As a trade and press affair, this year, SIHH or the Geneva watch show lacked the lustre it dazzled with, in its earlier editions. While some ambitious novelties drew more parody than praise, few watch brands managed to hit the home stretch with unorthodox iterations of older models and truly innovative complications.
Here’s a quick and straight forward take on select SIHH launches by Roni Madhvani, Uganda based collector of ‘time only’ watches. His collection include classic and truly rare pieces from Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Cartier and Vacheron Constantin.
Luxuryvolt: What are your first impressions on Audemars Piguet 11.59 collection? It is after nearly half a decade that a new line of watches is introduced by AP.
Roni Madhvani: I have primarily focused on collecting vintage Patek Philippe for the last 3 decades. It’s only recently that I’ve turned to vintage Audemars Piguet from the 60s and earlier. The attraction of vintage Audemars was the fine watchmaking during this earlier period. More importantly they were at the vanguard of design (a key aspect of my collection), during this post-war, belle epoch when brands had the appetite to be at the leading edge. Additionally, during this era Audemars produced limited numbers of watches. Finally their Heritage department headed by Michael Friedman is exemplary in supporting collectors by sharing information from their archives (key for collectors when acquiring new pieces) given the amount of information on the brand is currently quite limited.
Against this background, my interest in current watches are somewhat limited and it is for this reason I’ve never felt attracted to visit SIHH 2019.
However, in terms of the AP 11.59 collection there has been a bit of a general backlash from collectors, as I think there were expectations of AP coming out with something focused on its historic offerings and what was revealed was something so middle of the road, lacklustre, dull and boring.
AP in the last couple of decades has been a single product brand, based almost entirely on the Royal Oak. Whist they are fortunate on its success and appeal, as a business I feel that’s something that leaves the brand exposed and vulnerable.
I recall attending a dinner with the definitive fine watchmaking brand and when asked of the competition and AP in particular the response from the top brass was dismissive; in that AP is no competition with the single line up Royal Oak that AP has.
Luxuryvolt: As a watch collector, what would you like Audemars Piguet to introduce in its forthcoming collections?
Roni Madhvani: Through friends within, I understand that the development of the 11.59 was outsourced to an agency. I think this in itself is a danger and the disaster it turned out to be. Brands have come to rely too much on outsourced third parties and have disconnected with the customers who spend their hard earned money and keep them afloat. Along the way brands like Cartier had lost the plot totally (though recently there was a wake up call and things are being changed; gone are the ugly gigantic sized watches that are unjustifiably over priced ). This is only reversed when customers decide to vote with their wallets and the bottom line reflects accordingly for the brand.
I believe AP has an incredible heritage and its not bad to draw on that without trying to reinvent the wheel. Unfortunately when corporate egos and third parties are involved they need to justify their fees by coming out with new concepts that are often not what the customers want. Hopefully sense will prevail and the learnings of the 11.59 debacle will be taken in at .
I also feel the traditional route of brand communication with consumers in the watch industry has become ever so dull, boring and irrelevant. Who cares about celebrity endorsements and launches with celebrities who have no passion and have total disconnect with what they are endorsing? It’s a joke! Todays collector is highly empowered and informed in terms of horological knowledge and information through the rise of social media and the internet and it’s almost an insult to the customer’s intelligence to continue the old way talking to them. A big rethink is called for by brands to engage directly with the new breed of customer. Listen to the feedback from customers and when your own staff with the brands give this feedback it shouldn’t be ignored (as is happening now or they are too frightened to talk due to the prevailing corporate culture )
Luxuryvolt: Your thoughts on Les Cabinotiers collection by Vacheron Constantin…
Roni Madhvani: I‘ve always been a fan of the Vacheron’s Les Cabinotiers collection as I feel they push the bounds of creativity as brands should. It’s so refreshing to see that, although the affordability of these creations is questionable.
