Hello and welcome to PRIMETIME - Watchmaking in the News, our monthly program coming back
on the main newsworthy stories of the previous month and what to expect on the watchmaking
planet in November and we are going to talk about quite a lot of product launches, brands
have been pretty active I must say, preparing end of the year purchases, maybe.
On the business side and I've been predicting since a little while unfortunately, but Swiss
export figures have taken quite a little downfall recently, so the general enthusiasm witnessed
over the last few months is now gently fading and brands have again to think a bit more
cautiously about their future, coming with the right products, and even more importantly
at the right price, but also thinking of the proper service that customers would expect
today. And as a very good example of this last point, Omega just announced that the
will now offer a 5-year full warranty on their watches and I really think that this is a
very good initiative. It demonstrates the trust the brand has in the quality of its
products, it's a good sign and I really think this should become the norm, especially
when you compare what car brands have done over the last 10 years when it comes to the
type of service and guarantee they offer. Still on the business side of things, we've
also witnessed some pretty interesting moves regarding the second hand market. Not only
have we seen recently the significant development of platforms such as Watchfinder and its acquisition
by the Richemont Group or brands taking care themselves of certified pre-owned initiatives,
but now we have huge platforms such as eBay making big moves to up their game in order
of gaining a more trustworthy reputation when it comes to sourcing some second hand watches.
A couple of month ago, eBay introduced what they call the "eBay Authenticate" program
for watches and this is something they had already introduced a bit more than a year
ago for other luxury products. To make it short, eBay is partnering with some of its
top sellers and based on their reputation and history, these are now authorized to assess
the quality and origin of some of the watches placed on the platform, which will then benefit
from an "Authenticity Verified" status. With the power of eBay, this will for sure
influence a few people maybe still a bit hesitant to buy there to finally make purchases from
what is already a massive selling place for second hand watches. But eBay is not stopping
there, they have an even more ambitious plan as they are now very transparently telling
brands to use eBay as their official e-commerce platform for second hand watches. Brands will
of course benefit from the platforms immense reach and know how, especially using some
of its very precious customer data in order to place rather adequatly some products in
front of your face depending on some of your previous searches for instance.
Another good example of this online evolution comes from Chrono24, the world's largest
dedicated platform of second hand watches, but also new ones and sometimes a platform
also viewed as fueling the grey market side of the business, but that's another story
and you have to remember that is a marketplace, just like eBay and just creating the link
between sellers and buyers. Well Chrono24 now has introduced an auction bidding system
where the seller will place their watches for sale and buyers will be able to bid without
the intervention of an auctioneer, this part is automatically performed by the platform
itself. Highest bid stays valid for a max of 30 seconds and if there is no higher bid
placed within this timeframe, then the lot is won by this latest bidder. The first "auction"
presented 48 lots and encountered apparently a good success and this will be repeated in
time with theme oriented auctions. Anyhow, what is really interesting to see
is that we have now clearly entered a new phase of the second-hand watch business market,
big powerful players are now clearly competing on that scene, proving yet again that this
is a huge, a massive market that these big players won't let in the hand of these many
small and fragmented watch dealers, as it was till today. And I say this despite the
fact that for instance this weekend I went to La Chaux-de-Fonds to see a really cool
small second hand fair held at the Horology Museum of the city and it was so nice to meet
and mingle with the dealers and collectors coming to find this special piece. On my side,
I think I've fallen for one, just waiting to see if the dealer will accept my offer
but nevertheless this human interaction was pretty cool, nothing beats it. On the same
day I continued to another small fair, this time in France, not far away from Morteau,
an important but small town linked with watchmaking history, also not far from La Chaux-de-Fonds
and I just loved this atmosphere, but even there and talking with some of the dealers,
you clearly got that they completely got how this digital transformation is impacting their
business and for us, well it's getting harder to find these super hot deals that one day
was possible, everyone knows everything! Ok and before coming to the main special product
launches, just wanted to mention that on our side we've been to China in October and
what a great experience. Though we really benefit from a fantastic international audience
and I can't thank you enough for it, but because of technical-political restrictions,
well YouTube simply doesn't work there and for us there is no reason why not being able
to share some of our contents for Chinese watch enthusiasts. So we found some locals
partners that are now taking some of our video reports, translates and subtitles them in
Chinese, and publish them on a dedicated WeChat and Tencent chanel. To help us introduce this,
we had organised a nice small launch party at the Swiss embassy and I have to admit that
it was nice to feel the support of the swiss ambassador for this endeavour, something I
don't really feel here in Switzerland unfortunately, but that's ok, you are the guys that count.
Anyhow, as I was there, I had the chance of visiting the Forbidden City in Beijing and
in particular the Hall of Clock with its head restorer, Mr. Wang and it was great to see
how this amazing collection of old clocks and automatons was so appreciated by the visitors.
They have roughly 1'800 pieces in their collection and if you go by Beijing, well
I clearly invite you to visit this, really quite something, impressive and can't wait
being able to do some more detailed reports directly on site regarding some of these objects,
but also some other interesting aspects of chinese watchmaking, because there are for
sure a few people that want to develop this industry over there and that are no longer
ashamed of putting "made in china" on their watches. I was for instance introduced
to a new brands called Atelier Wen, which wants to play with the porcelain heritage
of the country with some blue and white porcelain dials, but what is interesting is that they
use chinese movements for these watches. Probably a little while back, they would have gone
for Swiss or Japanese movements, but now they must feel that they can go the full chinese
route and still be credible. Well, am pretty sure we're going to see much more of these
projects coming soon, even heard of a Sea-Gull minute repeater coming in a platinum case,
which makes no sense, but what really doesn't make any sense it the announced price of approximately
15'000 USD, yep, you heard me right. Well some stories to be followed upon...
Ok, let's now talk purely new watches and I will start with A. Lange & Söhne who came
up with a restyled version of its very beautiful Daytograph Up/Down. This flyback chronograph
is a favorite of many watch collectors, but now the German brand introduced what they
call a "Lumen" version, meaning that it presents some very explicit glowing features
and most of the dial is translucent and enables you to see part of the watch's movement
directly from the face side. I really think the result is beautiful and it gives a more
modern feel to this timepiece, really really nice. This special Datograph comes in a 41mm
platinum case and is limited to 200 pieces and I'm pretty sure they will all go rather
rapidly! Ok, let's now talk about Breitling, who
organised a massive show in London to introduce their new Premier collection. This is actually
a revival of a collection originating from the 1940's and it tells us quite a lot of
where the brand is going. Breitling is definitely expanding from its sporty-technical watches
that we all know and they do this with the clear intention of broadening the customer
range. We know that since the purchase of the brand by the rather aggressive investment
fund CVC and the placement of George Kern at the helm of the brand, the goal is to grow
the business pretty rapidly and significantly before selling the company within the next
five years for a comfortable profit, at least that's the plan and they are not really
hiding from it. So to achieve this ambitious goal, the new Breitling team is going full
on with a redefined image, change of logo for instance, but also with what I would call
more mainstream products, watches that I believe have a bit less character, but could potentially
appeal to a larger audience and this Premier collection exemplifies this pretty well. Within
this new collection, they came with a significant number of variants and this is a pretty smart
thing to do, it establishes the collection and this ranged from a 42mm B01 Chronograph
with their in-house caliber and dark blue or silver dial, coming in a steel case, a
cheaper version simply called Chronograph 42 with a 7750 Valjoux movement, a simple
3 hands version called the Automatic 40 with small seconds at 6 o'clock and an Automatic
day-date version, also 40mm in diameter and both these last two models using ETA movements.
So we clearly feel the vintagy inspiration behind these watches and we'll see how the
market will react to this and how efficient their marketing campaigns will accompany this,
don't know if that will be enough though. Personally I haven't seen these watches
in the flesh, neither have I seen somebody wear one of their Navitimer 8 watches presented
earlier this year and for the record I still prefer my old school looking Breitling I must
say. Ok, next big launch as Patek Philippe have
come up with a totally new Twenty-4, this time fully mechanical. The original Twenty-4
was launched in 1999 and has been a massive commercial success for the brand. I know that
we associate more Patek with fine mechanical watches, but the Twenty-4 is a quartz watch
destined towards women and this has really been a huge hit for them. So not only have
they gone fully mechanical with this new automatic version with the 324 S C caliber, a proven
movement also found in the iconic Nautilus Ref. 5711, but this new twenty-4 now comes
in a 36mm round case in 5 different variants and price starts pretty high at 26'000 USD,
but regardless of this last small detail it will most probably be another success for
the brand. Again Patek is in a league of its own, something that must most probably frustrate
managers of so many other brands, but that's simply the way it is.
Ok, next and a few months ago and thanks to Armin Strom we presented to you what was a
resonance movement, meaning how two movements found within the same watch influence each
other when the two regulating organs are close to one another. If you haven't seen this
video, I clearly invite you to do so, because this is really a cool mechanical accomplishment.
Anyhow, Armin Strom have now introduced a dual time version of this timepiece and this
is quite an original one for sure. Since the two movements are no longer stacked one on
top of each other, but set next to one another, this freed up some space which allowed them
to extend the power reserve with 4 barrels which can be seen from the back. This rather
daring timepieces comes in a titanium case and is limited to 8 pieces only.
And talking about daring and dual regulating organs, well what to think of this new version
of the MB&F LM2, which now comes with a vivid purple dial, how flash is that? This is of
course also a limited edition of 12 pieces, comes is a white gold case and in this case
the two regulating organs are connected by a differential system, so not a resonance
mechanism, but pretty cool mechanics there too.
Another independent brand to come with a full new collection is Romain Jerome with the Arraw
collection. This represents a pretty important milestone for the brand which we know more
for their Marvel, Hello Kitty and other Titanic DNA types of watches, so to come with a collection
of its own is for sure an important gamble for them. These new ARRAW watches are all
chronographs, come in either 42 or 45mm cases in titanium, ceramic or rose gold and we'll
see if it will enable to really establish the brand.
H. Moser, yet another independent brand that I quite like, introduced a steel tourbillon
called the Pioneer Tourbillon and this is a first for them. The dial naturally features
this "fumé" (smoky) touch so representative of the brand, comes in 43mm case, and the
movement is fully in-house. Nice and elegant watch.
Ok, that's it for the main product launches and now what to expect in the days and weeks
to come? Well first, we are soon going to discover what are the best watches of the
year according to the GPHG, the Geneva watchmaking award ceremony which will take place on Friday
the 9th. We'll of course be there and will share with you the results shortly after with
some interviews and stuff and one of the main change of this edition is that there is a
new "challenge" category, meaning watches under 4'000.-, approximately 4'000 USD
and the "Petite Aiguille" which previously comprised watches below 8'000.-, well this
category now consists of watches between 4'000 and 10'000 swiss francs. Ok, full results
soon and we'll see if we're in for a few surprises or not and still annoys me not to
have pulled our own award yet, the envy is there and you being the judges of course.
Ok and following the GPGH ceremony will be held here in Geneva some major watch auctions
as all the main auction houses are putting some pretty sweet lots under the gavel. Unfortunately,
we won't be able to come with some of these cool videos portraying all these great lots,
we'll just focus on a pretty special one and this just proves that despite our little
slogan stating that "time is what you make of it", well I guess there is just not enough
of it and therefore I think it's seriously time for me to ask if any of you guys or people
that you might know would be interested in collaborating with us here on TheWATCHES.tv.
Simply too many things to say, do and film, just not enough time and resources, so if
this is something that could appeal to you, please don't hesitate to contact us through
our website, watchestv.com, you'll find a contact form there and looking forward seeing
if there will be any interest and how we could make this happen, who knows!
Ok, still in November and if you're in London, well we clearly invite you to attend SalonQP,
the main watch related event in the UK to be held at the fancy Saatchi Gallery between
the 22nd and 24th of the month. Hopefully, I'll be able to attend this year's edition,
always had a great time there! Ok and just to finish this Primetime in style,
just wanted to share something that really amused me the other day when it came across
to me that some of our videos had been used to showcase how Patek Philippe was appealing
to the rapper community. On this overwhelming news, it's time to say goodbye, a massive
thanks for watching and sharing, we have some good stuff coming shortly, I can promise you
this and till then, all the very best, a special and immense thanks to our patrons and let's
be crazy and go for a double Viva Watchmaking.
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