A watch making exclusive
Five million Euros, which is the sales price of the planetary-tellurium made under the leadership of Richard Mille to be sold this summer (read Exceptional). A prohibitive price? Certainly not, in view of the ten or so years needed to design it. At this stage of improvement watch making - but should we still talk about watch making? - simply no longer has a price. Only desire counts, like that of the designer like Antoine Preziuso (read The Expert’s View) like that of the purchaser, notably during auctions (read Economy). An alchemy is taking place between the two, an alchemy that encourages the former to push the limits of high tech and innovation even further (read From the Workbench) and invites the latter to encourage them on the path of exclusiveness (read Focus).
Furthermore this desire to open up new territories is not limited solely to independent designers. For the most part watch making manufactures are committed to a process that wants timepieces to be looked upon as mainly micro-technical, aesthetic indeed artistic feats before fulfilling their primary function, telling the time (read Interview). Newcomers have moreover grasped this approach well. de Grisogono, which celebrated its fifteenth anniversary in January, has targeted no other public than the one that appreciates this prestigious watch making (read In the Market). As for Montblanc, which recently joined Minerva, the brand that has made a name for itself in writing instruments is pursuing exactly the same upselling towards a public sensitive to pure products of the most beautiful watch making tradition (read What’s their View).
Should we talk about overbidding at this stage while counterfeiting is continually preparing for battle? (read The Fight against Fakes) As long as you have watch making enthusiasts it would certainly be wrong to want to curb this wonderful production that calls on the most specialised skills in the field. And on the same note, you certainly haven’t heard the last of Swiss watch making. ■
HH Journal
