Part 1 // Articles
Fine Swiss watchmaking
Luxury watches: objects of desire
1
In January 2012, Geneva, the uncontested capital of fine Swiss watchmaking, will be playing host to leading buyers and sellers of luxury watches from around the world. In this unusual business, passion and impulse often take precedence over reason. Text: Michaël Peiffer | Photos: SIHH
Français, lire pag e 44...
EN
42
E
ach January, in Geneva, the small world of fine watch making goes into overdrive. First there's the international trade fair known by its French acronym, SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie), and then there's the Geneva Time Exhibition, both providing suitably glamorous settings for the world's most pres tigious brands. Manufacturers unveil their latest designs, often the outcome of long and painstak ing research. The two events pro vide an opportunity for buyers to meet designers and craftspeople and share their passions face to face. "I would rather use the term impulse when it comes to luxury watches," says Vincent Pizzo, an independent marketing consultant specialising in watches. Based in Neufchâtel, he knows the business like the back of his hand, with its famous names, smaller, independent brands seeking a share of the limelight, and varied client base, a mix of dealers and collectors for whom money is often no object. "My job is to create desire, passion, need, perhaps even dependence and
addiction," he admits candidly. "You don't sell a watch, you sell a dream." For all his experience, Pizzo cannot always comprehend what drives a man or a woman to spend upwards of €200,000 on a bracelet with a dial on it, even if it happens to be made of gold or set with diamonds. "In my view, real luxury is something that you can't buy, to the point where it becomes an obsession. Then one day, you do something crazy and give in to temptation." This explains how watches can sometimes change hands for more than $2 million among seasoned collectors, in defiance of any rational logic. 1
RM 017 Tourbillon, Richard Mille
2
Patrimony Traditionnelle Heures du Monde, Vacheron Constantin
3
Bugatti PF 372, Parmigiani
4
Millenary, Audemars Piguet
5
Le Chronographe La Monégasque, Roger Dubuis
6
Invention Piece 2, Greubel Forsey
7
Montre Rotonde de Cartier Astrorégulateur, Cartier
2
FlYdoscope // 2011-2012 — \4
06_42-44_ART3_SalonHorlogerie.indd 42
07.12.2011 17:16:00 Uhr