Brands show their true colours at the SIHH 2010

A glimmer of optimism could be seen at the 20th Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), in contrast with last year when a bleak economy was undermining the morale of even the most seasoned brands. The 10% increase in visitor numbers, which climbed to 12,500 including 1,200 representing the international media, was a clear indication that change is afoot. Joining this lighter mood was a renewed interest in timepieces which this year clearly leaned towards sobriety, classicism and watchmaking expertise. “We’re definitely witnessing a more positive mindset,” observed Stéphane Belmont, director of sales and marketing at Jaeger-LeCoultre. “Whereas last year the majority of watch companies closed in on themselves like oysters, this year they are far more buoyant as the worst is definitely over. But if there is one lesson to be learned from the past eighteen months, I’d say it is to develop a renewed awareness of the value of things.”

Back to earth

Jaeger-LeCoultre came to the SIHH this year with its brand new Master Compressor Extreme LAB 2, a “laboratory” watch that reinterprets the chronograph’s codes for CHF 52,400 (€35,600). The Manufacture also presented a new Duomètre with lunar calendar and lightning seconds for CHF 34,000 (€23,100). “Possibly one good thing to have come out of the crisis is an all-round return to watchmaking’s authentic values, far from the exuberance of the past years,” Stéphane Belmont went on. “This is a good point for Jaeger-LeCoultre which excels in beautiful classic watchmaking, where technical expertise is expressed through mechanical innovation without ever falling into excess.” The extravagances of the past seem well and truly behind us. “With customers thinking long and hard before buying a luxury watch, we have to be realistic,” commented Philippe Merck, CEO of Audemars Piguet. “Granted, the last three months were better than a year ago but it’s still too soon to be talking about recovery.” No doubt this is one of the reasons why the brand from Le Brassus has revised its entry-level range… and why it came to the SIHH with a Royal Oak Offshore Diver positioned well under CHF 20,000 (€13,500), a first for the brand.

Hardly surprising, in these conditions, that watchmakers have rediscovered the virtues of the horological equivalent of Hergé’s ligne claire. Virtually every brand exhibiting at the SIHH had engaged in a bout of soul-searching to deliver collections in which the virtues of the past were clearly evident. At Vacheron Constantin, this gave the Historique Ultra-Fine 1955, the Historique Ultra-Fine 1968, the Patrimony Traditionnelle and the Patrimony Contemporaine with retrograde day and date. “We have returned to more poetic evocations and to our mastery of elegance in extra-thin watches,” CEO Juan-Carlos Torres simply observed. In the same vein, Piaget celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its 12P extra-thin calibre, launched in 1960, with the Altiplano 43mm with small seconds at 5 o’clock. IWC showed a hand-wound Portugaise while Girard Perregaux presented its 1966 Petite Seconde. Not forgetting the latest from Cartier, the Calibre with small seconds at 6 o’clock, date aperture and the brand’s distinctive style. The Mare Nostrum 52mm from Panerai stays true to the watches made in 1943 for Italian navy divers. At JeanRichard, the Aquascope looks to one of the brand’s 1960s models while Jaeger-LeCoultre unveiled two new interpretations of the legendary Memovox.

Mastering grandes complications

However, not every timepiece on display adhered to this economy of form. Far from it. Research into materials is still keeping R&D departments occupied, and producing models such as the Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph with silicon escapement. Two years in development, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Grand Prix isn’t afraid to marry forged carbon with ceramic. The case of the Radiomir Composite Marina Militare 8 Days by Panerai is a first in Fine Watchmaking, as aluminium is ceramized using an electrochemical process to produce a composite material that is both harder and lighter than ceramic, steel or titanium. After Cartier’s ID One, a concept watch unveiled last December as the first “adjustment free” watch, a feat made possible by state-of-the-art materials, watchmakers continue to break new ground. Take the example of the RM 017 by Richard Mille, which now equips all its tourbillon models with a carbon nanofibre baseplate.

Turning to grandes complications, the exhibitors showed they had lost none of their creativity without feeling compelled, as in recent years, to jump on the über-complications bandwagon. The SIHH previewed a number of innovative creations, such as the Rotonde de Cartier Astrotourbillon, the Double Tourbillon Technique from Greubel Forsey, the Pont des Amoureux by Van Cleef & Arpels with its poetic retrograde display, and the Piaget Polo Tourbillon Relatif. Several brands excel in combinations of complications, including Vacheron Constantin whose Patrimony Traditionnelle Calibre 2755 brings together a tourbillon, a perpetual calendar and a minute-repeater. Not to be outdone, Audemars Piguet’s Millenary Carbon One combines tourbillon and chronograph. Roger Dubuis confirms its expertise with the Excalibur Double Tourbillon, as does IWC with the Portugaise Tourbillon Mystère Retrograde, and A. Lange & Söhne whose second Tourbograph Pour le Mérite has a one-minute tourbillon, split-seconds chronograph and fusee-and-chain transmission.

The 20th Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie was indeed a gathering of Fine Watchmaking in all its splendour.