Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2013: almost but not quite
While not exactly the year’s most exciting awards, the 13th Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève proved more interesting than expected. Alongside such big names as Girard-Perregaux, A. Lange & Söhne, Chopard, Zenith and Chanel, the evening rewarded an impressive line-up of independent watchmakers, the likes of Philippe Dufour, Romain Gauthier, Kari Voutilainen and Vianney Halter. Even so, too many important brands were left off the honours list.
Let’s face it: the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève is a ritzy affair where guests spend as much time chit-chatting over champagne as acknowledging horological achievements, as wonderful as they may be. And why not. After all, this is what lends evenings such as these their charm. Still, watches and watchmakers are never going to match Hollywood films and actors for glamour, where chiselled good looks and revealing dresses, tearjerking speeches and impassioned outbursts inevitably add interest to proceedings. However much the audience may try, seeing fifteen awards presented one after the other is hardly a riveting experience.
Something and everything
Credit where credit is due, Frédéric Beigbeider did a fine job emceeing, reprising his role from last year. His witty, laidback introductions and Parisian dandyism at any rate made a change from the lukewarm Genevarisms served up by lawyer and national councillor Christian Lüscher. True to form, the official speeches were a stream of platitudes. Who of Sandrine Salerno, mayor of Geneva, and Swiss President Ueli Maurer did best at this little game it would be hard to say. The only one to rise above the crowd was, as ever, Pierre-François Unger, the outgoing Geneva state councillor.
Over to the awards themselves. What can be said about the judges’ choices? Once again, too many important names were conspicuous by their absence for the GPHG to be the event it ought to be. As usual, the Swatch Group brands were overlooked. Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, Rolex and Patek Philippe were other notable absentees. Under current rules, brands nominate themselves by submitting a watch for consideration to the GPHG foundation which organises the awards. Whether this process will one day change is still under discussion.
A discerning jury
This year’s edition nonetheless reserved some pleasant surprises. The judges showed originality and independence by distinguishing the likes of Philippe Dufour, the veteran watchmaker from La Vallée-de-Joux (Jury’s Special Prize for lifetime achievement), one of his spiritual sons, Romain Gauthier (Men’s Complications Watch Prize for Logical One), Vianney Halter (Innovation Prize for Deep Space Tourbillon) and Kari Voutilainen (Men’s Watch Prize for V-8R). Continuing in this vein, they also rewarded independent brands, large and small, including Geneva’s Chopard (Jewellery Watch Prize for Heure du Diamant), Austria’s Habring (Petite Aiguille for Jumping Second Pilot) and Belgium’s Ressence (Horological Revelation Prize for Type 3 – Le Scaphandrier).
People and watches
The big names of prestige watchmaking weren’t left out. A. Lange & Söhne grabbed not one but two awards, leaving with the Grande Complication Prize for the 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar which also took the Public Prize back to Germany. The Aiguille d’Or, the evening’s ultimate accolade, went to Girard-Perregaux for its Constant Escapement L.M., a well-deserved acknowledgement of this impressive development in one of the key components of a mechanical watch. All in all, the jury proved itself capable of making eclectic and international choices.
The last word goes to Stéphane Linder, newly-minted CEO of TAG Heuer (winner of the Aiguille d’Or in 2012), speaking after the ceremony: “I don’t know whether these results will irk the big names who this year are maybe not quite so well-represented as they have been in the past. It does show that the jury voted in complete independence for people and watches, not for brands.”
