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The Ultimate eBay Watch Shopping Guide: Gift Ideas for Everyone You Know

Bhanu Chopra — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 22:30:30 +0000

The Ultimate eBay Watch Shopping Guide: Gift Ideas for Everyone You Know

Auctions

Dec 16, 2023

When the holiday season rolls around, it can often be a challenge to find the perfect gift for everyone on your list. However, fear not, because we have curated The Ultimate eBay Watch Gift Guide for all those special individuals in your life. Whether they are trendsetters, jetsetters, understated minimalists, adventurous spirits, environmentally conscious, or avid Formula 1 fans, we have got you covered with our hand-picked selection of timepieces.

Choosing the right watch for everyone on your list requires careful consideration of their personal style, interests, and values – and with eBay’s depth and breadth of inventory, you can find any watch you are looking for, including the watches you otherwise may have to wait months or years on the waiting list to get. We selected our favorites for The Ultimate eBay Watch Gift Guide, all available on the marketplace and backed by the Authenticity Guarantee service.

Watch for the Trendsetter

For those seeking to impress a trendsetter with a keen sense of chic style, you needn’t look any further. This year’s gift guide recommends the iconic Cartier Baignoire Watch, a timepiece that effortlessly embodies trendsetter chic.

Since its inception in 1912, the Baignoire collection has been a testament to Cartier’s innovative instincts, constantly reinventing its aesthetic while preserving its distinctive oval shape. The splendid melding of avant-garde design with enduring elegance makes the Baignoire watch a grand example of trendsetter chic. Every element of its design, from the sophisticated gold casing, diamond-encrusted bezel, its sapphire cabochon winding mechanism, to the opulent bracelet, emanates a distinct sense of luxury and exclusivity.

The Baignoire offers not just a beautiful presentation, but also a high-quality mechanism that is a testament to Cartier’s technical mastery. The watch features a manually wound mechanical movement, ensuring accuracy and reliability with a touch of classic charm.

Baignoire watch is a must-have for any trendsetter aspiring to make a bold statement. Shop for the fashionable Baignoire on eBay.

Watch for the Jetsetter

When searching for a gift that will truly impress the jetsetter in your life, the IWC Pilot’s Chronograph is an exceptional choice. Its combination of style, functionality, and durability makes it the perfect companion for their worldly pursuits.

What sets the IWC Pilot’s Chronograph apart is its timeless design that pays homage to the brand’s rich aviation heritage. The bold and masculine aesthetic, featuring a sleek stainless steel case and a distinct black dial, exudes a sense of adventure and confidence. The large luminescent hands and markers further enhance readability, ensuring that the time can be effortlessly read even during night flights or dimly lit hotel rooms.

Furthermore, the IWC Pilot’s Chronograph boasts impressive technical features that cater to the needs of frequent travelers. Its chronograph function allows for precise timing of events, making it an indispensable tool for those constantly on the go.

Whether they are navigating the bustling streets of a foreign city or soaring through the skies, this classic chronograph style is designed to withstand the demands of the modern traveler. Shop for IWC Pilot’s Chronograph available in several variations on eBay.

Watch for Understated Minimalist

When it comes to selecting a gift for someone with a refined taste and a penchant for understated elegance, there is one timepiece that effortlessly embodies these qualities: the Rolex Oyster Perpetual. Renowned for its timeless design and impeccable craftsmanship, this iconic watch has become a symbol of prestige and sophistication in the world of horology.

The Oyster Perpetual collection from Rolex represents the essence of minimalism, combining simplicity with unparalleled performance. Its clean and uncluttered dial, adorned only with the iconic Rolex crown and hour markers, exudes an aura of understated luxury that is sure to captivate the discerning eye. The case, made from a solid block of 904L stainless steel, ensures that the timepiece remains resistant to corrosion and maintains its lustrous appearance over time. The Oyster bracelet, featuring Rolex’s patented Oysterlock clasp, provides comfort and security with its robust construction.

The Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch has become a hallmark of taste and refinement for both men and women. Its versatility allows it to seamlessly transition from a formal business environment to a casual social gathering. Whether it’s paired with a tailored suit or a simple blouse, the Oyster Perpetual watch effortlessly enhances any ensemble.

With the Rolex Oyster Perpetual, you are not only gifting a remarkable timepiece but also a symbol of elegance and sophistication that will be cherished for a lifetime. Shop for vintage and modern Rolex Oyster Perpetual watches on eBay.

Watch for Adventurous Spirit

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression on any adventurer fortunate enough to receive it. Shop for this allrounder sports watch on eBay.

If you are in search of a remarkable gift for an avid adventurer in your life, the ultimate gift guide recommends the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M. Crafted with utmost precision and designed to withstand even the most demanding environments, this watch is the perfect companion for those who seek thrill and exploration.

As the name implies, Aqua (water) and Terra (earth), this watch is ready for any type of adventure. Omega Aqua Terra 150M offers an impressive water resistance of up to 150 meters (500 feet), making it the perfect companion for diving expeditions and underwater adventures. The sleek dial, available in various captivating colors, features polished hour markers and luminous hands, ensuring optimal readability in any light condition. The date window, unobtrusively placed at the 6 o’clock position, adds a practical touch to this masterpiece.

Equipped with a highly accurate Master Chronometer caliber 8900, certified at the industry’s highest standard by the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS). The watch’s precision and reliability are further enhanced by its exceptional anti-magnetic properties, a feature that protects its movement from the harmful effects of magnetic fields.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression on any adventurer fortunate enough to receive it. Shop for this allrounder sports watch on eBay.

Watch for the Environmentally Conscious

The Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms watch is the perfect gift for those who are environmentally conscious. Swatch pays a playful homage to Blancpain’s iconic professional dive watch, the Fifty Fathoms.

The Bioceramic case and NATO strap created from recycled fishing nets, sets it apart from other affordable watches on the market, offering a unique and environmentally friendly material that is both lightweight and good for nature. There are five different models dedicated to five oceans of the world, each with a unique color scheme.

Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms timepiece is equipped with the remarkable Swatch Sistem 51. This superior mechanical movement system is characterized by its automatic winding technology, ensuring precision and reliability. One of the defining attributes of the Sistem51 is its impressive 90-hour power reserve, providing more than ample energy storage to see you through the weekend and beyond. Furthermore, every model in the Swatch Fifty Fathoms collection is designed with a bezel that exhibits luminescent numerals, enhancing visibility in low-light conditions.

Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms watch is an excellent gift choice for those who appreciate style, functionality, and environmental consciousness. Shop all five models on eBay.

Watch for the Formula 1 Fan

Introducing the must-have timepiece for any Formula 1 enthusiast – the Tag Heuer Formula 1 watch. Infused with the spirit of the racetrack, this extraordinary timepiece combines precision engineering with a sleek design to capture the essence of the world’s most exhilarating motorsport.

The sleek black ceramic elapsed timing bezel adds a touch of sportiness, mirroring the adrenaline-fueled world of Formula 1 racing. The stainless steel case, complemented by a steel and ceramic bracelet, exudes a timeless appeal that will undoubtedly impress any racing enthusiast.

The Formula 1 watch features striking grey sunray brushed dial, adorned with silver-toned luminous hands and hour markers. Equipped with a Swiss-made automatic movement, this timepiece ensures accurate timekeeping, allowing the wearer to always stay on track.

Give the gift of style and functionality to the Formula 1 enthusiast in your life with this exceptional Tag Heuer watch. Shop for this model and similar Formula 1 models on eBay.

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FEATURED FROM THE SHOP

Furlan Marri

Limited Edition

Furlan Marri x Auro x Revo - Flyback Chronographs 3188-A ‘Salmon Flyback

$3,175.00

TECH SPECS

Movement	Manual winding Sellita caliber AMT5100, with rose gold plating and custom bridge for Furlan Marri; 58-hour power reserve; heated blued steel screws
Functions	Hours, minutes, small seconds and flyback chronograph
Case	38mm (46mm from lug to lug); stainless steel with olive-shaped pushers for Honey Blue flyback, Taupe flyback and Tasti Tondi pushers for Salmon flyback; water resistant to 50m
Dial	Taupe, blue, or two-tone salmon and black (Revolution edition); double printed text with pulsations scale, polished applied indexes
Strap	Italian leather with quick release system
Limited Edition	270 pieces per reference + 30 collector boxes (including one of each references) in addition.

The post The Ultimate eBay Watch Shopping Guide: Gift Ideas for Everyone You Know appeared first on Revolution Watch.

The Revolution Success Index

Oliver R Müller — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 10:00:56 +0000

The Revolution Success Index

Based on the 2023 Morgan Stanley × LuxeConsult report, these are the 20 most successful individuals, groups and families in the luxury watchmaking industry. While a key part of the metric used to determine their success has to do with their accumulated wealth, beyond that, each of these individuals, groups or families has made a major contribution to the industry. Indeed, one could say that the Swiss watch industry is built on the shoulders of their leadership, innovation and brilliance.

News

By Oliver R Müller

Dec 15, 2023

The simple definition for success is the accomplishment of an aim or a purpose. What unites all of the brands, families, groups and individuals featured in these pages is that they have had the audacity to dream big and the temerity, resilience, courage and capability to execute their goals.

One example is Jean Arnault who just two years ago had set out to completely change the world’s perception of Louis Vuitton watches and, through his bold relaunch of the Tambour and championing of independent watchmaking, has completely transformed the way we see Louis Vuitton today. As another example, it would be fair to say that this is the year we truly see the brilliance of Jean-Frédéric Dufour’s leadership at Rolex: first with the acquisition of Bucherer and Rolex’s first entry into retail; second, through the global elevation of Rolex watches in terms of quality, beauty and design; third, in the proliferation of the Rolex Certifed Pre-Owned (CPO) program; and fourth, in his elevation of Tudor to be the market leader in the luxury tool watch category.

Even though François-Henry Bennahmias is leaving Audemars Piguet, his legacy in transforming this brand from a CHF 630 million a year business in 2012, to a CHF 2.01 billion a year juggernaut (with a 2023 estimate of CHF 2.4 billion) is extraordinary. And though he works decidedly behind the scenes, Omega’s Raynald Aeschlimann, who is growing in his job scope at the Swatch Group, continues to be one of the most impressive leaders on the market.

Richemont Group’s three brilliant CEOs, Cyrille Vigneron of Cartier, Nicolas Bos of Van Cleef & Arpels and Louis Ferla of Vacheron Constantin (his brand is estimated to pass the CHF 1 billion mark this year), bring dynamism to their brands in a massive way. Among the family-run watch brands, Richard Mille has now firmly assured his succession plan with his very capable and incredibly dedicated son Alexandre Mille in place as brand director.

Patek Philippe’s Thierry Stern continues to bring his brand from strength to strength even while grooming the next generation of Stern leadership. Finally, we also see a generational change beginning in Chopard with Caroline-Marie now working on product development with her father Karl-Friedrich, and her brother Karl-Fritz who is already responsible for the brand’s successful Alpine Eagle model is not long off from joining her.

What are the key takeaways over the last decade? The growth of the watch industry has been mainly driven by the high-end brands.

The polarization of the industry with just a few brands producing high-value watches and fostered by strong brand equity, such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille, is reflecting the overall trend of the luxury industry, which is moving upwards in all product categories. One very distinctive difference of the watch industry compared with all other luxury product categories is that the privately owned brands are performing far better than the ones owned by listed luxury groups, albeit with one remarkable exception which is Hermès, even though the brand shares more characteristics of a family-owned company than a listed company with only 32.3 percent free float traded shares, but foremost a long-term view on the business.

With this ranking, we are aiming to establish a top 20 success index of the owners of watch brands. The watch world being a very secretive industry, we base our estimates on trusted sources such as the yearly Morgan Stanley report on the luxury watch industry that I’m co-writing.

The estimated wealth of the following 20 individuals, families, trusts, private or listed companies are based on their overall assets. Methodology is based on the estimated value of the market price — in the case of a listed brand or group — or the estimated value, which is a multiple of the estimated sales and EBITDA (the operational gross margin before taxes, depreciations and amortizations) on which I added the brand equity/goodwill.

I also indicated the estimated retail market share of the Swiss-made or Swiss-owned watch industry to give an idea of how important the watch business is for each person or institution mentioned. These values (in CHF) were taken from the annual Morgan Stanley × LuxeConsult report last published in March 2023 based on the estimated 2022 sales.

#20 Patrick Pruniaux

Brand: Sowind Group (Ulysse Nardin, Girard-Perregaux)

Brand Net Worth: CHF 65 million

Total Market Share: < 1 percent

Patrick Pruniaux, CEO of Girard-Perregaux

Girard-Perregaux was once upon a time at eye level with brands such as Vacheron Constantin and Breguet when the three of them were competing at the highest echelon of watchmaking. Since then, one brand, Vacheron Constantin, has managed to keep a positive dynamic to grow steadily and will probably integrate the top 10 of the Swiss-made watch brands in a not-too-distant future.

Girard-Perregaux, on the contrary, has experienced a drastic fall of its sales since its owner family sold it to Kering in 2011 and from then on — due to strategic mistakes by the management — a negative dynamic started. Then in 2014, Kering acquired Ulysse Nardin, another mythical name of Swiss watchmaking with a strong heritage linked to marine chronometers, and Patrick Pruniaux became the CEO for both brands.

These are two extraordinary brands with very distinctive DNAs, with one them being positioned as a historical player in fine watchmaking. Girard-Perregaux could rely on its own manufacture with in-house movements.

The manufacture was even selling movements to third parties, such as MB&F or Urwerk, which are household names in independent watchmaking. But due to the lack of a clear market positioning and, despite having created some iconic timepieces such as the Tourbillon with Three Bridges, the WW.TC worldtimer, the Laureato and the beautiful Vintage 1945 watch, it completely lost traction and the brand awareness quickly declined.

Its sister brand Daniel JeanRichard (later JeanRichard) was uselessly absorbing management capacities and not finding its public.

In 2022, Kering finally announced the end of the value destroying watch project and announced the sale of both GP and UN to its management, after having burned an estimated EUR 1.2 billion with the brands’ acquisitions and covering operational losses for years. Having a rich shareholder is sometimes not the best motivator for finding success.

Mr. Pruniaux and his team have, since the completion of the management buyout, done tremendous work at repositioning the two brands with clear and distinctive brand territories. Girard-Perregaux has taken advantage of the trend of sports chic watches with its in-house designed Laureato timepiece, which is unlike other such watches of the time in that it has been powered by an in-house movement right from the beginning.

It remains to be seen in the long run if the current success of this market segment is enough to rebuild the brand’s road to success.

Ulysse Nardin has been rejuvenated with a strong communication based on its links with marine life and chronometer tradition. But its main pillar which might prove to be the strongest one in the long run is its horological know-how — together with a strong manufacture — which has been perfectly demonstrated in the disruptive Freak product family.

Using a silicon escapement today might not be as innovative or disruptive as it was when the Freak was launched more than 20 years ago, but it’s still one of the most intriguing mechanical concepts seen in the watchmaking world for a long time.

A challenging, but promising project to bring two icons of the Swiss watchmaking elite back to their former glory, the rebuilding of Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin will need a long-term vision which might be better secured with the new owners and especially its CEO, Patrick Pruniaux.

#19 Maximilian Büsser

Brand: MB&F, M.A.D. Gallery

Brand Net Worth: CHF 80 million

Total Market Share: < 1 percent

Maximilian Büsser, CEO of MB&F SA

When Max Büsser explained me the first time what MB&F was about, he lectured me on the fact that he wasn’t launching a brand, but a lab. I must admit that I took it more for arrogance than a brilliant idea.

But that was more than 17 years ago and his first timepiece, the Horological Machine No. 1 (HM1), had not yet been launched. It took me time to understand that Max was serious about reinventing the way a timepiece shows time.

The disruptive part of his concept is that each machine is totally different from the previous one, and is a 3D sculpture showing mechanics with very bold designs taking a lot of inspiration from cars — not from today, but from the golden age of supercars in the 1960s and 1970s when car designers would dare to create spaceships. For instance, the HM5 immediately reminded me of the Lamborghini Miura, which is still in my top 10 of the most beautiful cars ever.

The success of MB&F is very much based on Max’s charisma, but it would be unfair to reduce it to his good looks and intelligence. Max is very literate about watchmaking’s history and knows a thing or two about product design and coherent product concepts, having worked at Jaeger-LeCoultre and Harry Winston where he created the legendary Opus collaborations with independent master watchmakers.

He took that idea over when he created the MB&F concept and started collaborating with other watchmakers; for example, he worked with Kari Voutilainen on a Legacy Machine, which is Büsser’s way of paying tribute to fine watchmaking of the 18th century. And the “F” in the brand’s name is not only about the friends’ storytelling, but about being transparent on who does what.

When I look at all those new brands popping up every other month with a new “Mozart of watchmaking” making the exact same watch as every independent, focusing more on the perfect polishing and engaging angles on the movement than on real innovation, I appreciate MB&F’s true innovative way of creating timepieces. Even though I hadn’t understood how disruptive Max’s approach would become, I was proven right at least on one aspect and that is, MB&F is a brand.

And a fine and successful one employing 45 people and generating sales of more than CHF 40 million this year. However, Max’s impact on modern watchmaking far exceeds the company’s revenue figures.

It can be said that he is as instrumental to contemporary horology as Jean-Claude Biver has been to the previous generation, purely through the force of his personality, intelligence and charisma.

#18 François-Paul Journe

Personal Net Worth: CHF 100m

Total Market Share: <1%

Brand: F.P.Journe

François-Paul Journe, Founder, F.P.Journe

Without a doubt the most talented watchmaker of his generation, François-Paul Journe has not only created a unique product signature, but also foremost a brand. F.P. Journe is one of the very rare so-called independent watchmakers that have understood and managed to create a brand which will survive its namesake creator. And it is a fine watch brand with a very distinctive product signature paying tribute to fine French watchmaking of the 18th century.

His timepieces are fitting homages to the finest and most disruptive watchmakers of the golden age of fine watchmaking, such as Breguet, Berthoud and Leroy, amongst others. Someone who is literate about watchmaking history would have no problems understanding what Mr. Journe is doing when he works on the Résonance or his Centigraphe, which is an astonishing piece of micromechanics.

But the man is also capable of making his own electromechanical watches as seen in the Elégante collection dedicated to women. The concept is the perfect combination of the best of the mechanical world and quartz technology.

The maison F.P. Journe also owns its own manufacturing capacities producing its movements, cases and dials.

The brand relies on a very selective retail network and owns 11 mono-brand stores around the world. But what impresses me most is the sheer devotion of his clients who adore the man as if he was the head of a cult.

Another detail — which is in fact important — is the decision not to print or engrave the word “Swiss,” because Mr. Journe considers the Swiss-made hallmark not stringent enough for his creations. Instead, you’ll find an engraving on the movement saying “Geneva Made.”

And the “Invenit et Fecit” (invented and made) tagline of the brand is a manifest of the DNA based on creating unseen concepts.

Last but not least, the fact that Chanel — a major player in the luxury industry — has taken a 20 percent equity stake in F.P. Journe is a huge compliment for a brand created only 30 years ago with the first wristwatches launched in 1999. And I would like to finish with an anecdote from Baselworld that year where Mr. Journe attended with his business partner to meet some collectors.

One evening, the whole team of the brand I was working at was celebrating another record day with eight-figure total orders and we were wondering who that man at the back of the bar was. One colleague told us, “His name is Journe and someone told me that he will be the star of artisan watchmaking.”

But when he followed up that the guy was making less than 20 watches a year, we had a good laugh. Such is life.

#17 The Bernheim family

Net Worth: CHF 100m

Total Market Share: <1%

Brand: Raymond Weil

Elie Bernheim, CEO of Raymond Weil

Raymond Weil used to be the first choice when you were looking for an affordable alternative for pricey institutional brands. Extremely successful in the 1990’s and beginning of the 2000’s with emblematic products and campaigns such as the “Parsifal”, the brand has however lost a lot of traction these days.

Existing competitors, such as Tissot or Longines and new ones such as, Frédérique Constant, have made life hard for this brand competing with such heavy weights. The third generation of the owner family is still involved in the management of the brand but does not show a tremendous passion to reboost Raymond Weil to the path of growth.

With the recent acknowledgement by the GPHG however, for the Millésime Automatic Small Seconds which was awarded the Challenge Watch Prize by the Jury, Raymond Weil appears to be making a timely return to the forefront.

#16 Jean-Claude Biver

Brand: Biver

Personal Net Worth: CHF 150 million

Total Market Share: <1%

Pierre Biver (left), Co-Founder and CEO of JC Biver, with his father, Jean-Claude Biver (right).

Like any artist, Jean-Claude Biver dreams of dying on stage while performing his last masterpiece, which, in his case is Biver, the watch brand he launched with his son Pierre in 2022. A much beloved larger-than-life character, Biver has mastered three times what others could only dream of achieving once in their lifetimes.

He revived Blancpain, a sleeping beauty in the portfolio of SSIH (the predecessor of the Swatch Group). Biver bought Blancpain with his business partner Jacques Piguet in 1982, cleverly mixing classical watches with a very distinctive design and a reinterpretation of all mechanical complications.

Biver can be considered as one of the watch entrepreneurs that have re-enchanted mechanical watchmaking after the Quartz Crisis, which had all but killed traditional watchmaking. Biver and his partner rolled out fantastic storytelling which was partly based on historical facts relating to its founder, Jehan-Jacques Blancpain, and some “interpretations” of his role in watchmaking history.

In 1992, SMH, the company which had emerged from SSIH and ASUAG, bought back Blancpain and added Frédéric Piguet, the movement manufacture, to its industrial portfolio. Biver and Jacques Piguet cashed in more than CHF 60 million, which made their return on investment for the brand quite incredible having bought it for just CHF 18,000.

Biver the market genius and Piguet the grounded technician were the perfect duo, much like many success stories in the history of watchmaking — Czapek and Philippe, Vacheron and Constantin and many others — and more recently Richard Mille and Dominique Guenat, who associated their talents to make Richard Mille the most extraordinary success story of the last 30 years in watchmaking.

Biver then went on to help revive Omega, the flagship brand of the Swatch Group which had been revived by a team around Mr. Hayek Senior, but was still not at full speed. Biver decided to heavily push on the brand testimonials to capture a maximized attention and decided to go only for the number one in each field; for example Cindy Crawford, as the ultimate supermodel, incarnating the brand’s claim “My Choice.”

Even though it was not Mr. Biver who decided to sign a long-term collaboration with the producers of the James Bond movies, he was the one who brought in the magical equation of 1+1 = 3. This means that investing in sponsoring requires the same amount in promoting it and thus enhances the result.

Many watch brands at that time hadn’t understood that being somewhere associated with an event or a brand ambassador was only fruitful if you were capable of investing the money needed to promote it.

After leaving the Swatch Group, Mr. Biver was contacted by the owner of Hublot, Mr. Carlo Crocco, who had taken the decision to retire from the brand’s daily operations. When Biver got into the game with his longtime lieutenant, Ricardo Guadalupe, who had worked alongside Biver at Blancpain, the brand still had an iconic watch which had been very successful back in the 1980s and 1990s.

Merging rubber with precious metals was a very bold move back then and Biver summarized it with the “Art of Fusion.” But he sensed that the brand also needed a bolder product design to re-boost it and that watch became the Big Bang, which angered some people in the Vallée de Joux who — rightfully — sensed that too much inspiration had been taken from their iconic watch.

In five years from 2004 to 2007, Biver increased Hublot’s sales fivefold which attracted the attention of LVMH who then bought the brand in 2008 for CHF 430 million. Biver cashed in an estimated CHF 86 million and continued to manage the brand until 2014 when he received the mission of bringing TAG Heuer and Zenith back on track.

Biver tried what any successful brand manager does, by applying a recipe which had proven to be magical already three times. He tried to give more visibility to the brands by product placements in movies and brand endorsements by celebrities.

During the four years until 2018, Biver and his teams tried all the recipes, but didn’t really manage to bring either TAG Heuer or Zenith back on the path of growth. To be fair, the expectations towards Zenith are not in line with the brand’s intrinsic potential.

Everyone sees it as one of the legendary names of the Swiss watch industry, besides owning the iconic El Primero movement. TAG Heuer has been at the forefront of modern-day branding but somehow got lost in trying to reinvent mechanical concepts, such as the V4 or the Mikrograph which were technical marvels, but generated abyssal losses for bottom-line.

Will the last act of Mr. Biver’s recital, the eponymous Biver brand, be successful? Certainly, commercially speaking, but will it become a sustainable brand in the long run after Mr. Biver’s stay on earth?

Time will tell, but the watch industry will remember a marketing pioneer who based all his success stories on the same sound principles: Be first, unique and different!

#15 Georges Kern

Personal Net Worth: CHF 160 million

Total Market Share: 2.6 percent

Brand: Breitling

Georges Kern, CEO of Breitling

When Georges Kern decided to leave Richemont in 2017, some people — including me — questioned if he had just made the right decision to leave a very well-paid job as the head of the specialty watchmakers to join a brand which had definitely lost momentum. The price paid by CVC for the initial 80 percent stake seemed even more questionable at CHF 850 million, which valued the company at more than CHF 1 billion. CVC then successively resold a major part of its equity to another private equity firm, Partners Group, which now owns the majority stake and values the company at a staggering CHF 4.2 billion.

Mr. Kern has done a tremendous job by balancing the brand on three distinctive pillars linked to air, sea and land, with the engagement of brand ambassadors who are dubbed “squads” to imply that they’re part of the brand. The most obvious and — for some diehard fans of the brand — shocking part of the rebranding was to cut the wings in the brand’s logo which stood for Breitling’s dedication to aviation.

Coming from IWC where he had taken a lot of “inspiration” from Breitling to focus on aviation, Mr. Kern wanted to diversify the brand’s positioning and give it a broader basis in order to connect with younger demographics.

The first product launch under the new era was the Navitimer 8, which failed to attract new clients, and worse, disappointed the existing ones. Why? Because the Navitimer became an iconic product with its design of an instrument for the wrist for pilots and many more clients dreaming of being one.

Taking these codes away simply did not resonate with the core and target audience.

That was a wakeup call telling the brand that modernizing icons might be a better idea than trying to reinvent them entirely, and since then, Breitling’s ride on the neo-vintage wave has been a lot more successful with, for instance, the launch of the Premier or Top Time, which are taking their legitimacy from the brand’s legacy. In addition, the partnership in Kenissi Manufacture, a joint venture where Breitling is partnering with Chanel and Tudor, is also giving the brand a lot more horological credibility.

Last but not least, Breitling also has an innovative transversal business model offering ancillary services such as financing your watch with monthly instalments, which is a clever way to give access to younger demographics seeking to acquire luxury goods. Breitling was also amongst the first adopters of non-fungible token (NFT) technology in order to track a watch during its decade-long itinerary.

The most recent extensions of the brand are the opening of cafés and restaurants to create branded spaces of conviviality where selling products is not the primary purpose, but creating bonds with the clients is more important. Finally, the recent acquisition of Universal Genève revives another chapter for the storied brand. It’s one of the most anticipated returns in all of watchmaking and we can’t wait to hear about this success story.

#14 Miguel Rodriguez

Personal Net Worth: CHF 300 million

Total Market Share: < 1 percent

Company: The Festina Group

Brand: Festina, Lotus, Candino, Jaguar, Kronaby, Calypso, Lotus Style, Lotus Silver and Perrelet

Miguel Rodriguez, Owner and President of the Festina Group

Any self-made entrepreneur has a good story to share when explaining how he built up his wealth. In the case of Miguel Rodriguez, the sole shareholder of the Festina Group, the story is true that he came to work in Switzerland as an operator of production machines for the watch industry.

He also likes to tell the story of how he was smuggling watches to Spain to make some money on the side which later on allowed him to buy his first Swiss watch brand, Festina. This laid ground to a group comprising other brands like Candino, Jaguar, Lotus (watches and jewels) and Perrelet.

The brand portfolio also includes Swedish brand, Kronaby which is making hybrid smartwatches. This links to the know-how of Soprod Quartz, one group owned manufacturing company capable of developing smartwatches from with proprietary technology.

#13 Ted Schneider

Personal Net Worth: CHF 600 million

Total Market Share: < 1%

Brand: Norqain

Ted Schneider, Co-Founder and Board Member, Norqain

Even after he sold the majority of Breitling to CVC Capital Partners in 2017, Teddy Schneider had to show that he was still capable of having success in the watch industry, hence his investment in Norqain, which is a fast growing generalist brand with quite a conventional branding strategy made up of testimonials — sports and wildlife preservation — and contemporary brand values such as ocean cleaning. The board is advised by industry legend Jean-Claude Biver, which is probably a good decision to bring some out-of-the-box thinking to the table, and is helmed by one of the most dynamic young leaders in the industry, Benjamin Küffer (pictured, right), who is joined by his sister Caroline as the brand’s head of communications.

Ben Küffer, Co-Founder and CEO, Norqain

We will never know why Mr. Schneider and his sisters decided to sell the family business and if they regret doing so. Seeing the value of the company quadrupled in five years thanks to the dynamic Georges Kern may trigger some regrets at some point.

Nonetheless, CHF 1 billion for Breitling was good money to cash in and it is clear that Schneider still has an interest in Swiss watchmaking through Norqain.

#12 Vartan Sirmakes

Personal Net Worth: CHF 600 to 700 million

Total Market Share: 1 percent

Brand: Franck Muller

Vartan Sirmakes, Co-Founder of the Franck Muller Group

If there is one brand deserving the title of being the first success story of the new era of watchmaking going back as far as the 1990’s and the rebirth of modern watchmaking, it would be Franck Muller. Launched in 1991, the brand quickly had a tremendous success with oversized barrel shaped watches dubbed Cintrée Curvex.

The watches were not only a lot bigger than any other wristwatch back around then, but the bold dials with oversized numbers were instantly recognizable. The commercial success came overnight when some Italian — yes, the very place where good taste was born and watch trends are launched — football coaches and players started wearing Franck Muller’s watches.

The brand was not only about bold design, but also about mechanical inventions and the race for the title of the most complicated watch in the world. The mechanical complication of the Crazy Hours for instance is very much the expression of creativity at Franck Muller with a very playful way of indicating the time.

Frank Muller

Coming from the suppliers’ side, Vartan Sirmakes decided to invest as much as possible into the brand’s own manufacturing capacities. This strategy not only served the purpose of being reactive and cost-efficient but also lay the groundworks for the narrative of being a watch manufacture.

Even if the brand has lost a lot of traction since more than a decade, it is still a relevant player in the high-end segment with an estimated 21,000 pieces and CHF 250m in watches sold last year. That is a lot, but still a lot less compared with the first decade of this century when it was selling for north of CHF 600m a year.

Without taking away any credit from Richard Mille’s phenomenal success, it is beyond questioning that Richard Mille took some inspiration for the product design from Franck Muller.

On the negative side, the brand which is part of an eponymous group, never succeeded in diversifying its brand portfolio beyond the main brand. All the projects — Karbon, MHR, European Company Watch (the name is already program) and Pierre Kunz — ended in the cemetery of the watch industry.

Even Cvstos which is founded and managed by Vartan Sirmakes’ son Sassoun is not exactly a success story inasmuch as it’s surviving thanks to cross sales from the parent company.

#11 Jacob Arabo

Personal Net Worth: CHF 900 million

Total Market Share: <1%

Brand: Jacob & Co.

Jacob Arabo, Founder, Jacob & Co.

Jacob & Co. is an incredible success story based on the vision of one man, Jacob Arabo, of making 3D fine watchmaking. When he was explaining his vision for his products to his manufacturing partners in Switzerland, they would politely listen to him, but wouldn’t buy into his weird ideas.

One day, a talented and creative watchmaker presented him with the concept of a highly complicated triple-axis tourbillon combined with three other arms, each displaying either a sphere or “Jacob-cut” diamond with 288 facets, and finally the time display, each turning at a different speed. Together with Valérien Jaquet of Concepto, Jacob proceeded to make this concept a reality.

He named it the Astronomia, and with it, Arabo propelled himself through sheer force of will into the horological big leagues.

The extraordinary idea behind the mechanical concept, which is already a feast for anyone interested in mechanical complications, is that the variations of displays are almost infinite. Jacob & Co. timepieces and jewelry — accounting for 75 percent and 25 percent of the brand’s sales, respectively — are bold and very distinctive. The brand has seen a very strong acceleration post-COVID of its sales, which grew 132 percent from 2020 to 2022.

Certainly, it is a very interesting dual brand capable of creating marvels for affluent clients around the world who dare to wear very distinctive watches and jewels — and who are capable of paying north of CHF 600,000 for an Astronomia timepiece. The Swiss watch industry is by now not laughing anymore at that crazy American’s vision of a different way of making watches.

Benjamin Arabov, CEO, Jacob & Co.

Jacob followed up on the Astronomia with a ceaseless assault of mind-blowing, technically innovative finery, including the Bugatti Chiron Sapphire Crystal watch with its tiny functional W16 engine and the Godfather minute repeater with its multi-axis tourbillon. One huge asset to Arabo’s vision is his son and CEO of the brand, Benjamin Arabov, who is a very well-liked, friendly and passionate young man showing great promise for the future.

#10 The Mille and Guenat Families

Net Worth: CHF 1.6 billion

Total Market Share: 2.7 percent

Brand: Richard Mille

Richard Mille

“You can divide the history of watchmaking into two distinct eras,” says Wei Koh. “The time before Richard Mille and the time after, so seismic is his impact on watchmaking as we know it.”

Today Richard is, in Tour de France mountain classification terms, “Hors Categorie,” meaning that it is outside of all categories and in a realm of its own. What else can you say about a brand whose average price is a staggering USD 250,000.

Richard Mille is the perfect case study for any luxury marketing student because it reunites all ingredients needed for a success story. First, a price positioning which was so bold when the brand was launched in 2001 that it shocked the world of high-end watchmaking.

Selling the RM 001 at USD 135,000 was seen as a “crime de lèse majesté” towards a brand like Patek Philippe which, at that time, was selling only one tourbillon and for a lot less. Asked about this audacious price positioning, Mr. Mille replied: “We’re not competing with anyone!”

Alexandre Mille, Brand Director, Richard Mille

The second ingredient is a bold brand claim: “A racing machine on the wrist.” This says it all for the product inspiration taken from racing cars and their perpetual quest for new materials and new concepts.

Richard Mille is always at the forefront of using new materials for the sake of innovation and inventing new mechanical marvels. Despite what some critics bemoan — most of them don’t have the necessary technical background — the watches are very sturdy and reliable.

Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has demonstrated this many times by wearing the RM watches while playing high intensity games. Conceiving a tourbillon such as the RM 027 capable of resisting a few G’s each time Nadal hits the ball is a remarkable achievement.

Cecile Guenat, Director of Creation and Development, Richard Mille

Last but not least, you need a very distinctive design which Richard Mille achieved right off the bat, with a barrel-shaped case and quite massive dimensions. Any new reference is a limited edition and, needless to say, all of them are instantly sold through and reach tremendous prices on the secondary market.

And perhaps last of all, the watches have to be extraordinarily stunning from a visual richness perspective, which they are.

Dominique Guenat, Co-Founder, Richard Mille

The brand’s unique success, which surpasses what Franck Muller achieved in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is also built on a very strong business strategy. One partner, Dominique Guenat, is in charge of manufacturing and Richard Mille is in charge of branding.

Three other partners are taking care of the worldwide distribution and managing the 41 mono-brand stores retailing exclusively the 5,200 watches sold last year. Roughly half of those boutiques are brand-owned and the other half are joint ventures (JV) with a 15 percent gross margin left for the JV partner.

The value of Mr. Mille’s wealth is estimated on his stake in the brand’s equity taking into account that, one, Audemars Piguet owns 10 percent, which gives Richard Mille unlimited access to Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi, and two, that the retail activities are split on three different regions and owned by other business partners.

Therefore, the overall brand value with consolidated sales at CHF 1.3 billion in 2022 can be estimated at CHF 10 billion due to what is probably the highest margin of the watch industry and a totally integrated value chain with an integrated manufacture and a 100 percent direct-to-consumer retail network.

Amanda Mille, Brand and Partnerships Director, Richard Mille

Perhaps most impressive of all is that Richard Mille is the first entrepreneur who has assured his succession plan with his business now guided by the able hands of his children such as Amanda Mille, who is in charge of all partnerships, and the wonderful, affable and painstakingly humble Alex Mille, who as a sign of his dedication has moved to the manufacture so he can be part of the daily management of its industrial competences.

#9 The Scheufele family

Net Worth: CHF 2 to 3 billion

Total Market Share: 1 percent

Brand: Chopard

Karl-Friedrich Scheufele (left), Co-President of Chopard and President of La Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud, with his father, Karl Scheufele III (middle), and son, Karl-Fritz Scheufele (right).

The owners of Chopard, the elegant Scheufele family, bought the Swiss watch brand in 1963 to reinforce their legitimacy in the watch industry. The family was already active as a jewelry manufacturer with its own watch brand under the name Eszeha since 1904.

Chopard is one of the very rare brands competing in different luxury product categories, but the vast majority of the top line — an estimated 97 percent — is being generated by jewelry (55 percent of the 97 percent) and watches (45 percent). The diversification into accessories was never successful and the only product category generating a substantial positive gross margin are the perfumes which are a pure franchise business.

Caroline Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard

Unlike the main competing brands — such as Hermès and Cartier — and despite having been one of the first jewelry and watch brands to go direct-to-consumer with a substantial number of brand-owned stores (around 35 worldwide) and franchisees (around 110), Chopard has yet to truly establish success with its accessories, except in its own boutiques as gifts.

Chopard has a unique brand asset or unique selling proposition (USP) with the legendary Happy Diamonds even though it is no longer patent protected. Happy Diamonds is an extraordinary product concept, because it can be endlessly reinterpreted in different colors, sizes, materials, patterns and even shapes.

It is certainly Chopard’s hero product, generating a substantial proportion of the brand’s sales in its different versions, and iconic both for the watches and the jewelry. The flip side of owning such a wonderful asset is that the brand has lost a lot of traction especially in the watch business by not innovating enough.

The Mille Miglia product family launched in 1988 had shown the way by increasing the sales fivefold when it was still managed by a talented product director — Jean-Frédéric Dufour, no less, and yes, the same one who’s now running the show at Rolex.

In the past, Chopard faced challenges to establish the L.U.C in the elite league of mechanical watches, despite having developed top-notch movements which doesn’t have to fear any comparison with the likes of Patek Philippe or A. Lange & Söhne, but lacks brand sexiness for the die-hard collectors. However, in recent years, Chopard L.U.C in particular the stunning Revolution Award-winning 1860 Lucent Steel, has become one of the most sought after timepieces on the market.

It is nice to see that after 26 years, Chopard L.U.C is getting its much-deserved time in the spotlight. Chopard has also created the very appealing sports chic timepiece, the Alpine Eagle, to great results.

And Scheufele’s dedication to movement innovation has yielded what Wei Koh feels is the “best sounding minute repeater in modern horology,” the L.U.C Full Strike. Finally, Scheufele has also successfully launched Ferdinand Berthoud, which now has a cult collectibility status expressed by a waiting list of three years for some of its models.

It will be interesting to see how the third generation (or the fifth generation, if we take into account the pre-Chopard legacy of the family), in particular the very promising and young Karl-Fritz Scheufele, will bring their unique intelligence and energy to the brand and bring it back on a virtuous circle.

#8 The Hayek Family

Company: The Swatch Group Limited

Net Worth: CHF 3.5 billion

Total Market Share: 19.8 percent

Brand: Breguet, Harry Winston, Blancpain, Glashütte Original, Jaquet Droz, Léon Hatot, Omega, Longines, Rado, Union Glashütte, Tissot, Balmain, Certina, Mido, Hamilton, Swatch, Flik Flak

Nick Hayek Jr., CEO, Swatch Group

Without the Swatch Group, the Swiss watch industry would have likely perished during the Quartz Crisis. Its savior, Nicolas Hayek Senior, is often credited with rescuing the Swiss watch industry from the brink of disaster by creating the Société de Microélectronique et d’Horlogerie (SMH), the predecessor of the Swatch Group, in 1983 and merging two fledgling groups to form one strong entity where two brands were the cornerstones: Swatch was to regain lost ground from the Japanese competitors and Omega was to become the crown jewel again.

At the same time, Hayek also created Swatch watches which became a mass-produced, highly popular Swiss-made alternative to the Japanese quartz fare. He purchased and uplifted the greatest name in Swiss watchmaking — Breguet — with the creation of extraordinary timepieces, traveling exhibitions of the great watchmaker’s masterpieces, and the re-creation of the legendary Marie Antoinette pocket watch unveiled at an extraordinary launch at the Palace of Versailles.

Nayla Hayek, CEO, Harry Winston

Today, the Swatch Group is at the center of the Swiss watch industry not only for managing 16 brands which are almost exclusively — with the exception of Harry Winston which is an iconic jewelry brand also making watches — selling watches. Hayek’s theory was mainly built on the concept of a pyramidal positioning of each brand and mutualizing the production capacities rather than having dedicated production capacities for each brand.

Every brand also got its territory (besides a price positioning) in order to make sure that two brands wouldn’t have overlapping and hence competing products and communication efforts. This worked very well and positioned the Swatch Group as the biggest watch group in the world while at the same building strong brands and a unique manufacturing entity.

But purists would occasionally mourn the loss of legendary movements such as the Longines 13ZN chronograph caliber, replaced by more accessibly priced industrial movements befitting the brands’ price positioning.

Marc A. Hayek, President and CEO of Blancpain

In recent years, however, things have become a little more heated with the group’s number one, Omega, helmed by the brilliant Raynald Aeschlimann, losing ground against Rolex — which has become more aggressive in recent years — and being challenged by other brands such as Cartier for women’s watches and Breitling on the overall. The market has changed considerably with an ongoing polarization at the top end, with high-end brands such as Rolex, Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe becoming luxury brands and surfing on an overall positive trend for the whole luxury industry.

Apart from Omega, which is leading the field in its core range price positioning (an average worldwide retail price of CHF 6,500) and generating one third of the group’s sales, but approximately 60 percent of the operational margin, the market headwinds have created challenges on the Swatch Group with a decreasing market share over the years.

The challenges are multiple for a group still strongly led by the family with Nick Hayek Junior performing as the CEO of the group, Nayla Hayek — his sister — is the chairman of the board and Marc Hayek — her son — officially taking care of the luxury segment, but who is mainly looking after Blancpain. Strongly challenged by the success of the smartwatches, Swatch and Tissot have managed to bounce back recently with the massive success of the MoonSwatch (a collaboration between Swatch and Omega) and the successful Tissot PRX, respectively.

It should be said that with the MoonSwatch and now the Swatch Blancpain “Scuba Fifty Fathoms” diving watches, Hayek Jr. has brilliantly capitalized on collaborations within his own group, which has resulted in the creation of a cultural phenomenon, especially amongst the younger generation, the likes of which our industry has not seen since his father hung a massive Swatch watch on the side of a building to announce its arrival. These collaborations have vitally engaged in building watch culture and awareness in the next generation and Hayek deserves to be applauded for this.

On the subject of the next generation, one extremely interesting and promising young Hayek is Nick III, a young man studying hotel management at the elite EHL (formerly known as the École Hôtelière de Lausanne) and one of the most passionate and insightful young collectors Revolution’s founder Wei Koh has met in recent years.

The Swatch Group is very important for the whole structure of the Swiss watch industry, because it is a systemic part of it. The group manufactures and sells two thirds of the overall volume of the Swiss watch industry, and is stricto sensu the only fully integrated industrial manufacture, even though one can argue that Rolex and Richemont are de facto at the same level of industrial integration, at least for the mechanical watches.

#7 Johann Rupert

Company: Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A.

Net Worth: CHF 11.5 billion

Total Market Share: 19.5 percent

Brand: Cartier, Panerai, IWC, Roger Dubuis, Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, Baume & Mercier, A. Lange & Söhne, Buccellati, Van Cleef & Arpels, Montblanc, Time Vallée, WatchFinder & Co.

Johann Rupert, Chairman, Compagnie Financiere Richemont

Revolution’s founder Wei Koh likes to say, “If Rolex is the King of Sports and Patek is the King of Complications, then Cartier is the King of Elegance.” By far the most important brand within the Richemont brand portfolio, Cartier generates approximately 50 percent of the group sales and 70 percent of the group’s profits.

Now that Cartier’s brilliant CEO, Cyrille Vigneron, has realigned Cartier with its true and proper status as the King of Elegance, the watch division is absolutely on fire, becoming the second largest watch brand on the planet after Rolex. Cartier is one of the very few brands perceived as being genuinely a luxury player and for which the value perception is higher than its actual market positioning.

For instance, its feminine watch segment is competing against pure players such as Omega, which might seem surprising but the maison is generating its “bread and butter” with watches priced at an average worldwide retail price of CHF 5,400, which is even slightly below the entry price of an Omega. The magic of such a brand is that despite generating quite a high volume with around 620,000 watches last year, it keeps the aura of a luxury brand with a high brand equity.

There is only one other comparable that comes to my mind when asked if there’s any such brand around, and that is the LVMH-owned Tiffany & Co.

Cyrille Vigneron, CEO of Cartier

The specialty watchmakers, as Richemont calls them, are brands that are mostly positioned in the premium and luxury price segments. Richemont has certainly a strong know-how and expertise in luxury as the recent success of Vacheron Constantin is showing, with the brand moving steadily up the rankings; this was certainly helped by the success of its Overseas product family, which allowed it to attract a younger clientele.

Vacheron has quietly become one of the Richemont Group’s and our industry’s greatest success stories and, by many accounts, it will pass the CHF 1 billion mark in revenue this year. It is also a key player in multiple categories, from historical watches such as the Historiques American 1921 and Cornes de Vache 1955 to high complications, métiers d’art watches, sports watches like the Overseas, and now the much sought after Reference 222, aka Brad Pitt’s favorite watch.

All this is down to the exceptional leadership of its CEO Louis Ferla, whose favorite saying is, “Strong sales are just the result of a job well done.” While it is still not clear who will replace Vigneron at Cartier should he step down at the normal retirement age of 65 in two years, the smart choice, in my opinion, would be Ferla.

Louis Ferla, CEO, Vacheron Constantin

The group has also succeeded in developing a formidable manufacturing pool with movement manufactures dedicated not only to a single brand such as Jaeger-LeCoultre, but also serving sister brands in need of R&D and manufacturing capacities. Richemont owns Valfleurier, which fulfils the task of producing high volume calibers for some of its brands, and thus reducing the dependency from Swatch Group’s industrial arm, ETA.

And this vertical integration, although often questioned by financial analysts for its capital and labor cost-intensive needs, brings a lot of value for the group.

#6 The Stern Family

Net Worth: CHF 12 billion

Total Market Share: 5.1 percent

Brand: Patek Philippe

(from left): Philippe Stern, Honorary President of Patek Philippe, and his son Thierry Stern, the current President

When it comes to brand equity, there is no greater brand than Patek Philippe and that is down to the brilliance in leadership of the Stern family, now in its fourth generation at the helm. Many say that Patek Philippe is considered to be the “Rolls-Royce” of watch brands. However, I feel the far more accurate statement is that Rolls-Royce is the Patek Philippe of automobiles.

That is, even though Patek is neither the oldest nor historically the most successful brand. In fact, the Stern family had to buy the brand in 1932 because the company was in great financial despair as a result of the overall disastrous economic situation of the Great Depression, where it ended up owing the Stern dial manufacturing company a lot of money.

And that was when the magic began to happen with the creation in 1932 of the Reference 560, in 1936 the Reference 130 and in 1941 the two greatest complication watches ever created, the References 1518 and 1526. Following that, Patek Philippe became the unrivaled King of Complications and remained so ahead of its competition it should be placed in a category all its own.

Perhaps most special of all is that Patek Philippe, unlike Rolls-Royce which has been owned by BMW since 1998, is still 100 percent privately owned by the Stern family and run like a family business.

Patek Philippe has also become the referential watch brand in the categories of the high-end and the sports chic stainless steel watch with its iconic Nautilus and Aquanaut models. The brand’s image has been fostered by a very strong communication campaign which, since 1996, has staked the claim that “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.”

The claim is so strong because it not only implies that the timepiece you have acquired is there to stay for eternity and will be passed on from generation to generation, but more importantly, it also binds the brand into your family legacy.

Patek Philippe is considered to be the “Rolls-Royce” of watch brands even though it’s neither the oldest, nor always the most successful one. In fact, the Stern family had to buy the brand in 1932 because the company was in great financial despair due to the overall disastrous economic situation of the Great Depression, and owed the Stern dial manufacturing company a lot of money.

Patek Philippe has invested tremendous amounts of money into its manufacturing capacities in Geneva and elsewhere in Switzerland. Starting with the inauguration of the new manufacture of Plan-les-Ouates in 1996 and steadily increasing its production and sales volumes, the company invested billions of Swiss francs in buildings, machines and, last but not least, training people.

The latest investment amounts to CHF 600 million for the building and the machines, and everything is self-financed. The company doesn’t owe a cent to any bank and the genius that is Mr. Philippe Stern — Thierry Stern’s father who is the actual owner of the brand — paid in advance all the succession fees in 2014 so that his children, Thierry and his sister Christine, would not have to take on a heavy cash burden to pay for those.

Those taxes were not paid by petty cash, but at a whopping CHF 415 million created quite an uproar in the press because everyone was guessing who could have paid that substantial amount of money at once. While many names have been mentioned as the greatest leader in watchmaking of all time, it is Revolution founder Wei Koh’s opinion that “Philippe Stern is the watch industry’s greatest innovator, pioneer and leader.”

He built the world’s greatest watch museum, helmed the world’s greatest watch campaign, created the most single most beautiful watch of the modern era, the Reference 5004, and positioned Patek and especially its complications to be the unobtainium of the watch world.

#5 The Audemars and Bottinelli families, other minority shareholders

Net Worth: CHF 15 billion

Total Market Share: 4.7 percent

Brand: Audemars Piguet

Jasmine Audemars, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, Audemars Piguet

Once thing that the outgoing CEO of Audemars Piguet, François-Henry Bennahmias, can be credited with is the phenomenal value creation he has delivered in his 11-year tenure as CEO. From an estimated CHF 2 billion brand value with CHF 630 million in sales, Bennahmias has taken the brand to a staggering CHF 15 billion valuation. How?

First of all, by executing a long-term strategy dedicated to transforming Audemars Piguet into a luxury brand. Then, it was about adopting a coherent attitude both on-site and online, as well as reducing the retail presence to mono-brand boutiques rather than multi-brand retailers carrying a multitude of competing brands.

The positive by-product of this, of course, is that the brand has earned the retail margin which massively increases profitability. Next, AP is focusing the product offering on one iconic product, the Royal Oak, and also taking some risks by launching a controversial new product family, the Code 11.59, which in fact picks up all the codes of the Royal Oak.

Incidentally, Code 11.59 is already contributing 12 percent of the brand’s sales and even though this seems marginal, any other product collection before that never came near to becoming a sustainable product family. In fact, the Millenary and Jules Audemars collections were discontinued recently.

Olivier Audemars, Vice Chairman of the Board, Audemars Piguet

The company has invested substantial amounts of money into its production facilities with the most recent initiative being the construction of a new manufacture in the Canton of Geneva, after having inaugurated new production facilities in Le Brassus and in Le Locle, Canton of Neuchâtel. On top of the verticalization of its activities, Audemars Piguet has also created a museum which is outstanding by its modern scenography and can be only visited in small groups to preserve the unique experience of discovering the brand’s unique heritage.

Although the historical collection can’t compete with the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva in terms of collection richness, it is a lot more modern and offers a view on some of the brand’s artisans working at their benches.

François-Henry Bennahmias, CEO of Audemars Piguet

Even though 2022 was already an exceptional year with the 50th jubilee of the brand’s iconic Royal Oak and a firework of limited editions relating to this commemoration, 2025 will mark the 150th birthday of AP and we can certainly expect some marvels. Finally, as he departs, it is clear Bennahmias still has his eye on increasing revenue past the CHF 3 billion mark by targeting the female customer.

As he explained to us, “I want our women’s watches to be the Birkin bags of watchmaking. No luxury watch brand today has achieved parity between male and female customers; we may well be the first.” Was this part of the decision-making in hiring a female CEO in Ilaria Resta? Bennahmias claims it isn’t but it certainly can’t hurt.

#4 The Hans Wilsdorf Foundation

Net Worth: CHF 70 to 80 billion

Total Market Share: 31 percent

Brand: Rolex, Tudor, Carl F. Bucherer, Bucherer Group

Hans Wilsdorf, Founder of Rolex and Tudor

Regardless of its ranking on this index, there is one clear unassailable and irrefutable truth: Rolex is the King of Watches. Rolex does so much to engage the general public’s interest in luxury watches that Wei Koh, Revolution’s founder, states, “Without Rolex, there could be no Swiss watchmaking industry because everything is built on a foundation that this brand creates.”

Rolex is the epitome of a well-managed luxury brand, beyond being a company making watches. Having a single shareholder which is a foundation — Mr. Wilsdorf’s estate — makes things easier in terms of long-term vision, as there is no pressure to pay dividends or show growing results quarter after quarter as listed companies tend to.

Neither the company nor the Wilsdorf Foundation publishes any figures, but the benefits generated by the watch brands — because there is also sister brand Tudor — are being generously redistributed by the foundation. Rolex itself is also supporting many good causes around the world.

Those are substantial amounts of money being given away, as we are talking up to CHF 300 million every year through the Wilsdorf Foundation alone. Hence, buying a Rolex is also helping good causes — which might help take the edge off of waiting six years (probably more) for your Daytona.

Jean-Frédéric Dufour, CEO of Rolex

Rolex has a dominant position in the luxury watch segment that not a single luxury brand can claim to have. It has an estimated 40 percent market share of the U.S. luxury watch market, which is also the biggest in the world.

The brand sold 1.2 million watches per annum in 2022 which generated CHF 9.3 billion in sales. But this is at wholesale because, until this year, Rolex worked exclusively with partners creating almost CHF 5 billion for the world’s best, and let’s face it luckiest, retailers on the planet.

I had written about the Bucherer deal in an article here that it was quite surprising that Rolex would leave a good CHF 4.65 billion on the table by not owning its own retail. Back then, I posed the question: “Now let’s imagine that Rolex decides to integrate their retail network entirely or partially. What would it mean in terms of profitability and the consequences on the worldwide retail structure?”

For five years, Rolex and Patek Philippe were “anomalies” in the wake of a direct-to-consumer strategy where luxury brands were gearing towards more control of the value chain to the client’s wrist. It’s not so much about capturing more margin, but foremost about controlling the brand’s image and collecting client data.

After having launched its Certified Pre-Owned program with Bucherer, the next step which had been in the pipelines for years, was just logical with the integration of its most important retailer. And for sure Rolex won’t stop in its consolidation of its retail activities.

The next acquisitions — yes, plural — are on the radar and these will be significant and game changers, just as the acquisition of Bucherer has been.

Rolex is one of the very few watch brands which can truly be described as a fully integrated manufacture and is continuously investing substantial amounts of money in its production capacities. The last 20 years has seen billions of Swiss francs being invested both in Geneva and Bienne, where the brand manufactures its movements. It also has as CEO one of the most brilliant master tacticians and visionaries, Mr. Jean-Frédéric Dufour, and we are only beginning to see the start of what he has in store for us.

#3 The Wertheimer family

Company: Chanel Limited

Net Worth: CHF 90 billion

Total Market Share: 1 percent

Brand: Chanel

Gérard Wertheimer (left), Co-Owner of Chanel and Head of the watch division, with his brother Alain Wertheimer (right), Co-Owner and Chairperson of Chanel

Very few luxury brands are based on such strong fundamentals as comparable with Chanel, which is best known for its fashion and bags, but yet has also successfully managed to diversify with other product categories such as watches. One remarkable accomplishment is the fact that the J12 watch launched in 1999 has already achieved the status of an icon, not only thanks to a distinctive design, but also clever marketing.

Unlike what Jean-Claude Biver preaches, you don’t need to be first. What you need to do is make people believe that you master it best and that was what Chanel had done when it launched the J12 in ceramic, 13 years after Rado which is no longer today the “King of Ceramic.”

Chanel immediately signaled that its ambitions in watchmaking were going beyond just making an accessory product. The brand immediately invested in production facilities in Switzerland and began producing ceramic components at a company called Châtelain (which also produces the ceramic bracelets and cases for even some of the most desirable brands in Swiss watchmaking).

It then went on to buy Romain Gauthier’s movement manufacture with which it was already collaborating for mechanical movements such as the Monsieur Caliber. And most importantly, Chanel is one of the partners of the powerhouse that is Kenissi Manufacture, making mechanical movements for Breitling, Tudor and the brand’s J12.

Chanel has also taken a 20 percent stake in F.P. Journe in 2018, but this seems more patronage than a strategic business move, unless there is a shareholders’ agreement in place with a right of preemption to ensure the long-term growth of the eponymous niche brand.

#2 The Hermès family

Company: Group H51

Net Worth: CHF 125B

Total Market Share: 2%

Brand: Hermès

Pierre Alexis Dumas, Artistic director of Hermès

The epitome of a luxury brand, the maison Hermès had decided about a decade ago to also become a serious player in the field of watchmaking. A luxury brand needs to propose certain accessories to lure aspirational clients into its temple; for instance, perfumes, eyewear or writing instruments are a clever way to lower the entry ticket and generate sometimes substantial revenues.

However, the value perception by the clients can sometimes be negative if they perceive it as a misalignment with the brand’s overall positioning — and that was the case with Hermès’ watches before the Parisian maison decided to up its game with serious watchmaking.

Axel Dumas, Executive chairman of Hermès

The collaboration with Vaucher Manufacture of which Hermès owns 25 percent gave it immediate access to mechanical movements perceived as being credible, but it didn’t land an immediate commercial success. The brand needed also to do a serious cleanup of its existing product collection with too many quartz proposals and, overall, too many different product families.

Today, Hermès is proposing a solid collection with five product families for men’s and six for women’s watches. Specifically, the H08 has the potential to become an icon because it ticks all the boxes of the brand’s design codes with its instantly recognizable design, and stands for the brand’s ambitions to play a leading role in the sports chic segment.

The strength and aura of the brand allows it also to sell major timepieces in the elite league of watchmaking with grand complications such as tourbillon minute repeaters selling at more than CHF 300,000. It even creates unique pocket watches with designs that are incredibly creative and not necessarily the ones you would expect from a very conservative maison.

In just five years, Hermès has more than tripled its sales to CHF 521 million in 2022 and is growing a lot faster than the industry’s average. It should achieve an approximate CHF 600 million in sales this year.

Laurent Dordet, CEO of Hermès Horloger

The confirmation that Hermès is on track with its strategy is given by its archrival Louis Vuitton, which recently adopted exactly the same approach of positioning its current collection on a much higher level than what it used to be. As managing director of Hermès’ watch division, Laurent Dordet is understated, soft-spoken and humble but possesses an admirable track record over the last eight years, developing a strong sense of identity for Hermès watches that capture the maison’s strong sense of whimsy and poetry.

#1 The Arnault Family

Company: LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton

Net Worth: CHF 150 billion

Total Market Share: 6.3 percent

Brands: TAG Heuer, Hublot, Bulgari, Zenith, Louis Vuitton Horlogerie, Dior, Chaumet and Tiffany & Co.

Bernard Arnault, Chairperson of LVMH

Even though the recent market correction was quite hefty (-23.5 percent in six months), LVMH is still the most valued luxury corporation in the world at CHF 317 billion, which is still almost twice the value of Hermès and seven times that of Kering. Hence, at the time of writing, Bernard Arnault is still the second richest man in the world with an estimated wealth of CHF 150 billion.

And even though sales of watches account for only 6 percent of the group’s total revenues with an estimated CHF 4.7 billion out of CHF 79 billion, LVMH clearly has big ambitions to grow this business unit. Currently with 6.3 percent market share, the group is only in fourth position behind Rolex, Swatch Group and Richemont, but everybody knows that Arnault has never been satisfied to play second fiddle in any one of his active market segments.

We highlighted recently that Louis Vuitton has decided to change gears for its watch business, not loudly, but in a very elegant and smart manner. Even though LV has a huge potential to grow its watch business, the real growth in order to become a major player in the watch business will be through a major acquisition, and there aren’t many candidates available out there.

At the same time, Bulgari has carved a strong niche for itself in the sports chic category with the excellent Octo Finissimo. The company is ably led by Jean-Christophe Babin and his team, which consists of the likeable and diligent Antoine Pin and the talented Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani.

Frédéric Arnault, CEO of TAG Heuer

Interestingly, two of Arnault’s five children are now active in the watch division, with Frédéric as the CEO of TAG Heuer and Jean who is the head of Louis Vuitton Horlogerie. Frédéric is said to be leaving TAG Heuer to take up another position within the same division; he is to be replaced by the dynamic Julien Tornare, formerly from Zenith.

Jean is showing very promising results at making LV an even more credible player based on La Fabrique du Temps’ manufacturing capacities. He’s also been planning to relaunch Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth, both of which were dormant at sister brand Bulgari.

Jean Arnault, Director of Watches at Louis Vuitton

So far the Arnault siblings have proven themselves to be considerable assets to their family business and are amongst the most dynamic young players in the industry.

On the overall, with pure watch players like Hublot, TAG Heuer and Zenith holding fort, along with some sister brands carrying compelling watches in their product offering such as Bulgari, Dior and Tiffany, LVMH already carries quite an extensive brand portfolio which they can — and will — develop.

Reference

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FEATURED FROM THE SHOP

Parmigiani Fleurier

Limited Edition

Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor "Purple Reign" x Revolution

$26,400.00

TECH SPECS

Movement	Self-winding caliber PF703; 48-hour power reserve
Functions	Hours, Minutes, Date
Case	40mm; polished and satin-finished stainless steel with platinum knurled bezel; water resistant to 100m
Dial	Purple; rhodium-plated applied hour markers
Strap	Polished and satin-finished stainless steel bracelet
Limited Edition	Limited and numbered edition of 50 pieces

The post The Revolution Success Index appeared first on Revolution Watch.

Blancpain and Sotheby’s Partner to Support Oceana

Troy Barmore — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 02:08:30 +0000

Blancpain and Sotheby’s Partner to Support Oceana

Diving to new depths of Blancpain’s Ocean Commitment.

News

By Troy Barmore

Nov 29, 2023

The alignment of luxury watch brands with charitable causes is a rising trend for the watch industry at large. That’s something that generally is agreed upon as a positive thing. The more individuals, brands, and organizations with reach and means dedicate themselves to good causes, the better.

While some brands have only recently adopted such a mentality, Blancpain has felt deeply connected to the Ocean. In furtherance of that connection, which spiritually dates back to 1953 when the seminal Fifty Fathoms was first released, Blancpain has partnered with Sotheby’s as a part of their Important Watches Sale, to auction off one of their latest iterations of the iconic dive watch – the Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3 timepiece. Specifically, number 70.

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3

In addition to this piece, with its unique 9 karat bronze-gold alloy (the distinct color of which is a loving nod to the German Silver vintage Fifty Fathoms), there are also a number of remarkable vintage Fifty Fathoms examples which will be offered for sale in the auction.

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3

Of particular note, a double-signed Blancpain / LIP Fifty Fathoms, circa the mid 1950s, an “Aqua-Lung”Fifty Fathoms, also from the 1950s, and a Milspec Fifty Fathoms (the specific reference which served as the inspiration for the Act 3) will be on offer as well. Vintage Blancpain is always a particularly special and rare thing to come across, so seeing such examples on offer here, alongside their contemporary counterpart is sure to garner a fair amount of attention from vintage collectors and enthusiasts.

But as headline-grabbing as these entries and the Important Watches Sale itself are, the most important part is the cause which they are intended to support: Oceana. Founded in 2001, Oceana is the world’s largest international advocacy group dedicated to all aspects of global ocean conservation. Thus, proceeds from sale of the Act 3 will go to support Oceana’s global mission.

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3

Where some organizations emphasize things like awareness as their central focus, Oceana campaigns around the world, activity seeking to implement meaningful policy changes to improve the health and wellbeing of the oceans. Simultaneously, they also seek to improve the viability of and access to things like sustainable fishing practices and aquatic farming in order to ensure that the goals of conservation, climate change reversal, and providing food to those in need are never at odds with one another. This is extremely important work.

While their connection to and passion for the ocean goes back many years as a part of the Ocean Commitment initiative, Blancpain first partnered with Oceana in 2020 becoming their exclusive watch partner. Blancpain’s commitment has provided essential funding for over 20 significant scientific expeditions, massively increased the amount of protected areas around the world, and served to increase the visibility of ocean conservation work through the production of documentaries and other activations. At the end of the day, every little bit helps, but Blancpain has taken it upon themselves, alongside Sotheby’s and Oceana, to do their part in the furtherance of this essential work.

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FROM THE SHOP

Unimatic

Limited Edition

Unimatic x Revolution U1 Milsub "Blue"

$1,220.00

TECH SPECS

Movement	Self-winding caliber SW200-1b; 41-hour power reserve
Functions	Hours, minutes and seconds
Case	41.5mm; 316 steel with Cerulean blue stonewashed Cerakote coating, matte vintage navy aluminium bezel insert; water resistant to 300m
Dial	Matte vintage navy; hour markers outlined in Super-LumiNova
Strap	Vintage navy TPU-coated nylon; additional vintage navy nylon with fabric keepers
Limited Edition	Limited Edition of 200 pieces

The post Blancpain and Sotheby’s Partner to Support Oceana appeared first on Revolution Watch.

Seiko’s New High-End Diver Is Gunning for Your Swiss Watch Money

Zen Love — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 13:00:13 +0000

Seiko’s New High-End Diver Is Gunning for Your Swiss Watch Money

The 2023 Prospex Marinemaster is controversial but it just might be one of the most competitive offerings in its price point.

News

By Zen Love

Nov 22, 2023

Seiko’s dropped yet another buzz-worthy watch. Many fans of the Japanese watchmaker are excited while others point out some of the brand’s puzzling choices. But the bottom line? Seiko’s come out with some pretty awesome-looking dive watches—once again.

Sounds a lot like your typical Seiko release, right? But the new Prospex Marinemaster SJE series is a bit different.

Why? It just might be ready to compete with mainstream, luxury dive watches in the circa $3,000 price point, and even above. This is territory where most Seiko offerings have often had pretty niche, collector-focused appeal. Though high-end within Seiko’s Prospex collection, the new Marinemaster cuts handsome, traditional dive watch vibes with distinctive looks, is packed with luxury features, boasts crowd-pleasing sub-40mm sizing and has plenty of Seiko heritage cues for the fans. It even comes with a little controversy around its name to get people talking.

The basics

The new watches come in a trio as the SJE101 with black dial and bezel, the SJE099 with blue bezel and light blue dial and the limited edition (1,000 examples) SJE097 with a steel bezel and cream-colored dial. They’re powered by the 6L37 “slimline” automatic movement that was introduced earlier this year in the (not Marinemaster-designated) SJE093. Many will be pleased with its 39.5mm by 12.3mm dimensions. Ok, now let’s get to what you really need to know about the 2023 Marinemaster.

It’s like an elevated SPB14X

You know the SPB14X series. It’s been one of Seiko’s biggest hits in recent years, the gray-dial SPB143 variant being especially popular. It was yet another stab (among many) at reinterpreting the brand’s vintage icon, the 62MAS, as a modern watch, but there was broad consensus that they’d really nailed it.

The new Marinemaster watches cut a similar silhouette with the blocky hands and indices that recall the 62MAS. But it’s full of refinements and details that set it apart (more on those more below). It’s also positioned at the upper ranges of the Prospex line where past models have often been limited editions with deep Seiko collectors in mind—but we think the new Marinemaster line could have mass appeal.

A Marinemaster by any other name would dive as deep

The most controversial element of this new series of watches is in its name, especially vis-a-vis its water resistance. The Marinemaster name has graced the dials of watches taking many forms over the years, so it doesn’t belong to a certain design. It has, however, always been associated with some of the brand’s most serious dive watches.

And therein lies the controversy. Reviving the Marinemaster name will excite collectors, but with a water resistance “only” 200m, as is pretty much the minimum that many will consider to define a true dive watch, some are feeling a bit jaded. For this release Seiko seems to interpret the Marinemaster name as its most elevated dive watches rather than the deepest diving—as there are other (non-Marinemaster) models which now serve that role.

While the Marinemaster name never disappeared completely, it’s mostly been absent outside of Japan. The new series is meant to reintroduce it to the international market.

It’s small and thin, especially for a Seiko dive watch

It’s easy to imagine as many people complaining about a watch being too big or thick as gripe about the low water resistance. Lord knows (and so does Seiko), it’s hard to please everyone. Watches rated to a kilometer underwater (or even half that) tend to be chonky. And that’s exactly what the new Marinemasters aren’t, according to their specs.

At 39.5mm wide and 12.3mm thick, they’re even smaller than the SPB14X watches and apparently the thinnest divers Seiko currently makes. That’s going to sound damn good to a lot of people. The combination of size, design and elevated execution makes them extremely competitive, perhaps in a way and in a segment that Seiko rarely is. The first thing I thought when I saw these? My Tudor Black Bay 58 savings fund is in danger.

It’s premium-priced, but competitively positioned

The price? $2,800. That’s no Seiko Turtle or SKX, and it’s more than twice as expensive as the SPB14X watches ($1,200 on a bracelet). It puts it in direct competition with the likes of, say, an Oris Aquis, a Sinn U50 or a TAG Heuer Aquaracer. It’s not actually an especially crowded price point but with its relatively classical and handsome looks along with a highly versatile size, again, it feels like it’s aiming for my BB58 money.

The little things that make a difference

The 2023 Marinemaster is full of little elements that place it on a higher tier and which many will overlook when crying “too expensive!” It’s got a premium, “thinline” movement which the brand says is made especially for dive watches, and it’s visible through a display caseback, a first for a Marinemaster.

Moreover, you can see right away that the case and bracelet finishing is of a higher level than you’ll find on more affordable Prospex models. The case design is distinct, too, with the likes of prominent polished bevels (no mention of “zaratsu”) contrasting with otherwise brushed finishes. Rather than aluminum or ceramic, interestingly, the black and blue bezels are lacquered steel with a hard coating, according to Fratello. The dial features a horizontal pattern which may remind some of, say, a TAG Heuer Aquaracer or Patek Philippe Nautilus, but which to me has a distinctive look.

Finally, many have pointed out the bracelet design with its center links brushed in the middle and flanked by polished sections. It looks fantastic, and helps to elevate the watch’s feel and set its design apart, though some complain about the endlinks’ integration with the case and lack of an easily adjustable clasp. You can’t please everyone, but many will still be pleased.

Seiko Prospex Marinemaster 2023 Tech Specs and Price

Movement: Seiko 6L37 “Thinline” automatic; 4Hz; 45-hour power reserve

Functions: Time and date

Case: 39.5mm wide; 12.3mm thick; Seiko super-hard coating

Dial: Horizontal stripe pattern in light blue, cream or black

Strap: Steel bracelet with Seiko super hard coating

Price: $2,800

Visit Seiko online to learn more about the Prospex Marinemaster SJE101, SJE099, and SJE097.

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FEATURED FROM SHOP

Sold Out

Atelier Wen

Limited Edition

Atelier Wen X Revolution Perception - XI

$3,400.00

TECH SPECS

Movement	Self-winding extra thin Dandong caliber SL1588; 41-hour power reserve
Functions	Hours, minutes and seconds
Case	40mm; grade 5 titanium; water resistant to 100m
Dial	Red guilloché with "Sunmao" structure; rhodium plated applied indexes
Strap	Titanium bracelet and white colored rubber strap
Limited Edition	Limited and numbered edition of 100 pieces

The post Seiko’s New High-End Diver Is Gunning for Your Swiss Watch Money appeared first on Revolution Watch.

Revo Awards 2023: Full Prize List

Revolution — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 11:10:47 +0000

Revo Awards 2023: Full Prize List

The results are in, and we are delighted to announce the 22 winners of the 2023 Revolution Awards.

News

By Revolution

Nov 7, 2023

Each year, Revolution presents the annual Revo Awards which recognizes the industry’s most outstanding timepieces, watchmakers, brands, and business leaders. Our goal is to spotlight the best achievements in high watchmaking and celebrate the most remarkable accomplishments that all come together to further the interests of the luxury watchmaking industry as a whole.

Rising Star: Simon Brette

The most beautiful time-only watch to emerge this year is the Chronomètre Artisans from Simon Brette, a 35-year-old designer and engineer. The watch is an example of what can be achieved by rallying the best people across the industry with the goal of creating the best watch.

We gushed all about the Chronomètre Artisans, which you can read all about here, but let it be known that the timepiece is an outstanding accomplishment in pushing finishing as far as it can go, and it’s genuinely exciting to know that it represents the efforts of some of the finest artisans and specialists in watchmaking.

Technical Achievement: Furlan Marri Secular Perpetual Calendar

The Furlan Marri Secular Perpetual Calendar is the most astonishing technical breakthrough not just within the general scope of calendar complications, but also within its own specific niche of secular perpetual calendar wristwatches. It not only encodes a 400-year cycle in its gear train, taking into account both centurial years that are common years and the leap year in the fourth century, but also achieves this with an extraordinary level of simplicity.

Conceived by Dominique Renaud, renowned as the co- founder of Renaud & Papi, and Julien Tixier, a 30-year old independent watchmaker, the Secular Perpetual Calendar module is made up of merely 25 parts – 20 dedicated to the perpetual calendar and five to the secular module. Revolution‘s resident technical expert, Cheryl Chia, breaks down the mechanics that you can read about here.

It’s a display of sheer ingenuity. Moreover, Andrea Furlan and Hamad Al Marri are working towards developing a production version for the public, albeit in a smaller production and higher price.

But worry not. A perpetual calendar will supersede that release, and will be at a more accessible price.

Best Design: Cartier Tank Normale

The very first Cartier Tank of 1917, a watch so completely original and unusual for its time, and so quintessentially Cartier, its true destiny was to pave the way towards one of the most iconic timepieces of all time.

Subsequently, when the Tank Louis Cartier was created in 1922, this watch was renamed the Tank Normale and it is distinguished from other Tank variants by the angular brancards and brushed satin case with a faceted sapphire crystal.

Cartier Privé Tank Normale

As it returns this year to join the maison’s glorious Cartier Privé collection, the new Tank Normale is a worthy tribute to its predecessor and specifically, the model in platinum turns our attention to a specific reference made in 1934 for the Prince of Nepal. This is the one that comes with a beautiful satin brushed brick-link bracelet and here, Cartier has retained its gloriously understated luxury aesthetic while tightening its silhouette for a more compact and elegant profile.

Cartier’s impeccable flair for design proves that truly great design changes precious little over time and yet remains ever relevant, fresh and timeless. The Tank Normale may have been designed over a hundred years ago, but it looks just as contemporary as if it were designed yesterday, and will continue to appeal to collectors for generations to come.

Best Tourbillon: Jacob & Co. Astronomia Revolution 4th Dimension

The most mechanically and visually impressive tourbillon this year is indisputably the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Revolution 4th Dimension. It represents the first quadruple axis tourbillon in watchmaking, with its cage rotating at blistering speeds along each axis.

Jacob & Co.’s Astronomia collection has its fair share of developing the most astounding tourbillons, so much so that we’ve actually got a complilation of them here.

The tourbillon cage in the Astronomia Revolution 4th Dimension completes a rotation on its own axis in 15 seconds and on the oblique axis in 18 seconds while the entire assembly revolves around the axis of the carrier arm in 60 seconds. The central carrier itself represents the fourth axis and rotates around the dial in 60 seconds.

As such, it is the most visually dynamic Astronomia to date. Additionally, with its one-minute revolution, the entire movement also doubles as a seconds hand, which is an astounding feat in itself.

Due to the significant energy needed to drive the entire movement at a high speed, it was necessary to incorporate a remontoir to ensure that the force transmitted to the escapement and balance wheel remains consistent regardless of the mainspring’s state of wind.

Most astonishingly, the remontoir stores and releases energy at every semi-oscillation of the balance wheel. The balance has a frequency of 3Hz, hence energy is released six times per second. This ensures that each impulse delivered from the lever escapement to the balance wheel is unvarying. The remontoir mechanism is located beneath the fixed wheel on a separate axis.

Part of the solution to achieve this speed is that the stop wheel and locking mechanism had to be redesigned so that energy is released at a greater frequency. While all of this would have been enough to dazzle the senses, the watch also struts 35 gemstones in a riot of colours, including topaz, sapphires, citrines, tsavorites, and garnets set into the dial.

Best Chronograph: Petermann Bédat Reference 2941

The most impressive chronograph this year is none other than the Petermann Bedat Reference 2941, a single-pusher split-seconds chronograph with an instantaneous jumping minutes counter that has been finished to a marvellous degree. In fact, the watch represents the only chronograph from an independent watchmaker that was evidently designed to demonstrate the highest level of craft.

While the movement has a traditional design with a horizontal clutch and features many classically appealing elements, it has an unusual construction in that the split seconds mechanism is located under the dial to enable the beautifully finished components on the back to be more easily visible and appreciated. In fact, the top plate is dense as it is, thanks to the slender and sinuous steel levers and springs.

Above all, the watch demonstrates a tremendous level of attention paid to the aesthetics of every minute detail as well as the visual harmony between the components.

The coupling lever, for instance, is particularly beautiful; it has a C-shaped tail that ends in sharp inward and outward angles and to the right, there are two slender and sinuous levers that intertwine around the barrel’s massive jewel bearing. The movement features wide, mirror-polished countersinks hosting the jewels and screws on both sides, the anglage on the chronograph bridges are pronounced while the steelwork, including the narrowest detent jumpers, represent a significant amount of black-polishing.

Again, get schooled in the article here, but for the way it was designed with a singleness of purpose in perfecting craft, the Reference 2941 stands alone.

Best Sports Chic Watch: Louis Vuitton Tambour

The real reason why this watch is the winner of our Best Sports Chic award is because it’s been made to be worn. Certainly, the Tambour has the power of the Louis Vuitton name behind it, but it stands on its own as a strong, contemporary and relevant take on an integrated bracelet watch, a category that is the epitome of sports chic in 2023.

The avant-garde shapes that defined the original Tambour case have been toned down, and in some ways, simplified, creating a smooth, clean and rounded case design with fulsome flanks, a dial that walks the right line between uncluttered and detailed. The bracelet seamlessly joins the case, with nary a lug to be seen.

Louis Vuitton’s own watchmaking history obviously looms large, but there’s also a late 90s/early 00s futurist aesthetic. This style has been updated for the present day.

Some of the bolder features softened and matured into a visual language that evokes — much like contemporary examples of other iconic sports chic watches — the time in which it was born, but in a manner that is relevant to a contemporary audience.

On top of this matured design, we get a new calibre, the Le Cercle de Horlogers Caliber LFT023, a 4Hz chronometre with a gold micro rotor, a movement which offers utility and style in equal measure.

Best Concept: Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Marble

Only such a stylish manufacture as Bulgari could have designed the Octo Finissimo. And only such an audacious manufacture as Bulgari could have come up with the idea to adorn this watch with marble.

Bulgari has created a watch that is one, a perfect representation of its modern identity; two, an effortless showcase of its watchmaking savoir-faire; three, an achievement at the highest level of luxury haute horlogerie; and four, a harmonious marriage of its Swiss-Italian heritage as well as its watch- and jewelry-making expertise.

Moreover, it’s not just any regular type of marble, but a specific variety known as Verdi di Alpi green marble, which is extracted from the province of Aosta in Northern Italy, a place that shares a border with Switzerland, making the Swiss-Italian connection all the more significant.

Covering every minuscule surface on the front of the watch with wafer-thin shards of this ravishing green stone along with nuances of its exquisite white veining, Bulgari shows off some truly incredible stone-cutting chops here, as you can see that all 110 of the Octo Finissimo’s complex case — both from and back — have been covered in marble, barring four holes permitting the black DLC titanium screws to peek through.

The bracelet as well is exceedingly well crafted. Each slice of marble would have had to be individually cut, shaped and polished to reveal exactly zero gaps in between. Indeed, the underlying material is DLC treated titanium, which is apt, as to have produced the entire watch out of marble while truly a mind-blowing thought would render it too heavy to be worn.

On the plus side, you can literally see how thin the marble plates are against the titanium, and how the two materials are so perfectly melded together that you wouldn’t suspect it was made of anything thing else. By coming up with such a concept and then bringing it to life with utmost finesse, Bulgari definitely deserves the Best Concept Prize in this year’s Revolution Awards.

Best Collaboration: H. Moser & Cie x MB&F Streamliner Pandamonium

No one can deny the might of independent watchmaking on the modern landscape, powered by creativity and exclusivity. H. Moser & MB&F are known for superior technical engineering and out-of-the-box thinking.

Friends, then CEOs of both brands, Edouard Meylan and Maximilian Büsser are well known industry figures due to their youthful spirited personalities and the desire to push the boundaries for something new.

Collaborating for a second time indicates that the first one was a great success, the limited editions series launched in 2020 were one of that year’s biggest hits. The industry was mesmerised by the beauty of those creations as it captured “best of both worlds”.

Everybody admires the H. Moser fumé dials no matter what the color is, and the way MB&F constructs their double balance-spring in it’s signature shape that set the bar for the semi-skeletonized modern face of watchmaking.

The H. Moser x MB&F Streamliner Pandamonium is a unique timepiece designed for Only Watch 2023. The steel case, which measures 42.3mm in diameter with 17mm height, gives room for MB&F’s three-dimensional hanging balance wheel on Moser’s aquamarine fumé dial with sunburst pattern; simplicity meets complexity.

The presence of a modern miniature panda DJ with all its charm and modern equipment-facing chimes and hammers of the classic minute repeater essential parts, bridges a gap between past and future. This creation keeps me always wondering, what is coming next?

Lifetime Achievement: F. P. Journe

François-Paul Journe once said to me, “If someone composes music, then he cannot ignore Mozart. He can’t ignore Beethoven. He can’t ignore the history of music. But every once in a while, there will be a rare genius like Stravinsky that arrives and changes everything.

In watchmaking, we haven’t witnessed the birth of a Stravinsky for 200 years. The last one was Abraham-Louis Breguet.” Yet despite what he has said, what is clear to me, and to the discerning collectors and journalists the world over, is that our era of contemporary horology has been defined by our own Stravinksy — a genius watchmaker, a man of profound brilliance and, though he often tries to hide it, of immeasurable compassion. And that is François- Paul Journe himself.

Journe’s palmary achievements are the stuff of legend: The first wristwatch tourbillon with remontoir d’egalité; the first wristwatch tourbillon with a dead seconds mechanism driven by a constant force device; the first wristwatch successfully implementing the phenomenon of resonance; an extraordinary chronometric automatic caliber integrating a vast variety of complications, including a chronograph in a mere one millimeter height of spare space; the world’s first grande et petite sonnerie incorporating safety systems, making it immune to bad owners and using an all-new pair of flat gongs mounted beneath the dial; the world’s thinnest minute repeater wristwatch (at the time) using the same single banana shaped gong; a chronograph with a 1/100th of a second hand capable of decoupling from the pinion driving it the moment the chronograph brake is activated; a chronometer with constant force mechanism and the Escapement Bi-axial Haute Performance (EBHP) inspired by Breguet’s natural escapement; the Astronomic, a watch displaying sidereal hours and minutes next to civil time, indicating sunrise and sunset, equation of time and driven by an annual calendar and a hidden tourbillon.

His game-changing quartz watch, the Élégante, or even his wildly expressionistic outlier, the Vagabondage, has advanced the story of watchmaking in a real way. The list is endless and each act alone should by right engrave his name forever into the canon of watchmaking’s greatest achievements.

Taken together, they form a tapestry of horological riches the likes of which the world had not seen for over 200 years — something that was made abundantly clear this year when Journe became the first living watchmaker to have a single thematic auction dedicated to him: Christie’s The Art of F.P. Journe. With the addition of Le Boîtiers and Le Cadraniers, he now has a fully verticalized company, along with the opening of Journe restaurant and his London boutique to complete his universe.

What I love best about François-Paul Journe is that he is not motivated by wealth of material possessions. He lives in a normal apartment in Geneva’s Old Town and, every day, he cooks and brings lunch to his mother who lives upstairs from him.

He is the same today as the young man that built a tourbillon with remontoir for the collector Dr. Eugen Gschwind so that he could do battle with George Daniels in a game of horological one-upmanship. He is the same today as the young man who after meeting Cecil “Sam” Clutton and feeling an electric bolt of inspiration at the sight of the two tourbillon watches the famous collector wore, set out to create his own tourbillon, armed with nothing more than the brilliance of his mind, the skill of his hands and a copy of George Daniels’ book.

Indeed, my only hesitation at bestowing him with Revolution’s 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award is that I know he has much more to achieve, including an escapement of his very own design so that he will join his mentor, the great British watchmaker George Daniels, as one of the very small handful of individuals who has accomplished this feat.

On Daniels’ birthday in 2010, celebrated with an homage dinner organized by Journe and his partners in London, William and John Asprey, Journe declared, “You have opened the main door of contemporary horology and showed us the path back to authentic watchmaking with innovation sense, in the respect of the grand horological tradition of our great watch masters. He opened the main door; I could only follow in opening others.”

On that night, Journe presented Daniels with a gift, a Chronomètre Souverain. As he passed him the watch, he said to Daniels, “Thank you, George, for being the best.”

Daniels said to Journe and all the other horological luminaries arrayed around them, “I’m not the best anymore, François-Paul. You are.” And when it comes to the world of independent watchmaking, this is the irrefutable truth. François-Paul Journe is our generation’s Abraham-Louis Breguet. He is, unequivocally, the best.

CEO of the Year: Antonio Calce, Greubel Forsey

Yes, Greubel Forsey watches were always some of the most impressive timepieces in the world from a technical perspective. Yes, the finishing was otherworldly and very likely the best in the world or, at least, among all watches made in series.

And, yes, the two co-founders of the brand, Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey, pursued the improvement of basic chronometry in some of the most daring and innovative ways conceivable, resulting in them even winning a tourbillon prize at the Concours International de Chronométrie in 2011. But before Antonio Calce joined the brand, the watches were also massive, heavy, unbalanced on the wrist and visually bombastic, lacking in any cohesive signature design language.

All of that changed when Calce took the helm in December 2020. What was once ponderous on the wrist became effortless to wear, thanks to a vast improvement made in the ergonomics of the watches. Calce rapidly diminished the sizes of the watches to much more wearable proportions. He focused on lightweight performance materials, such as titanium, ceramic and carbon fiber. He uncluttered and refocused the dials to create powerful identifiable visual richness to each timepiece. And he worked on the elliptical case with its parabolic shaped bezel to create a distinct visual identity.

Once he got the new Greubel Forsey on track, even while retaining and strengthening the brand’s core pillar of hand finishing, Calce pushed boldly forward with Greubel Forsey’s innovation side in a way that was far more ambitious than anyone else.

He even set himself the massive challenge of totally discontinuing all of its movements every five years, forcing himself to totally reinvent Greubel Forsey twice a decade. We knew he was good before he joined Greubel Forsey, but now we are unwavering in the fact that he is great as a leader.

He understands the type of watches the modern customer wants to wear, and he has transformed Greubel Forsey into exactly that type of brand while protecting its message of authenticity. On top of all that, he is always connected to the commercial perspective of the company. For these remarkable feats, he is Revolution’s CEO of the Year.

Revolutionary of the Year: Jean Arnault

To be honest, we tried to think of every reason not to give this award to Jean Arnault. Because I understood the potential backlash of someone who is only 24 years old, and who has entered the watch industry relatively recently, receiving accolades like “Person of the Year” even from a title as humble as ours.

However, try as we might, we couldn’t find any way to avoid that based purely on the merit of his multiple endeavors, each of which is worthy of making him a contender for the year’s top achievers. When taken collectively, the conclusion is irrefutable: Jean Arnault is our 2023 Person of the Year. Now let’s talk about why.

First up is his creation of one of the freshest, most dynamic, best designed, most ergonomic, and most original new integrated bracelet, sports chic watches on the market — the new Louis Vuitton Tambour, which is an undeniably great watch.

Don’t just take it from me. Mike Shanlikian, otherwise known as @shani.watch, is a legend in the collector community, a guiding light in independent watch culture, and the successful winner of the last F.P. Journe jade dial Tourbillon Souverain at Christie’s 2023 thematic auction, The Art of F.P. Journe.

The last time we met up, he was rocking a platinum Rexhep Rexhepi Chronomètre Contemporain I on one wrist and a gray dial Tambour on the other wrist. He explained, “The new Tambour is absolutely phenomenal.

“It’s completely original in that it’s the only integrated bracelet sports watch on the market that has no lugs and no bezel, yet it looks amazing on the wrist and feels even better.”

But the fact that Arnault’s new Tambour pays subtle homage to the very original 21-year-old icon wonderfully demonstrates his ability to pay tribute to Louis Vuitton’s past even while blazing a brave new path into the future. The significance of the Tambour is enhanced by the fact that Arnault has decided to simultaneously stop all quartz watches as he didn’t want a “disconnect” between Louis Vuitton’s positioning in other sectors versus its position in the watch sector.

But successfully reinventing the Tambour was just the first act in Arnault’s year. On top of that, he has now positioned Louis Vuitton as the successor to Harry Winston and its Opus watches, and as the champion of independent watchmaking — though in this case with Louis Vuitton, Arnault is giving the indies an even bigger stage, shining an ever more incandescent spotlight on them.

Louis Vuitton has embarked on a series of rockstar collaborations with indie brands, and kicking things off was the hottest young watchmaker on the planet, Rexhep Rexhepi. The resulting Tambour Tourbillon Chronograph à Sonnerie is one hell of a technical achievement.

But wait, that’s not all. Because Arnault has inaugurated the LV Watch Prize, and positioned Louis Vuitton as the champion of emerging independent watchmaking talent.

If you take all three of these acts together, it’s irrefutable that Arnault has, within the span of 12 months, completely changed the perception of Louis Vuitton into a highly watch-centric brand, and even one for serious connoisseurs. And that alone would have been worthy of the Person of the Year award.

But on top of this, Arnault also oversaw the relaunch of Daniel Roth with the re-creation of the watchmaker’s signature Tourbillon. He also relaunched Gérald Genta with a watch specially made for the Only Watch auction that featured jump hours, retrograde minutes and a minute repeater, offering a sneak peek at what is undoubtedly the horological finery to come.

Best Sports Watch: Tudor Black Bay 54

It has been more than a decade since the Tudor Black Bay was first introduced and during the time, it has seen numerous incarnations that have consistently positioned it as dive watch that is hard to beat within its price bracket. The Black Bay 54, however, is the purest incarnation to date.

While the design of the Black Bay wasn’t derived from any one reference but several references, the Black Bay 54 strongly recalls the original Tudor Submariner ref. 7922 launched in 1954. The ref. 7922 marked Tudor’s entry into dive watches and set the stage for subsequent developments, along with its ties to the French Navy, Marine Nationale (MN), the US Navy and other miliary organisations.

Tudor expert Ross Povey wrote a story about the genesis of the Black Bay 54 which you can read about here. Throughout its evolution, we’re now rewarded with its diameter of 37mm (and shared the exact same size as the 7922, along with other features), which begs the question: Are small dive watches the next big thing?

The bezel itself has also been subtly reworked from a serrated edge to a more refined coin edge that is faithful to the early Tudor Submariners. Appreciably, the watch’s depth rating is maintained at 200m even though the 7922 was water resistant to just 100 meters.

Within it is the in-house COSC-certified caliber MT5400, which represents one of the most advanced movements in its price range.

Best Reinvention: TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph “Glassbox”

Before we talk about why this year’s TAG Heuer Carrera Glassbox is the worthy winner of our Best Reinvention prize, we need to discuss the original watch it’s reinventing.

In 1963, Heuer unleashed the Carrera into the world. In the years then, the watch has become one of the great sports chronographs, built on the basis of legibility and performance.

Over time, the Carrera has become seamlessly integrated into the world of motorsports, worn by legendary racers and with a back catalogue full of cult classic references. The fact that the Carrera is such a staple in TAG Heuer’s collection makes the fact that the brand has taken its 60th anniversary to reinvent it so dramatically is truly something to applaud.

The New Carrera Glassbox, as it’s being called, has captured the heart of the Carrera — the clean lines, peerless legibility — and amplified them. The core collection model debuted in a fan-pleasing 39mm case, and the combination of highly domed ‘Glassbox’ sapphire crystal, with minimal bezel and edge-to-edge flow, offers a truly unimpeded view of the dial, with a chronograph scale on the outer flange that’s still exceptionally easy to read.

The watch is powered by the TH20-00, an evolution of the Heuer 02, and the most impressive commercial-scale automatic chronograph TAG Heuer has ever made. It looks good and works well. Combine that with the brand’s bravura attitude to sensitively reimagining the classic chronograph, and you have an achievement worth celebrating.

Best Men’s Watch: Chopard L.U.C 1860 Lucent Steel

Perfection doesn’t happen often. But somehow in 1997, the cosmic forces were in alignment when Karl-Friedrich Scheufele created the simply sublime Chopard 1860 to represent his first watch with an in-house movement.

And what a movement it was — a micro-rotor driven, bidirectional winding caliber, which was both COSC certified as a chronometer and the recipient of the Geneva Seal for its level of finishing. But the watch it was cased in was a masterpiece of restrained, harmonious Zen-like minimalistic design with just a soupçon of Latin exuberance expressed by its Metalem manufactured guilloché â main dial.

Amusingly, at 36.5mm in diameter, the watch now resonates with modern buyers more than ever as the younger generation has become enamored with classic sized timepieces, a by-product of their fascination with all things vintage. Accordingly, the Chopard 1860 feels more relevant today than ever.

Add to that the fact that this is the very first 1860 made in steel, and you’ve got something very special if you are lucky enough to strap one of these watches to your wrist. The material of the case is Lucent steel, which is 80 percent recycled and is a symbol of Chopard’s commitment to being a leader in ethics in the luxury world. This is a watch that is not only one of the most beautiful to behold, but also one that makes you feel better when you wear it.

Best Women’s Watch: Richard Mille RM 07-04 Automatic Sport

There aren’t many creators of technical watches that have managed to forge as strong a connection with the feminine audience as Richard Mille has. Indeed, in the vast realm of women’s watches, a staggering majority stays close to the conventional definition of femininity, featuring dainty cases with smooth soft curves, flowery accents, fashionable colors, the occasional métiers d’art touches, and of course diamonds all around.

Admittedly this is already a big improvement from the early 2000s when all brands did was to reinterpret an existing design in a smaller case, quartz movement, mother-of-pearl dial and diamond bezel. Oh and don’t forget a pink strap.

But beyond all of that, what Richard Mille has done in the women’s watch category is something else altogether and the RM 07-04 Automatic Sport is proof positive that the manufacture’s nonconformist approach to watchmaking applies to all its watches.

Cased in either Quartz TPT or Carbon TPT, the RM 07-04 is ultra-light yet ultra-strong, capable of withstanding shock or impact of up to 5,000gs. The CRMA8 caliber is the smallest automatic movement made by Richard Mille thus far, offering hours, minutes and its ever-present function selector.

Its openworked design is redolent of the classic Richard Mille aesthetic, as is the tonneau shaped case with exposed spline screws, rubber coated pushers and crown, along with fabric strap with Velcro fastener. In other words, it is a quintessential Richard Mille watch.

At the same time, its proportions are adapted to the feminine wrist and exuberant colors underscore its sporty spirit making it super fun to wear. It is a watch designed not just for women, but modern accomplished women who wield complete power over their lives.

That’s why go-getting modern power women such as racing drivers Aurora Straus and Margot Laffite, golfer Nelly Korda, athletes like Nafi Thiam, Yuliya Levchenko and Ester Ledecká, and of course the indefatigable Michelle Yeoh, all wear a Richard Mille — and that’s why we’ve chosen the RM 07-04 Automatic Sport as the 2023 Revolution Awards Best Women’s Watch of the year.

Best Jewelry Watch: Bulgari Monete Catene Dual Time

This year, for us, the Bulgari Monete Catene Dual Time High Jewelry Secret Watch stands out, and for multiple reasons. First of all, this is one of the few appearances of Bulgari’s Monete aesthetic in its timepieces.

Jewelry aficionados are well aware of how rare the Monete is, given the cultural significance of these authentic ancient coins. Bulgari has certainly introduced Monete watches before this one, such as in the Octo Roma with a coin cover and a skeletonized movement as well as a high jewelry secret pendant watch.

But with the Monete Catene Dual Time it features not one but two ancient coins. In addition, these coins evoke the reign of a fabled couple, that of Septimius Severus – emperor from 193 to 211 AD – and his empress, Julia Domna, who was venerated as a goddess. Like his and hers dials on a jewelry timepiece, if you will.

Next, while the coins are very much stars of the show here, and they sit on a fabulous diamond snow-set gold case, they only form the jewelry part of this two-part magnificent act. Open the lid and beneath the coins sit two dials operating independently of each other while providing two different time zones and here is where Bulgari’s immense journey as a watchmaker comes into the light.

Each dial is powered by the manufacture’s exclusive Piccolissimo caliber BVL 100, the smallest mechanical movement made in the 21st century, and definitely one of the smallest mechanical movements of all time.

Third, the watch is worn on an amazing six-chain catene cuff bracelet studded full of diamonds that’s designed to blow everybody else out of the water. Similar to the gourmette chain for French jewelry, the catene chain is practically synonymous with Italian jewelry design known for sumptuous volumes and expressive motifs.

The Bulgari Monete Catene Dual Time emphasizes its Bulgari’s Roman roots while remaining highly contemporary. And probably the only subtle feature here is the tri-colore aesthetic of white, rose and yellow gold — a nod to classics such as the Bulgari Tubogas, which is a reference only the truest of Bulgari aficionados will notice.

Best Grand Complication: Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Ultra Complication Universelle RD#4

Not only is the Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Ultra Complication Universelle (RD#4) one of the best-looking and most intuitive-to-read grand complications ever created, but it is also the very first watch of its kind to focus on the needs of the grand complication owner.

OK, picture this. Who’s going to buy this kind of watch? Someone for whom its 1.45 million Swiss franc price tag is not going to put much of a dent in his net worth.

Following that line of logic, I’m going to guess his net worth is somewhere around 1.45 billion. He probably drives a Bugatti to pick up groceries and a Koenigsegg to fetch his kid from school.

And one thing I can extrapolate about billionaires is that they are relatively time poor and easily bored. Ask yourself the following: Have you ever met billionaires that like to read instruction manuals? Nope, me neither.

With the Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Ultra Complication Universelle (named after AP’s most complicated pocket watch), once he straps it to his wrist, he never really needs to consult the manual.

Says Giulio Papi, AP’s technical guru, “The point is he can play with his watch and within a minute understand how to manipulate and set it correctly; it is that easy, intuitive and foolproof.” Add to that how good-looking the watch is.

Sure, when AP first launched the Code 11.59, it faced some controversy over the model’s look, which was due largely to the rather bland-looking dials for the time-only and chronograph watches. But since then, AP has put in a Herculean effort to improve the design of the dials and the overall watch, and this has paid off in full.

The new Code 11.59 watches with their stunning fumé and guilloché dials are genuinely great-looking. But it is this grand complication watch that is the masterpiece in the model range.

It also caters to its clients’ needs in another major way, in that it is the only grande sonnerie I can think off that can actually be worn on any occasion, including while playing recreational sports. At 42mm in diameter and 15mm in thickness, it is incredibly wearable and comfortable on the wrist.

Its technical palmarès include supersonnerie technology to ensure that it is one of the loudest and best-sounding striking watches on the planet, and its perpetual calendar needs an adjustment only once every 400 years.

Best Dive Watch: Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3

The historic moment represented by the incredible Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3 is massive. Because it represents the first time in the 70-year history of the model and 20-year history of the modern Fifty Fathoms that you have the meeting between two totally different eras of the iconic dive watch, and the result is spectacular.

What you need to understand about the contemporary Fifty Fathoms is that it was created by President and CEO Marc A. Hayek, specifically to suit his love for diving. In the context of 2003, it was the world’s most innovative dive watch, replete with a fully luminous bezel enshrouded by a cutting-edge sapphire crystal element.

This watch was spiritually connected to the original Fifty Fathoms, but in terms of design language, it was not directly connected to the original watch from 1953 and never intended to be. Sure, there were the occasional limited editions with the no-radiation symbol or the moisture indicator, but these were all placed within the modern watch’s platform.

All that changed this year with the launch of the sublime Act 3 in honor of the Fifty Fathoms’ 70th birthday celebrations.

For those of us that love the history of the Fifty Fathoms, the launch of Act 3 was a powerfully emotional moment. Here is a watch where two eras have collided wonderfully.

Because, for the first time, Hayek has used the exact design language of the very original watch — the thin, lithe faceted lugs, the oversized bezel and the domed sapphire — to create a faithful homage to the watch born 70 years ago. But even cooler than that, Hayek didn’t just create a tribute to a historical model.

He also decided to focus on the most sought after vintage Fifty Fathoms, the non-magnetic Mil-Spec, which is believed to have been made in 30 pieces of non-ferrous German silver to minimize the watch’s magnetic signature for the U.S. Navy. Because these watches would patina over time to a stunning bronze color, Blancpain decided to riff on that by using 9K bronze gold as its case material of choice.

The faithfulness of the tribute to its past, combined with the use of contemporary materials like bronze gold and ceramic for the bezel insert, has created a watch that is to me filled with wonderful historical significance even while being a thoroughly modern high performance machine, much like a Singer Porsche.

Best World Timer: Patek Philippe 5330G-010

In any discussion about world timers, the conversation is never over until Patek Philippe enters the chat. And this is not about who first invented the complication — everyone knows Louis Cottier did, and that Patek Philippe swiftly picked up on its innate brilliance in the early 1930s.

This is about how much the manufacture had done to grow and evolve the complication throughout all this time, creating ever more ingenious and elegant versions that it has now become practically synonymous with Patek Philippe. In fact, if you had the chance to look at all the Patek Philippe world timers ever made at a glance, what immediately becomes apparent is the gradual and steady transition of one generation to the next, with each new version bringing technological improvement to the series and contributing in some way, large or small, to advancing the collection as a whole.

Thus when Ref. 5330G-010 entered the fray, the entire Patek Philippe world timer collection took yet another big step forward as it incorporates for the first time a date display. Ordinarily, the addition of a date function isn’t something you’d write home about but this being Patek Philippe it is never done in a simplistic way.

Ref. 5330G-010 offers a patented date display synchronized with local time and hence adjusts automatically backwards and forwards as the wearer navigates the different time zones. Prior to this new model, synchronizing the world time with another function was achieved only in the Ref. 5531 world time minute repeater.

As always, Patek Philippe emphasizes real functional innovation, and so the date indicator made of glass — another first for the manufacture — obscures nothing as it traverses the dial. Patek Philippe called upon two existing patents to realize this feature, the first of which enables it to apply red lacquer onto glass, and the second involves a brazing technique allowing the manufacture to attach the pipe of the hour wheel to the glass hand.

And finally, that breath-taking plum purple dial? It’s just pure icing on the cake.

Best Astronomical Complication: Konstantin Chaykin Stargazer

While the Joker watch, known today as the “Wristmon”, marked his original claim to fame, Konstantin Chaykin has demonstrated a capacity for creating significantly more complex timepieces, as evidenced by his extraordinary astronomical clocks. He is a mathematical genius who has amassed a total of 94 patents under his name, most notably a method for determining the date of Orthodox Easter and the varying distance between the Earth and Mars throughout the year.

Now, both sides of his horological expertise have finally been reconciled in the Stargazer. Boasting a total of 16 complications including a tourbillon and 11 astronomical complications, the one-of-a-kind Stargazer is the most complicated wristwatch he has ever made.

But more than that, it is enormously appealing both aesthetically and intellectually as it serves as something of an encyclopedia of astronomical complications, divided between the front and back of the watch. Chaykin tells us that crafting a Wristmon complication watch poses greater challenges compared to designing a classical grand complication, primarily because the complications must harmoniously integrate with the watch face, unlike a classical piece where complications can be built freely to be displayed on the dial.

In addition to the hours, minutes and retrograde day-of-the-week indicator serving as the facial features of the wristmon, it displays the length of day and night of a specific location, sidereal time, Equation of Time, celestial chart and houses of the zodiac on the front.

And on the back, there is a tourbillon at six o’clock, a continuous moon phase, and notably a patent-pending discreet, moonphase indicator at 12 o’clock. Possibly the smallest moon phase indicator in the world, it depicts the eight phases of the moon, effectively distinguishing between full moon and new moon and switches between phases instantaneously.

Additionally, there is a solar activity display showing the number of observed sunspots on the Sun’s surface and most remarkably, for the first time in a wristwatch, the azimuth angle at sunset and sunrise for a fixed location, for which a patent has been filed. More complicated than the complexity these complications represent is the process of designing and integrating them to form the facial characteristics of the wristmon, making the Stargazer the most distinctive and captivating astronomical watch this year and in any given year.

Brand of the Year: Rolex

No matter if you love artisanal independent watchmaking, or you’re a fan of the loftiest high complications, you have to agree with the following irrefutable truth: The entire Swiss watch industry owes its existence to Rolex. Bold statement? Perhaps.

But one that rings with the clear and distinct peal of unwavering truth. Because without Rolex to connect the world’s population with a passion for luxury watches, there would be no Swiss watch industry at all.

Most certainly, there would not be the critical mass to make it an actual industry worth 25 billion Swiss francs each year. In 2023, Rolex demonstrates that not only is it the most important watch brand on the planet, but it is also the most brilliantly led.

First, there is the acquisition of Bucherer, the Lucerne-based retailer with shops in Europe and the United States that is estimated to represent six to nine percent of Rolex’s turnover in retail sales. Sure, on one level Rolex buying Bucherer would protect it from falling into the hands of venture capitalists or private equity firms, which have been expressing increasing interest in the watch sector.

Magnanimously, Rolex’s purchase gives this halcyon retailer an assurance of a proper and secure future. But on another level, Rolex’s first entry into retail also opens up so many new and exciting worlds for the mighty juggernaut.

For one, there is now the first proper interface with the end customer. Rolex will also use Bucherer as a platform to grow its own Certified Pre-Owned program to take greater control of its own secondary market, which, importantly, gives Rolex the ability to take control over its own full narrative. Because while Rolex makes the best and most desired watches on the planet, in the past few hype-driven years where Rolex watches became the object of vast speculation, there was one gap in Rolex’s narrative: Customers would walk into their AD’s only to be told there was nothing they could buy. But they would turn around and find every single new Rolex model available on secondary platforms. By entering into the retail space, Rolex is now also putting all other retailers on notice.

Second, Rolex has clearly articulated that while its roots are in sports and tool watches, it has evolved to become the most important brand in the pure luxury sector. A decade ago, Rolex occupied a special niche in between a high-end tool watch and a luxury timepiece. Without losing its core identity, Rolex has shifted away from the first category and decidedly into the second. Part of this has been manifested in an increased focus on precious metal and gem-set watches.

But to me the best articulation of this is the new Rolex Daytona, a watch of remarkable refinement expressed by sharper lines for the case, thinner, more elegant markers and, in the case of the platinum version, the Daytona’s very first sapphire caseback showcasing exemplary movement finish. Meanwhile, the Day-Date 36 “Jigsaw” transformed the renowned pragmatism of Rolex’s legendary Day-Date into a watch that is a shimmering beacon of optimism and joy articulated by emojis in place of the date, and words such as “Peace,”, “Love,” “Faith” and “Hope” — a watch that in the turbulent times today is incredibly poignant and relevant.

Third, not content to simply relinquish the luxury tool watch market, Rolex has perfectly transitioned its sister brand Tudor to occupy this niche. If you are looking for a high-end, extraordinarily well-executed, high performance watch using all of the contemporary materials of today, including steel, titanium, ceramic and carbon fiber, and presented with an unbeatable value proposition — a watch that you can actually dive, hike, surf and ride your bike with — you need look no further than Tudor.

For all these brilliantly interconnected achievements, for the creation of the world’s best sports watches, and for supporting the watch industry in a way no other brand can, Rolex is our 2023 Brand of the Year.

Watch of the Year: Rexhep Rexhepi Chronomètre Antimagnétique

Nine circles radiating outward like the perfectly symmetrical wave patterns caused by a stone creating ripples on the surface of a lake. That’s the secret to the way your eye is inexplicably drawn into the subtle tranquil vortex of perfect geometric harmony that is Rexhep Rexhepi’s masterpiece of design, the Chronomètre Antimagnétique.

These comprise the case profile, followed by the two steps of the bezel, then the opening of the bezel where it meets the crystal, then the two rings of the chemin de fer minute and seconds track, before arriving at the three sinuously interlocking circles that comprise the sector track — the dial’s central motif. Taken together, the result is one of the most mesmerizing achievements in modern watch design ever created.

Add to this the stainless steel body handmade by the Stradivarius of watch cases, Jean-Pierre Hagmann, and the dial rendered in grand feu enamel, and this timepiece only grows in its ethereal splendor. Further add to that the flat oversized crown and those lithe attenuated supermodel leg lugs, a double stepped removable back case that unlocks with the perfect audible click, as well as an all-new center seconds movement with zero-reset mechanism, and this watch has assured its own place in the halls of horology’s Valhalla.

Although there was some debate as to whether Only Watch timepieces should be considered for our best of 2023, in the end, it was a unanimous decision that they should because they represent the very best efforts of the brands and watchmakers that made them. And as it happens, I also know that Rexhepi is working on a series of these watches even as he contemplates discontinuing Akrivia.

As he puts it, “I don’t want to just repeat the same thing my whole life. I have so many ideas, and I want to keep evolving and hopefully improving my watchmaking.”

I know that many years from now, we will look back at Rexhepi’s extraordinary life and consider this antimagnetic watch one of his greatest achievements. In the end, when we applied the criterion of “if you could have just one watch made in 2023…” to all our finalists, it was Rexhepi’s timepiece that unanimously stole our hearts and won.

Reference

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FROM THE SHOP

Unimatic

Limited Edition

Unimatic x Revolution U1 Milsub "Blue"

$1,220.00

TECH SPECS

Movement	Self-winding caliber SW200-1b; 41-hour power reserve
Functions	Hours, minutes and seconds
Case	41.5mm; 316 steel with Cerulean blue stonewashed Cerakote coating, matte vintage navy aluminium bezel insert; water resistant to 300m
Dial	Matte vintage navy; hour markers outlined in Super-LumiNova
Strap	Vintage navy TPU-coated nylon; additional vintage navy nylon with fabric keepers
Limited Edition	Limited Edition of 200 pieces

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Introducing the Ulysse Nardin Diver Starry Night and Marine Torpilleur

Rob Nudds — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 09:03:29 +0000

Introducing the Ulysse Nardin Diver Starry Night and Marine Torpilleur

Thanks to its early marine chronometers, Ulysse Nardin is often associated with the ocean. These watches pay homage to this with dials that evoke the heavens that once guided intrepid seafarers to port.

News

By Rob Nudds

Oct 26, 2023

It is rare for a brand to be so many things at once. Ulysse Nardin is simultaneously a staunchly traditional and avant-garde brand. It is known for two separate wings of its history. On the one hand, it is an esteemed producer of marine chronometers. Its timepieces were renowned for shepherding bold sailors from harbor to home and back again. Few names in our industry illicit the same level of respect in this field as UN, and yet, in modern times, it is for something quite wild (one might go as far as to say freakish) and far from the high seas for which the brand is best known.

While the brand’s early chronometers were concerned with the survival of the mariners who relied upon them, the release of the Ulysse Nardin Freak platform in the early 2000s busied itself with the survival of the industry.

Setting the stage

At that time, at the turn of the century, watchmaking was at an inflection point. The mechanical craft had risen from the grave, buoyed by a complete reevaluation of what a watch was and why one should be worn. Watches were suddenly collectible. The industry was thriving but seemed perplexed by its own existence. How long could this continue? For how much longer could these old brands keep on making old watches and hope to survive? Somebody needed to do something. Something needed to change. Somehow, the industry needed to reinvent itself once more.

Just twenty years after it looked like the quartz crisis had put the final nail in the coffin of traditional watchmaking only for it to be saved by a quartz-regulated phenomenon (Swatch), traditional watchmaking was once again rescued by an unlikely hero — a legacy watchmaking brand that abruptly decided to focus on thoroughly non-traditional watchmaking.

The Freak was born. The gloves came off. Modern watchmaking became an exciting place to be because, at long last, it was finally modern. Ulysse Nardin continued to develop and diversify its Freak line but, despite always being revered and even beloved, the brand did not perhaps receive its due.

A shifting wind

Finally, that is changing. Under the watchful eye of Jean-Christoph Sabatier, Chief Product Officer of Ulysse Nardin for the past seven (almost eight) years, the brand has firmly found its feet in this era. The catalog is sorted into distinct collections: the Freak, the Blast, the Classico, the Marine, and the Diver. There is something for everyone in the current lineup. The Freak, the Blast, and the Classico represent the more experimental lines of the brand, while the heritage of UN is perpetuated by the Marine family and the adventurous, hands-on spirit is exemplified by the Diver models.

Ulysse Nardin Diver Starry Night

Ulysse Nardin Marine Torpilleur Moonphase Aventurine

Today, we’re treated to new additions for the Marine and Diver lines. In an unexpected twist, aventurine has been used for both dial displays. Initially, it perhaps feels more at home on the Marine (a dressier, more traditionally styled watch to begin with), but, for me, as an avid fan of the Ulysse Nardin Diver collection, seeing one of my favorite dial materials deployed on one of my favorite dive watch platforms is both exhilarating and bizarre. Does it make sense from a practical perspective? Maybe just about as much as the forty diamonds studding the uni-directional bezel do, but the aim of this piece is clear from the get-go: this is a testament to the brand’s abilities, not a dive watch intended to be used at the maximum depths its robust construction can endure.

IMHO

It’s a funny thing to countenance as a designer. To look at a watch and know that by all teachable metrics, the piece in question should not work, only to find yourself admitting (even if a small amount of duress is required to elicit such an admission) that it’s so beautiful you just don’t care.

That’s where I am with the Diver Starry Night. It is not a tool watch. Or, rather, it was a tool watch, but since the aventurine dial and diamonds crashed the party, it ceased to be. What it is, is something other. It is a celebration. It’s arguably the most dinner-ready desk diver in the history of watchmaking. This watch knows it isn’t seeing a drop of the drink, and it’s fine with it. Perhaps it could bring itself to make it as far as the beach, but actually SCUBA diving? I doubt it.

Ulysse Nardin Diver Starry Night

However, despite its thematically incongruous design, it succeeds in dressing the Diver in its finest frock yet. Consequently, it may be one of the better watches intended for women on the market today.

I don’t want to speak for female watch fans, but it is pleasing to see a watch concept that was previously targeted at men, treated so sympathetically. It is smaller than the standard model, but not by much. The Diver Starry Night measures 39 mm in diameter versus the 42 mm of the standard line. So too is the automatic caliber retained. Yes, there are diamonds on the bezel, but they don’t feel as condescending as they would on a miniaturized quartz-regulated version of the same watch. And perhaps the addition of aventurine, a material that manages to straddle the gender divide, almost softens the diamonds’ presence. It feels more thought-out, more considered, more serious a watch than many targeted at women (even today).

But what is aventurine? Well, truth be told, it can be one of two things. There is a stone called aventurine that is also used in watchmaking on occasion (it has a very similar appearance), but more common is aventurine glass (or “avventurina”, which literally means “accident” in Italian). That’s what we see here on both the Diver and Marine Torpilleur models.

Ulysse Nardin Marine Torpilleur Moonphase Aventurine

The story goes that sometime during the eighteenth century on the island of Murano in Venice (famous for its fineglassware), a glass-maker accidentally knocked a pot of copper filings into a cauldron of molten glass. The resulting material with its metallic inclusions became highly desirable. The goal, of course, is to create aventurine glass with a uniform distribution of metallic flecks and free from any bubbles or impurities. Achieving that is not easy. The results, however, as we can see with these two stand-out pieces, make the effort worthwhile.

There is something even more special about the Diver model’s dial, however. Amazingly, a thin layer of aventurine glass has been placed over a thin layer of Mother of Pearl, which has created this swirling, cloud-like, nebula-esque effect on the dial. It is, in a word, stunning.

For the Marine Torpilleur, the aventurine dial is a departure from the norm. This exclusive 300-piece limited edition is presented in a 42 mm stainless steel case and boasts a double-counter display with the moon phase and small seconds indication at 6 o’clock and the watch’s 60-hour power reserve (thanks to the in-house UN-119) displayed at 12.

Ulysse Nardin Marine Torpilleur Moonphase Aventurine

It is truly a fusion of the brand’s heritage and its hopes for the future. The styling recalls the classic marine chronometers, the dial extols the brand’s investment in keeping artisanal crafts alive, and the movement, with its ultramodern escapement (comprising a silicon balance spring as well as a DIAMonSIL escapement wheel and anchor), is a glowing advocate for innovation.

In my humble opinion, Ulysse Nardin is heading in the right direction, and I for one couldn’t be happier that one of the most storied brands of our craft has such a rosy road ahead of it.

Tech Specs

Ulysse Nardin Diver Starry Night

Reference: 8163-182B1-3A/3A (rubber strap), 8163-182B1-3A/1A (alligator strap)
Movement: Automatic caliber UN-816
Functions: Time and date
Case: 39 mm wide stainless steel case set with 40 diamonds (0.8 carats), water-resistant to 300 m
Dial: Aventurine
Strap: Blue structured rubber strap or white alligator leather strap, with stainless steel tang buckle
Price: USD 14,700 excluding taxes

Ulysse Nardin Marine Torpilleur Moonphase Aventurine

Reference: 193-310LE-3A-AVE/1A
Movement: Automatic UN-119 Manufacture caliber with DIAMonSIL escapement wheel and anchor
Functions: Moonphase. Hours, minutes, small seconds.
Case: 42 mm wide stainless steel case, water-resistant to 50M
Dial: Aventurine with double counter: power reserve indicator at 12 o’clock, small seconds and moon phase disc at 6 o’clock
Strap: Blue alligator strap, leather strap
Price and availability: Limited to 300 pieces, USD 13,600 excluding taxes

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Unimatic

Limited Edition

Unimatic x Revolution U1 Milsub "Blue"

$1,220.00

TECH SPECS

Movement	Self-winding caliber SW200-1b; 41-hour power reserve
Functions	Hours, minutes and seconds
Case	41.5mm; 316 steel with Cerulean blue stonewashed Cerakote coating, matte vintage navy aluminium bezel insert; water resistant to 300m
Dial	Matte vintage navy; hour markers outlined in Super-LumiNova
Strap	Vintage navy TPU-coated nylon; additional vintage navy nylon with fabric keepers
Limited Edition	Limited Edition of 200 pieces

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