The Curious Case of the Cricket - Or the Importance of Being Earnest

Or the importance of being earnest.

Regular readers of the "Blog Formerly Known As Tempus Fugit" can attest that I am, indeed, a serious fan of the Vulcain Cricket. I have owned four over the years, 2 vintage which were passed on to other owners, and two modern versions. The one above my most recent addition. The one below is one of the Ditisheim / Paajanen Crickets in stainless steel -

But my interest goes well beyond the watches. I am also interested in the history of the brand.

I have visited the former factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds (above), as well as the current one in Le Locle (below).

And I have met the two most pivotal figures in the history of the Watch of the Presidents, Michel Ditisheim -

And Keijo Paananen -

And I, like many people who cover Watch Town was very excited to learn that there were new models coming out. And that's when things got weird.

For quite some time, Vulcain and Anonimo have been joined at the hip owing to the purchase of each by an owner who spends the majority of his time in Luxembourg. If my admittedly sometimes foggy memory serves there has been a bit of a musical chairs at the top level. Most recently Carla Duarte was at the tiller -

She stepped away last autumn, and since then there has been no clear signal as to who would be stepping in to run things. Prior to Ms. Duarte there was Aldo Magada. Now even more curious to relate was that during Ms. Duarte's tenure, a brand consultant was brought in by (assumedly) the owners. There was quite a bit of buzz, but it seems that perhaps sales were not as robust as hoped for. I can only base this the two models that Vulcain partnered with Revolution / The Rake on. The first selection was a limited series of 4 pieces with 25 available in each execution (2 versions in 36 mm, 2 versions in 39 mm). These have been in the market place for over a year now, and if the Revolution store front is anything to go by, they have not sold through. The same goes for the second version that was launched in May of last year, and again, if the Revolution store site is a barometer, it seems that as of this writing, there have not been 50 customers. 

And so now we find ourselves in February of 2024. To the best of my understanding there has not been a new appointment at the CEO level.

One last odd development - a limited edition collector's Cricket paying homage to a member of one of the founding families - The tribute to "André Didixein" -

https://vulcain.ch/products/vulcain-cricket-didixein

I thought it was sort of intriguing and was happy to see that there was finally some  in the family behind the brand, as I count one of the last surviving members from the original Vulcain as a friend - Michel Ditisheim. He is still alive and well and living within minutes (admittedly by driving) of the current Vulcain HQ. I wonder if anyone working on the project reached out to him?

Here's the thing. I know that nothing lasts forever. Things change, brands change hands, employees, managers, CEOs - even owners, come and go. The only certainty is change. With that being said, I would encourage whoever emerges at the top of Vulcain to reach out to the people who know the history, who know the brand background and can help them truly connect the past to the future. 

But that's just one fan's opinion ; )