Time machines
Among her often ambiguous and radical quotes, Coco Chanel has also said that luxury is not the opposite of poverty, it is the opposite of vulgarity. And in these economically ambiguous times, it is perhaps an apt statement to make concerning the market for luxury goods. Right now, to be vulgarly flashy and profligate just seems wrong—think about how the world reacted when they found out AIG execs threw a $400,000 party after they were handed a massive bailout. There is luxury in restraint and minimalism. This Chanel quote is one that Hannes Pantli likes to use as a spokesman and member of the board of directors of IWC, one of the eight luxury watch companies to launch their boutiques at the new Greenbelt 5 timepiece hub called Treasures. Unless you’re wearing some huge blingy clock around your neck a la Flava Flav, watches of this calibre of craftsmanship can never be vulgar. IWC in particular is an insider’s watch, not one that is widely known or knocked off. “We have more understated, puristic and classical designs,” Pantli says. “The value of our watches is in the inside, not the outside.”
The 140-year-old Swiss brand actually has American roots. IWC in fact stands for the prosaic and rather prolish International Watch Company, named simply because the American founder originally produced the timepieces in Switzerland but marketed them in the United States. The watchmaker is one of the few based in the German-speaking part of the country, away from the watch-making center.
According to Pantli and company lore, the big watch trend was popularized by IWC. “Our importers from Portugal asked us to make a wristwatch with the accuracy of a marine chronometer,” Pantli recounts. “So we took a pocket watch movement and created the ‘Portuguese’ in 1939.” In the ’70s, Pantli tried to relaunch this style, but failed. He tried again in the ’80s, but it didn’t catch on. People thought nobody would ever wear a watch that big. In the ’90s, however, it hit the nail on the head. “We wanted something different for the 125th anniversary in 1993. Nobody knows why, but it was an instant success.”
Well, cellular phones were starting to become ubiquitous during that decade, maybe watch aficionados wanted to make a “bigger than yours” statement. In any case, the luxury watch industry has long shackled off any concerns that the digital revolution would eat into their market share, and are only mildly concerned about the current gloomy economic outlook. “Everyone will feel it in some way,” Pantli says. “Old money will not be so much affected, but all the young bankers who’d get their bonuses at the end of the year and spend $10,000 on a watch, we might be missing this type of clientele in the next two years.” And unlike other luxury brands like, say, Chanel, Pantli adds that they’re not a “fashion brand, where one year you’re in and the next you’re out. We have a very sound base.”
It’s Complicated
A few doors away waits the gleaming new store of Jaeger-Le Coultre, pronounced “Yayger Le Coult,” or “Zhezhay Le Coult,” depending which side of Switzerland you’re in. I may not know much about horology and I find any function beyond the three time-telling hands to be excessive, but JLC makes some undeniably handsome timepieces. All their movements are manufactured in-house, from the design to the mechanics. “This is a key point in our identity,” explains Daniel Rogger, Asia Pacific managing director. “It ensures that each watch has a very unique identity. The watchmakers hang out on the roof and talk to each other. This would not be the case if subcontractors were used.” Indeed, over its 175-year history, JLC has developed more than 1,000 movements and has over 300 patents to its name.
Still, I had to ask: What’s a complication?
A complication is any feature beyond the three time-telling hands, but to be classified as a grande complication, a watch must at least have a perpetual calendar, a flyback chronograph, a minute repeater, and be able to serve you breakfast in bed. “It’s a beauty to look at the movements, with its many parts. The result is quite stunning,” enthuses Rogger about the Master Minute Repeater, one of their particularly complex pieces. “It chimes. Two hundred fifty years ago, people still had pocket watches but couldn’t read their watches in the dark. A genius had the idea of putting in some gong and hammers, to chime out like a clock tower.” The Master Minute Repeater is like a “mini Big Ben” and thus extremely difficult to produce. Hence, its limited quantities and $200,000 price tag.
JLC’s very popular line Reverso stands out for its rectangular, Art Deco look and its reversible, two-faced design. Originally created for polo players so they could flip over the case to prevent it from being smashed during games, the Reverso has evolved into day-to-night pieces with a flashy side and a subdued side, which gives new meaning to the phrase “double time.”
And as for the rise or decline of interest in expensive, specialty mechanical watches, Rogger says that they are actually gaining in popularity. “For men, it’s usually the only piece of jewelry he has. Maybe a nice pair of glasses. But with the watch, he can express his personality.”
