remarque
808
perception and reality...
With the announcement that JLC has discontinued the fruitless Geophysic line, my perception is that the brand is lost. Of course, due to lack of any real information from the company, I will never know if the the overlords of Richemont thought as much of the brand over the past few years and brought in Mme Renier to take control and reverse the course, or, the brand is foundering as a result of Mme Renier's ascension.
Whereas the tribute to Geophysic brought welcome attention to the brand (despite lack of a central second hand manual wind movement), the True Second movement was divisive and the brand, since the release of the True Second, has does nothing to refine, enhance or modify/improve the controversial if confused design language (Geomatic anyone?). One year after its release, JLC with fanfare brought out the True Second World Timer tourbillon, which promptly went nowhere but into oblivion.
So now the brand has deserted it, for what? A similar situation with the "new" Polaris line? (sigh -- supercompressor style but not real supercompressor case, recycling the same old movements, etc). And don't forget there has been no innovation of new life to the Master Control series in years, and all we do with Reverso series is change colors/dials and Duometre series has limited audience and...
Voila, now Mme Renier tells us she is refocusing the brand on haute horology! and Jewels! Let's bedazzle and we can price our watches in the hundreds of thousands, not just tens of thousands of euros/dollars/...
What ever happened to JLC producing the best (modern) movements and putting them in journeyman watches for reasonable price ($5-10K range) which have some timeless design, flair and life? Methinks the brand is lost, and sadly, when too many people like me have the same perception, perception DOES become reality. Which is sad and disappointing. I guess modern movements across the board with things like PR 70 hours, manual wind central seconds, tight tolerances aka Rolex, Omega, etc etc are no longer that for which JLC wants to be known. Maybe JLC is no longer the "watchmaker's watchmaker."
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perception and reality...
With the announcement that JLC has discontinued the fruitless Geophysic line, my perception is that the brand is lost. Of course, due to lack of any real information from the company, I will never know if the the overlords of Richemont thought as much of ...
Very interesting. Branding is important, personally I think iwc is another that has been on the slide for a number of years. Producing too many models, and some
might say, affected the quality. On the flip side, brands like pp, Rolex and ap, by limiting certain models are thriving. Apparently the limiting of certain models is to enhance the quality, by spending more time in making sure they produce the finest. My...
I would be less severe and more confident. Mrs Renier took the helm of the brand a bit less than one year ago, after 4 years...
4 very ( too ) prudent years. From the half of 2013 to 2018, we saw, mainly evolutions and a few introductions of really new watches, such as the Geophysic, principally. AND, let's not forget, the Reverso Tribute Gyrotourbillon. I have to agree with your ...
Jaeger was in top form in the 1990s from a design perspective AFAIK
But the world has changed a lot since then and the company has to adapt to world tastes and desires. I hear that the work atmosphere at JLC is not great at the moment but I hope this is changing for the better. I have no internal feedback so I am taking t...
Jaeger Lecoultre was not in top form in the 90's... At the point that this is the Compressor Line which saved the brand.
As for the ambience at the Manufacture, it is much more positive now... For some months. The good pieces under Jerome Lambert's reign? The Amvox I and II, for sure, the Duometres, the Gyrotourbillons, the Tributes ( Polaris, DSA, Reverso ), The Extreme La...
Two aspects to success
Nicolas, I was expecting a swift reaction... True that there have been many nice pieces launched under the helm of Mr Lambert but no real breakthrough. All the pieces you mentioned are very creative but small product lines/tweaks/reeditions. - The Duometr...
Nicolas, let us hope that Mme Renier is rethinking and regrouping the brand along a few parallel and complementary lines:
1) Movements: It is overdue for the workhorses of the "basic" lines to be modernized, including the Reverso. The new movements must certainly have tighter tolerances, vide supra. 2) Decide on a focused design language for the stale yet "mature" Master Con...
To answer that id crisis question..
I'd say yes and probably true for a number of brands out there. The average watch lover (not necessarily a WIS) likes to be able to think in categories. Even if we say that folks would like for brands to think outside the box, even what is outside that bo...
Good read!
Although: I don't like boring, I don't like easy to spot, I don't like predictable! I own a Reverso, but nobody knows them in the world I evolve in. I also really love the subtle way the brand is written. I own a MUT, again, nobody knows what that watch i...
All valid points in the posts above ,regarding JLC as a brand , but in my perception this is not solely a JLC problem...
I think that this is a Richemont group problem across the board , and is the result of the brand greed . As you can see , Panerai, Vacheron, even Lange to a certain extent are struggling with the same problems . Compared to PP, RX, AP, where they have cle...
Bvlgari
I thought bulgari is an independent brand because of its strong releases the past years. I did not know its under LVMH. I agree Panerai, IWC and VC together with JLC are looking more like fashion brands than serious watches IMO. Yet these are brand with r...
I think the name 'Geophysic' triggered everything and focused too much attention (mainly from watch experts)... from praise with the TT to the family's fall
If you look at the whole JLC picture, JLC has an amazing (that's from the heart) line-up. But if you remove passion, you can define this line-up as wide and diverse. It should please everyone (women, men, classic, sport, mid and high level, even few quart...
the current reverso grande center seconds sums up current JLC for me
I very recently was in the market for a watch and was interested in the JLC reverso grande center seconds. I found that while its pretty much the same exact size of the 976, it has the same movement as the medium. Its not a fitted movement, it's not a spo...
Thank you all for your earnest consideration of my original post. I can only wish that the elders of JLC read our thoughts and take them to heart, rather than
pay high dollars to marketing firms for inane and uneducated focus groups and other similarly overpriced and overvalued opinions!
Descent of a brand
I’m saddened by the fact that the brand no longer holds any appeal to me any more, especially considering JLC was my dream brand when I first started collecting. However I could say that about just about brand these days. Little innovation (or emotional t...
