Annus Sensibilitus
In other words, this seems to be the year of sensible horology. This issue of Indulge will focus on the launches and releases at the SIHH watch fair in Geneva that took place in January. However, at the time of going to press, the editor of your favourite monthly luxury lifestyle magazine has already spent a gruelling week at BaselWorld. That is the other major, and much more inclusive, global watch fair, which took place in Basel earlier this month.
The highlights of BaselWorld will have to wait for another issue. But I see no harm in sharing here my learning from both fairs.
By all metrics, the Swiss watch industry did roaring business last year. Latest data indicate that the industry saw growth in all continents except Africa. Overall watchmakers seem content. Why, in that case, does everything seem subdued? Why have most brands launched collections that seem so risk averse? (Many purists, who hate blasé novelties, are over the moon though. This writer is not one of them.)
This
is not to say that Geneva or Basel were bereft of superb watches. This
year, too, picking and choosing our Best of SIHH double-spread was a
huge challenge. We were spoilt for choice. Indeed, brands seem to have
many more new references this year around. But are brands prepared to
rock the boat? No. Instead they are reinforcing it. As the head of India
operations of one major brand told me, “This year there aren’t that
many launches that will make you go ‘wow’. But there are plenty that
will make you open your wallet.”He makes a splendid point. Nothing makes one as wary of a boom quite like a bust. And the watch brands are wary.
Will the American recovery last? Will Europe go bust? What if China’s soft landing turns hard? And who, in the history of the species, has been able to read the Middle East with any accuracy?
All this speculation and uncertainty have left us with a series of watch collections that doesn’t have its head in the skies, but has its feet solidly on the ground. These are the watches you will wear and wear. For watch connoisseurs, it is a splendid year to refresh their collection with some reliable pillars.
Yet, there is a part of me that misses the brash showmanship of the boom years. Let us hope that 2012 will be an economically sound one. Maybe another year of record sales will get the Swiss dancing and yodelling again. Or whatever it is the Swiss do when they are excite
In other words, this seems to be the year of sensible horology. This issue of Indulge will focus on the launches and releases at the SIHH watch fair in Geneva that took place in January. However, at the time of going to press, the editor of your favourite monthly luxury lifestyle magazine has already spent a gruelling week at BaselWorld. That is the other major, and much more inclusive, global watch fair, which took place in Basel earlier this month.
The highlights of BaselWorld will have to wait for another issue. But I see no harm in sharing here my learning from both fairs.
By all metrics, the Swiss watch industry did roaring business last year. Latest data indicate that the industry saw growth in all continents except Africa. Overall watchmakers seem content. Why, in that case, does everything seem subdued? Why have most brands launched collections that seem so risk averse? (Many purists, who hate blasé novelties, are over the moon though. This writer is not one of them.)
The Plaget Altiplano Skeleton.
Will the American recovery last? Will Europe go bust? What if China’s soft landing turns hard? And who, in the history of the species, has been able to read the Middle East with any accuracy?
All this speculation and uncertainty have left us with a series of watch collections that doesn’t have its head in the skies, but has its feet solidly on the ground. These are the watches you will wear and wear. For watch connoisseurs, it is a splendid year to refresh their collection with some reliable pillars.
Yet, there is a part of me that misses the brash showmanship of the boom years. Let us hope that 2012 will be an economically sound one. Maybe another year of record sales will get the Swiss dancing and yodelling again. Or whatever it is the Swiss do when they are excite
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