Dispatch: A View On The Swiss Watch Industry After Spending A Few Days In Switzerland
My final appointment, if you can call it that, during a whirlwind 48 hours at Geneva Watch Days was an impromptu meeting over beers with young German watchmakers Johannes Kallinich and Thibault Claeys on a patio overlooking Lake Geneva. The young watchmakers were sitting with JX Su (Watches by SJX) and called me over to take a look at their first independent watch, the Einser. After starting their watchmaking careers at A. Lange & Söhne, the duo has stepped out on their own, in part hoping to prove that Glashütte can be a home to independent watchmaking.
After announcing the Einser, Kallinich Claeys quickly sold through all 30 pieces – impressive for two relatively unknown watchmakers. While there weren’t a ton of new releases at Geneva Watch Days, Kallinich Claeys was among the standouts I saw, which also included Daniel Roth, Berneron, and others mentioned in our Editor’s Picks, along with more we’ll cover in the coming weeks.
The impressive work of young watchmakers Kallinich and Claeys. The duo produces nearly all of the components on their own. The movement architecture is particularly striking. It has a traditional three-quarter plate, but is exposed to showcase the movement’s most interesting features. For example, the balance clock is engraved with “gills” by Lange’s former master engraver, and a regulator with a spring traces the balance cock’s shape and functions similar to a swan neck (below).
At the same time, the Swiss watch industry is, by most reports, struggling. After Geneva Watch Days, Bloomberg’s Andy Hoffman wrote: “Swiss luxury watchmakers are turning to the government for financial aid to help them weather a downturn in demand.” According to Bloomberg, Sowind Group, owners of Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin, are the first brands to confirm they’re using a state program to put about 15 percent of workers on short-time work or furlough. Under the program, the government pays a portion of furloughed workers’ salaries while companies temporarily cut shifts. According to recent reports, about 40 companies in the Jura, the home of many watch suppliers, applied for this program over the summer.
Even the head of Richemont, which owns Cartier, IWC, and Vacheron Constantin among other brands, has said its brands need to constrain production and “should be cautious in just trying to pursue volume.”
It can be difficult to fit these two seemingly competing stories into one clean narrative. On the one hand, two relatively unknown German watchmakers have more demand than they know what to do with, and they’re far from alone. On the other, brands like GP and UN, with centuries of history, don’t have enough demand to keep their manufacturing lines running at full capacity. Part of these “competing stories” is what keeps any industry healthy. Tastes change, old brands are slow or unable to adapt, and new ones fill the void. After all, there’s a reason we’re gushing over releases from some of the aforementioned smaller brands, with hardly a peep about the new Girard-Perregaux La Esmerelda “A Secret” Eternity Edition Honey ($447,000, limited to 18 pieces – we’re not the target audience).
China’s economic slowdown has been blamed as a major culprit for this slowdown. No doubt, the industry is a victim of economic uncertainty, but industry events such as Geneva Watch Days are kind of like political conventions or high school pep rallies, deliberately designed to gin up excitement and point focus to the actual watches.
While there weren’t a ton of new releases, there was enough to get excited about as the industry gears up for a fall season of releases, auctions, and more. Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights I saw in Geneva. We’ll have more on all these in the next few weeks.
The Vibe
The tantalum bracelet from the new Alternative Horological Alliance.
More than other shows, Geneva Watch Days has a loose, decentralized vibe, with a particular focus on smaller and independent brands (no Patek, Rolex, Richemont, etc.). In fact, it’s this independent ethos that provides the most excitement for the industry as a whole.
Perhaps the best example of this wasn’t a new release, but where I began my week, at the announcement of the new Alternative Horological Alliance, a joint effort between indies Ming, Fleming, and J.N. Shapiro that aims to promote independent watchmaking “beyond established, conventional standards.” As Mark explained, this will include pooling resources and reimagining portions of traditional watchmaking supply chains. Alongside announcing the Alliance, the trio introduced an impressive new tantalum bracelet, conceived by Ming and produced by Shapiro.
While their products continually illustrate the value of independence, building a sustainable independent brand for the long term is hard. Hopefully, ideas like the AHA can help.
Auctions
Highlights from Sotheby’s Treasures of Time in November. The ref. 1563 with Breguet numerals is the headliner.
Alongside the modern market, the auction and secondary market has also slowed. It’s not limited to watches – Sotheby’s recently reported a massive decline in revenue for the first half of its year. The big houses are hoping for a strong fall season and already previewing their sales for November.
First, I previewed Sotheby’s single-owner Treasures of Time sale, a Patek-heavy auction of 30 watches in November. The highlight is a ref. 1563 split-seconds chronograph. It’s one of just three known, one of which famously belonged to Duke Ellington and now sits in the Patek Museum. It’s a beautiful watch with a yellow gold case and “Tasti Tondi” pushers, the same as the ref. 1463. The Breguet numerals on this one make this example stand out (Ellington’s didn’t even have that!). In fact, the collector had a real penchant for Breguet numerals, as you’ll also see them on his ref. 130 chronograph, black dial 2499, and ref. 1436 split seconds chronograph (in hard enamel, no less!). The 1563 split has an estimate of CHF 1-3 million, so we’ll see if it can pass its CHF 1.5 million result in 2013. I’ll have a full preview in the coming days, but here’s the full catalog for Sotheby’s “Treasures of Time.”
The second wristwatch Journe ever made, and the first Tourbillon Souverain ever sold. To be auctioned at Phillips’ Reloaded sale in November.
Meanwhile, Phillips offered a preview of its Reloaded auction, a sale focused on watches from 1980–1999, the era it calls the “rebirth of mechanical watchmaking.” It’s a wide selection from Breguet, Blancpain, Daniel Roth, Derek Pratt, and other watchmakers that defined the era. But the two highlights are the first Rolex Rainbow Daytona and the second wristwatch Journe made, a Tourbillon Souverain. Look back at our Miami Antique Show coverage from January and you might even recognize some of the other watches from Reloaded.
I’m hardly a Journe guy, but the Tourbillon Souverain is a magnificent piece of craftsmanship, a word that’s totally overused today. The dial is raw and hand-carved, the ink bleeding like a damp notebook. The Rainbow Daytona has an estimate “in excess of CHF 3 million,” while the Journe is in excess of CHF 2 million. The Journe does more for me. And again, not a Journe guy! More to come on the Phillips sale – you know it’s good when I don’t even mention a platinum Dufour Duality – but here’s the online catalog.
Okay, let’s get to the new watches.
The Releases: From A (Albishorn) To X (Xhevdet)
The Albishorn Maxigraph, a playful take on a vintage regatta watch that might’ve been.
New brand Albishorn is the brainchild of Sébastien Chaulmontet, head of innovation and marketing at Sellita. Chaulmontet’s a serious vintage chronograph nerd – here’s a great video where he shows some of his collection – and I enjoyed finally meeting him in person after having known about him for years.
The Albishorn Maxigraph is a collaboration with Massena Lab and answers the question of what a modern regatta chronograph built for the 1930s would’ve looked like. The design is well executed and there are a few sneaky technical innovations that set it apart from the typical regatta timer, which Jonathan mentioned in our Editor’s Picks, calling this his favorite release of Geneva Watch Days. There will be more “vintage watches reimagined” from Albishorn, all offering a playful take on the idea of heritage, proof that vintage-inspired doesn’t need to be so serious.
The slimmed-down M.A.D.1S, as seen in Mark’s Hands-On.
This was the first time I’d spent a lengthy amount of time with MB&F watches in more than a year. It’s a veritable wonderland of kinetic art. From the L’Epee x MB&F “Albatross,” a sort of chiming blimp clock, to the M.A.D.1S (actually wearable now!), it’s sensory overload from the moment you step into Max Büsser’s world. No one has completely rethought the purpose of watches and clocks like him in the past few decades, and experiencing his watches in person is a keen reminder.
Xhevdet Rexhepi’s workshop in downtown Geneva is buzzing, with six or so employees working on various parts of assembly and finishing. Check out this video for a quick look inside his atelier. His Minute Inerte is an innovative piece of independent watchmaking. The second hand pauses for two seconds every minute and then the minute hand jumps forward, a reference to Swiss railway clocks (see it in action here). He’s had a hell of a time getting the complication working, but we saw running examples with both green and blue dials at his workshop.
The Octo Finissimo Ultra still wears like a watch…
…but it’s unfathomably thin.
It’s not a new release, but it’s still hard to fathom the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC, even after seeing it in person. It’s 1.7mm, but still feels like a watch. I’m still not a fan of the “Datamatrix” – the QR-code-looking pattern on the ratchet – but otherwise, it’s an extreme Octo Finissimo, just one that’s been run through a pasta roller too many times. I wish I’d seen the Constantin Chaykin ThinKing prototype (1.65mm), and he promises to have a production version by April. For now, the Bulgari is still the thinnest production watch. Importantly, it also doesn’t need a key for winding, unlike the Ferrari x Richard Mille or Chaykin.
Of the ultra-thin trio vying for the “world’s thinnest” title, the Bulgari is still my favorite for looking like an actual watch; it’s still COSC-certified! Still, Constantin’s genius is undeniable.
Berneron Mirage 34 with stone dials, the stars of the show.
The star of the week was probably the Berneron Mirage 34. After introducing the Mirage in 38mm last year, Sylvain Berneron has shrunk down his asymmetrical case size by introducing a smaller, thinner movement. But the big change is the dial: in the smaller Mirage, the yellow gold features a tiger’s eye dial, and the white gold uses lapis lazuli. Both are stunning. The tiger’s eye in a 1970s, shag-carpet-and-wood-panels kind of way, the lapis lazuli in a cooly modern way. We’ll have a full hands-on of the full Berneron Mirage collection soon.
Best for last. As I mentioned in that Editor’s Picks last week, the Daniel Roth Rose Gold Tourbillon was the biggest surprise. It’s the first time I’d seen the relaunched Roth tourbillons in person, and they’re better than I realized. The improvements to the original 1990s tourbillons are subtle but noticeable. The first thing I noticed when I flipped the watch over to look at the movement through the sapphire caseback was the black-polished balance cock, pristinely finished and a detail that renderings and press photos don’t do justice. The entire package is warm, the guilloché is fine, and every inch of it is impeccably finished. The Roth aesthetic still isn’t totally for me, but after seeing it in person, it’s an objectively beautiful piece of watchmaking.
Even as reports continued to trickle out of the industry’s struggles, releases like those from Berneron, Roth, Rexhepi, and even Albishorn make me think the future of mechanical watchmaking remains bright.
Hodinkee