Geneva Watch Week - Evaluating Time
WORLDTEMPUS - 2 February 2011
While the Salon International de Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) remains the catalyst, it is certainly the ingenuity of the entire Swiss industry that has propelled the third week of January to a new status, one that is fast approaching the dimensions of Baselworld - if not quite in quantity, then certainly in quality.
While the SIHH organizers may not exactly be pleased, they cannot deny that the qualitatively excellent Geneva Time Exhibition (GTE) has added a new level of depth to the week. With the SIHH focused on big brand activity, GTE kept an eye on independent makers of every size and shape. One element doubtlessly characterized both shows: the extreme creativity that was on display.
Some independents continued to display their products in hotels along the Quai des Bergues. These boutique brands like Urwerk and MB&F once again impressed with their high standards, extreme professionalism, and creative new timepieces. Perhaps an aside to the "hotel" exhibitions is the fact that several big brands who also inhabit large booths at Baselworld have begun to "invade" the city, now vying for watch week visitors' attention. Maybe it is not such a coincidence that most of them belong to the same group…
The "trend" that has mainly crystallized combines a "return" to classic values, retro elegance, and a newer feel for wearable creativity than has been evident in the last five years. Even the independents at GTE were professing much of the same (see GTE Superwatch second-place finisher Ressence with a modern take on elegant innovation, for example). Almost every exhibitor at SIHH had a tame, yet innovative, version of "time only" to show - and post-SIHH voices seem to be going wild for it. Aside from standout Jaeger-LeCoultre's absolutely gorgeous slim anniversary Reverso models, others combining wearability, innovation, and a decent price for a collector's watch certainly included Audemars Piguet with the Millenary 4101 (at $20,600 in steel a wonderful introductory AP piece) and Ralph Lauren with the Slim Classique Square, only 27 mm in diameter (does this mark the return of the "gentlemen's watch"?), and coming in at $15,200 for white gold with beautiful guilloche work.
My final day of this exhausting, exhilarating whirlwind of a fair - a literal whirlwind actually, thanks to the bise noir that began blowing on Thursday - ended on an interesting note as I was invited to casually partake of the quintessentially Swiss fondue and a few glasses of good wine. I laughed and dined with 30 or so of some of the Swiss industry's most creative minds - marveling at the extreme IQ numbers seated all around me, having a good time themselves - among them Carole Forestier-Kasapi (Cartier's head of high watchmaking), Giulio Papi (APRP), Jean-Marc Wiederrecht (Agenhor), David Candaux (Jaeger-LeCoutre), and Eric Giroud (designer par excellence). It was obvious all were shaking off the week's stress, happy to celebrate relief and success with good friends. Just then the gentleman sitting to my left asked me how I would sum up what I had seen over the course of the week in one sentence. Though I was loathe to even think about one more watch, the answer came to me in a flash - as if I had already thought of it. And perhaps I had, for the week was so intellectually stimulating that I could barely sleep. I turned to him and smiled. "Innovative creativity with a touch of optimism," I blurted. And we all laughed, not because it was funny, but because I had spontaneously hit the nail on the head. Just as they all had, too.
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Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Black and Red Dial Chronograph Stainless Steel Men's Watch PT6018-SS002-330Sale Price:US$279.00
