Ulysse Nardin

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Rolf's Acceptance Speech..

Here you go... Rolf is happy to let me post his speech here.  Noni

Dear Bernard , dear Wei

Dear Members of the Asian Chapter of Judges, Management of Edipresse and Singapore Tatler,

Watch lovers and connoisseurs

I am deeply touched to receive this award.  Ulysse Nardin is in fact the sacred fire burning in my heart and soul.  My rather long career in watch making started in the marketing department in JLC in Geneva. From there I went to the Far East just over 50 years ago, at the age of 22 to distribute and market various Swiss watch brands in Thailand .

In 1968 I began to set up the first watch component factories in Thailand and Malaysia to produce high precision components for some of the big names in the Swiss watch industry. 

 But Ulysse Nardin was the true challenge of my life and the cherry on the cake.

My wife Chai every so often claims that Ulysse Nardin is my first love.  True, to some extent.  I spend obviously more hours on refining this jewel than on showing my appreciation to have such a wonderful supporting wife and family,  who  lets me indulge in this creative and redeeming hobby job of mine.

I bought Ulysse Nardin in 1983, when mechanical watchmaking was hit by a tsunami, the Quartz technology. It was a gamble but I had strong believes that mechanical watches would come back one day. To come back with a bang, we worked on a multifunction timepiece that had not existed before, The Astrolabium Galileo Galilei. The Guinness Book of Records featured it on its cover and this marked the beginning of the Renaissance of mechanical timepieces in the late eighties.

Innovation has been the hallmark of Ulysse Nardin.

 The Freak hailed by Wei's Revolution as the first Impressionist timepiece, both in terms of aesthetics, and mechanical concepts came with a new escapement made entirely in silicium. It  inspired the watch making fraternity to think out of the box ever since.  The Freak changed the landscape of watch making.

To avoid that the big groups monopolise new production technologies , Ulysse Nardin invested in a new facility – Sigatec – to produce high precision movement components with the LIGA and DRIE techniques, not only for Ulysse Nardin’s own consumption but to make this technology available to others in the Swiss Haute Horlogerie. This will ensure that creativity and independence will not be stifled and more novel and interesting timepieces will continue to thrill watch aficionados the world over.

However for me, this evening is also an event of great importance for another reason.

The Asian chapter of judges has made a giant step forward to make the Grand Prix de Haute Horlogerie a true transparent award - to the judges themselves - and to the fraternity of watch lovers and collectors. 

This guarantees credibility and a meaningful and respected long term future for the Grand Prix.

Edipresse should be congratulated for having had the foresight to include the Asian chapter of watch lovers to express themselves especially since it is headed by the Singapore chapter.

Singapore is the most knowledgeable watch community I know in the world over.  Timezone, the Purists and Horomundi all started in Singapore. 

Even the creative independant watchmakers like Philippe Dufour, Felix Baumgartner or Greubel Forsey are household names in Asia’s watch communities.

I thank the Asian chapter of judges headed by Bernard Cheong and Wei Koh for their integrity and diligence. 

I congratulate Edipresse which has recently acquired the GPHH as this event will no doubt become a permanent feature.

Most of all I thank the watch enthusiasts in attendance tonight.  Your appreciation inspires us all to test the watchmaking limits and for me to indulge in my hobby job.

Last but not least, thank you Singapore Tatler for a very enjoyable evening.

Rolf W Schnyder

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