All those who have never heard of Luigi Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author", raise your hand. That's quite a show of hands! Where is this going? I'll explain...
Whenever we chat about what's "in the air," inevitably talk turns to the weather and the changing climate, not just where we live but on all five continents. As the poet says, "with morning comes light" and morning, for me, is the year 2010 which just ended for Swiss watchmaking, an industry that is active across all four corners of the globe.
Already CEO of Blancpain, Marc Hayek, grandson of the Swatch Group's founder Nicolas G. Hayek, has taken the helm of Breguet and Jaquet Droz. Interview.
Comparing charts and figures is something marketing directors do, and which certainly has its uses as Fine Watchmaking goes global. There is, however, the risk of casting a shadow over the poetry of a product we have the good fortune and privilege to represent.
As we know, the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie exists to spread the culture of Fine Watchmaking. Not just among specialists – although they could sometimes benefit from a brief refresher: as the ancients used to say, Medice, cura te ipsum (doctor, take care of yourself) – but all those who, in a demonstration of style and good taste, are careful to go beyond the surface of things and thus fully enjoy the unique character of something as singular as a watch.
Between "Charybdis-too-fast" and "Scylla-too-slow" there is an oasis of "just right." Provided, that is, we know how to "take" time rather than let time take over.