Caught in the July doldrums, the watch world (like any Europe-centric business) slows significantly during the summer months. Nonetheless, there was enough activity to keep things interesting at home and abroad. Headline news of big shakeups at several Richemont brands engendered much speculation about industry consolidation, while across the border in France, the Paris Olympic games gave Omega an excuse to celebrate. Elsewhere in Europe, Mr. Pirro Ruço’s GPHG 2024 watch is what his eponymous brand claims to be Albania’s first luxury watch, including a $1.3 million price tag. Closer to home, the latest edition of the Intersect watch show demonstrated a growing demand for independent microbrands with more people, more space, and more guest appearances, including from the mysterious “Ziggy.”
Catherine Renier Leaves JLC To Become CEO Of Van Cleef & Arpels, Louis Ferla To Leave Vacheron To Become CEO Of Cartier
A veritable game of musical chairs involving several C-suite executives at Richemont brands kicked off speculation that a game with LVMH may be afoot. The headlines began in late June when the Financial Times reported that Bernard Arnault, head of luxury conglomerate LVMH, had bought a small personal stake in Richemont, home to brands like Cartier and Vacheron Constantin. Just days later, press releases from both those companies announced the departures of each CEO with JLC’s Catherine Renier leaving for Van Cleef & Arpels, while Vacheron’s Louis Ferla headed off to Cartier. At Van Cleef & Arpels, Ms. Renier replaces Nicholas Bos, who was recently chosen for Richemont’s CEO job. Who will lead JLC and Vacheron? That hasn’t been announced just yet but the vacancies created by all this movement give rise to speculation that an outsider might step in. Is LVMH after some or all of Richemont’s portfolio? It’s too soon to tell, but in the wise words of an old graybeard, “things are now in motion that cannot be undone.”
Source: Watch Collecting Lifestyle
Opinion: Maybe One Group Controlling All The Major Luxury Brands Would Be Bad
Providing the editorial perspective that’s most needed in the face of the aforementioned LVMH-Richemont speculation, Worn & Wound’s managing editor, Zach Kazan, said what we all were thinking: Maybe consolidation in the current watch industry is a bad thing. Kazan’s thesis that the world of watches, “bifurcated as it is between three major players and a handful of smaller ones, hasn’t exactly been a win for creativity, quality, or owner satisfaction” is well-received. Pointing out that a super-group of LVMH and Richemont brands would likely lead to even further conservatism as brands crowd beneath the same umbrella, trying not to step on one another’s toes is enough to make any collector skeptical of consolidation. What lies ahead for some of the world’s most well-known watch brands?
Source: Worn & Wound
New Release: Paris 2024 Bronze Gold Edition
How about some good news? Despite a little (okay, a lot) of rain, the XXXIII Olympiad kicked off in Paris this month, bringing the competition back to the City of Lights for the first time in a century. While the games are only a few days old, Omega — the official Olympic timekeeper — has been celebrating since last year. Starting with the introduction of the gold-bezeled “Paris 2024” Seamaster 300M, the brand’s commemoration continued this month with a much more interesting timepiece, the Paris 2024 Bronze Gold Edition from the brand’s semi-nebulous Specialties collection. As the name implies, it features Omega’s proprietary bronze-gold alloy last seen in editions of the Chronoscope and a vintage version of the Seamaster from 2021. Our favorite feature? The guilloche dial is made from silver, completing the podium medal (or is it podium metal?) trifecta.
Source: aBlogToWatch
Hands-On Debut: Christopher Ward C65 Super Compressor Elite Watch
The Ocean Star Decompression Timer walked so this watch could run. Picking up where Mido left off, this month, Christopher Ward announced the C65 Super Compressor Elite with an unmissable look and bonafide specs. Where the Ocean Star was a maddeningly hard-to-find limited edition that sent fans into a frenzy, the C65 Super Compressor Elite is available right-freaking-now, which is, shockingly, something the watch public wants. Christopher Ward has shown that making watches available for purchase is foundational in building a brand, something that much bigger, much better-capitalized conglomerate brands might try. And unlike the 200m-rated Ocean Star which has a dial that’s merely evocative of the compressor divers of yore, the C65 offers genuine super compression performance meaning it’s got a theoretically limitless depth rating. Take that, Swatch Group.
Source: aBlogtoWatch
First Of Its Kind: This Watch Was Made In Albania!
Typically, we don’t hear much about the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève competition until it’s already happened, at which point we’re left wondering where the heck watches like the Raymond Weil Millisieme came from. So let this be your fair warning: pay special attention to this year’s Artistic Crafts category at the GPHG on November 13 where Albanian brand, Pirro, has submitted its very impressive “Primordial Passion” timepiece. Based in Tirana, the national capitol, Mr. Pirro Ruço toiled for five years building the gold and mosaic Agenhor-powered 18kt gold machine, a proud claim as the first true Albanian watch. The twelve folk dancers arranged around the dial stand in as hour markers while hands stylized to look like eagle talons (the national symbol of Albania) emanate from beneath the four musicians seated against a central structure. Beneath the obscenely high dome crystal, 1,500 individual Murano glass tiles leave no doubt about the attention to detail paid to this exquisite timepiece.
Source: WatchesTV
How Will The Silent War Between Watch Brands & Retailers Unfold As The Industry Eyes America?
For anyone interested in understanding the interplay between brands and retailers in the United States, Ariel Adams’ recent primer is required reading. As founder of aBlogtoWatch, Adams has had the rare ability to sit with both camps over a long career of watch journalism uncompromised by direct retail influence. Elucidating the tension between brands and third-party retailers, readers of Adams’ piece will come away with a newfound appreciation for how the values of (mostly) heritage European brands collide with those of independently run American stores. As publicly traded brands attempt to capture maximum profits by cutting out the middleman, retailers do what they must to retain already thin margins in a highly uncertain business environment.
Source: aBlogtoWatch
Horage And The Ingenious New Revolution 3 Microreg
As Griffin Bartsch over at Worn & Wound points out, the obsessive-focus watch brands put on accuracy is only as good as the conditions they’re tested under. Once on the wrist, mechanical watches are subject to all manner of abuse that can and will affect accuracy. In best-case scenarios, a quick pass through a demagnetizer will set things right again. Worst case, your watch needs to go back to Switzerland for three months (or more) for a complete service. Typically, however, the fix involves cracking open the case, and tediously adjusting the regulation with surgical precision. Horage’s new Revolution 3 Microreg addresses this issue in a novel way. Place the watch in the external dock and a miniature electric motor connects to the movement’s regulator, enabling adjustments as tiny as +/-0.1 seconds. It’s a compelling answer to a pitfall of mechanical watch ownership that’s highly intriguing.
Source: Worn & Wound
Interview: Ludwig Oechslin — Watchmaker, Historian, Inventor, Academic
Ever see a watch complication — especially a particularly advanced one — and marveled in wonder, “Who came up with this?” The answer is often Ludwig Oechslin. Last month, Ariel Adams spoke with the inventor of such important watchmaking advancements as the Ulysse Nardin Freak and Zenith’s annual calendar system. From a high-stakes Vatican clock repair to curating the Musée International d’Horlogerie, and then starting his own brand, Ariel Adams and Oechslin go on a wide-ranging journey that shows the unlikely places watchmaking can take us.
Source: aBlogtoWatch
Event Recap: Intersect 2024
Hats off to Wesley Kwok, co-founder of Nodus Watches and the heart behind the Intersect watch event. Housed in a new, larger space for 2024, this year’s Los Angeles (well, Long Beach) edition of Intersect showed that special things can happen when independent brands and collectors get together. According to Kwok, this year, a number of much larger brands wanted to participate but failed to meet Intersect’s criteria for brand participation. To attend, brands must be independently owned, send a rep who is a decision-maker, and — most importantly — be “cool, collaborative, and community-driven.” It’s a high bar, but this year, 20+ brands made the cut. The aBlogtoWatch team was proud to be a part of it — including Ripley’s pup, Ziggy (top left) who towered over everything.
Source: Nodus+Intersect