Patek to drop Geneva Seal & Vincent Calabrese no longer independent...

Apr 10, 2008,07:53 AM
 

These two are buy far the most interesting "releases" of 2008.

The first news is huge!  While still not officially announced, rumours are abound regarding Patek dropping the Geneva Seal due to the recent admission of Cartier.  The obvious questions are 1) Will Patek replace the seal or go ahead alone like Lange did; and 2) Will this create a hike in prices as collectors step over their own mothers to sweep up all the Geneva Seal pieces.

The second  piece of news is of significant interest with Vincent now working for Blancpain.  Apparently he holds the title "Creator".  I am not sure if the AHCI voted to dismiss Vincent.  Does anyone (Don?) have an update?

Would love to read your views.

Gaz

This message has been edited by Gaz on 2008-04-10 07:58:59 This message has been edited by Gaz on 2008-04-10 08:04:35


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AHCI members

 
 By: MTF : April 10th, 2008-10:29

Reply

 
 By: Bruno.M1 : April 10th, 2008-14:04
"Will this create a hike in prices as collectors step over their own mothers to sweep up all the Geneva Seal pieces." That would surprise me. If only a few had the Geneva Seal it would be rare but didn't all the Pateks have that seal untill today ? [edit ... 

Geneva Seal

 
 By: ling5hk : April 10th, 2008-16:22
There are a lot of high quality watches without Geneva Seal. For example Lange, Parmigiani, Dufour's and Kari's watches and the list will go on. Are they inferior when compared to VC or Patek? Certainly and 100% not. I know Patek and VC don't like the ide... 

Where you are born.......

 
 By: MTF : April 11th, 2008-00:25
Ling, I agree with you. If your watches are 'born' within the geographical canton of Geneva and reach minimum specifications for Geneva Seal, you should be entitled to it. That's the only reason to have a factory in Geneva.....apart from the nice lake and... 

Maybe Patek should go for Six Sigma...

 
 By: Gaz : April 11th, 2008-01:12
and create the Sigma Seal . Not sure what the defect levels are for the Swiss watchmaking industry but aiming for 3.4 defects per one million opportunities would be a lofty ideal although its not as romantic, as the artisan qualities of haute horlogerie m... 

Swiss industry quotes the "fixed" return rate as

 
 By: MTF : April 11th, 2008-06:36
5%: that's the figure you get from everyone whether they sell $1000 watches or $10,000 watches (mechanical). Naturally, one expects that small production pieces would have a lower return rate but that is hard to prove with sample sizes of 20 pieces per mo... 

Interesting idea

 
 By: 1440 : April 11th, 2008-09:26

Qualite Fleurier?

 
 By: ling5hk : April 11th, 2008-17:04

Amazing

 
 By: luminor1950panerai : April 11th, 2008-13:03
Wow this is serious news. I think the industry is finally waking up and doing things what brands like IWC, A.LANGE & SONE and many more, have done. I guess Senior Mr.Hayek would be happy Chao, luminor1950panerai

What is it?

 
 By: whatsoever.hk : November 25th, 2008-07:36