BackSIHH 2013 | The Salon Reviewed
While business has begun to recover for most watch brands, confidence is still far from where it was before the economic crisis
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There is a certain routine that all visitors to the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) go through each year (or at least most of the journalists do). After the first day’s worth of meetings and interviews and product presentations, everyone sits down and tries to draw conclusions about the “spirit" of the fair.
Is it positive? It is negative? Is it more exciting than last year? Are we back to the great highs of five or six years ago when expensive watches were selling like iPods? And, most importantly, how many visitors are there? More? Less?
Walk around the fair on the first evening and you’ll see hundreds of little huddles embroiled in the exact same conversations. Albeit with different tones. Some shrug and lament the lower crowds. Others screech with excitement: the turnaround has begun! Watches will boom again! China will save us!
This year, too, the fair began with such speculation. But unlike before, this speculation was much less polarized. The initial sentiments, it appeared, was more universal. SIHH 2013 will not be remembered for its sexy, blockbuster, ground-breaking, headline-grabbing timepieces. It will not be remembered as the fair that sizzled.
Instead, it will be remembered as the fair that simmered. Unless this correspondent’s ability to read between the “public relations lines" has vanished completely, this year’s SIHH is reflective of a Swiss luxury watch industry that has finally completed adapting to a new world economic order.
Brands across the board have almost completely liberated their watch portfolios from the tyranny of bling, baguette and badass. Instead, they are now making watches that sensible people want to own. They are making simpler, more sober, balanced timepieces exquisitely designed and wonderfully crafted.
Sounds boring? On the contrary. Thank god the industry has finally reached this point after years of tasteless meandering.
As we have written several times in these pages before, there has never been a better time to acquire a simple, three-hand Swiss watch. This watch, the distilled essence of watchmaking, is seeing a welcome revival. Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, Officine Panerai and Baume & Mercier all have simple, uncomplicated yet astonishingly handsome timepieces that tell the time and do little else.
Surely, this is reflective of economic times. Of a return to more basic needs and wants.
That is not to say that SIHH was bereft of any complicated masterpieces. There were a few—and only a few should ever be there—and they were fantastic—as those few should always be. A. Lange & Söhne and Audemars Piguet, in particular, showcased two watches that will be remembered for years to come.
Overall, it was a sober, conservative affair. Or as Fabienne Lupo put it, SIHH 2013 was a typically Calvinist fair.
So how did the various brands rise to this new Calivinist challenge?
A. Lange & Söhne has a reputation of presenting the most sophisticated timepieces with teutonic enthusiasm. Yet, this year, even they seemed taken aback by two super pieces, including the Grand Complication, which was no doubt the SIHH’s most talked about watch.
Audemars Piguet has a new CEO, who energized press conferences with energy, wit and honesty. No doubt this will begin to percolate into the brand in the next year or two. And just when you thought Audemars Piguet couldn’t possibly do anything more with the Royal Oak Offshore, the watchmeker unveiled a spectacular new Grande Complication.
Baume & Mercier has been working on a strategic overhaul of the complete brand. And this year, that involved the launch of the Clifton collection, a superbly balanced, no-nonsense collection that should sell by the container-loads.
Greubel Forsey continues to bewilder. Its association with Willard Wigan is interesting. But the showstopper was the Double Balancier.
IWC blew minds with its new pilots watches in 2012. This year IWC has relaunched the Ingenieur family. The revision is subtle and restrained. But boy, we miss those pilots already.
Jaeger-LeCoultre has a secret vault of watch concepts somewhere in the world. And it never seems to run out. This year, it had at least three watches in the “rave" category. But the Master Ultra Thin was a class apart. What. A. Great. Watch.
Montblanc had a restrained SIHH compared with previous editions. But that is also the sign of a watch company that has more or less arrived. It has now embarked on business as usual.
Officine Panerai had a pocket watch and yet another bronze watch this year. Both will surely do well for them in terms of press coverage. But the Luminor Chrono Flyback was breathtaking. Sex on a wrist.
Parmigiani, one gets the sense, is coiled like a spring waiting to explode. The brand is slowly stacking up ammunition and inventions and innovations. Preparing. Meanwhile, it distracts us with clocks and a wholesome new Pershing—a watch to wear while saving the world from aliens.
Piaget stole hearts last year with the Antiplano Skeleton. This year, it continued stealing hearts with the Minute Repeater and the superb Antiplano Date. So simple. So good.
Richard Mille does things with sapphire crystal, carbon fibre and ceramics that are quite possibly in violation of the laws of physics. Good old Richard also has a knack for identifying brand ambassadors. This year, Yohan Blake joined Rafa and Bubba Watson in the Richard Mille roll call of champions.
Roger Dubuis is getting bolder and brasher. This year, the booth had a massive eagle holding a novelty in one claw. In fact, there were eagles everywhere. But the highlight was the new range of Excaliburs. So masculine you wonder why it doesn’t have a moustache.
Vacheron Constantin played the watch industry’s equivalent of a reverse sweep to Dale Steyn at SIHH this year—all its novelties were targeted at women. We’ve seen those watches. Women are so lucky.
Van Cleef & Arpels will always be a jewellery maker who dabble in timepieces. But it dabbles so delightfully. Come for the watches, stay for the exquisite craftsmanship.
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