SPECIAL ARCHIVES
WATCH.AFICIONADO
A EUROPA STAR GROUP PUBLICATION
WATCH BUSINESS PAPER | USA VOL. 54 NO. 306 | CHAPTER 5/2018 | WWW.EUROPASTAR.COM
EDITORIAL
Bringing back voices from the past by
Serge Maillard
Vintage timepieces are far more Instagrammable than Apple Watches! Given this renewed focus on the past, Europa Star has embarked upon the digitisation of a unique heritage: over 90 years of watch industry archives. We are unveiling the first finds in this issue dedicated to heritage. But we shall not be succumbing to nostalgia. For us, this project is about preparing for the future. It’s a new beginning.
Vacheron Constantin
What will remain of our era? Emails and text messages are ephemeral. We regularly “clear out” our email inboxes. Which is a polite way of saying that we delete everything. Skype conversations, regardless of their subject matter, are never archived. Photographs, which used to be taken deliberately and carefully, now mount up in their thousands in albums that are at the mercy of built-in obsolescence. Today, a lifetime’s worth of images can be wiped out in a second. Until relatively recently, however, the most important things were put down in writing. Communication between Europe and the United States was conducted by letter, and later by fax. “It’s far easier to archive previous centuries than the current one,” explains Flavia Ramelli, head archivist for Patek Philippe, in our dossier. “Today, some of the most important information is virtual.” For the watch industry, the past has probably never been so important. How many re-issues, reinterpretations, and auction records have we seen, alongside watches that have remained bestsellers practically since their creation. The careful recordkeeping of previous generations, combined with new digitisation and communication technologies, have
worked miracles. Watchmakers are now diligently “securing” their heritage, the better to exploit it. In an industry that has lost its basic utility, there is a keen awareness that success comes from status, heritage, and the passing on of culture and values. Even the many newcomers on Kickstarter, rather than focusing on performance alone, go to great lengths to demonstrate some connection to tradition, heritage, a glorious past. As far as the watch industry is concerned, far from killing off the mechanical watch, the digital era has brought past glories back to life. Vintage timepieces are far more Instagrammable than Apple Watches!
The new Heritage Tourbillon DoublePeripheral Limited Edition by Carl F. Bucherer
Carl F. Bucherer Master of the Peripheral
by
Serge Maillard
Bucherer, the famous Lucerne watchmaker and jeweller, celebrates 130 years of history this year by bringing a new dimension to its watch brand Carl F. Bucherer, which has been pioneering in its use of the peripheral oscillating weight. A stunning new model has been designed especially for the occasion. The brand is also exploring new territories in the United States. Here are some explanations. (Read on page 3)
08.18am on a NYC rooftop. N 40° 45’ 31’’ W 73° 58’ 43’’.
Diver Collection Starting at USD 7’900.
COVER STORY
WATCH AFICIONADO | 3
Carl F. Bucherer Master of the Peripheral
A world first: a timepiece with a peripheral oscillating weight and a suspended tourbillon
by
Serge Maillard
130 years, three generations, a watchmaking style that focuses resolutely on innovation, and a rapidly expanding network. If you had to give a one-sentence summary of where Bucherer stands in 2018, that probably fits the bill. The Carl F. Bucherer brand has gradually increased its hitting power since its official launch in 2001,
on the strength of a watchmaking heritage that goes back a hundred years. The brand’s growth began to accelerate a decade ago, after the launch of a major innovation: an automatic movement driven by a bi-directional mechanism, with a peripheral oscillating weight, in a series production – a first for the industry.
“For our 130th anniversary we wanted to launch a revolutionary new initiative, something that would be talked about for decades to come,” exclaims CEO Sascha Moeri. He is referring to the launch of a completely new collection. First, though, let’s take a look back at the history of the peripheral oscillating weight, Carl F. Bucherer’s signature. >>
COVER STORY
4 | WATCH AFICIONADO
Close-up of the highly innovative CFB T3000 movement with its suspended tourbillon
Peripheral rotor specialist The CFB A1000 movement of 2008 was succeeded in 2016 by the COSC-certified CFB A2000 calibre, which further refined the movement’s unusual construction and unique rotor. This year, another new calibre emerged from the company’s production facility in Lengnau, the CFB T3000, with 189 components. Unveiled at Baselworld, it represents the culmination of this pioneering technological advance. In the meantime other brands have hoisted their colours to the same mast, but Carl F. Bucherer remains the pioneer and leader in the field. The peripherally located rotor is held in place by three ceramic ball bearings placed around its internal circumference, making it extremely shock-resistant. “In our calibre, the rotor rotates around the movement, which gives it a lighter construction and provides an unimpeded view into the heart of the mechanism,” explains Samir Merdanovic, Head of Movement Production.
Ultra-precise suspended tourbillon For its 130th birthday, the brand has taken its exploration of peripheral technology even further, adding to this unique calibre the watch industry’s most prestigious complication: a tourbillon. But this one is a little different. Unlike other tourbillons you’ll find on the market, flying or not, this one is attached neither to the movement plate, nor to a bridge, and it can be viewed in all its glory from both sides of the watch. The cage of the “suspended tourbillon”, which appears to float up by the 12 o’clock marker, is held in place and guided by three ceramic ball bearings around its external circumference. This obviously makes them peripheral too, as well as being invisible to observers! The mechanism is adjusted via an eccentric that optimises the amount of play. Unlike traditional tourbillons, this construction allows for re-
duced movement height, and provides a view of the mobile cage from both above and below. The watchmaker has also provided its CFB T3000 movement with a silicon pallet and pallet wheel, which takes the watch’s power reserve up to at least 65 hours and, rarely for a tourbillon, has made it eligible for COSC certification. Another unusual feature is the stop-second tourbillon feature, which pauses the cage’s rotation. The wearer can thus synchronise their watch to the nearest second.
New Heritage collection The two main features of this technology – the peripheral oscillating weight and the peripherally suspended tourbillon – naturally led to the name choice of “Tourbillon DoublePeripheral”. Introduced for the first time in Basel as part of the Manero collection, this unique combination has now found a home in a brand new collection created to celebrate the brand’s 130th anniversary: Heritage. The Heritage Tourbillon DoublePeripheral Limited Edition, unveiled in New York in October at an event that Europa Star was lucky enough to attend, is the first in what promises to be an annual series of exceptional timepieces, paying tribute to the company’s rich heritage and exploring some surprising innovations. In this respect, the watch does its job particularly well. Turning the watch over to look at the back, the astonishing craftsmanship that has gone into the Heritage series’ inaugural model is revealed. The reverse of the 18-karat white gold case features a handcrafted engraving depicting a view of Lucerne with its famous wooden covered bridge, covering the entire caseback except for the tourbillon aperture. This alone requires more than two weeks of meticulous manual work. But that’s not all: every engraving also features a tiny swan, which appears in a different position on each of the 88 models. This detail relates to the fact that, in 1888, Carl F. Bucherer opened his first specialised shop in the Schwanenplatz – the Place of the Swan. >>
COVER STORY
WATCH AFICIONADO | 5
 Heritage Tourbillon DoublePeripheral Limited Edition
COVER STORY
6 | WATCH AFICIONADO
Vintage case inspiration The shape of the 42.5 mm 18-karat rose gold case and the decoration of the sunbrushed dial, with its raised outer circle punctuated by diamond-cut markers, are inspired by some of the great classics of the 1960s, in line with the Heritage collection’s mission to combine retro design with cutting-edge technology. To celebrate the brand’s 130th anniversary, the peripheral oscillating weight is also made of 22K rose gold. “Bucherer watches have been in circulation since 1919,” Sascha Moeri points out. “We have always created particularly innovative watches, in partnership with other brands, from chronographs to diving watch-
es. But our production was always limited to our shops in Switzerland. In 2001 an important change was made, with the decision to export our products and create a completely separate watch brand, which we baptised Carl F. Bucherer. Today, we are limited only by our production capacity. We won’t exceed 40,000 units, however, because we want to remain an exclusive watchmaker.”
A fresh start in the United States The watchmaker, now an official partner of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, can look to its mother company for new horizons. In the United States, for instance, Bucherer has bought leading retailer Tourneau and its 28 stores.
Although it is already firmly established in Europe and Asia, the brand can rely on its rich history to win the hearts of American customers, as Sascha Moeri illustrates. “Many GIs who fought in Europe during the Second World War brought Bucherer watches back home to the States.” The Lucerne company’s promotion of its rich heritage in this vintage-obsessed era, combined with its flagship innovation in the new Heritage collection, should give it the advantages it needs to grow in the North-American market. And Lucerne itself is not short of historic credentials, as Sascha Moeri explains: “We are in a unique location, because just half an hour’s drive from my office is the Rütli meadow, the legendary place where Switzerland was born in 1291!”
The reverse of the 18-karat white gold case with a handcrafted engraving depicting a view of Lucerne
A JOURNEY THROUGH
OUR ARCHIVES
1927
1960
2018
SPECIAL FEATURE COMPILED BY PIERRE MAILLARD
1927 The year the publishing house was born, devoted essentially to the international promotion of the watchmaking industry. Dozens of magazines, periodicals and guides in French, German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi, Japanese and Chinese, etc. were published and sold all around the world. All of them have been carefully preserved in our Archives. 1960 Coinciding with the birth of the European Common Market and following the 1957 Treaty of Rome, all of these publications with varying titles, but sharing an identical purpose and covering all international markets, were gradually grouped together and made available under one name, Europa Star. 2018 This treasure trove of memories and information on the entire watchmaking industry gleaned over 90 years lay dormant in the hefty bound tomes constituting our Archives. We resolved to digitise the entire collection. It was no mean feat, entailing the processing of hundreds of thousands of pages and the development of a research tool to fully exploit all the resulting data. 2019 In early 2019, we make available for public consultation an initial batch of around 100,000 digitised pages covering the period between 1950 and 2018. Similarly, data covering the period between 1927 and 1950 will be digitised in 2019 and made available in early 2020.
1959 2018 A FORETASTE Six decades of watchmaking. Six decades of upheavals ('twas ever thus!). And at an increasing pace. Until it reaches the point where watchmakers (and other besides) no longer remember what they did before. And yet, there are many lessons to be learned today from the successes and failures of the past. By exploring a few select themes, the following pages present a foretaste of the research and investigation that can be undertaken into this living, breathing subject following its digitized renaissance. Archives have so much to tell.
AJ OU
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DAD'S WATCHMAKER IS OUT!
YOUTH SETS THE PACE
’60s
Early 1960s: the post-war years are over, the Marshall Plan has laid the foundations for the reconstruction of Europe, the horizon is clearing and young people want space to breathe and live life to the full. Everything is changing – morals, music, fashion. “Daddy’s” style of watch is looking old – grey, dull, conventional. It needs to change, take on some colour and get back in phase with the new, fast-moving world that is metamorphosing to the beat of the “consumer society”, in which commerce reigns. Horology – that “grand old lady”, as an ad in Europa Star terms it – has to get with it. Twisting time is here.
THE RENAISSANCE OF THE CHRONOGRAPH In 1963, we wrote: “The editors of Europa Star believe in the future of the chronograph and fully support the watchmakers who are not afraid to make sacrifices to develop a neglected market with incalculable possibilities”. At the same period, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry launched a vast chronograph promotion campaign aimed at young people in the hope of convincing the “watchmakers who no longer believe in them” to turn their attention back to this niche product, which was nevertheless acclaimed by young people the world over.
THE “WATCH OF THE ABYSSES” Given the “considerable impact” of its feature on chronographs, in 1964 Europa Star promoted “another domain reserved for young people: the submarine world that demanded endurance, physical strength and a taste for risk”. The Abysses feature explored all the latest developments in this field of technical horology, giving pride of place to the pioneering Rolex which, a few years earlier, on 23 January 1960, had made a splash by fixing a Deep Sea Special to the outside of Professor Piccard’s bathyscaphe. The watch attained the record depth of 10,900 metres, at which the pressure is around 1 tonne per square centimetre. And it emerged completely unscathed.
s 0 ’6 HONG KONG: OPPORTUNITY AND RISK In 1963, Hong Kong had 4 million inhabitants, compared with 600,000 in 1948. The city was in the midst of an economic boom, with extreme poverty coexisting alongside insolent wealth. In the space of a few years, the city had grown into an important centre of industry; the shanty towns were razed to make space for tower blocks, and land was claimed from the sea to build “the world’s most modern airport”. This capitalist city “at the gateway to the collectivist world of communist China,” as Europa Star described it, had “grown into one of the largest importers and re-exporters of watches in the world”. Hong Kong was therefore already of key importance for Swiss watchmakers, who nevertheless were faced with numerous challenges.
COUNTERFEITING “A great calamity has befallen regular importers of Swiss watches in Hong Kong. The falsification of famous watch brands on the one hand and the fraudulent use of the words ‘Swiss made’ on the other. It is not just a question of a few pieces made by a handful of dishonest dealers but of a real industry threatening the actual position of the Swiss watch on this all-important market. How many watches are sold under a faked trademark? It is difficult to give the exact number but an authority on Hong Kong affairs has advanced the figure of 25,000 pieces monthly. These watches are not all sold by far in the British colony, so that for some years imitations of Omegas, Rolexes, Eternas, etc., have been found all over Asia. What are the reasons for this sudden rise of counterfeit production?” asked Europa Star in 1963.
DEATH OF HUGO BUCHSER The founder of the Industrial Documentation Bureau and creator of Europa Star, Hugo Buchser died on 18 September 1961 at the early age of 65, not long after Hans Wilsdorf, with whom he had been closely acquainted. Also visionary in his own way, he began his career as an editor in 1927 with the publication – revolutionary at the time, with its pocket format – of the Guide des Acheteurs en Horlogerie et Bijouterie (Guide for Watch and Jewellery Buyers), which was soon followed up by a news bulletin for the industry – a “twice-monthly review of the opportunities and situations on the export markets”. There followed numerous watchmaking publications specific to various markets, founded by this keen traveller: they include Estrella del Sur, for South America, Elegância e Precisão for Brazil, Orafrica, The Eastern Jeweler and Watchmaker, and then, at the creation of the Common Market, Europa Star.
DEATH OF HANS WILSDORF THE JAPANESE PERIL In its Hong Kong special report of 1963, Europa Star explains that “a great battle is being fought between the Swiss watch, which detains the monopoly in actual fact, and its young Japanese rival. Every night, innumerable neon signs advertise the fact that the Swiss watch is the best, the most sold, the unique and unequalled. But every day, the Japanese pressure is felt more strongly, more insistently in the newspapers and in the bazaars. Japanese arguments are tempting: price, good standard quality, mass production. The battle has only started and nobody can foresee the issue.”
The founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf, died on 6 July 1960 aged 79. In its tribute to the deceased, Europa Star recalled his pioneering work and his visionary qualities. "Indeed, the popularity of the wristwatch is largely due to his insistence on wrist watch production. His invention of the waterproof Oyster case and his rotor self-winding watch made a considerable contribution to the success of the watch industry as a whole. In 1945 he decided to hand over his fortune to a trust which bears the name Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. This trust ensures the continuity of the Rolex organisation and provides large annual grants to the many charitable institutions which he has specified.”
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WEIGHTY WATCH CASES For a few years in the early 1970s, fashion suddenly took a bizarre turn. Out went the timeless elegance, restraint and harmonious finesse of the classic watch case. In came massive, clunky cases, usually non-scratch, but always heavyweights. This rather strange fashion has never yet seen a revival, and watches of that ilk are not generally sought after by collectors. They were consigned to the profit and loss column. Although you never know... After all, we were convinced that platform shoes would never make a comeback!
THE MOON LANDING: WATCHMAKING ACHIEVES NIRVANA As Europa Star wrote in 1969, rather over-emphatically but correctly nevertheless, the first man to walk on the moon “wore on his right wrist an Omega Speedmaster Professional, a fact that will have made its mark forever with the watchmaking fraternity and will no doubt remain in the memory of the man in the street many years hence.” Needless to say, at the time, this exploit influenced virtually every watchmaker. In 1969 and the few years following it, an incalculable number of brands attempted to capitalise on this event by portraying their watches suspended in space, with the moon for a backdrop, or accompanied by intersidereal objects. It was quite an epidemic.
HOROLOGICAL EROTICISM The events of May 1968 shredded the straitjacket of the prudish 1950s. Taboos fell and watchmaking, which until then had been rather shy, threw restraint to the winds. Oh, nothing too torrid, but half-naked women began vaunting the virtues of the watch on their wrist –an advertising pretext aimed at attracting a little more attention from largely male watchmakers, but also a sign of the times, when minds and bodies were being liberated.
s 0 ’7 QUARTZ, THE BETA 21 SAGA At the 1970 Basel Fair “of which we had high expectations,” as Europa Star wrote the day after, “because rumours were insistently circulating about the massive entry of electronics into most of the collections... the reality surpassed the fiction”. It was a date which would “perhaps mark the twilight of the traditional watch in all its forms”. Better still – or even worse – with the advent of quartz “all the manufacturing techniques that to us appear ultra-modern” risked being swept away, our editor continued. This anticipated shock came from the presentation of the Beta 21. This was the fruit of research undertaken by a consortium entitled “Community of interests for the industrialisation of the Beta Calibre”, which comprised around 20 brands, including Rolex, Patek Philippe, Omega, Girard-Perregaux, LeCoultre & Cie, Zenith, IWC, Bulova and many others who were presenting their first collections. Europa Star reports extensively on this venture in its columns, detailing at length its technical characteristics and unveiling the first models of this new era. But things quickly took quite another turn...
QUARTZ, THE JAPANESE OFFENSIVE With the Beta 21, the Swiss had struck a strong blow, but the powerful existing industrial infrastructure was not designed to support this kind of revolution. The Japanese, on the other hand, were not weighed down by the same history, society or industry. From the outset they viewed quartz as a totally industrial product and an engine for job creation – whereas in Switzerland, the so-called “quartz crisis” went on to wipe out 60,000 jobs, leaving no more than 30,000. The beginnings were relatively modest, but over the course of the decade, the Japanese wave inexorably gained speed. The declared ambition of Seiko in 1976 says it all: “Changing the world’s standards of accuracy”. From that period on, the internationally oriented Europa Star reflected this Japanese rise to power (which whipped up the occasional controversy between us and the Swiss watchmakers...).
s 0 ’8 THE DEATH OF THE MECHANICAL WATCH?
In the early 1980s, the question was being put quite openly. The mechanical watch had reached a dead end, if it wasn’t dead altogether. Valentin Philibert, editor-inchief, mused, without batting an eyelid: “Switzerland to Stop Producing Mechanical Watches?” The tone was lugubrious: “After sinking slowly for five years, we have now touched the bottom. Everything seems to have been in league to destroy the very foundation of what was once a flourishing and seemingly indestructible industry.” Brrr… As the new collections being issued showed, if the 1980s did not seal the definitive triumph of quartz, nothing would. In retrospect, the choice of illustrating them, as ETA does in Europa Star, in terms of a desert-crossing, is a curious one.
AND THE SWATCH WAS In late 1982, Europa Star presented in its columns “a new kind of watch made of synthetic material – the ‘Swatch’ – in which a completely new concept and production technology are applied.” Scarcely one year later, one of our headlines ran “These Swatches that throw the watch market into confusion”. By winter 1988, Swatch had already clocked up 268 different models, sold to more than 40 million ‘fans’. Swatchmania was at its height. Italian collectors went loco over it. And the craze did not slow down: finally, it gave its name to the group that produced it. In 1988, “to pay tribute to the history of the little Swiss watch that became the symbol of industrial recovery,” SMH became the Swatch Group.
’80s THE FASHION PHENOMENON The 1980s saw another phenomenon burst onto the horological stage: the fashion watch. With its strong ongoing internationalisation, diversification into accessories and knowledge of retail, the fashion world was out for its share of the watchmaking cake. One man came to symbolise this mounting trend: Séverin Wunderman who, in June 1988, not far from Biel, inaugurated the construction site of the new “industrial and operational” headquarters of the Severin Group, the flagship brand of which was Gucci, a highly successful venture that had begun back in 1972 and pointed the way for numerous players from the worlds of fashion, perfume and accessories. As for Séverin Wunderman, the Gucci venture enabled him to acquire Corum and launch his Bubbles collection.
THE MECHANICAL WATCH RENAISSANCE Scarcely five years had gone by since the announcement in 1980 of the imminent demise of the mechanical watch and here it was, back again. In 1985, our editor, back from Basel, noted that, “The mechanical holds its own with the quartz, even improving its standing thanks to an increase of special models in the upper bracket”. Watchmaking was metamorphosing, the aim being to move upmarket, in order to relegate quartz watches to the ranks of mass-produced goods. Complete calendars, moon phases, perpetual calendars, automatic chronographs – such were the luxury tools put to the purpose of reconquering hearts and minds. One symbol of this – not the only one, but one that has remained engraved in people’s memories thanks to the PR savvy of a certain Jean-Claude Biver – is Blancpain. In 1985 in Basel it launched a collection that included an extra-slim automatic with the day, date, month and moon phases.
s 0 ’9 THE TRIUMPHAL FIGURES OF 1991 The upward trend of Swiss watchmaking was confirmed in 1991, with a total export figure of CHF 6.8 billion, despite the outbreak of the first Gulf War in January of that year. But even in the Middle East, exports resumed from April. At the head of his group, Nicolas Hayek was jubilant: it was the best year on record for his 12 brands and his industrial empire. Sales of finished watches and movements were up 34%. Omega, Rado and Longines alone accounted for 33% of sales volumes and around 50% or more – the figures were not supplied – of the rising profits.
THE WATCHES OF 1990 1990 was a record year, with world production estimated at 753 million units and a 12.2% rise in Swiss exports. Note, however, that while the overall production of mechanical watches had fallen globally, the opposite was true in Switzerland: mechanical watch sales were booming and exports were driven by the outstanding growth in watches with complications and other “deluxe� mechanical watches. The path for the following decade seemed to be laid out in advance, as this compilation of the most beautiful models from 1990, published in Europa Star in early 1991, shows.
s 0 ’9 RENAISSANCE OF THE MANUFACTURES The quartz industrial crisis was over, the renaissance of the manufactures was beginning. The word was on everyone’s lips. The 1990s saw an unprecedented blossoming of new factory projects. While Patek Philippe was launching the construction of its new, ultramodern production site, others were not far behind: Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin and many others besides were opening vast work projects as far away as India, where Titan, part of the Tata Group, inaugurated an immense and magnificent production centre near Bangalore with help from France Ebauches. But the industrial decline of France had just begun, while Germany, in the throes of reunification, saw its watch industry in Glashütte recovering under the impetus of a visionary figure: Günter Blümlein.
GALLERY The 1990s fulfilled all their promises, reaffirming with unprecedented force the absolute supremacy of the mechanical watch. For the occasion, Europa Star inaugurated a series of Portfolios and entrusted them to renowned photographers, who immortalised this return to grace of mechanical ingenuity and beauty. A new Golden Age seemed to be opening up, as this photo of a watch by Vincent Calabrese symbolises in its quasi-religious intensity.
CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE TOURBILLON An article by one of our contributors, Professor JeanClaude Nicolet, in 1996 caused controversy. Right in the middle of the tourbillon boom – until then a rare speciality but rising fast – he scientifically demonstrated its redundancy, chronometrically speaking, in a wristwatch, as it “corrected nothing at all”; instead, it “added a mechanism that consumed energy for no reason”. That set the cat among the pigeons. Europa Star was accused of killing the goose that laid the golden egg, as the tourbillon had become. But in the end, the watchmakers admitted that it was in fact perfectly true.
2000 RETAIL: THE GREAT UPHEAVAL The traditional distribution networks, the division of territory among local watch retailers, often family businesses, established in every town, were vanishing. There were two reasons for this: the strong emergence of the concept of brand and, as they reindustrialised, a move by the large groups to take back direct control of their distribution channels. The creation of spin-offs in the international distribution networks on the one hand, and the emergence of brand-owned boutiques on the other, were ringing the death knell of the traditional multibrand retailer. This phenomenon, which began in the early 2000s, rapidly went global. Our correspondents in Italy, Germany, the US and Japan regularly wrote of it in the columns of Europa Star.
THE WATCHMAKER OF THE FUTURE, AS VIEWED IN 2000 Changes of millennium are propitious for fuelling fears – witness the famous Y2K bug – as well as lofty dreams. In 2000, Europa Star issued a Millennium special edition in which we presented, among other things, our predictions for the future of watchmaking, from Internetenabled watches (www.europastar.com had been launched back in 1997) and mass-printed watches right through to hologram watches in crazy designs. Everything was possible, so it seemed.
TERRITORIAL EXPANSION BY THE MAJOR GROUPS The noughties marked a period of global expansion, with large groups from the luxury sector moving massively into watchmaking. Side by side with the industrially based Swatch Group, Richemont was asserting itself ever more strongly, while at the same time LVMH was making its entry into the watchmaking arena, multiplying its acquisitions in the luxury watch sector. The race was on to attain critical mass, to integrate production and verticalise. The purchase, in 2000, of LMH (Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC and Lange & Söhne) by Richemont for the sum, judged madness at the time, of CHF 3.08 billion was emblematic of this expansionist frenzy.. Questioned by Europa Star, Franco Cologni imperiously replied: “We paid that price because we believe that luxury is eternal”.
THE INDEPENDENTS STRIKE BACK History never goes just one way. At the same time as the large groups were becoming ever more dominant, independent watchmakers were not only getting their heads back above water, they were also asserting themselves as the creative force in mechanical watchmaking. As Europa Star headlined in 2001: “The independent watchmakers have the creativity, the groups the markets.” With the creation of the Académie des Horlogers Créateurs Indépendants (Academy of Independent Watch Designers, AHCI) in 1985, independent watchmakers found an excellent incubator. Established brands and groups gradually came to realise that they constituted a genuine centre of research into new mechanical horology. They began to make contact with these renegade watchmakers. Operation Golden Arrow, launched in 2001 with seven watchmakers from the AHCI, who presented 14 innovative watches, marked minds and sparked a trend for collaboration.
CRISIS The noughties, which began so promisingly, ended under gathering storm clouds. The 2008-09 financial crisis came and went with devastating effect. The economic crash was responsible for much of the damage, certainly, but watchmakers themselves were not entirely blameless. Watchmaking had gone into overdrive. Everything was possible, the industry thought. Prices had attained astronomical heights, brands were forever going upmarket, the Swiss had abandoned mid-range products, and the fashion for bling-bling had had a catastrophic effect. Watchmaking was paying for its excesses. Would it recover during the decade that was just beginning, the 2010s? In late 2009, Europa Star ran the headline: “The positive side of the crisis”. Perhaps it had taught watchmakers not to rush headlong into things, but to act without haste, calmly and consistently, to let time do its work. Have they learned their lesson? It is up to the present decade to provide the answer.
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WATCHMAKING SOCIOLOGY SIHH and Basel, 2001. Rather than presenting watches by their traditional categories, from the most complex to the simplest and from the most classic to the most innovative, that year Europa Star decided to present them according to the ‘lifestyle’ they represented – a classification based on a study by the Advanced Communications Centre in Paris and the European Observatory on Trends, which identified seven “principal mentalities” and “12 strong trends”. The result was not intended to be strictly scientific but bore witness nevertheless to consumer aspirations: a strong demand for “proximity”, “conviviality” and “personalisation”, and a strong emphasis on the notion of “service”. And this was observed across all the social categories surveyed. But what was really striking during these years was the simultaneous existence of the most diverse trends possible. A grand free-for-all.
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The decade we are currently living through, and which is now drawing to a close, has witnessed the same implacable historical cycles we see repeated in our Archives since the 1960s. The watch industry is like an arrow continually turning in circles. But it never describes exactly the same loop. Let’s take an example: the current technology crisis, which has seen digital watches rise to a dominant position, is strongly reminiscent of the quartz crisis. Anyone who proclaimed that the mechanical watch was dead, as Europa Star did in 1980, could scarcely have predicted that, as early as 1985, it would already be making a comeback. For the media too, the decade that began in 2010 has been synonymous with technological, sociological and financial upheaval. Although Europa Star was an early adopter of the web, it always believed that paper would remain an essential ingredient. But only as long as it offered something extra, some editorial added value, aesthetic pleasure, a personality, and a material presence. And that is precisely what we have done over the course of the current decade, by giving our magazines a thorough overhaul, enriching their content and updating their graphic design. After all, archivists teach us that paper is the only guarantee of posterity. Our paper archives are proving more valuable than ever, but thanks to digital technology, they are also far more accessible.
Here is the complete list:
TO BE CONTINUED... To date, we have digitised exactly 62,393 pages of archives, from a total of over 300,000. We began with our Europe edition (December 1959 to December 2016), followed by the Global edition (January 2017 to the present). Among the most-mentioned watch brands are Patek Philippe, Omega, Rolex and Longines, which each have more than 1,000 pages of editorials. Almost all watch brands in the history of the 20th century have been featured in Europa Star. We will continue to digitise everything produced by our publishing house since its creation in 1927.
• 1927 GUIDE RAPID, BULLETIN D’INFORMATIONS, BULLETIN DES ACHETEURS, BULLETIN GUIDE DES MACHINES (Switzerland) • 1929 GUIDE DES ACHETEURS (Switzerland) • 1940 ELEGÂNCIA E PRECISÃO (Brazil) • 1942 INFORMATIONS TECHNIQUES (Switzerland) • 1942 LA REVISTA RELOJERA (Argentina and Latin America) • 1945 BELORA (Portugal) • 1949 ORO Y HORA (Spain) • 1950 ESTRELLA DEL SUR (Latin America) • 1950 THE EASTERN JEWELER AND WATCHMAKER (Far East and Asia) • 1950 AS SÂ’ÂT WAL-DJAWÂHER / ORAFRICA (Middle East and Africa) • 1959 EUROPA STAR (Europe) • 1959 EUROTEC (Europe) • 1967 EUROPA STAR / EUROTEC COMECON (Eastern Europe)
• 1967 EUROPA STAR USA & CANADA • 1968 EUROPASTAR AFRICA, NEAR & MIDDLE EAST • 1968 EUROPA STAR FAR EAST & AUSTRALASIA • 1968 EUROPA STAR AMERICA LATINA Y BRASIL • 1989 EUROPA STAR DIAMOND INTELLIGENCE BRIEFS • 1975 EUROPA STAR JEWELLERY MAGAZINE • 1993 EUROPA STAR ESPAÑA • 1993 EUROPA STAR CHINA PRECIOUS • 1997 EUROPA STAR/COUTURE INTERNATIONAL JEWELER • 1997 EUROPA STAR/AMERICAN TIME • 1997 EUROPA STAR HORA LATINA • 1997 EUROPA STAR CHINA • 1997 EUROPA STAR ASIA/MIDDLE EAST • 1998 EUROPA STAR PREMIÈRE (Newsletter for Switzerland) • 2001 EUROPA STAR WATCHES-FOR-CHINA • 2003 EUROPA STAR BASEL TRIBUNE (ES-CIJ-NJ) • 2004 EUROPA STAR INTERNATIONAL • 2006 EUROPA STAR WEB SPECIAL USA & CANADA • 2006 EUROPA STAR UKRAINE • 2009 EUROPA STAR TRENDS & COLOURS • 2015 EUROPA STAR PREMIÈRE (Newspaper for Switzerland) • 2017 EUROPA STAR WATCH AFICIONADO (USA) • 2017 EUROPA STAR GLOBAL
SIX DECADES OF WATCH ARCHIVES EUROPA STAR OFFER
GET ACCESS TO Over 60,000 pages from the history of watchmaking, a journey through 60 years in the life of the industry from 1959 until the present day. Contact us: contact@europastar.com
LAST WORD TO START
30 | WATCH AFICIONADO
The watchmaker who saved Zenith from oblivion by
at the time, and weighing a tonne all told), along with cams, cutting tools, technical plans, files, everything. Anyone familiar with the Zenith manufacture before its recent transformation will know that, among the warren of corridors, passageways and staircases, there were some forgotten attics. And that was where he hid his treasure. Left alone with its quartz movements, Zenith faltered. In 1978 the company was bought by Dixi micromechanics. Gradually, mechanical watchmaking began to pick up, and interest in the exceptional El Primero movement was rekindled. Ebel was interested, as was Rolex for its Daytona. There were a few left lying around, but everything else had gone, thrown away or auctioned off. At least, that’s what those in charge believed. But in 1984 Charles Vermot decided to stick his head above the parapet. He took the director up to the
Pierre Maillard
It’s a well-known story, but one that definitely bears retelling. All the more so, since this issue of Europa Star is all about the value of preserving memories of the past. In 1972, the US-based Zenith Radio Corporation, which owned Zenith at the time, saw the arrival of quartz and decided that that was the future, the only future. Orders were given to get rid of everything. Machines, tools, presses and parts were to be sold off by the tonne. Plans and everything else could be thrown out. One watchmaker was appalled. Charles Vermot was head of the chronograph movement workshop, and had had a front row seat for the development of the El Primero. He made attempts to save it, but the Americans were deaf to his entreaties. That was the past. The past was OUT. So he secretly moved 150 swages (worth CHF 40,000 each
A watch crossword
Crossword by Myles Mellor M M by
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The last El Primero advertisement from Europa Star Europe 2/1972
Across 1. In the early 60s, an ad in Europa Star demanded the "grand old lady" (horology) convert to this, 2 words 8. Utilize 9. Flagship brand of the Severin Group formed in the 80s 10. "Proximity", "conviviality" and "personalization" were examples of these in the 2000s, as presented by Europa Star 12. Acronym for Omega's Broad Arrow 14. Jaeger __ Coultre 17. In the 70s Europa Star carried an ad for this brand, "the first scratch proof watch in history" 20. First name of the founder of Europa Star, who died in 1961 22. Watch selection tool 25. ___ clockwise 26. In 1969, Europa Star wrote about the huge news that this watch brand was worn by the first man to walk on the moon 29. First word in the capital of the Emirates
Across
30. Feature in the 1964 Europa Star promoting submarine watches 32. In times past 34. In 1963, editors of Europa Star supported the renaissance of this type of watch 38. In the late 70s Audemars Piguet took an ad out in Europa Star promoting its Royal ___ brand to retailers 39. Famous wizard 40. First name of the founder of Rolex, who died in 1960
Down 1. ___ Heuer 2. Wrist measure 3. Word before angle and cycle 4 Turndown word 5. Revolution of a winder 6. Ending for expert 7. Large watch demographic 11 .Seiko's "changing the world's standards of accuracy" was an example of one of these 13. Incubator for the independent watchmakers in the 2000s
old attics filled with their scraps and odds and ends, and showed him the nine crates of equipment he’d saved. He also pulled out a dust-covered binder in which all the plans were meticulously filed. Charles Vermot, a most unlikely hero, saved Zenith and made many people’s fortunes along the way. Years later, he was still moved to tears as he recounted the entire adventure in a sensitively filmed documentary produced by Télévision Suisse in 1991. When the interviewer asked him how he had been rewarded for saving the business, along with many jobs, Charles Vermot showed the new-generation El Primero on his wrist, a gift from the company. “It’s a very nice watch, I like it very much.” Was that all? Of course not. “My wife and I were invited out for a good meal.” Which goes to show that the present doesn’t always adequately recognise the debt it owes to the past.
15. What? 16. Asian city which was noted in a 1963 Europa Star article as a center for counterfeiting, 2 words 17. Computer memory 18. TAG Heuer's "Art Provocateur" and others with the same first name 19. Watch___, protector of a kind 21. Gallium's symbol 23. In the direction of 24. In 1982 Europa Star covered this "new kind of watch" which went on to create a massive craze in the market 27. It sparked a revolution in the watch world in the 70s as covered by Europa Star 28. Weight measurment 31. Age measurement 33. Approval 35. ___ long way, 2 words 36. Alluring 37. Rolex ___-Dweller
Crossword solution on www.europastar.biz/crossword
5 Revolution of a winder
CHAIRMAN Philippe Maillard PUBLISHERStar Serge Maillard EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Pierre Maillard CONCEPTION & DESIGN Serge Maillard, Pierre Maillard, Alexis Sgouridis DIGITAL EDITOR Ashkhen Longet 1 In the | early 60s, an ad in Europa demanded the "grand 6 Ending for expert PUBLISHING / MARKETING / CIRCULATION Nathalie Glattfelder, Marianne Bechtel/Bab-Consulting, Jocelyne Bailly, Véronique Zorzi BUSINESS MANAGER Catherine Giloux old lady" (horology) convert to this, 2 words MAGAZINES Europa Star Global | USA | China | Première (Switzerland) | Bulletin d’informations | Eurotec 7 TelLarge watch demographic EUROPA STAR HBM SA Route des Acacias 25, CH-1227 Geneva - Switzerland, +41 22 307 78 37, Fax +41 22 300 37 48, contact@europastar.com Copyright 2018 EUROPA STAR | All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of Europa Star HBM SA Geneva. 8 Utilize 11 Seiko's "changing the world's standards of accuracy" was an The statements and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily Europa Star. 9 Flagship brand of the Severin Group thedelivery 80sCHF 90 | Subscription ordersexample of one of |these Subscription service | Europa Star Global magazine | 5 issues 130-160 pagesformed | Worldwide in airmail via: europastar.com/subscribe Enquiries: contact@europastar.com | ISSN 2504-4591 | www.europastar.com |
SUBSCRIBE TO EUROPA STAR GLOBALand MAGAZINE www.europastar.com/subscribe 10 "Proximity", "conviviality" "personalization" were
examples of these in the 2000s, as presented by Europa Star
12 Acronym for Omega's Broad Arrow
SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER www.europastar.com/newsletter 13 | Incubator for the independent watchmakers in the 2000s
15 What? 16
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