December
2005
There
are 301 parts in the mechanical movement of a Greubel Forsey Double
Tourbillon 30 Degree watch, and most of them get seven
or eight hours of hand finishing in the watchmaker's shop in La
Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. No wonder only about two dozen of
the watches are made annually, priced at a minimum of 380,000
Swiss francs, or about $290,000, each.
Greubel
Forsey, which showed the watch for the first time at a fair in
Basel last year, is at the forefront of a trend toward ever greater
mechanical sophistication - and ever higher prices - in the Swiss
watch industry.
Watchmakers'
desire to stand out through innovation, and wealthy consumers'
desire to possess unique and expensive watches, is adding
new impetus to a renaissance in Swiss watchmaking and pushing
the industry ever further up the chain of high-end luxury.
The
Swiss industry is thriving despite (or perhaps because of) the
fact that quartz timekeeping rendered the mechanical wristwatch
technologically obsolete a few decades ago. At the same time,
it has managed to deal with the incursion of mainstream fashion
brands onto its traditional turf.
"Even
if people say the market is overcrowded, there is still room for
innovation, new technologies, new designs," said Maurice
Altermatt, head of the economic division at the Federation of
the Swiss Watch Industry.
This
year has been a very good year for Swiss watchmakers. In the first
10 months of the year, they exported 9.8 billion francs worth
of watches, movements and other parts, up 10.2 percent
from a year earlier, according to the federation. Companies like
Richemont, Swatch
and LVMH, which own many of the leading watch brands, have
reported strong financial results, helped by growth in sales of
high-end watches.
A
relatively strong global economy and the prospect of sizable bonuses
in the financial services industry suggest that the good times
can continue for a while longer, analysts say.
Yet
while the value of Swiss exports continues to rise, the number
of watches sold is actually declining. In the first three
quarters of the year, 17.2 million watches were exported,
down 690,000 from a year earlier. That means consumers are buying
fewer but higher priced watches as Swiss timepieces complete
their transition from utility to luxury.
Watchmakers
are rushing to accommodate, bringing out increasingly expensive
limited edition watches and trumpeting technological advances.
The $5 quartz watches made
in China may keep better time, but the cachet of a high-end mechanical
Swiss watch seems intact.
TAG
Heuer, owned by LVMH and known in the past primarily for
medium-priced sports
watches, plans next year to introduce a version of its
V4 concept watch, a new design that uses rubber belts instead
of metal wheels and pinions to drive the movement. It resembles
the workings of an automotive engine, reinforcing the brand's
longtime association with car racing. And it is intended to give
enthusiasts a reason to splash out on a watch that trade
publications estimate will be priced at more than $10,000, several
times the price of most current TAG Heuer models.
Other
watchmakers also see the road to success as climbing toward higher
price levels. Raymond
Weil, for instance, an independent business that long resided
in the middle of the market, has been moving toward the luxury
end in an effort to stand out.
There
is luxury, and then there is over-the-top exclusivity. The likes
of Greubel Forsey appeal to a very small niche of buyers who have
the financial wherewithal and technical knowledge to seek out
a wristwatch that stands out more for its inner sophistication
than any outer flashiness.
The
Greubel Forsey watch includes a new type of tourbillon, one of
the most prized features of high-end mechanical watches.
The tourbillon, invented two centuries ago by Abraham-Louis Breguet,
is a cage-like housing for the parts of a mechanical watch
that actually keep the time. It is intended to counter the effects
of gravity, though its inclusion in a watch can have the opposite
effect on the price.
The
original tourbillon, however, was designed for pocket
watches, which tend to stay in more or less the same position.
Because a wristwatch moves around more, it presents other
problems, and that is what Greubel Forsey address with the double
tourbillon, essentially a tourbillon within a tourbillon.
"Some
people say there are no new things to explore, that there is nothing
new in watchmaking," said Stephen Forsey, who founded the
company about five years ago with a partner, Robert Greubel. "I
think we can show with the 30 Degree Double Tourbillon that that
is not true."
While
innovation may be part of the appeal, the watch is also
intended to capitalize on a revival in low-tech, analog chic in
an era of digital blandness. A mechanical watch, he said, can
provide a level or reliability that cars and computers cannot
touch.
To
be sure, there is also an element of one-upmanship in the watchmaking
world, with innovations concocted in great secrecy and sprung
upon the world at watchmaking fairs. This year, at the Baselworld
show, Greubel Forsey showed off its next generation of technology:
a "quadruple differential tourbillon," with two separate
double tourbillons. The two separate sets of tourbillons are intended
to balance each other out, producing a more accurate time.
