Devon in Watch Journal

tradition An exclusive
Panerai OP XXV movement revives
an historical link with Minerva.
agility
Panerai’s newest
sports-ready timer brings
tachymeter functionality to the
Radiomir 1940.
a sandow publication
WEMPE
VAN CLEEF & ARPELS
VACHERON CONSTANTIN
UNDERWOOD LONDON
ULYSSE NARDIN
®
TUTIMA
TUDOR
[journal]
TOURNEAU
TAG HEUER
SIHH
shinola
SEIKO
ROGER DUBUIS
RICHARD MILLE
RALPH LAUREN
PIAGET
PATEK PHILIPPE
PARMIGIANI
ORBITA
OFFICINE PANERAI
motoart
MONTBLANC
MAURICE LACROIX
LUMINOX
JAEGER-LECOULTRE
IWC SCHAFFHAUSEN
GREUBEL FORSEY
GIULIANO MAZZUOLI
FRED SEGAL
CARTIER
BREMONT
BREGUET
BELL & ROSS
BAUME & MERCIER
BALL WATCH CO.
AUDEMARS PIGUET
A. LANGE & SÖHNE
04: 2014 | W A T C H J O U R N A L . com
the watch magazine redefined
style
The polished
platinum case holds a
thick Plexiglas crystal
in a nod to history.
OFFICINE PANERAI RADIOMIR 1940
CHRONOGRAPH PLATINO (PAM 518)
APRIL 2014
Display until 05/19/14
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INDUSTRY WATCH
watch report | news and happenings fr om the world of watches
POSSIBILITIES
UNLIMITED
Pennsylvania-based RGM Watch
Company has produced its first
timepiece made to be worn
on a neck chain. The customordered piece is built around
RGM’s American-made
Pennsylvania Tourbillon
movement with intricately
engraved rose gold bridges.
The off-center dial is handfinished silver. The rose gold
case has yellow gold bezels front
and back and features a pendant
Sean Lau and his
Frédérique Constant
Slimline Moonphase
Manufacture, $12,500
CAMPAIGN
CONTRIBUTION
Award-winning Hong Kong
actor Sean Lau has become a
global brand ambassador of
Geneva-based watchmaker
Frédérique Constant. Among
his first duties was starring
in a photo shoot for a new
advertising campaign, and he
succeeded with gentlemanly
charm and grace, wearing the
all-new Slimline Moonphase
Manufacture in rose gold
($12,500). The actor comments,
“Frédérique Constant pays
attention to every detail and
makes no compromises in
terms of quality, which is the
attitude I appreciate most. I
am looking forward to working closely with the wonderful
team and conveying the brand’s
values to the world.” The campaign launched worldwide in
December. Additional collaboration with Sean is expected in
the near future.
855.55.FCUSA, frederiqueconstant.com
STAR POWER
A star of the culinary world
and a distinguished friend of
the Blancpain brand, chef Joël
Robuchon honored Blancpain
with a visit to its Le Brassus
headquarters in December.
For the Swiss watch brand,
which has long recognized
certain parallels between haute
gastronomie and traditional
watchmaking, it was a special
event indeed. In gastronomy, as
in horology, specialists create
masterpieces of meticulous hand
craftsmanship. An undisputed
master of his craft, Robuchon
has earned 28 Michelin stars and
was named Chef of the Century
by the influential French restaurant guide Gault et Millau
in 1989. Robuchon wears a
self-winding Blancpain Léman
Flyback Chronograph with perpetual calendar.
877.520.1735,
blancpain.com
Chef Joël Robuchon and his Blancpain Léman Flyback
Chronograph, $49,200
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Custom pendant
watch by RGM
attachment opposite the crown.
The finished watch is suspended
from a gold rope chain and presented in a custom-made musical display box. This and other
custom pieces completed by
RGM can be viewed on the
brand’s website.
717.653.9799,
rgmwatches.com
LIMITED
SUPPLIES
The world’s largest
supplier of watch
movements, Swatch
Group subsidiary ETA, suffered a devastating fire in one
of its Grenchen, Switzerland,
workshops on December 29,
which caused a break in pro-
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watch report | news and happenings fr om the world of watches
duction and disrupted regular
deliveries of watch mechanisms
to customers across the industry. Although rebuilding the
gutted 150-square-meter workshop and cleaning up a second
smoke-damaged workshop will
likely cost between 4 and 5 million Swiss francs, Swatch chief
executive Nick Hayek downplayed the event’s impact on
his own group but called it “a
bigger problem” for companies
that rely on ETA movements.
At press time, the cause of the
fire remains unknown.
swatchgroup.com
DESIRABLE ADDRESS
BOVET 1822 has opened its
first US boutique at 50 Central
Park South in New York. The
beautifully furnished jewel box
of a space is found at the northwest corner of the landmark
Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Bovet 1822
is known for masterpieces of
timekeeping, such as last year’s
Rising Star tourbillon with triple
time zones and the inventive
Amadeo convertible case. In addition to treasures
like these, the
boutique will
offer a collec-
Mario Peserico
and Richard Park
tion of 50 exclusive timepieces,
available only at the New York
location. Speaking at the ribboncutting ceremony in December,
Bovet owner Pascal Raffy
acknowledged retail partners
Michael Rosenberg and Jeffrey
Khalaf of New Jersey’s The
Timepiece Collection, who operate the boutique and said, “I’m
very proud to bring the House of
Bovet 1822 to New York where
collectors will be able to explore
and discover our exceptional creations.” The boutique is open six
days a week and by appointment.
888.909.1822, bovet.com
WATCHING AN MVP
Celebrating its long association with the world of sports, its
current sponsorship of a win-
ning Swiss ice hockey team,
and the outstanding performance of player Richard Park,
Swiss watchmaker Eberhard
& Co. awarded Park with an
example of its flagship model,
the Chrono4 Grande Taille
($7,300). Brand CEO Mario
Peserico presented the watch
to Park during a gala event at
the Palapenz Centre in Chiasso
and commented that Eberhard &
Co. is proud to be connected to
one of the sport’s most remarkable stories. As forward for the
Ambrí-Piotta hockey club, Park
was named 2013 Player of the
Year by his teammates and club
management for his leading role
in the team’s exceptional season.
714.453.1622,
eberhard-co-watches.ch
Bovet’s Amadeo Fleurier 42 Perpetual Calendar Retrograde and the brand’s new boutique
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TAKING FLIGHT
Established in 1865, Swiss watch
manufacture Zenith has witnessed the entire history of modern flight and was an early maker
of flight instruments for aviation
pioneers. Now, paying tribute to
the Wright brothers’ 1903 powered and controlled heavier-thanair flight on Kitty Hawk beach,
Zenith has introduced the Pilot
Montre d’Aéronef Type 20 GMT
1903 wristwatch in a limited edition of 1,903 pieces. Based on a
Zenith flight instrument from the
1930s, the new watch features a
dial of distinct vintage character
inside an ultralight 48-mm titanium case coated in black DLC.
The watch’s Elite 693 movement
is self-winding and has a second
time zone function. Each piece in
the limited edition is individually
numbered on a plate attached to
the caseside.
866.675.2079,
zenith-watches.com
Zenith Pilot Montre
d’Aéronef Type 20
GMT 1903, $8,600
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ON ITS GAME
Swiss watchmaker Tissot, the
official timepiece of Madison
Square Garden, unveiled an
impressive new Tissot lobby
clock in the Garden’s Seventh
Avenue entrance late last year.
The clock, which is more than
3 feet tall, is part of Tissot’s
integration in the $1 billion
transformation of the New York
sports and concert arena. Tissot
first partnered with Madison
Square Garden in 2012 and has
been prominently featured during Knicks and Rangers games
and on exterior marquees since
that time. Tissot president
François Thiébaud says, “As
official timekeeper for many
renowned international sports
events, including the MotoGP
World Championships, Tissot
is no stranger to the sports
industry. We are excited that
our Tissot lobby clock will help
welcome fans and keep them on
time so they don’t miss a minute of the action.”
800.284.7768, tissot.ch
Tissot’s big debut at
Madison Square Garden
The Geneva boutique and Glashütte Original’s Grande Cosmopolite Tourbillon, €325,000
CO-BRANDING PROJECT
Sister brands Glashütte
Original and Jaquet Droz,
both part of the Swatch Group,
unveiled their first shared
boutique on November 27 in
Geneva. The former Tourbillon
Boutique on the elegant Rue
du Rhône, Geneva’s most
exclusive shopping district,
has been thoughtfully remade
as the Glashütte Original
and Jaquet Droz boutique.
Its harmonious presentation
of the two distinctive brands
is achieved through the judicious use of complementary
color schemes and minimalist
style. As part of a special grand
opening exhibition, Glashütte
Original showed its most complicated and expensive watch
ever, the Grande Cosmopolite
Tourbillon with 37-time-zone
display (€325,000).
glashuette-original.com,
jaquet-droz.com
BUILDING ON SUCCESS
Devon is building upon the
success of its first watch,
the Tread 1, which
introduced Devon’s
patented Time
Belt display, by
introducing a
made-to-order precious metal version.
The 53.3-by-47-mm
Tread 1G duplicates
the size and configuration of the original but
features 18-karat yellow gold components:
masterlinks, crown, clasp,
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motor covers and shaft mounts.
Additional parts (the indicator
plate and serial number plate)
are plated in 18-karat gold for a
total gold weight of 87 grams.
The balance of the case is DLCtreated 316L stainless steel and
polycarbonate crystal. Priced at
$35,000, each Tread 1G requires
two months of production time.
888.901.0081,
devonworks.com
The Devon Tread
1G, $35,000
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watch report | news and happenings fr om the world of watches
Wolfgang Sickenberg
+
BRAND MAKER:
Works by Ferdinand Berthoud
from Chopard’s collection;
Chopard’s Friedrich Scheufele
details of the launch are set to be
unveiled this summer.
chopard.com
OLD AND NEW
Chopard co-president KarlFriedrich Scheufele plans to
launch a new haute horlogerie
brand named for the exceptional
18th-century Swiss horologist
Ferdinand Berthoud under the
aegis of the Chopard Group.
Berthoud earned the title of master clockmaker in 1753 in Paris
and was a commissioned horologist under Louis XV and Louis
XVI. He survived the French
Revolution and received the
title of Knight of the Legion of
Honour from Napoleon in 1804.
His legacy includes a vast body
of work, including dozens of publications and 120 engraved plates,
and some of his exceptional
timepieces are now in the collection of Chopard’s L.U.CEUM in
Fleurier. According to Chopard,
EXECUTIVE
APPOINTMENT
Swiss watchmaker Christophe
Claret SA has announced the
appointment of Wolfgang
Sickenberg to the post
of director of operations.
Sickenberg has 20 years
WHIRLWIND EVENT
The Manero Tourbillon wristwatch, manufactured in house
by Swiss watch firm Carl F.
Bucherer, has been named
the winner of the 11th annual
Austrian Chrono Award. The
watch was recognized in the
First Class category, which
comprises watches priced
at €25,000 (approximately
$34,000) and above.
Winners in the Austrian
competition are chosen
by the readers of two
national magazines.
Incorporating numerous
functions and indications,
the watch is designed with
generous proportions and
a multilevel dial for optimum
clarity. It is produced as a limited edition of 188 examples in
18-karat rose gold and is priced
at $98,800.
800.395.4306,
carl-f-bucherer.com
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of experience in the watch
industry’s commercial sphere,
beginning at Blancpain. He
comes to Christophe Claret
from Audemars Piguet, where
he managed international
sales and European operations. He has also spent time
in Hong Kong as manager of
Audemars Piguet’s Greater
China subsidiary. It’s experience that is sure to prove
valuable as Christophe Claret
continues to expand around
the world.
954.610.2234,
christopheclaret.com
Carl F. Bucherer’s Manero Tourbillon, $98,800,
and Claudia Stich receiving the Chrono Award
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Shinola's Runwell
Chronograph, $900
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From left: The Shinola Wright
Brothers limited edition, $1,000;
the Devon Tread 2 Shining, $9,950;
the Devon Tread 1E, $18,500; the
Shinola Runwell Chronograph, $900
AMERICAN
INDUSTRY
★ Shinola, a brand new company with an old-fashioned name,
based in Detroit, Michigan, aims for
nothing less than bringing industrialized watch production back to the US.
Formed by Tom Kartsotis, of Fossil fame,
Shinola is a partnership between Bedrock
Manufacturing and Swiss movement manufacture Ronda; Ronda supplies the parts
and the training, and Shinola completes the
movements’ assembly, regulation, testing,
casing and quality control in the Motor City.
Total production for 2013 was around 45,000
watches, but Shinola’s production capacity is
500,000, and the company has an option on
enough space in its factory—the historical
Argonaut building—to increase production
to 1 million units. Great looking and wellpriced, Shinola watches are catching on in a
big way. The company also makes bicycles
and leather goods, hand-bound journals and
gift items and has recently introduced its
first limited edition watch, a tribute to the
Wright brothers.
Steve Bock, CEO at Shinola, says he’s
amazed at the reception the new brand has
received. “We have been very lucky: I think
we have a great idea and it’s a very exciting
concept, but the exposure we have enjoyed
has been amazing. The city of Detroit and the
state of Michigan have received us with open
arms, because we are creating jobs, training
people and building this business in Detroit.”
“A tremendous amount of work and
investment has gone into this project,”
Bock continues. “It’s been a multifaceted
approach. We have people who are very
experienced with watch manufacturing, so
we understand quality and what it takes
to deliver a product that is well designed
and offers value. It starts with great design
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and high quality. We are trying to develop a
watch that is fashionable and that you want
to keep for many, many years. I think we have
started well, but we have a long way to go.”
NEW TECHNOLOGY
★ The Devon Tread 1 and Tread 2 are allAmerican watches, designed and made in
the US. Both watches use ultrathin time belts
driven by micro-motors to display the time.
It’s a revolutionary design that makes a real
statement on the wrist. Devon followed up
the success of the original Tread 1 with the
release of numerous variants and the introduction of the reconfigured, tonneau-shaped
Tread 2. There is even a made-to-order version of the Tread with gold elements.
“In the three years since we launched the
Tread 1, we’ve been able to build a network
of around 120 of the world’s strongest retailers in 30 countries around the world, and
we’ve sold around 1,000
pieces,” says Ehren Bragg,
managing director, Devon Works.
“A large part of that success is a
deep pool of design and engineering talent that creates products
that customers lust after. Another large
part has been a ton of sweat equity that
has gone into convincing well-heeled
watch buyers that an American-made
watch using aerospace technology is a
legitimate candidate for their consideration. This was especially difficult in
the beginning when people weren’t sure
if we were going to be a flash in the pan.
However, we’ve continually rolled out
new products, and people have learned
that we’re here to stay.”
“There are certain assumptions in the
market—that little red sports cars should
come from Italy, that the best wines
should come from France and that preci-
From left: RGM's
Pennsylvania Tourbillon,
from $95,000, and
Pennsylvania 801 ES,
from $9,700
sion knives should be sourced from
Germany, for instance,” he continues. “It
can be difficult to overcome strong preconceptions like these, but not impossible. The
fact that the Devon Tread is a compelling
product has helped us to do just that. When
people understand the technology that we
use and the craftsmanship we employ, they
appreciate the fact that our products are designed, developed, engineered and manufactured in California. Our aim is to build a
legacy brand that’s known for anticipating
people’s needs with innovative products
that exemplify the American spirit.”
Bragg is heartened by the success of
Shinola, RGM and other American brands.
“Watchmaking in America is certainly not
as easy as in Europe because of the distance from a condensed base of established
suppliers. However, the modern world has
made these distances easier to traverse, and
new technology helps local suppliers provide parts that were previously outside their
wheelhouse,” Bragg
says. “The American
comeback is still in its
very early days, and I
think it will be long-lived.”
PENNSYLVANIA HERITAGE
★ Lancaster County, Penn., was home to
the Hamilton Watch Company for more
than 100 years. Now it’s home to watchmaker Roland Murphy, founder of RGM
Watch Company, who, after many years, has
realized his dream of making an American
watch with an original America movement.
RGM started out, like many other watch
companies, using Swiss movements, paired
with cases of Murphy’s own design. But he
steadily developed the capability to make
movements in house and produced the
Caliber 801, used in the RGM Pennsylvania
Tourbillon wristwatch. “We have arrived
here as the result of lots of hard work, good
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timing, and determination,” says Murphy.
“The training I had gave
me a good foundation. Beyond that, there was no grand
plan, but sometimes one thing leads to another. Our customers are happy that we are
making watches in American again, and
at a high level. They ask me all the time to
keep doing what I am doing.”
AMERICAN OUTLOOK
★ With luck and hard work, industrious
American companies like these can once
again be a dominant force in the watch
industry. If Devon, RGM and Shinola have
anything to say about it, America will
surely rise again. For now, according to
Murphy, “On a small scale, we are making
our presence known.”
shinola.com, devonworks.com, rgmwatches.com

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