Traditionally, luxury was defined by scarcity and artisanal quality, which made these items aspirational and symbols of discernment. Yet, as Grangié told Swiss daily Le Temps, “customers are tired of being bludgeoned by luxury” that is exceedingly commercialised and over-priced to stimulate growth. This only ends up diluting the appeal of many exclusive brands, especially in an industry that appears progressively clichéd.
The current environment will hopefully encourage more brands across sectors to return to the roots of luxury by focusing on novelty, craftsmanship, quality, and rarity over mass appeal. In this regard, the luxury industry can learn a lot from the strategies of privately held firms such as Chanel and top performer Hermès, which take a longer term view of the market.
The luxury watch segment is also about ingenuity and maintaining a sense of awe and wonder as essential, emotive ingredients for exceptional novelties that capture our imagination. Thankfully, there is a growing number of adventurous innovators who are still bold enough to break convention, keep my attention, and lure me back to fairs such Watches & Wonders in Geneva each year.
Watch Trends
When the exceptional is the rule
One way to overcome the luxury slump is to refocus on novelty, rarity, and quality
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As the market recalibrates and consumer values shift toward transparency, genuine craftsmanship, and exclusivity, financial media coverage of the “luxury slump” reveals less-than-favourable results across the luxury sector, affected predominantly by weaker demand from China owing to a slowdown in its economy. Following solid post-pandemic recovery, Swiss luxury-watch exports dipped by a significant 12.4% in September 2024, with China and Hong Kong accounting for two-thirds of the decline, according to reports by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS.swiss).
Swiss watches comprise only 2% of global production, but Switzerland is the biggest exporter of watches by value, with over 50% of the global industry, according to FHS.swiss. While the industry is relatively adept at navigating global macroeconomic crises, according to the president of Chanel’s watches and jewellery division, Frédéric Grangié, there is an even more significant risk from “oversaturation” and customers with “luxury fatigue”.
I think we may also be experiencing “celebrity fatigue”, and brands would do well to observe how Hermès is “thriving” in luxury’s pole position without social-media campaigns or celebrity endorsements.
The fine art of a luxury craft
Traditionally, luxury was defined by scarcity and artisanal quality, which made these items aspirational and symbols of discernment. Yet, as Grangié told Swiss daily Le Temps, “customers are tired of being bludgeoned by luxury” that is exceedingly commercialised and over-priced to stimulate growth. This only ends up diluting the appeal of many exclusive brands, especially in an industry that appears progressively clichéd.
The current environment will hopefully encourage more brands across sectors to return to the roots of luxury by focusing on novelty, craftsmanship, quality, and rarity over mass appeal. In this regard, the luxury industry can learn a lot from the strategies of privately held firms such as Chanel and top performer Hermès, which take a longer term view of the market.
The luxury watch segment is also about ingenuity and maintaining a sense of awe and wonder as essential, emotive ingredients for exceptional novelties that capture our imagination. Thankfully, there is a growing number of adventurous innovators who are still bold enough to break convention, keep my attention, and lure me back to fairs such Watches & Wonders in Geneva each year.
Life’s “luxuries” differ for everyone: I might luxuriate in the dappled light and birdsong on a long forest walk while someone else savours a simple meal, their first in days. Of course, price, privilege, quality, and creativity are factors when we speak of the luxury fashion and accessories industry yet, whether experiential or material, all forms of luxury are about pleasure and the exceptional.
Exceptional stands out as extraordinary but doesn’t necessarily have to be outlandish. Think of the pleasure found in the exquisitely handcrafted dials, cases, and movements demonstrating the creative restraint of the Grand Seiko takumi (skilled artisans), most often inspired by nature and the interplay of light and shadow. Parmigiani Fleurier is a master of simplicity in design. The Toric collection is about “sartorial informality” — refinement and non-contentious design featuring subtle colours and a contemporary take on vintage aesthetics and finishes.
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
The Toric Chronograph Rattrapante features an exquisitely crafted rose-gold movement in an elegant case design with discreet pushers. Informed by Doric columns and the geometry of the torus, the Toric was Parmigiani Fleurier’s first design when founded in 1996. Before Antoni Patek and Adrien Philippe established Patek Philippe in 1839, Polish watchmaker François Czapek and Patek produced some fine pieces at their company Patek, Czapek & Cie. Czapek & Cie moved on after six years to become watchmaker to the court of Napoleon III. Relaunched by an independent group in 2012, the brand continues Czapek’s legacy by merging offbeat ideas with attention to the quality and finesse of its timepieces.
The focus has been on the heartbeat and soul of watchmaking, with high-precision chronographs and especially calendar complications highlighting humanity’s obsession with measurement, exploration, and our place in the cosmos.
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
A high-complication perpetual calendar accurately accounts for varying month lengths, adding a leap day every fourth year and often synchronising this with a moon phase display. The phenomenal IWC Eternal Calendar sets this in motion for “eternity”, with a moon-phase display so precise it deviates by only one day in 45 million years. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s new Duometre Heliotourbillon Perpetual highlights the manufacture’s expertise in tourbillons and the finest watchmaking. The “watchmaker of watchmakers” combines the exceptional accuracy of its Duometre system with a three-axis tourbillon and a grand-date perpetual calendar in a highly sophisticated package. As part of the 25th-anniversary celebrations of the Datograph, A. Lange & Söhne presented limited editions of its trailblazing chronograph with the characteristic Lange outsize date display, flyback chronograph with jumping minutes, perpetual calendar, moon phase, and tourbillon with stop-seconds function.
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The Datograph Handwerkskunst is the latest edition and features a black-rhodium dial with ornate tremblage engraving which, despite the name of this technique, requires the steadiest of hands to achieve such artisanal perfection. Flexing its new haute muscle, TAG Heuer’s titanium Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph features an open-works dial and big-screen sapphire case back in a splendid contemporary design update of the original icon. Piaget celebrates its 150th anniversary with the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon, which, at 8mm, is the world’s thinnest tourbillon.
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No matter how synchronised our watches or phones, we all experience the passing of time differently. The exquisite pieces by fine jewellery and watch maison Van Cleef & Arpels evoke wild clocks and an altered perception of time. Beautiful yet unattainable for most of us, the Lady Arpels Brise d’Été is poetry in motion as swaying flowers and floating butterflies highlight the talented métiers d’art and ingenuity of its haute horlogerie team. In the same playful manner, the Cartier Libre Polymorph “panther claw” jewellery timepiece is pure joy, and I wish everyone could have one attached to their lapel.
Trilobe also presents the reading time differently through rotating discs, and its Les Matinaux L’Heure Exquise features the young brand’s fi rst moon-phase complication which, in the “Secret” model, comes to life under a moving starry sky.
If we are to concern ourselves with emerging trends, then the Kingsand Gold dial of Arnold & Son’s modern, sports chic Longitude Titanium is in good company this year. I suspect that sandy-coloured dials are inspired by the movie Dune: Part Two, but the sands of time may also be prompting us to slow down while considering the origins and importance of timekeeping beyond mere workforce efficiency.
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The new H. Moser & Cie Streamliner Perpetual Calendar Concept Salmon is the most discreet calendar display on the market, with a limited edition until the end of 2024. It’s devoid of the usual sub-dial clutter, with a small central red hand pointing to the passing months while a window at 4 o’clock reveals the date. As a designer, I’m always drawn to brave independents, particularly for their technical and material innovation. HYT watches were among the early disrupters of the primarily conservative Swiss watch industry, featuring an innovative “fluid module” inspired by ancient water clocks. First revealed in 2012, the H1 Titanium Black DLC combined fine watchmaking and fluid mechanics.
The new T1 Series 5N novelties are its first timepieces to feature “conventional” dials, hiding their unique hybrid systems behind radiant sun-brushed discs. At ArtyA, nano technology is used in the sapphire case of the Curvy Purity Tourbillon NanoSaphir Chameleon, which changes from purple to blue when exposed to different lighting conditions. The kinetic sculptures of MB&F (Maximilian Büsser and Friends) are rule breaking toys for grownups, conceived in collaboration with the industry’s top talent. Previous Horological Machines (HM) have been inspired by science fi ction, planes, and sportscars, while the new HM11 looks to 1960s postmodern architecture.
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It features a central 60-second flying tourbillon that transmits information via gears to four “rooms”, the first three displaying time, power reserve, and temperature, while the fourth houses a sapphire-crystal crown.
It’s a little disconcerting that there has been more talk about Patek Philippe’s new rounded-square sports timepieces than of the kind of innovation mentioned above. However, love it or hate it, the Nautilusinspired Cubitus is an essential new collection for Patek —its first in 25 years.
Elbowing my way into the passionate debate, I particularly love the Cubitus because its shape reminds me of my first watch, a steel Casio with an integrated bracelet — a luxury for teenage me back in the 1980s.
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From the 2024 / 25 edition of Wanted Watches, Jewellery and Luxury.