| There have been advances in the fields of clockwork or original invention - preferably, but that was not necessarily for the success of the new luxury watch brands. What is the better way to express oneself clearly? Of course, establish a provocation, and to break the existing stereotypes.
Perhaps the first example of "shock" to launch a new watch brand without a long-term impact on clients and their belief in the prestige of name is a story of the transformation of Piaget from an unknown to the public manufacturer of mechanisms in one of the most respected names in the watches de luxe. It all began in the late 1950's, when the family of Piaget in order to raise income built a factory in the Cotes-aux-Fees workshops to assemble readymade watches. In 1961, Jerry Greenberg became the exclusive distributor of the new brand, unknown in the U.S. -the future founder of the group the Movado Group, at that time - a refugee from Cuba. "I did not see how and to whom one can sell watches of the class Piaget" - subsequently he tells. - "It's been in 1960, when poly-ester suits cost $ 40. Rockefeller himself was wearing Timex watches for $18. A spokeswoman for Patek Philippe in the U.S. told me that if he sells 20 watches a year, he believes it to be a big success. And here I am with my Piaget, about which nobody has heard of and which is more expensive than Patek ..." Nevertheless, Greenberg did not give up. Publications of chic photos of Piaget appeared in the magazines Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country, and about the brand, Greenberg began to write in the elite The New Yorker. Moreover, Greenberg began to offer the celebrities and the famous from New York the watch "on hire" during festivals. As a result, over a short period of time Piaget became one of the trendiest and fashionable among luxury watch brands, and still has a very strong position in the USA, where people actually do not like to spend money on expensive watches.
Greenberg was the first to use the laws of show business in the watch market. In early 1990, Brank Muller followed his example, who transformed the presentation of new models into an attraction. Part of the show included its exhibition WPHH, resembling a huge elite club, manufacturer Watchland and even his personal life. Mueller actively appeared in the limelight with the famous and very soon became as famous as those who wore his watches.
If we deny from the privacy and humbleness of the century, the watch making process was one of the ways to break the stereotype to make them known, and was the next blow to the foundations of Haute Horlogerie inflicted to Alain Silberstein. A former architect began to make merry, almost "childish" watches with colorful flowers, selling them along with traditional gold items of historical manufacturers.
Since then, every similar shock became the foundations of the watch business to ascend the pinnacle of success not only for an innovative brand-pioneer, but also for those who follow in the footsteps of its founder. Following Silberstein even Breguet started making bright colored models with rubber straps. After Franck Muller, all learned to transform the presentation of new collections into luxuriant social events.
Chanel introduced the fashion watches of quite a serious level, and moved a whole line of brands from Dior to the Guess Collection, Versace and Salvatore Ferragamo. These fashion houses did not start with cheap fashion models, and immediately with the exclusive mechanics, designed for men. Well known Jacob & Co brought in the art of bling-bling in watch making and a whole galaxy of brands, admirers of diamonds: Icelink, Tiret, and Meyers. Finally, the already-mentioned Roman Jerome probably also created his own style of brand-sensations, in which the watch is not interesting, but the theme of the Titanic associated with them. The last example reveals the problem of modern luxury: more and more difficult to create an informational cause, all the harder to find stereotypes and traditions, which would be destroyed. And most importantly, it becomes difficult to separate truth from fiction that is a really interesting watch from an interesting history, with which they are associated. This is exactly what annoys Mr. Hayek, although he himself is a master of beautiful stories.
There are other aspects. The new brands, one way or another, can cause distrust among the experts. Even such distinguished and prestigious artists such as Miles or Jurn, were accused that they are developing their own modules for ready ebauches from the same ETA. Nothing can be said about brands like Cvstos or Tiret where simple costing ETA with minor modifications and beautiful treatment?
New design, new concept, new aesthetics - it's what we owe to modern luxury. A lack of boundaries involves a vast field for the growth in breadth, so that until the global financial crisis does not happen, new luxury watch brands will multiply and multiply, even if we will have to rebuild another Basel World and fully occupy the Geneva Exhibition Center Palexpo. |
This weekend was time to reset the clocks again as Daylight Saving Time began. We lose an hour of sleep as we "Spring Forward" and turn the hands ahead one hour. Daylight Saving Time was instituted in the United States during World War I in order to save energy for war production by taking advantage of the later hours of daylight between April and October. Daylight Savings Time (DST) begins each year at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March in most of the United States and its territories. However there are some places that have not bought into this campaign: it is not observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands nor the state of Arizona except for the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does observe DST.
