Independents

watching00000
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There is a single emotion involved &

that is frustration. Frustration that obviously most people are more concerned about the motive behind the discussion, rather than actually partake in the discussion. I even presented why I see this move not as a "let's bring some order to my companies Instagram profile", which by the way is ridiculous as an argument in a field where these "insights" are precious in the presentation of the brand, but rather as a clean up to pave the way for the handmade saga of Rexhepi. And that is based on the fact that they or rather he did it before. Akrivia stated handmade and in-house on bought in movements and removed it once that claim and the looks + complexity of the timepieces attracted buyers. From that point on it was "yes, we buy parts, make some our selves and finish everything but will be all in-house very soon" which worked for a few years now, by blurring the lines of in-house work and simply money spent for buying parts.
Now, a new chapter begins and since we are talking about motivation, based on actions in the past, you would not think that it's once again to clean up for marketing purposes? To present himself again as the "Wunderkind" that makes handmade watches. Despite having external work done on drawings, construction, production, finishing (his brother etc.) and so on...I do think that it is done now to pave the way for it. Not the first brand and not the last brand to use marketing tactics to increase interest and sales. But when it comes to art and a small, specific section of art, it should be the duty of those who love it to prevent marketing from taking over completely. Or would you be fine with a painting you want to buy from an artist, only to learn that it's actually from someone else and the seller simply used a great story, despite very little of it is true? It's exaggerated but since everyone is always talking about timepieces are telling a story, that story can either be intriguing or it is a fairytale. If you want a fairytale, that is up to you but fiction and non fiction is separated for a reason at the library.
Don't get me wrong, the watches have an appeal but the overblown story behind it corrodes the craft or rather how the actual craftsmanship that is done this handmade way by very very very few, is perceived. And the fact that the discussion about handmade always circles around "You can not determine what is handmade etc." shows that this tactic, intensional or not, works. Because handmade is pretty easy to determine: Do you buy parts? Yes? How many compared to the number you produce yourself? Do you produce them yourself with CNC? Yes, how many compared to non-automatic production? These are simple questions that should not feel like intruding or poking around, but rather as pro-active transparency by the watch brand. And the cutoff line "required" to qualify a watch as handmade is also pretty easy: Does the knowledge lie with the watchmaker or brand and is the actual production of main components like plates, wheels and mechanisms done non-automatic? No? Then it should not be called handmade. It's still Haute Horlogerie and probably a great timepiece.