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AnthonyTsai reports on ArtyA's controversial "Bye Bye Euro" watch, released in response to the Swiss National Bank's decision to unpeg the Swiss Franc from the Euro in January 2015. The author questions the seriousness of the timepiece, viewing it as a "joke watch" given the transient nature of the economic event it commemorates. This post sparks a discussion on watch brands' reactions to current events and the perceived value of such commemorative pieces.
ArtyA does it again and releases another watch to highlight an event, this time the unpegging of the Swiss Franc to the Euro.
I find this watch to be a joke watch given the brevity of the situation.
Cheers,
Anthony
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You could be forgiven (especially in Europe) for thinking that 15.1.15. is an emergency number. Not quite – but it is the fateful date on which the Swiss National Bank (SNB) abandoned its cap on the franc/euro exchange rate. Until then, this had kept the rate at €1=1.20 Swiss francs and no less. Now the wedding is over and the divorce has been pronounced. And to push the analogy still further, the Swiss franc is behaving alarmingly like a new divorcee: it appears to be revelling in its newfound ‘single’ monetary status, and showing every sign of wanting to behave badly. The Swiss economy may be trembling as a result, but some have chosen to see this turn of events as the seed of a unique watchmaking concept.
Bye Bye Euro!
Indeed, ArtyA has weathered more than its fair share of crises, and this will be neither the first nor, doubtless, the last. The creative opportunity has not been lost on Yvan Arpa, ArtyA’s indomitable CEO and designer. If this is the last the Swiss Franc is seeing of the euro, he’s determined to give it a send-off in style!
The Bye Bye Euro is a timepiece that uses actual euro banknotes. Just like the late exchange rate, the bills are history now: worn out, cut into strips, and scattered apparently at random across the dial, as befits a crisis.
The 42 mm timepiece may cause a bit of a stir, but it tells the truth as well as the time. You can see it as commemorating the end of an era, or as a sign that we’re at the start of a new one. Wearing it is a way of seizing the moment rather than shying away from it. We can either behave as victims of circumstances – or take hold of them to make sense out of things, adjust our course as necessary, bounce back, and get going again. There’s no question about which road ArtyA prefers to take.
The Bye Bye Euro watch is already available. And needless to say, you can pay for it in the currency of your choice.
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