tony p
567
SIHH 2009: A Personal View
SIHH 2009 was truly a watershed moment for the haute horlogerie industry, which has had insufficient time to adjust its new offerings in response to the dramatic world economic crash of this past October.
The warning signs for a financial downturn were present as long ago as mid 2007. Richemont with its enormous analytical resources must certainly have instructed its brands to adjust their forward planning accordingly. Yet very few pundits managed to foresee the severity of the collapse when it finally came.
And so at SIHH '09 we have witnessed the unedifying spectacle of a number of luxury brands being caught with their pants down. Many of this year's offerings demonstrate a misplaced optimism bordering in some cases on downright hubris, especially when it comes to outré designs and fanciful pricing. I will return to these two themes repeatedly in the analysis which follows.
I should disclose that I was unable to attend SIHH in person this year due to career commitments, and so my impressions and comments (as well as my selection of illustrative images) rely heavily on the excellent coverage already posted by the PuristsPro team (and especially, SJX's incredible photos). Well done, guys.
This Year's Trends
Down Periscope. Here's one market segment where the brands got their predictions right! With bourses plummeting daily to new depths, and ex-CEOs of global accounting firms exchanging leather for concrete as their preferred shoe material, there was never a better time to buy a nice diving watch.
The fashion touchstone for this year's crop of divers is shiny bezel. IWC swapped out their internal rings for a sapphire-coated external bezel (alas, poorly received by most Scafusisti who seem stubbornly resistant to change), while JLC upgraded the brushed-metal bezels of their MCD range to a much nicer ceramic version for their new Navy Seals.
Of course, serious SCUBA practitioners tend to eschew haute horlogerie in favour of plastic-cased push-button dive computer thingies, and for 99% of SIHH brand customers, the closest they will ever get to submerging themselves will be a spot of muff-diving in a hotel room. Hence, rose gold cases, diamond highlights, and land-lubber complications continued to proliferate on 2009's "diving" timepieces (although thankfully, no more tourbillons - and to date, nobody has had the hide to release a 1000m minute repeater...)
Not this year, thanks.
My prediction for 2010: Romaine Jérôme release their "permanent diver". You buy the watch, and they throw it into the North Atlantic for you.
Bling Baby Bling. Whoops - those few lucky sods who had already converted all their shares and real estate back into cash by mid-2008, still have the opportunity to blow their dough by splurging on a pavéd-to-the-hilt number such as the GP Cat's Eye Haute Joaillerie.
Ouch.
Equally epilepsy-inducing are the JLC Grande Reverso Rock Setting (a shame, as JLC's other jewellery numbers this year actually show some good taste), and a Roger Dubuis whose square case is completely obscured by diamonds - except for a few in one corner which fell out and were quickly replaced with a much less valuable tourbillon.
Oof.
My prediction for 2010: The "invisible diamond" pavé watch. Looks like a basic Calatrava, but with three noughts added to the price.
Bigger Is Better. The huge-watch juggernaut lumbers ever forward, crushing all resistance (and any semblance of design finesse) in its path. Leading the field is the ridiculous Panerai Egiziano, whose 60mm dimensions will doubtless soon be overwhelming the scrawny wrists of closet Arnolds the world over.
It seems that for a certain class of collector, the more their physique recedes, the more their watch must protrude.
In fact this is a very manly wrist...but the watch is still way too big!
My prediction for 2010: a watch with four wheels mounted on the bracelet. The wearer can actually stand inside the watch and push himself along with his feet, à la skateboard. A standard shipping container can be retrofitted as a display case which doubles as a garage.
Brand by Brand
Audemars Piguet
It's getting to the point where the rarest and most collectible Offshore of all is any which is not a limited edition. The proliferation of LE ROOs in volcanic orange, powder blue, canary yellow - all limited to the exact number of grey-market flippers who snapped up the previous batch, plus five - reminds me of Jack Bruce singing with Cream in 1967: "Many fantastic colours, makes me feel so good..." (Less than a year later, Cream had split up.)
My recommendation to AP for their next LE release: a Guantanamo Bay ROO in khaki, limited to 250 inmates (er, pieces).
To be fair, as long as they continue channelling their ROO profits into the type of research and innovation which has produced technical breakthroughs such as the AP (modified Robin) Escapement, and breathtaking new pieces like the Jules Audemars Watch, I hope Audemars sell a million LEs. This is one of the few large firms who are taking a true lead by engaging in groundbreaking basic research.
Jules Audemars Watch with Audemars Piguet Escapement
Another example of AP's technical prowess can be found within the Jules Audemars Jumping Hour Minute Repeater. This is claimed to be the first repeater whose time can be set in mid-strike, without damaging the mechanism. It's hard to imagine how AP managed this feat, but manage it they apparently did. (Has anyone actually tested their claim?)
How are AP responding to the market meltdown? Why, by raising their prices. The technical superstars of the AP show this year - the Jules Audemar Watch, JA Minute Repeater Skeleton, JA Chronograph Tourbillon and Millenary Chalcedony Tourbillon - have predictably stratospheric prices. But so does the new PT-cased Tradition - a time-only watch with a base AP movement, ticketed at more than $50K.
The new JA Chronograph is a little more realistic at just over $30K for the RG version...but only in relation to the inflated prices of other Audemars releases. It's still a lot of cash for a basic chronograph.
As for monstrosities like the unutterably hideous diamond-encrusted ROO Las Vegas Strip his'n'hers pair, priced at a cool $140,000? Here's a flash: Visitor numbers are in free-fall at Macau, down 40% this quarter. AP, your Hello Kitty boxer shorts are showing...
Vacheron Constantin
I have to confess to being somewhat underwhelmed by last year's headline offering from VC, the Quai de L'Ile. On paper it ticked all the right boxes - a unique computerised virtual customisation service, allowing the mixing and matching of various case materials to imbue the basic design with as much sportiness or classicism as desired; a translucent dial partially revealing the movement behind, in a nod to the current fashion for "open-worked" watch faces; and a comprehensive package of nifty, high-tech security features to befuddle counterfeiters. The watch itself was a nice modern design with a great in-house movement within.
So what went wrong? Nothing really, yet despite all the fanfare, the Quai de L'Ile simply failed to grab me. Hopefully others will react more enthusiastically - VC are banking heavily on its success, and I would hate to see them falter.
This year VC are pushing their Patrimony Traditionelle line to the fore. First seen last year, the Traditionelle brings back VC's core competencies of good taste, exquisite lines, lovely in-house movements and A-grade execution. It's available as a simple 38mm three-hander, a 42mm chronograph (which slots nicely into the spot vacated by the now-discontinued Malte Chrono - but at a substantially steeper price), and a 43mm perpetual chrono with a stunning gold moonphase disc.
These three watches simply ooze refinement, although the case-movement size mismatch does make for slightly cramped sub-registers on the PC chrono.
Gorgeous moonphase, but slightly cramped subregisters
Funnily, this problem does not seem to affect the basic chronograph - probably because of its circumferential tachymetre, which squeezes the watch's batons closer in towards its subregisters.
For me, the most interesting VCs this year were undoubtedly the Traditionelle 38mm, the Traditionelle Chrono, and the Americaine 1921 (containing, like the Traditionelle 38mm, a new cal. 4400 in-house movement visible through its display back).
A trio of simply perfect dress watches which underscore the enduring strengths of this mighty manufacture.
Ralph Lauren
For a watch company, they make a nice polo shirt. 'Nuff said?
Girard-Perregaux
Definitely one of the quiet achievers of SIHH 2009. Nearly every release by GP this year is a stunner, at least in the photos. Top of my list can only be the Perpetual Chronograph Three Golden Bridges Tourbillon. My God, what a watch. First you admire the classical layout of the dial with its four subregisters and eleven hands. Then you flip it over, die, and go to heaven.
Everybody in the world must purchase a GP of some sort this year, simply to ensure that they can keep on making masterpieces like this watch.
Also of note: the keenly-priced and deftly-designed Annual Calendar EOT; the addition of a graceful curve to the Vintage 1945's lines, breathing new sensuality into this familiar case shape; and a very classy Laureato Big Date in RG, with subtle but attractive coloured highlights in the subdials.
Pity about that Cat's Eye Haute Joaillerie. Didn't anyone tell GP that Dubai just went bankrupt?
Cartier
Bravo to Cartier! The biggest earner by far in the Richemont stable, they could easily just cruise through 2009 by continuing to sell bucketloads of Santoses, Tanks and Ballons Bleus to duty-free shoppers, as well as the occasional extravagantly filigreed seven- or eight-digit diamond necklace to an oil heiress.
Instead, they have launched an all-out assault on haute horlogerie with an intriguing and entirely new range of six complicated, innovative timepieces.
Quite frankly I am stunned by this move and by the creativity of these new watches. In one case, the movement is the dial (Santos 100 Skeleton);
in another, we have an entirely new, utterly in-house coaxial chronograph calibre coupled with a highly individual display layout.
The other four pieces source their movements either from Renaud & Papi (Rotonde monopoussoir) or the now Cartier-owned Roger Dubuis (tourbillons). These latter movements must be very grateful finally to find a home inside a tastefully-designed case.
Indeed, exterior design is both consistent and breathtaking across the whole range.
Misguided horological snob that I am, last year I didn't even bother going into Cartier's stand at SIHH. Boy, has this collection turned my head around. I look forward to further releases along similar lines from this newly-revitalised titan of haute horlogerie.
Piaget
A brand with unique positioning, Piaget are a true manufacture masquerading as a jewellery house - or is it the other way around? This year is no different, with the firm hiding its horological light under a bushel of bling - not all of it in good taste.
At least Piaget are a little more restrained these days than they were a decade or so ago -
Think about the number of brands jumping up and down and waving their arms around to attract attention to "their" new tourbillon, which was actually supplied to them by BNB Concept or R&P. Piaget, on the other hand, quietly supply their tourbillons to others - utterly without fanfare. And yet, their own watches are almost invariably marketed simply as wrist jewellery.
Remind you of something else?
None of the above is meant as a criticism. On the contrary - Piaget know their place in the market, they are sticking to it, and if in the process they can impress WISs like me by quietly going about their movement-manufacturing business, well and good - but it's not the main game.
The main game is producing highly appealing, playfully creative gew-gaws like their delightful Limelight Ribbon and Love Letter "secret" watches, or the Paris-NYC Limelights with superbly executed dial/bezel paintings.
The Piaget men's releases for 2009 largely failed to pique my interest. I find the new Emperador Coussin models unappealing, the Polo 45 plain ugly (especially the 45 chrono with its ghastly and superfluous dial writing), and the Tourbillon Relatif Yachting LE with its $510,000 tag rings a very loud "pants-down" alert.
Where's my $510,000 worth?
Imagine what else you could get for that money - a Masterpiece Decimal Minute Repeater from Kari...a PP5016 grand comp...a Lange Dato Perpetual and an RL Pour le Merité with change left over...
Better was the Altiplano XL Skeleton, a boutique-only piece in WG featuring an imaginately skeletonised ultra-thin movement with PVD-treated bridges. By no means a steal at $40K, nevertheless, like Johnny Depp - it's very thin and very cool.
Jaeger-LeCoultre
While 2009's show yielded no single watch quite as breathtaking as last year's Gyrotourbillon II from the clever folks at Le Sentier, there was still plenty of variety and quality on offer. A couple of sober, well-thought-out new Reversos to suit the New Austerity, demonstrate that JLC may have predicted current times better than others.
A barely believable "testing" association with the US Military for the new Navy Seals line has provoked some well-deserved cynicism from marketing-immune WISs, but the watches themselves are probably the best Compressors yet.
And for complication freaks there are handsome perpetual tourbillons and repeaters with "new improved" finishing, one of the defining points of JLC's new "Grande Tradition" range.
The best indication that JLC "got it right" for 2009 though, comes courtesy of its decorative and joaillerie lines. For while certain other firms pressed ahead with ever more attention-demanding gold-ingots-on-the-wrist, JLC decided that in these scary times, those few who retain serious discretionary spending power are more likely to invest in restrained good taste than in huge, fluorescent displays of personal hubris. The "Venus" series of painted enamel repeaters, new Master Twinkling pieces with spinning MOP marquetry, and especially the Master Grand Tourbillon Continents, feature JLC's decorative arts department at the top of their game (although said artistes must rue the fact that someone whacked a hole in their Venus canvas with a gong hammer...)
Roger Dubuis
This company have always been a bit of an enigma to me. Their timepieces are too big, chunky, and look-at-me for my personal taste - and yet inside these chocolate-box exteriors lurk a wide variety of highly refined, Geneva-sealed in-house movements.
Impeccable horological values trapped inside a pimp suit...the showiness of Gérald Genta with none of that brand's sly humour...
Naturally, all those vast expanses of chunky metal with superfluous lugs provide a perfect mounting surface for lots and lots of little diamonds - as if these designs needed to be any more outré than they already are. In the immortal words of Max Bialystock, "If you got it - flaunt it baby, flaunt it!"
Really, if I were Cartier (the new owner of this firm) I would consider selling the movements off to the highest bidder and just sticking ETAs in there - I'm sure most RD buyers wouldn't notice the difference.
That's if there still are any buyers. RD will remain the favourite brand of certain Indonesian palm-oil plantation magnates' wives and daughters, who always pick up a piece or two while they're in Singapore for their liposuction -
- But that's the ladies' line. RD might find itself a bit short of cigar-chomping Big Kohunas to strap men's Excaliburs to their plump wrists in 2009. Pants-down alert!
A. Lange & Söhne
The big news at Lange this year is, of course, the Richard Lange Pour le Merité, which must surely take the title of "most understated watch of all time".
For a WIS, this watch is like a wet dream. All boxes are ticked: perfect case proportions, three-level enamel dial, blued hands, German Silver 3/4 plate, and of course, that incredible chain-and-fusée power train. Stealthy and sublime, this is a watchlover's watchmaker's watch company's watch.
Lange have also updated their 1815 range, and they've done it the right way - into the bigger case goes an all-new, bigger movement. I love this brand. Can't wait for the new 1815 Chrono, which must surely be on the way...
Van Cleef & Arpels
Another big winner in '09, VC&A don't need to aspire to being anything other than what they have always been - one of the most creative and tasteful jewellery houses going. For men there is the Midnight les Jardins collection, a series of tourbillon watches with "mixed media" 3D dials in precious stones, enamel and what looks like cloisonné or maybe champlevé.
Turn them over and you can admire mother-of-pearl insets on the movement bridges. Exquisite.
The star of the ladies' collection is Une Journée à Paris, with its slowly-rotating onyx plate over which dance a series of gold-outlined figurines, enjoying themselves in the City of Love.
Pop one of this year's VC&As on your wrist and you are quietly announcing that you still have money and always had good taste.
Montblanc
If ever there were an example of the need to evaluate watches for their intrinsic value rather than by brand name, the newish Montblanc Villeret Collection would be it. Essentially Minerva re-badged, the Villerets are a small group of ultra-low-volume, ultra-high-finish watches featuring outstanding technical finesse at astronomic prices.
Expensive they certainly are, but gear for gear and guilloché for guilloché, these watches probably offer horological value equivalent to established top-tier brands such as PP, AP, Lange and VC. However, with removal of the Minerva logo comes the loss of any brand-specific personality.
Will they sell? I wonder whether Montblanc really care. If they did, they would surely not have set such ambitious prices. For the same money as the new MB Mystery Tourbillon you can get all sorts of complicated Pateks, Vacherons, APs, Langes, or even a you-bewt double tourbillon from Greubel Forsey.
Some have pointed out that Montblanc should have retained the Minerva name somewhere on the dial, as it's a brand which means something to real WISs - some of whom have the serious money needed to secure one of these pieces. This speaks volumes to the power of branding. Would you rather wear a haute de gamme piece labelled "Minerva", or "Montblanc"? Does it matter? Think about it.
Having said that, MB are clawing their way up the horological beanstalk faster than Jack on crack, with some keenly-priced entry-level chronos and a very nice openworked variant of the Star Nicolas Rieussec Monopoussoir Chronograph (although again, I wonder about their pricing on the RG and PT versions, which pit this model against superb in-house chronos from AP, VC and Lange).
So, are Montblanc displaying symptoms of pants-at-the-ankles syndrome with their pricing structure? Or did they always know they wouldn't shift many units at these price levels? Their sales figures will be interesting - if the breakdowns are ever made public.
Oh, one more thing worth noting: very little bling in the MB range. I like them a lot just for this.
Baume & Mercier
The most flattering adjective I can come up with for these watches is "worthy". Kind of nice, but I simply can't get excited about any of them. Neither can anyone else here, apparently.
Final Words
It's probably egregiously unfair of me to slam some brands so harshly, and damn others with such faint praise. After all, I'm just another sad-sack internet addict with a couple of nice watches and an attitude.
But hey - we're all entitled to our opinion, and I'm sure that brand CEOs aren't going to be running home crying to Mummy just 'coz I beat them up on the PuristsPro playground. For everyone else - that is, my fellow WISs - I can only hope to have prompted your thought processes a bit, and maybe squeezed a couple of wry chuckles out of you along the way.
So who are my picks for 2009? Firstly, the losers: any company who thinks that in dire times such as these, they can keep increasing the size, diamond load, noise-to-signal ratio, and (most importantly) price of their watches, and we poor suckers will just keep rolling over and taking it up where the sun don't shine - believe me, you are in for a rude shock. Well, at least, I hope so.
The winners: Cartier, for using their revenue and their industry clout to bequeath us a fabulous new collection of real timepieces; Girard-Perregaux, for their tireless devotion to quiet achievement in the face of difficult circumstances; and A. Lange & Söhne, for their unswerving dedication to stratospheric excellence in watchmaking.
Honourable mention: Audemars Piguet, for their continuing efforts in basic horological research and development; Van Cleef & Arpels, for upholding the values of exquisite good taste in dial design; and Montblanc, for saving one of the oldest and best-loved Swiss manufactures (even if they seemingly dare not speak its name).
Unsung Genius award: Renaud & Papi, who stand firmly behind so many of this year's horological marvels. Indeed it's hard to believe the scope of their achievement - they seem to be at least partly responsible for nearly every great new movement innovation of the past few years.
And finally, what is my "Watch of the 2009 SIHH fair"? Is it the Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Watch with Audemars Piguet Escapement? No - although it certainly wins the award for most self-promoting model name, and although it's unquestionably spectacular-looking, there just isn't enough actually uniquely special about this watch - except maybe the price.
Is it Vacheron Constantin's Patrimony Traditionelle Chronograph, with its return to the exquisite design and execution values of VC chronos from times past? No, for while it's an exceptionally beautiful watch, it still uses a third-party movement which is still probably not quite as well-finished as we know to be possible. Maybe next year VC can bring us the same watch with an in-house calibre...?
No, the winner for this year has to be the A. Lange & Söhne Richard Lange Pour le Merité. What can I say? It's perfect, perfect, perfect. Beautiful, restrained, horologically impressive, utterly desirable.
Let's see if anything can top the RL Pour le Merité at Baselworld. Stay tuned...
Cheers
Tony P
More posts:
SIHH 2009: A Personal View
SIHH 2009 was truly a watershed moment for the haute horlogerie industry, which has had insufficient time to adjust its new offerings in response to the dramatic world economic crash of this past October. The warning signs for a financial downturn were pr...
Not bad T
But you over looked IWC and Panerai the more important brands ;-) (well bar the Egiziano, which BTW is a remake of an older OP war model) and nothing to do with collectors receding physique, well not as far as I'm aware. The new Panerai Auto movements P.9...
Thanks a lot Tony for your comments.
I saw this year a quite interesting SIHH, at least better that we could expect before going to Geneva. You're right, the RL PLM is an amazing watch. Is it not a bit too overpriced ? Only the customers have the answer. Fr.Xavier...
Very interesting, Tony
Like you, I was wondering if the Brands will present some interesting novelties, this year, due to the fact that the SIHH was 3 months earlier, and due to the Crisis. In fact, this was a bit surprising, not to say surrealist... Crisis? What Crisis? There ...
Still Giggling ....
Tony I am rarely without speech but I must confess your witty quips had me convulsing with laughter..... Dare I say “Genius” Thank you for giving a sense of FUN to a "sometimes" serious topic. I thoroughly enjoyed every sarcastic moment ... PS: I also hav...
