136 APRIL 2016
he biggest watch story last
year wasn’t a new Rolex or
Patek Philippe. It didn’t come
from Europe, or even Japan.
For the first time ever, the
biggest noise in watches – or
perhaps wristwear – was a
smartwatch, as Apple
released its much-hyped
timepiece in April.
The hot new category’s
buzz had, of course, been
growingforawhile;both
2013 and 2014 were hailed
as “the year of the
smartwatch”. In fact, Apple lifted the lid
on its badly kept secret back in
September 2014, and seven months of
feverish speculation about its game-
changing potential duly followed. Given
the company’s track record, it didn’t
seemunrealistictopredictthatthe
AppleWatchwouldstartarevolution,
sweeping “dumb” watches aside.
Meanwhile in Switzerland, brows
were furrowed and meetings held. The
last time the Swiss watch industry came
face-to-face with the Terminator-like
marchoftechnology,itwasonthe
receiving end of a generation-defining
pummelling that bankrupted brands
and put thousands out of work. The
so-calledQuartzCrisis–always
capitals – was precipitated by Seiko’s
development in 1969 of accurate and
affordable quartz movements (these
days,anythingwithabattery),which
flooded the market with cheap
alternatives to mechanicals. The
industryfelltoitskneesforadecade.
And even though smartwatches
aren’t quite coming out of nowhere like
quartz did, the fast-moving tech industrySMARTMOVEMENTS
Rumoursofthedeathofthemechanicalwatchatthe
handsofApplehavebeengreatlyexaggerated.Butisit
time for traditional manufacturers to join the tech giants?
could still rock Switzerland on its heels.
What if Apple really did sell 40 million
watchesinitsfirstyear,asanalysts
predicted?“ItissimilartotheQuartz
Crisis in a way,” says Andre Bernheim,
CEOofMondaine.“Butweallknowit’s
not the end. Some people will always
just want a watch.”Changing times
Thewaythewatchindustrygotbackon
its feet in the Nineties wasn’t by
competing with quartz. Not only did it
adopt the technology to produce
affordable, mass-market watches but,
crucially, it also took the opportunity to
draw a distinction between battery-
powered and mechanical movements,
enablingittomarketthelatterasa
high-end luxury. In 1960, mechanical
watches were the only kind; by 2000
they had become aspirational. Trading
on heritage, their very anachronism
became their USP.
Logic might hold, therefore, that
luxury watchmakers needn’t jump on
the smart bandwagon. After all, how
canadevicecostingafewhundred
bucks, with two years’ lifespan, threaten
awatchworththousandsthatcould
outlive you?
Nevertheless, wagon-boarding
began this year in earnest, as brands
rushedtoannounceasmartor
“connected” watch. The approaches
fall broadly into two camps. On oneside,therearethosewithsomething
“smart” attached to the strap: all of the
“proper” watch quality and easily
upgradeable, but with limited
functionality. Then there are those
incorporating tech into springs ’n’ gears
models: nicer-looking and more
capable,butwithashortenedhalf-life.
Montblanc broke cover first,
debuting its e-Strap Bluetooth module.
TheconsortiumofFrédériqueConstant,
Alpina and Mondaine unveiled watches
with activity trackers and sleep monitors
(FC coining the phrase “horological
smartwatch”). Breitling launched the
B55Connectedforpilots,abletostore
and track flight data. Bulgari put a
communication chip in its Diagono to
createtheMagn@sium,awatchableto
provide cyberworrier oligarchs with
secure access to their e-vault. IWC
flashed a glimpse of Connect, a button-
likeadditiontothestrapofaBigPilot.
Yettobeseenintheflesh,itsfunctions
remain elusive.
Last but not least, TAG Heuer
announced a partnership with Google
andIntel,amovethatmayyetprovethe
savviestofall.(Ifyoucan’tbeat’em...)
The consensus among insiders
–mostofwhompreferrednottobe
quotedforthisarticle–isthatmany
morefirmshaveasmartwatch in the
pipeline for 2016.Early adopters
It’salwaystoughtobefirst–something
Apple knows only too well, letting others
testthewaterbeforemakingitssplash.
It’s also easy to spin these early Swiss
countermoves both ways: the long gap
between announcement and availability
could be interpreted as controlled orPROP STYLING: LOU BLACKSHAW; STYLIST’S ASSISTANT: RICCARDO CHIUDIONIPHOTOGRAPHY
AARON TILLEYWORDS
CHRIS HALLSTYLING
ERIC DOWN