difficult to
Mr. Bianchi also said that beginning this year, TAG Babin said he was most worried about the industry’s November compared with the same period in 2018. be confident. But we are at a turning point, character-
Heuer will make new timepieces available immedi- relevance to today’s consumers. Mr. Guadalupe said he believed that Hublot could ized by changes. A few years ago, no brand wanted to
ately, following the see-now/buy-now concept that “Over the last five years, watchmaking has grown produce as many as 80,000 watches a year during the hear about e-commerce, but now look at where we
fashion brands have embraced in recent years, some much less than other luxury categories,” he said. next decade, but that that would be its limit. “After- are. The same with customization.
with mixed results. For TAG Heuer, Mr. Bianchi said, “Fashion, footwear and jewelry have all grown much wards, we will have to increase the average price “Secondhand was ‘the gray market’ and it was
“It doesn’t make sense to show a watch and then not better. point to increase our sales,” he said. “The future of the dirty and no one wanted to hear about it,” he contin-
sell it for six months.” "Swiss watchmaking has to reinvent itself,” he con- watch industry is in the higher end.” ued. “Now, we’re all thinking about how we do it and
This spring, he said, the brand plans to release a tinued. “We have to be more daring and more futuris- how we get our part of the pie, because it’s big busi-
major update of Connected, its luxury smartwatch. tic, rather than overusing vintage and the past. Such ness.”
Sales of the timepiece, introduced in late 2015, are watches may satisfy an older clientele, but they’re not And just as important, said Mr. Tornare, is the
generally thought to total 60,000 to 100,000 a year resonating with the younger generation. We talk growing influence of sustainability over watchmak-
(the company’s sales figures are not published). By about Elizabeth Taylor, but we don’t use her in our ad- ing. “The new generation will challenge us on this,” he
contrast, analysts were expecting last year’s sales of vertising because my daughter doesn’t know who she said, adding that he had ordered a review of watch
the Apple Watch to reach around 25 million. is. Very few brands have managed to reinvent them- packaging to see if reductions can be made. “Behav-
TAG Heuer’s pricing at the lower end of the luxury selves, which explains why, overall, Swiss exports are ing responsibly is not only for our own conscience —
watch market traditionally has made it appealing to very sluggish.” it’s also going to be a selling argument.”
younger audiences. But in recent years, such buyers
have switched to smartwatches, or have never worn
watches at all. “The biggest threat for us would be not
to seduce the younger generation,” Mr. Bianchi said.
.
S4 | MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
FROM THE COVER TECHNOLOGY
From the past to the future Blacker than black
The spray coating on these dials is said
to be the darkest material on the planet
BY KATHLEEN BECKETT
A new limited-edition watch has a tour-
billon swirling in what appears to be a
deep, infinite black hole. But, in fact, the
mesmerizing dial is covered with what
the National Physical Laboratory, Brit-
ain’s measurements standards institute,
has verified as the darkest material on
Earth.
The concept seemed perfect to
Edouard Meylan, chief executive of the
watchmaker H. Moser & Cie. — where
the words “very rare” are part of the
company logo. “We produce every sin-
Class acts gle component, even hairsprings,” Mr.
Michel Boulanger, Meylan said. “I knew if we wanted to
center, teaches one make black watches we would have to
of the foundation’s do something unique.”
workshops to A friend, Pierre Jacques of the De Be-
watchmakers and thune watch company, told him about
students of watch- the material, generically called carbon
making. nanotube film — and Mr. Meylan
GREUBEL FORSEY
reached out to Surrey NanoSystems. In
2015, Surrey’s chief technical officer,
FOUNDATION, FROM PAGE S1 “We had the privilege to sell the proto- Baselworld, Christie’s is to send the Ben Jensen, finalized a spray-on version
called Naissance d’une Montre, or Birth type.” watch on tour and auction it at the end of of the substance he had trademarked as
of a Watch, and has independent watch- The watch was sent on tour before be- the year in Hong Kong. Vantablack.
makers form a team to create a time- ing sold in 2016 in Hong Kong for $1.46 More Naissance d’une Montre The company’s website describes the
piece using the skills the foundation is million. Over the next three years, 11 watches are in the planning stages. The material as a collection of carbon nan-
devoted to preserving. copies were made, all by hand, each one third is expected to involve Ferdinand otubes that are 3,500 times smaller than
In 2009, “we knew we had hit a home presold to collectors for 450,000 Swiss Berthoud, the house named after the the diameter of the average human hair,
run when Philippe Dufour agreed to francs ($463,705). 18th century French watchmaker and with one square centimeter containing
participate and share his knowledge Christie’s also arranged for Mr. now led by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co- as many as 1,000 million nanotubes.
and immense set of skills,” Mr. Forsey Greubel and Mr. Forsey to meet with president of Chopard. Light becomes trapped between the
said. The organization needed someone collectors and retailers in places like As planned, Naissance d’une Montre nanotubes, the site says, because the Dark matter Carbon nanotube film pro-
to learn from Mr. Dufour, and that’s Hong Kong, Dubai and Geneva, to talk No. 4 would be something of a home- tubes are so long in relation to their di- vides the black in the new Endeavour Tour-
where Michel Boulanger came in. “We about the watch and the foundation’s coming: Greubel Forsey teaming up ameter and there is so little space be- billon Concept Vantablack, top, and in the
wanted to find the right person to mission. “We have the same values,” Mr. with the watchmaker Dominique Re- tween them. (The site uses the example Venturer Concept Vantablack, which has
spread the knowledge they would gain von Bueren said, “for the young genera- naud. of a forest with trees almost 2 miles high, 313 diamonds.
in the process of studying these skills,” tion to meet the old and learn, to know Mr. Greubel and Mr. Forsey once noting that little light would reach the
Mr. Forsey said, and “Michel Boulanger about the whole watchmaking industry.” worked at Renaud et Papi, the complica- forest floor.)
won because he’s a dedicated teacher” The second Naissance d’une Montre, tions company co-founded by Mr. Re- The coating used on the Moser watch with the moon floating in it,” Mr. Meylan
at the Lycée Diderot, a polytechnic in a collaboration between Greubel Forsey naud, who said he was delighted to be- is Vantablack S-VIS, which Mr. Jensen said. “We could have sold hundreds of
Paris that teaches watchmaking. and the Swiss brand Urwerk, will be dis- come part of the foundation “family” described as the blackest spray-applied them.” Then came the simpler (“it’s not
Mr. Boulanger had to take a leave of played at Baselworld in the spring. (And like almost everyone in Swiss coating commercially available today a limited edition and there are no special
absence from teaching, subsidized by Urwerk’s involvement highlights the watchmaking, he is from a watch family, and the same coating used on instru- complications”) Venturer Concept
the foundation, to work with Mr. Dufour fact that, if there is a thread that runs with Meylans and LeCoultres in his fam- ments for space travel to protect them Vantablack for $27,600 and a version of
and the team at Greubel Forsey for the through the passion to keep watchmak- ily tree.) “It was first of all the spirit of from sunlight. the Venturer with each watch contain-
first Naissance d’une Montre, which ing alive, it is family. “I’m the son of a sharing with the new generations that “Moser ships us the dials and we treat ing 313 diamonds totaling 3.77 carats
took years to make and finally was com- third generation clockmaking family,” won me over,” Mr. Renaud said. them,” Mr. Jensen said. “It’s very com- and selling for $54,000.
pleted in 2015. “That was a eureka mo- said Felix Baumgartner, Urwerk’s co- His collaboration, he said, would be plicated.” And costly. H. Moser & Cie. has no plans to intro-
ment,” Mr. Forsey said, “when the first founder. “This is my heritage.” based on one of his inventions, incorpo- The new watch, introduced in Decem- duce more “black hole” watches any-
prototype was ticking.” Two of Urwerk’s engineers, Domi- rating the best of old and the new to form ber, was the Endeavour Tourbillon Con- time soon, but Surrey NanoSystems is
Christie’s agreed to auction the watch nique Buser and Cyrano Devanthey, what he called “the ideal escapement.” cept Vantablack, a limited edition of 50 continuing to explore applications for
without taking a commission. “Charity who share the passion of collecting, re- The foundation appears to be gaining selling for $75,000 each. It was the latest Vantablack. “A California company is
is in Christie’s blood,” said Stéphane von storing and operating traditional watch- momentum, Mr. Forsey said, but “we’ve in a line that began in fall 2018 with the testing its use in cinemas,” Mr. Jensen
Bueren, the house’s international busi- making machines, also worked with the only just scratched the surface. We’ve Endeavour Perpetual Moon Concept, a said. “You’re not distracted by any re-
ness director (his father was a watch- Greubel Forsey team and Mr. Baum- planted a few seeds, but they need a lot limited edition of 50 that sold out at flected light. It’s a completely immer-
maker.) gartner on this second timepiece. After more light and water.” $35,000 each. “It looked like a black hole sive experience.”
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