You may
remember that I quite recently asked you: "What watch with these
ones?", the question being illustrated with the picture below.
It was
there:
patek.watchprosite.com
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My intent was
obvious, especially if you know my current temptation for a Patek Philippe
Nautilus 5711/1A.
I wanted to
explore a bit deeper the links we could find between these boats and the
sea-able Patek Philippe models!
It is easy to
try to build bridges between watches and other products. I personally find such
bridges often misleading. Bridges towards cars or carmakers for instance are
frequent and that for me is the most misleading bridge as I don't think
the car industry shares much product logic with the watch industry. Even the
luxury car industry shares IMO very little with the high horology segment.
Cars are
produced in greater numbers (even a Ferrari 458 Italia will never be as rare as
a Patek Philippe 5970 for instance). Cars are more and more disposable, at
least because of the never lasting electronic devices and the exotic materials
that are more and more difficult to repair. Luxury cars are a very visible
expression of your tastes towards the crowd, while high horology watches remain
(at last for now, even if there are growing exceptions) mainly invisible and
un-identified by the vast majority. Cars are hard to collect (how many car
collectors do you know, owning tens or hundreds of pieces?). Cars are here to
satisfy our extrovert tendencies while I feel that watches are here to please
our introverted ones.
In fact I think
that boats better remember me the link between the owner and the object that I
feel with my watches, even if again any comparison has its limits.
Boats are IMO
much more personal than cars. There are much more different boats available
than cars. They are much less industrially built. Boats are much more
customable. I feel that owners are much more dedicated to boats than cars. Like
for watches, there are many safe –or harbour- queens!
Even luxury
cars can often have an everyday utility, while leisure boats are totally
un-necessary, like watches, and remain only a source of pleasure, of self
indulgence.
Furthermore
people who see your boat are generally people who own a boat as they cross the
path of your boat in a marina or at sea. So if that's part of the
equation what you express is received by someone who expresses something
himself. There is no "innocent"!
Obviously this
opinion is expressed by someone living on the sea side and may be less
understandable or shared by someone living far from the shores.
We could then
wonder what the links could be between Patek Philippe watches and boats. I will
not rely on watches like the one above and below to build any relationship.
That would be stupidly superficial.
I would not
rely either on the glorious past of Mr Philippe Stern as a sailor, as I
don't think his victories in the Bol d'Or on the Geneva lake have
had much visible influence on the Patek Philippe range of watches.
I am more
tempted to look for names of comparable fame, and even more than fame, respect
by those in the know. I've thought about several motor boat brands to compare
with patek Philippe. What about Bertram (Hatteras is nearly unknown in Europe
now), Grand Banks, Couach, Feretti, Azimut,
Sunseeker? All these brands have huge qualities and make admirable boats but
they fall short to convince me in terms of deserved prestige when compared with
Riva.
Riva has been
consistent during its long history. Riva boats have always been beautifully
designed, perfectly crafted and finished. They were and are performing boats. I
will never forget the "peach skin" treatment of the wooden panels
of the cabin cruisers. I will never forget the extreme beauty of the runabouts.
What does Riva express for you? What does Patek Philippe express for you?
Like for a few
other brands I named Riva has perpetuated its vintage heritage to create its
more recent boats. Of course neo design has been a large theme in the recent
car design history, but the perpetuation of vintage designs has been permanent
in the Riva and Patek Philippe lines. Their recent designs are not neo design
but are the result of a slow and moderated evolution.
Of course
brands have expanded their range and in the last ten years Riva has been also
producing 20 meters
plus yachts and Patek Philippe has launched the Aquanaut, both to satisfy the
evolution of the demand. But they have remained faithful to their legacy. The
Riva yachts express the same refinement and grand lasting and superior style
and the Aquanaut updates the Nautilus on new refined and simplified ways.
To further
investigate if the boat / watch comparison was pertinent I thought it was
necessary to explore the other side of the boating world. I looked for a
sailing boat company and the result was even more obvious. If a Riva is the
summum of the motorboats it is as clear that the summum of the "standard"
sailing boats is a Swan from Nautor.
Some will say
that Nautor is historically linked with Rolex. That's true. But does that
mean that all Swan owners, or a majority of them wear Rolex watches? Do they
wear them only at sea? Is there any chance that some of them wear also Patek
Philippe watches at home or at work? I hope so. I also hope that some Swan
owners race or cruise with Patek Philippe watches.
Furthermore do
you really think that all Aston Martin owners wear Jaeger-Lecoultre watches, or
the contrary? Rolex is a sponsor of the Swan races, as Rolex advertises through
car races like the Le Mans 24 Hours. Is it intended to sell watches to the Le Mans drivers or to the
crowd attending?
Do you think
that because Swan 45 owners are united by their boating choice they also have
the same watch? I don't think so. Still they may share some common tastes
for lasting performance, traditional conception developed to the limits,
perfection of understated design, superior craftsmanship, and yes the prestige
of a discreet choice recognized only by fellow amateurs. I don't think
Rolex can answer all such criteria.
Don't you
think that all Frers' Swan models of the last thirty years or so look
nearly the same in and out? And are not so different from the Sparkman and
Stephens models?
You can just
have a look at the current Nautilus models below and realize that their design is
so similar to the design of the original model.
On the contrary
the car industry lives of design revolutions. Even the neo designs were in some
way a revolution in the car industry.
Great wines
mature, great boat lines mature, great watch models mature. Time goes by and
only the best remains the best. As we need the judgement of time only when the
best has been the best for very long can it reach the top.
When
you've explored your own way to the top and started again, your aim is to
improve yourself, to beat yourself each day. Ideally you don't try
to compare yourself to others as others have chosen another path.
You learn more
by letting your customers compete between each other in their class. The Rolex
Swan World Cup is the best example of a prestigious competition, and especially
the more recent Swan 45 class. Obviously some other exceptional boats have such
"class" races. And some cars too like the Porsche cup and the
several other examples of mono brand car races.
That's
where it could become interesting (at last ) for us watch lovers. Chronometric competitions are missing. We're
missing them. A new competition was initiated last year but its organization is
not intended to make it replace the old Observatory prizes. Watch makers
can't regularly submit pieces to tests that can substantially demonstrate
their superior rate regulation and that such regulation is common in their
production.
The COSC
testing is interesting but not enough to differentiate the really exceptional
pieces. To what extent, to what level a watch can be wished to be precise? Is
rate regulation perfection attainable? Serially?
What do we want
for Patek Philippe? What are the aspects of Patek Philippe watches that we want
to be tomorrow's expressed values or proved performances?
The calibre
above is truly exceptional, nobody would doubt of that. The Swan 90 below is
also truly exceptional.
That's where
the difference between boats and watches is though. Large boats are more
exceptional, even if not better, as they bring the same refinement if not more
in a larger size. Large watches do exactly the contrary. The real grandeur of
exceptional watches is to bring the same or greater refinement in smaller
sizes. That's the position of Patek Philippe to have the smaller possible
calibres. What Patek Philippe shares with Nautor is the wish of grandeur in its
category.
What watch with
these ones ? I invite you to express your opinion.
Cheers
Dje