Joepny shares his reflections on "horo-fatigue" following SIHH 2018, using his Jaeger-LeCoultre Duomètre Quantième Lunaire as a benchmark for new releases. He critically assesses the year's major split-second chronograph introductions from F.P. Journe and A. Lange & Söhne, offering a collector's perspective on design, innovation, and movement thickness.
*Credit to Hororgasm, who I believe is the one who coined this term
The Duometre QL is typically my Fall/Winter rotation watch (I prefer bracelets in Spring/Summer) and it serves a great side purpose: I can compare it against all the new watches that brands announce from Fall into Winter with SIHH and ends with BaselWorld. The Duometre is my youngest watch that I fell for at first sight 2 years ago, and it helps me gauge whether any of the new sparkly & gleaming releases can sit alongside it. I am not a big vintage watch guy like HSTE or Nicolas, but through the last few years, my preferences have leaned to older contemporary watches; I am a big fan of watches from the 1990's and early 2000's. And every now and then an exception is made for a modern like the Duometre.
So about this SIHH -- I have doubled back to look at info that the moderators & members have generously provided (many thanks to them!) and I have to say: the horo-fatigue is real. We started with a bang last week when FP Journe released the marketing info about the new Rattrapante models and then last weekend we got to see the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oaks. It was a promising start and then, for me, it died down. After AP's new models, for me, no Richemont brand carried the flag of high-wow factor (complications matched with great elegant design) with real honest-to-goodness pictures that confirmed the quality in the metal. A few Richemont brands did fairly commendable work but not inspiring and honestly, I am not one of those negative cranky guys. I'm thinking a lot of SIHH 2018 is a reflection of planning & development that started 2-3 years ago when the industry was in a crisis with weak financial results so Richemont probably made strategic plans to scale back their ambitions and so here we are... That is my guess.
(1) Let's talk about the rattrapante. We had two big players introduce their variations: FP Journe updated his rattrapante movement from Only Watch and added a big date and then put it in an odd case & bracelet styles, IMO. It was like dressing down a pretty girl to make her homely and giving her a bad haircut too. Then ALS showed their technical prowess with the giant Triple Split. It was intellectually inspiring for a moment but the pictures of the Triple Split for me showed an uber-conservative dial and case (too grey and bland IMO). I think it lacks the elegant design factor like the Patek 5370P with its black enamel dial. Anyway, I did a comparison of recent haute horlogerie split second chronographs from the well-known brands. FP Journe should be congratulated to really making his movement thin in a large modern size. I think ALS's next step in their fabulous evolution should be to work on slimming down their movements, to me thickness is a weakness.
Vacheron Constantin Harmony Ultra-thin Grande Complication: 42mm x 8.4mm thickness
PP 5950A: 37mm x 10.13mm
FPJ Linesport Rattrapante: 44mm x 12mm
PP 5370P: 41mm x 13.56mm
Parmigiani Fleurier Chronor Anniversaire: 42.1mm x 14.6mm
Richard Mille RM004: 39.7mm x 14.95mm
ALS Double Split: 43.2mm x 15.3mm
ALS Triple Split: 43.2mm x 15.6mm
Pic from PF website. My favorite version in WG with blue enamel.
Pic from Watches by SJX. A great VC watch.
(2) Let's talk about Vacheron Constantin. Look at the beautiful
Harmony rattrapante released in 2015. They made only 10 of them.
It
is well-known that VC's strategy in the last few years has been to gain
buzz with a younger clientele and get them to dip into entry-level VC
watches and make them dedicated VC fans over their lifetime as their
incomes rise and they will buy higher level VC watches later. Hence, we
get the new FiftySix release. Now, VC complemented the release by
working with some Instagram influencers known for being clotheshorses
& smoking cigars and a few are oddly not very young guys (and I am 42+!). But these guys have substantial
followers on their Instagram accounts so I guess that is what VC is
after. All my opinion of course.
About the new FiftySix watches
themselves, they are not to my taste but the dial work is a high
standard as you can expect from VC.
Anyway, my argument to Mr.
Louis Ferla who heads Vacheron Constantin and Mr. Jerome Lambert who
oversees Mr. Ferla is this: the strategy is flawed. You do not need to
focus more attention on winning guys from the men's fashion world or cigar world or cars world to
buy their first VC watch. Sure, do advertisements in GQ or Exotic Cars or Cigar magazine and
the like to get more guys to know your name. But you have arguably
thousands and thousands of admirers already in the watch world, who know
the historical reputation and heritage of Vacheron Constantin but have
not bought anything in the last 4-5 years. Give us a reason to buy and we will buy.
You don't have to use flashy advertisements on us. Blow our socks off with the watch. Don't dumb down the watch. Make a
100 LE Harmony ultra-thin rattrapante in stainless steel. Make the Harmony
Chronograph in SS and keep it in the catalogue. Make an Overseas
Perpetual Calendar in stainless steel. Make more Cornes de Vache in SS and change up the dial color
and keep them in the catalogue (the best thing that Hodinkee did for you
was to point you to using stainless steel). Make an Overseas Perpetual
Calendar Chronograph reference (new movement) in all the metals. Make a moonphase
Historiques American in all the metals. And at the same time, to fund
the development of these new versions, look through your catalogue and
reduce the abundance of Patrimony and Traditionnelle references. It
will have the effect to make the Patrimony and Traditionnelle lines be
more exclusive. As always, all my crazy opinions.
Your thoughts?
