Last Week (in Watches) Today, 26 October 2021: 7 Things You Should Know

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Its been a hectic two weeks for me, but the watch world has been relatively slower in terms of watch news, which makes it easier to catch up this week. Biggest news of all, naturally is Scottish Watches’ 300th episode which was a brilliant one with Gerald Genta’s wife Evelyne and daughter Alexia. In addition, this week we have Jacob & Co’s latest movie collaboration, Watchfinder’s survey on watch lovers wishlists, Al Capone’s pocket watch sale, Patek Philippe’s poor UK sales, and releases from Patek Philippe, Bremont and ZenithThese are the top 7 things in the world of watches; let’s get into it.

Jacob & Co. to produce Batman themed watches

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This week, Jacob & Co. signed a partnership with Warner Bros. to produce Batman themed watches. The brand’s founder, Jacob Arabo, announced the partnership and said that this collaboration is a dream come true for him. He is not merely paying lip service too as he intends to design the iconic DC hero themed watches himself. Having seen the brilliant timepieces involving 3-D figures that the brand has produced over the years, I for one am extremely excited to see what Jacob & Co. can dream up for this collaboration. It will almost certainly be better than Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Black Panther piece that placed the character in a rather painful looking pose. It is even more exciting to hear that it will not just be one collaborative piece but a collection of Batman themed watches which would allow the designs to make full use of the varied Batmans we have had, as well as perhaps closely related figures too. The first watches are expected to be released in spring next year which is well timed given that The Batman, that wrapped filming earlier this year, is slated for release on 22 March 2022.

Rolex makes up 55% of consumers wishlists

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Rolex has always been the watch brand that consumers aspire to. However, in the past couple of years, demand has reached fever pitch, in particular because of the extremely high prices that the brand’s sports watches fetch on the secondary market. Thanks to a survey by Watchfinder & Co. we now know how far ahead Rolex is of every other brand. The survey sought responses from over 20,000 watch lovers (I have not been able to identify the parameters used to identify this class of people in the survey) on what their dream watch was. The vast majority of responses, 55% to be exact, were for Rolexes. Patek Philippe came in second place, though it was far behind the first, garnering only 12.5% of the votes. Omega and Audemars Piguet came in third and fourth place respectively while A Lange & Sohne, Breitling, Jaeger Le Coultre, Cartier and IWC rounded up the rest of the top 10. While this may be disappointing for Richemont Group which owns Watchfinder and therefore indirectly funded this survey, it is critical to note that the survey results were focused on an all or nothing format i.e. responders could only indicate one watch brand as their dream watch. That would be worrying if everyone only bought a single watch in their lifetime, and while many do, it is a good thing that many also buy more than one, so the brands behind Rolex will not necessarily have to fight for only 45% of the rest of the watch market. Moreover, given the current lack of available Rolex pieces for sale at retail, that nicely sets up the other watch brands to take advantage of all the spill over demand that Rolex leaves on the table.

 Al Capone’s Patek Philippe pocket watch sells for 10 times its estimate 

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Photo Credit: WatchPro

We often say that the interest in watches is a hobby that cuts across nationalities, gender, race, religion, financial standing, background and every other distinguishing category of people. Well, it also cuts across moral and legal lines, with the pocket watch of one of the most infamous gangsters in history, Al Capone, selling at a Witherells auction for more than 10 times its bottom estimate. The pocket watch is a Patek Philippe that is cased in platinum and has 90 diamonds encrusted on its cover to form the initials that appears to be AC though it could be AD or AE as well. The watch was sold for US$229,900 which is remarkable when considering that it was not working and also missing a minute hand. The watch formed part of a larger collection of Al Capone’s collectibles that brought in about US$3 million in sales.

Patek Philippe UK sales plunge 39% in 2020

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Photo Credit: WatchPro

While various watch conglomerates and retailers had reported better than expected sales figures during the 2020 pandemic year overall, in the past couple of weeks, it has become apparent that has not been the case in the UK. This week, that is further reinforced with Patek Philippe’s distributor in the UK, Rhone Products UK, reporting that sales fell by 42% in the financial year ended 31 January 2021. This is significant since it would have been expected that the typical clientele of Patek Philippe would tend to be more recession proof than that of some of the more affordable luxury watch brands out there. One possible reason could be that that same clientele may be more inclined to in person purchases which was something that took a massive hit when stores had to be closed for more than one third of the financial year. In fact, the retail business fell by a whopping 63% in the financial year, which also makes up more than half of the 42% overall decline in sales that Rhone reported. Still, the brand is likely well placed to cope with the decline in sales, given that it is a family owned business and does not face the same short term pressure that listed conglomerates may be under to produce immediate short term gains. Moreover, the decline in sales in the UK is something of an outlier, given that global sales declined be a far smaller degree, to the tune of around 20%.

Patek Philippe’s trio of Grand Complications

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Patek Philippe may have faced declining sales in 2020, but the brand is taking that decline in its stride with three new grand complications timepieces. The first, and likely the most sought after, is a stainless steel timepiece that features both a flyback chronograph and an annual calendar. It also sports a year-appropriate olive green sunburst dial and a three link bracelet which is an overall combination that will fuel its demand. That is not to say the watch is not a good looking watch in its own right. It is, and is even better than the olive green Nautilus in my opinion, even if it is a bit on the larger side at 42mm x 14.13mm. The second is a worldtimer  plus flyback chronograph that is also in a year appropriate rich green. If you’ve seen the Singapore edition world timer, then you would have basically seen this piece, apart from the fact that this is cased in platinum and has a different dial colour. What particularly stands out, would be the centre of the dial that shows off the brand’s watchmaking prowess with a beautiful guilloche pattern that is hand engraved. The watch is extremely wearable too, given all the complications in it, at just 39.5mm x 12.86mm. Finally, we have my favourite of the trio (not that I would ever be able to afford it), the perpetual calendar split seconds chronograph i.e. one of the most complicated movements to produce. The watch is extremely dressy in appearance, with a rose gold case and a slate grey sunburst dial. At 40mm by 14.3mm, it is not the dressiest watch in the brand’s line up, it would still be at home in most formal occasions and the presence of the complications on the dial help to reduce the wrist presence of the watch. All in all, these were three amazing releases from Patek Philippe who continue to show that they are far more than the sports pieces that the masses seem to clamour for.

Bremont’s trio of limited edition Longitude watches

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Speaking of watch trios, Bremont launched a trio of watches in what it has dubbed as the Longitude collection. The watches were released with much fanfare over what appears to be the brand’s next step towards becoming somewhat more in house in terms of its movement production. But first, the watches. The three watches are all 40mm wide and 14mm thick, and have good looking stepped dials with that feature a globe in the centre, the date window at the 3 o’clock and a small seconds complication at the 9 o’clock . They offer a choice of an opaline dial with a white gold case, a chocolate brown dial in a yellow gold case, and another chocolate brown dial with a contrasting white minute track that comes in a stainless steel case. The movement is what the bigger news is about though, as the brand has acquired the intellectual property rights (IP) to the K1 movement that has been developed by THE+. If that movement sounds familiar, it is because that is the movement that Horage has used in many of its watches and has spoken about on the podcast several times. THE+ for context is the company that backs Horage financially. Bremont has also claimed to have taken the base movement and  reworked it to its specifications. In addition, the brand has also announced that it has redesigned 80% of the movement’s weight. That last statement is naturally the subject of some controversy since 80% of a movement’s weight could very well just be the rotor. For the full story behind this movement, do check out this week’s Monday’s podcast if you have not.  

 Zenith Meet the DreamHers A386 Duo

There has been much discussion in the past 2-3 years about how it is high time that the watch industry increases its focus on the female demographic of the market which has been largely untapped by most brands. Zenith is making good on its aim to make its watches more accessible to women, with its recent event Meet the DreamHers. At the event, a group of remarkable women were presented with Zenith timepieces. This group includes the likes of Ghizlan Guenez (founder of The Modist), Christine Giampoli Zonca (Extreme E Racer) and Karen Pang (Hong Kong film director, and actress) among several others. The watches that they were presented were based on the brand’s iconic A386 Chronomaster design with a few tweaks. These include the swapping of the indices to diamonds as well as encrusting the top of the lugs with diamonds as well. One of the two pieces feature sub dials in shades of grey while the other feature shades of blue mother of pearl sub dials. Overall, the two variants are tastefully done, in my opinion. The mother of pearl sub dials are in particular a small crucial element that makes the watch somewhat more feminine in design without being overtly flashy. While the same cannot be said of the diamond encrusted lugs, they still do not make the watches too loud, at least based on pictures. These two releases add to the already interesting range that the brand has for its female consumers, especially the Defy series that was launched earlier this year. For those interested, the watches will retail for CHF 12, 900.

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So that is it for this week. As always, get in on all the action on the Scottish Watches website, YouTube Channels (Scottish Watches, Scottish Watches Live as well as Watches Unboxed) and of course, the podcasts on your podcaster of choice. Till next time, take care everyone.

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