A Publicly Traded Company, or a Family Dynasty?

Okay - no hidden agenda.  I LOVE many things about the SWATCH Group.  OMEGA continues to capture my imagination - my BaselWorld experience will be shared later today.  Tissot's Navigator re-release is fantastic, and my ONLY watch purchase this year was -

The Stewards of Breguet

Courtesy of Breguet

It its easy to forget the basics.  

The watch world today is, at times, a bit schizophrenic.  New brands born in an instant, old brands bought, sold, consolidated, regurgitated.  Sometimes the focus is on pushing the next thing.  A certain brand releases the next 5 limited editions - technological break-through pieces cunningly fashioned of "Unobtainium", all seemingly the same except for the signature of the celebrity on the dial.

Or the other extreme - each piece individually crafted and assembled by magical Swiss elves, the dials polished by the tears of Arcadian virgins.  

Perhaps we could simply talk about the watch?  

Granted - Breguet is owned by a large corporation.  And yes, they are one of several brands in the "stable".  And yes they have a seemingly endless amount of resources upon which to draw on.  All of this is true.

BUT -

when you look at, hold, and (if you're lucky enough) wear a Breguet - all of the noise fades away.  Yes, there is history, there is a story, and a marketing budget that would make the candidates running for the US Presidency drool with envy.  But to simply put it all down to money is disingenuous.  Despite what you might hear, there is plenty of money in the Swiss watch industry.  The challenge is to balance what is spent outside (marketing, etc.) with what is spent inside (R&D and quality control).  And with Breguet, I sincerely believe that at least in ONE area, the SWATCH group has struck the appropriate balance.

There are several brands that simply throw money around - branding with race cars, partnering with Hollywood stars, or big-time Ballers in the NBA.  But with all of that noise, you lose track of what the company actually MAKES - watches.

I will state this for one and all to read - the SWATCH group does a LOT of things that despite their claims, are in fact, very detrimental to the watch industry.  When it comes to springs (Nivarox), their approach has been not unlike a playground crack dealer -

"The first one's free, tell all your friends!"

They have built up a dependence and are now cutting the legs out from under a LOT of companies that they depended upon in the darker days - darker days which were not so long ago, and if certain financial analysts are to be believed could be back again in the not-so-distant future.

But you have to give them their due in other areas.  With Breguet they have proven themselves to be not just brand owners - but sincere and legitimate Stewards of A.-L. Breguet's vision.   To visit a Breguet boutique, to hold a Breguet watch - you can understand WHY they cost what they do, and why they are worth it.  These are not "of the moment" design impulses, these are real watches designed to last for several lifetimes.


Now if Swatch could show the same discipline with Blancpain and Jaquet Droz, they might be onto something!

SWATCH Warm Rebel

So Wendy has been away on business all week, and brought this back for me from the SWATCH boutique at SFO -

This is the SWATCH Warm Rebel - essentially greay/silver with orange accents.  Again, I LOVE the new approach that SWATCH has taken - a slightly larger size, and a much, MUCH more comfortable rubber strap!  THANK YOU Wendy!

ANTOINE MARTIN - Martin Braun is back!

I think that this one would fall into the category of good things happening to good people - 


Martin Braun is back!

Here is the news, straight from ANTOINE MARTIN -


A watchmaker of exceptional talent, Martin Braun founded his company MHO AG (Manufacture Horlogère Obwalden) in 2009 with the declared aim of realizing his idea for his own watch movement, featuring the Swiss club-tooth lever escapement he had developed himself. After almost two years of intensive work, the first ANTOINE MARTIN movement developed and manufactured entirely in the company’s workshops is ready. It is a fascinating hand-wound movement with an integrated perpetual calendar, large date display and six-day power reserve.

Courtesy of ANTOINE MARTIN

Development of the second movement, an automatic, will be completed by mid-year. Both movements, featuring unprecedented technical innovations, are absolute highlights in watch design and are available exclusively to the new brand, ANTOINE MARTIN.

AN INDUSTRY EXPERT AS CEO

Courtesy of ANTOINE MARTIN

The man appointed to manage the brand is CEO Bruno Jufer, who has enormous experience of the watch industry. He has previously held positions with Maurice Lacroix, Jaquet Droz, Zenith and, most recently, as a member of executive management with Carl F. Bucherer. The new ANTOINE MARTIN watch collection was born under Bruno Jufer’s management. “Our watches are a distillation of all our expertise, our desire to create something totally unusual, and our passion for exquisite design, technology and top-quality materials,” he explains. The brand and its first watch collection will be presented to the industry and the general public at Baselworld, the world’s largest watch and jewellery fair.



A CLEAR VISION

According to Bruno Jufer, the brand has a clear vision. “We aim to establish ANTOINE MARTIN as a luxury watch manufacturer of worldwide renown. The brand will be a benchmark for innovative technology in movement construction and stand for unique watch design.” Master watchmaker Martin Braun and entrepreneur Antoine Meier jointly founded the manufacture and provided its name. The combination ANTOINE MARTIN has a pleasing ring and has a similar pronunciation in all the world’s major languages.

The decision not to resurrect and relaunch an existing brand name was a conscious one. “What we’re doing now is making use of all the expertise we’ve amassed in the past and gearing it entirely towards the future.  We aren’t drawing on a tradition established by long-gone founders: our developers and master watchmakers all live in the present and are under no obligation whatsoever to follow predefined routes.  Our independence as regards technology and design is reflected in our current and future products,” says Antoine Meier.

The upcoming world premiere at the Basel Watch and Jewellery Fair.

I will be there!


www.antoinemartin.ch