New Flagship store in Paris for Carl F. Bucherer

Sebastien Eich
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0
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Carl F. Bucherer, the Swiss Watch luxury retailer, will open next year a 2,200 m2 Flagship store in the heart of Paris in France. Their aim: to internationalize their Brand and be visible to international markets. Paris is the most visited capital of the world. Millions of tourists each year come to the french city. Having a Flagship store in Paris is probably one of the best showcases you can imagine for luxury.

Carl-F-Bucherer-Paris

According to the Brand, the huge flagship store will be located in the exact location of Old England store (they have already closed down). It is situated on the 9th district between Opera and La Madeleine at Boulevard des Capuccines n.120. It is in the true heart of the high touristic area, close by the parisian department stores like Le Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, Garnier Opera, Vendôme Place, etc…

It will be finally a swiss story as the building belongs to Richemont. The Swiss luxury group used the fact that the contract of the current tenant comes to an end in order to reposition the store towards luxury and watch making.
Many Brands have already accepted to be present there in the new store:

  • Piaget
  • Breitling
  • Swatch Group
  • Chopard
  • TAG Heuer
  • Baume & Mercier
  • Longines
  • Gucci

The store will also present all products from watch brands which have been working for several years with the luxury retailer. It is a sign of trust and longterm partnership. Of course, Carl F. Bucherer will also present their own models as they also manufacture beautiful Timepieces. Opening date: beginning of 2013.

Do you know Carl F Bucherer ? No? Follow the guide here…

1888
Carl Friedrich Bucherer opened his first watch and jewelry store.

1919
Carl Friedrich Bucherer launched his own Art Deco-style ladies watch collection under the name C. Bucherer. He was one of the first manufacturers to focus on the wristwatch, then still revolutionary for its time.

1968
Around 15,000 highly precise, certified chronometers were leaving Bucherer’s workshop each year, placing the brand among the top three most important Swiss chronometer makers.

1969
The company took part in the Swiss consortium of ten Swiss watch manufacturers established for the development and production of the first quartz movement for wristwatches, the Beta 21.

2001
The brand was repositioned under the name Carl F. Bucherer and the Patravi Chronograph GMT was launched internationally. In Lengnau, near Biel in Switzerland, Carl F. Bucherer inaugurated a new watchmaking workshop and founded a subsidiary in Hong Kong.

2007
Independent workshops for research, development and production of Manufacture calibers and modules for additional functions was established in Ste-Croix, Switzerland. Carl F. Bucherer expands its distribution network with offices in Japan.

 Today, Carl F. Bucherer represents 1,200 employees, 26 stores in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. New stores opening happened in the past 2 years in Asia (e.g.: Beijing).
Carl-F-Bucherer-Pekin

Here a short video about the luxury watch retailer and manufacturer:

As you can imagine, it will be the biggest Flagship store for watches in the world. 2,200 m2 divided in 3 floors. An interesting point is the gentlemen war between LVMH and Richemont. In deed, after the purchase of Bvlgari by LVMH, seen as the anti-Cartier of Richemont, now the swiss group will place all its brands in the heart of LVMH homeland. Interesting isn’t it ? Of course, the most interesting idea remains the positioning of Carl F Bucherer as a Retailer and a Brand. According to the website Businessmontres.com, Mr. Sascha Moeri, current CEO of Carl F. Bucherer, explained at the end of last year that:

“Bucherer opens the worldwide largest watch store in Paris. We are pleased to inform you that Bucherer will open its newest and largest watch and jewelry store in Paris at the beginning of 2013. The new store spans 2,200 m² over three floors ! Watch enthusiast will find a high-class selection of the most famous and prestigious brands in an exclusive atmosphere. The new Flagship store will be located on 12, Boulevard des Capucines, close to the famous Place Vendôme, the opera and the world-renowned department stores. Opening in Paris is a milestone in the history of Bucherer and we are delighted to be with the new store at the heart of the world capital of luxury. Bucherer had numerous requests from consumers in France, and is pleased to be in Paris to showcase our products and to serve our French and international customers. ”

While economic crisis is bursting out all over the world, we can see that the Watchmaking industry has a strong and good health. This year Baselworld shown that the watch business is in a real good shape. While Fashion, Cosmetics, Jewelry is suffering from the crisis, the watch industry is going over the roof!

Pictures of the new Flagship store will follow. In the meantime, do not hesitate to connect to the official Brand website for more information:
http://www.carl-f-bucherer.com.

Watch out!
LA

All information sourced from official Brand communiqué, businessmontres.com, montre24.com. Images are copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.

Anyes Galleani, Urban Art meets luxury.

LuxuryActivist
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0
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Anyes Galleani is an Italian-born artist & photographer based in Los Angeles. She uses photomontage and collage to create unique images and mixed media art.

Anyes Galleani

Raised on the beautiful Italian Riviera, Anyes moved to the US at 21 to pursue a degree in film & photography. Her keen eye for beauty and composition led to her career as a fashion and celebrity photographer. Soon, she was working with many leading actors, high profile companies and national publications, including W magazine, the Bebe stores, Paramount pictures, Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.

Anyes-Galleani

Anyes’ early photomontages were created by overlaying and hand-painting 35mm transparencies. The originality of her work opened the door to an array of new opportunities, from gallery shows to exciting design, internet and video projects. Video captured Anyes’ imagination, and, for several years, she enjoyed shooting and directing artistic fashion and branding videos.

Anyes-Galleani

In 2007, Anyes rekindled her passion for photography while working on a project exploring the contrast between women’s outer beauty and inner conflicts. The work culminated in her show “Beyond Beauty,” in August of that year, and inspired her new path as an artist.
Since then, her evocative images have been featured in several magazines, venues and exhibits and have been complementing residential, commercial and corporate environments. However, Anyes has always been looking for a more organic way to display her images than traditional prints, resulting in working with mixed media.

Anyes-Galleani

In 2011, she put together her first collection of paintings and participated in three group shows to a welcome response from her audience. The art combines her sophisticated flair for beauty with elements typical of downtown Los Angeles, where she has been living and working for over 20 years, such as paint drips and worn-out surfaces. It’s edgy, colorful and reminiscent of street art, and represents a far more organic way to express her multimedia talents.

Her favorite materials: Wood panels, acrylic paint, thin paper, transparent paper,my journals pages, pink paint, yellow paint, silver paint,worn out textures, paint drips.

There is a hint of a modern Andy Warhol on Anyes Galleani’s work. A sensitive expression of our era dominated by Mass-Media and urban environments. There is also an exquisite femininity revealed and hidden by the artistic work, sometimes influenced by fashion, cosmetics or purely art portraits. It is modern, fresh, edgy and colorful at the same time.

Anyes-Galleani-room

To see more of Anyes Galleani’s work, please connect to the artist official website: http://galleani.com.

The artist also has an interesting blog, in which she posts in a monthly base: http://www.laartist.us.

Anyes-Galleani-arts

Ready to spice up your world?
LA

 

Info sourced from Press contact and the artist official website. All images are copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.

Coty Inc. offers to buy Avon for $10 billion.

LuxuryActivist
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0
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Two weeks ago Coty Inc. sent a proposition to purchase Avon for $10 billion cash. One giant is trying to eat the other. Avon refused the proposition as it was officially declared by Avon’s spokesperson: “At the time, the board concluded, and it still believes, that Coty’s indication of interest is opportunistic and not in the best interest of Avon’s shareholders“.

avon-products

Coty decided to make the offer public as they think it would be at the interest of Avon’s shareholders. A complex matter that brings Avon into a hard decision as the company’s results are not at their best. Avon’s CEO Andrea Jung, is supposed to find her replacement after a drop down of 40% in terms of results. So by proposing a +20% higher than the normal price per share, Coty tries to convince Avon’s shareholders to sell.

Andrea Jung Avon CEO

Why Coty would like to buy Avon? I think their strategy is pretty clear. By purchasing Avon, Coty opens a new distribution channel for its own Brands: door-to-door. Coty belongs to the largest shareholder in Europe consumer-products maker Reckitt Benckiser Group Pic. With this acquisition, they expect to double their annual $4.5 billion sales.

beyonce-perfume-fever

Coty is a giant in the Cosmetic and Beauty industry. Founded by legendary François Coty (said to be the father of Modern Perfumery) in 1904, it became a huge multinational company owning multiple licenses for worldwide Brands such as David & Victoria Beckham, Beyonce, Celine Dion but also Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs. Coty also signed a huge contract with Lady Gaga and Madonna. A lot of Brands and a saturated distribution. If the deal with Avon is concluded, Coty will open new market opportunities, especially in regions like Latin America where Avon is strong. In the past decade, the Beauty industry got more than 300 main takeovers which makes it more and more concentrated industry. If Coty succeeds to buy Avon, it will become the number one company in front of Procter&Gamble in terms of sales.

Beauty has a price and we already knew it.
LA

 

Info sourced at blomberg.com, nzz.ch, WWD and  luxurydailynews.com. All images are copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.

Montblanc, Johannes Brahms special edition.

LuxuryActivist
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1
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Montblanc is launching next month a new special edition, called, Donation Johannes Brahms Special Edition fountain pen in tribute to the great virtuoso and classic music composer of the Romantic era.

montblanc-donation-brahms

Traditionalist, yet pioneering and inventive, just like Brahms, the writing instrument features a cap and barrel made of black precious resin enhanced with platinum-plated fittings. The clip is shaped like a tuning fork and the five lines of a music staff decorating the cap are inspired by excitement of his symphony scores and orchestras prior to a performance.

In his lifetime, Brahms became one of the greatest cultural figures, earning numerous formal awards by the time of his death in 1897. However, he was not content with fame alone and dedicated time in assisting young composers at the start of their career, just as Richard Schumann had done for him.

montblanc-donation-brahms

With its rich heritage of commitment to arts patronage, Montblanc shares Brahms’ passion for talent and his sense of duty in supporting generations of emerging artists worldwide. For decades, Montblanc has nurtured artistic talent across multiple disciplines including art, theatre, opera and classical music. With the purchase of each Donation Pen Johannes Brahms Special Edition, 20 Euros from the fountain pen and 10 Euros from the ballpoint pen or rollerball will be donated to carefully selected cultural projects relating to classical music, thus supporting young artists worldwide and carrying on the heritage left behind by Brahms.

montblanc-donation-brahms

The overall design of this Special Edition reflects the style of the composer’s music: traditionalist yet pioneering and inventive. The handcrafted Montblanc masterpiece is complemented by details inspired by the fascinating world of classical music to which Brahms dedicated his life. The cap and barrel of the writing instrument are made of black precious resin enhanced with platinum- plated fittings. The clip shaped like a tuning fork and the five lines of a music staff decorating the cap bring to mind the excitement of his symphony scores and orchestras tuning up before a performance.

montblanc-donation-brahms

The Montblanc Donation Pen Johannes Brahms Special Edition is available as Fountain Pen, Rollerball and Ballpoint Pen in all Montblanc Boutiques from May 2012.

In this sense, Montblanc has already presented different beautiful limited editions for the following artists:

  • Leonard Bernstein
  • Yehudi Menuhin
  • Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Herbert Von Karajan
  • Sir Georg Solti
  • Arturo Toscanini
  • John Lennon

Montblanc has been known for generations as a maker of sophisticated, highquality writing instruments. In the past few years, the product range has been expanded to include exquisite writing accessories, luxury leather goods and belts, jewellery, eyewear and watches. Montblanc has thus become a purveyor of exclusive products which reflect the exacting demands made today for quality design, tradition and master craftsmanship. Check the Brand official website for more information: http://world.montblanc.com

Writing with style.
LA

 

Info sourced at Brand official press release. All images are copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.

 

Playtime, video games mythologies in Switzerland.

LuxuryActivist
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1
Reading Time: 5 minutes

At Maison d’Ailleurs in Yverdon les Bains – Switzerland, a very interesting art exhibition opened its doors last month. It is called Play Time, videogame mythology. The curator is José Luis de Vicente. He is a researcher and writer working around the edges of New Media Arts, Digital creativity, and innovation in Design and Culture. His recent Fields of Interest: Information Visualization, Green Design, Spectrum politics, Media Architecture, Senseable Cities, Software Aesthetics, archeology and histories of Digital Culture, Magic and Technology.

Playtime_MaisonDailleurs

According to the museum, Playtime — Videogame mythologies is an exhibition devoted to the culture of video games. It explores how the relationship between play, the various manners of gam- ing, and technology interrelate. An interactive presentation displays historical documents, examples of GameArt and innovative games.

Playtime_intro

The exhibition invites to explore computer games from a variety of different angles: Rules of Play / The Game of Life and the introduction to the mechanics of games; Game Geographies and PlayNations on the spatial dimension of video games; Bodies and Minds, dealing with emblematic figures, how players relate with their avatars and the involvement of the body in the video game experience; Assault on Reality, which presents innovative creations mixing the real and the virtual; and a historical section Archeology of Fun.

Playtime_GoldFarmers

Throughout 2012, various events, happenings and mediation actions at Yverdon-les-Bains and in French- speaking Switzerland are being held in addition to the exhibition. They highlight the current state of research in the field and bring to a wide audience a chance to discover the broad range of registers in video games art.

Playtime_manettes

The exhibition is part of Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council’s GameCulture — From Game to Art programme.

This exhibition is not at all a playground. It is by far one of the most interesting exhibitions about the cyberculture. Different themes are presented, from an historical perspective, towards online gaming, cutting edge developments up to artistic visions of video games. The visitor gets a real immersive experience on the best of video gaming.

Playtime_history

It was William Gibson, the king of Science Fiction literature, who invented the idea of “Cyberspace”. He observed that when kids are playing video games, the screen in front of them is not just displaying images. It is an open-door to another world.

For Henry Jenkins, American expert on Media, the art of creating video games has a lot of common points with Lanscaping or creating Entertainment parks. In  a way, video games are the expression of the perfect contemporary aesthetics of a sort of utopia in terms of architecture. A mysterious and exciting experience that can turn to be very addictive.

In terms of cyberspace, different experimental games were presented, some of them reached the limits of reality and imagination. On of the interesting projects is called the SCALABLE CITY. It is a very interesting project by Sheldon Brown from Experimental Game Lab (USA). In a huge screen, we control a sort of vortex made of cars!!! that reshape the landscape based on the will of the player. A very interesting interface helps the player to move the tornado around. Check here the video about the demonstration:

Then, another interesting demonstration was a video game in which a second person controls the player movements, as if the human being was part of the game interface. Really disturbing. Another very nice idea is the one from Ryota Kuwakubo – Japan. The idea is to take a very simple game, here in our case a battle between 2 spaceships, and change one single rule or parameter. The game becomes another one. In our example here, instead of playing the game in a flat screen, the players will need to play the game in a circular screen. So that if you shoot the other spaceship and you miss, then the bullet will come back again, by going around. Here in the video it is José Luis de Vicente himself who explains the idea.

Another interesting topic about video gaming is about the fact that  when we play a game, actually we create our own virtual character, or avatar. We play a role. So the question about identity is very interesting and is probably the most fascinating part of playing a game. There is always a very personal relationship between the player and his avatar. When a player start a game, the carnal and pixelized bodies are connected, that is why we cannot help shouting, jumping around or waving arms. This special relationship between the player and the avatar brings the video game industry to rethink about Joysticks and remote controls.

Playtime_avatar

The online games also allowed players to live situations that they would never be able to live them on real life. With the avatar, you can be who you want to be, a better you?

So the exhibition is from March 11th to the 9th of December 2012 in Yverdon-les-Bains in Switzerland at La Maison d’Ailleurs. You can check the dedicated website for the exhibition here: http://playtime.ailleurs.ch. You can also get more information about La Maison d’Ailleurs on its official website: http://www.ailleurs.ch.

At the end of the exhibition, we can also visit the Jules Verne space, which is a amazing library. There, you can see some well known video games on their historical traditional version.Here a picture of Tetris and Angry birds. Funny.
playtime_tetris
Playtime_angrybirds

So how about a little game then?
LA

 

Info sourced at official vernissage of Playtime at La Maison d’Ailleurs in Yverdon. All images are copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.

 

Luxury for everyone ?

LuxuryActivist
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1
Reading Time: 3 minutes

On Tuesday 27 March, in London, has been presented the new ad campaign from the famous tour operator lastminute.com (known most of all for its affordable online hotel, travel and leisure offers), in the luxurious and trendy hotel W Leicester Square.

The event took place in Suite 717, big enough to welcome the guests and give a good idea of the services you are proposed in such a hotel category. But small enough as well, not to feel lost and have a chance to meet with the event organizers. Lastminute.com loves bloggers as this evening was definitely dedicated to them.

The purpose of this event was to show the new ad campaign who plays on the fact that, even with a small budget, you can reach the luxury hotels category, by booking online (at the last minute!), and be proud of it! Now, following the campaign, 4 or 5* hotels are reachable thanks to the website, at the price of a 3* hotel.

The creative, which features ordinary people in extraordinary locations (see pictures), brings to life lastminute.com’s brand promise of making the unattainable attainable, for everyone.

lastminute_com

lastminute_com

If you pass by the British capital city from the 30 March, you will be able to view the print ads – which target London’s commuter population – with a cover wrap of Metro. Additionally, outdoor advertising will appear in London train stations from April 2012. Lastminute.com’s owned channels, Facebook and Twitter, will also be used to tap in to customers’ spontaneity whilst out and about.

Kathy Maxwell, Head of Brand and PR at lastminute.com UK and Ireland said “To us, this creative is more than a rebrand, it marks a transformation of our business, our next chapter. We have identified our core value proposition and are focused on letting people know why they should come to us.”

Beside the fact that the idea of democratising luxury may be a beautiful idea, the question now is: what is luxury, if luxury is attainable for everyone?

It followup their “TOP SECRET SELECTION” in which you can book top 4* and 5* hotels in a complete discretion. The name of the hotel will be shown only on the confirmation email.

Bloggers could enjoy the new campaign by participating into a evening photo shooting in which they could see themselves in the photo campaign context. See here below our UK correspondent for Luxuryactivist:
FT_luxuryactivist.com

The Creative campaign is definitely playing on the sense of humor and still, putting people on stage in exceptional situations. For more information, check the official website: http://www.lastminute.com.

In any case, this shows that luxury has became an aim for many people, not only for wealthy ones, as we can see it since a few years now, not only in the travel industry, but as well in fashion, or cars. And when large tour operator like lastminute.com are interested in it, maybe it means that this idea is already a mainstream today.

Time to move forward… But what’s the new era?

FT

 

Info sourced on last minute.com event and press release. All images copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.

Allure Homme Sport Eau Extrême, disappointing.

José Amorim
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1
Reading Time: 5 minutes

La Maison Chanel is revealing this week a new fragrance, Allure Homme Sport Eau Extrême, a flanker of Allure Homme Sport, already a flanker of Allure Homme. Purely disappointing. On the feminine side, Chanel always makes us dream. N.5 Eau Première was a beautiful creation and the Exclusive collection is for most of them real wonders. But in the masculine side, creation stopped with Egoiste in 1990.

EauExtreme

With Allure Homme Sport Eau Extrême, we have a less peaceful sport as we are moving from sailing to surfing. On the main advertising we can see the worldwide surfer Danny Fuller. He is officially the Brand sport spokesperson. In the adverting video we can see Fuller in the art of action. Check it here:

In term of Flacon, nothing really new. In deed we can see the original Allure Homme Sport flacon in a darker grey version. It is supposed to express the more intense version of the original fragrance.

Allure Homme Sport Eau Extrême

We cannot really say that there is a big artistic will behind this creation. The flacon and the name makes us think about the 1984 Dior Eau Sauvage Extrême. Same color universe, and almost same name. Don’t you think? Actually the Dior flacon is much more elegant and edgy.

Dior Eau Sauvage Extrême

In terms of fragrance, we have here a quite disappointing juice. There is a kind of minty note that brings a kind of functional aspect into the headnotes. As soon as the fragrance develops, it gets better but this start is hard. I would compare it with the 2010 rework made by François Demachy of the Eau Sauvage Extrême. Also with a Mint note that makes things much less elegant. I will not talk about Bleu de Chanel that was definitely a commercial product without Chanel soul. We wonder what is happening with Chanel as they were one of the leading fragrance houses for men in the 90’s. Flashback!

1955 POUR MONSIEUR
Pour Monsieur Chanel

A timeless elegant fresh aromatic fragrance. Pour Monsieur remains the gentlemen’s fragrance by Chanel. The coriander and the cardamom here brings a fresh, sparkling and chic touch in a traditional fragrance structure. Basically the perfect companion for the N.5 woman.

1981 ANTAEUS
Antaeus chanel

Not the big hit by Chanel but definitely in coherence with the power muscle of the 80’s. A strong leather fragrance for powerful man. The Advertising shown the mythological fight between Heracles and Antaeus a semi-giant. he only way to defeat him was to lift him from the ground so the contact with the ground (his source of power) does not exist anymore. Interesting fragrance but not an easy one, especially in the world of today.

1990 EGOÏSTE / 1993 EGOÏSTE PLATINUM

Egoïste was the big hit for Chanel. Or I should say Egoïste Platinum. Basically the first Egoïste was a tremendous spicy and woody fragrance with a clear distinctive trail. It got famous by this incredible advertising that challenged all the creative minds at that time. In order to make it a big worldwide hit, Chanel launched in 1993 the Platinum version. More fresh, orange flower than the original one. It is still one of the most sold fragrances inside Chanel. In some countries like France it is still ranked one of the top 50 best selling fragrances. The 2 versions deserves the attention as they are both beautiful creations. Interesting fact: when Chanel wanted to launch Egoïste in the USA, they realized that there was already another fragrance registered in the US administration with that name. As the launch was eminent, they decided to launch it in the US under the variant name L’EGOÏSTE with an L. It stayed many years in this way and after a while it changed.

1999 ALLURE HOMME
Allure homme chanel

We all remember the advertising of the masculine version of Allure. We could see accomplished men with lot of charisma like olympic champions, architects of businessmen. In terms of product it is a true Chanel made of olfactive paradoxes. It was a fresh oriental fragrance in which the sparkling power of green notes was playing and wrapping the soft and warm touch of woods and Tonka beans. A beautiful fragrance, understated and simply Chanel. An interesting commercial success at the beginning but then the marketing concept got a little tired.

2004 ALLURE HOMME SPORT
allure homme sport

With Allure Homme Sport, Chanel brought a big commercial hit into the market with a very interesting fragrance and reinterpretation of the Allure Homme Flacon in metal. The dazzling freshness and the soft yet strong masculine background makes it a nice, sportive and chic fragrance for men. It was one of the first modern worldwide hits simultaneously in Europe and the USA. Definitely the biggest hit of the Allure Homme line. I will not talk about the different flankers of this flanker but note that we had:

2008 ALLURE HOMME EDITION BLANCHE
2008 ALLURE HOMME SPORT COLOGNE SPORT
2012 ALLURE HOMME SPORT EAU EXTREME

2010 BLEU
bleu chanel

Here we cannot say that Chanel showed the best they had. Lot of people say that it is not a Chanel, others tend to believe that was a launch for the US and finally some others just wait for better days. Probably Bleu became more known because Martin Scorsese directed the ad film rather than for the product itself. Here again a Mint note trying to bring a efficient freshness that looses all the mystery and the feeling we are wearing an expensive fragrance. No interest.

So now with Allure Homme Sport Eau Extrême, we have a kind of half-Chanel and the big question is: why do they not come up with a great Chanel for men?
Waiting for an answer…
LA

 

Info sourced at chanel.com, osmoz.com, lecritiquedeparfum.blogspot.com, www.nstperfume.com. All inages are copyrighted and no reproduction rights available. 

Parvez Taj, the french collection!

LuxuryActivist
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0
Reading Time: < 1

Parvez Taj is launching a new event on Gilt. He is presenting his new artwork around a beautiful collection called the “French Collection”.

From the Grand Roue de Paris to Val D’isere and Charmonix in the French Alps, Parisian locales and the city charm are the inspiration for Parvez Taj’s latest collection.

Parvez uses Acrylic and water paints, photography, software and UV cured inks to create his signature style of wall art. in this collection the artist really brought his vision on this french feeling of different icons of the french culture like the parisian metro. All in a very arty way.

See here an interesting film that shows the artist’s inspiration:

There is an event starting Thursday 22nd March on GILT!!!
So you can check it out here: http://www.gilt.com/home/sale/parvez-taj-230

If you want to check more about the artist, please connect to the official website:
http://www.parveztaj.com

Ready for a french touch?
LA

 

Info sourced at official press release and official artist website. All images are copyrighted, No reproduction rights available.

 

2012 Watch-Making Industry, the war has begun!

Sebastien Eich
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2
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Baselworld is going on very well this year. We expect more than 100,000 visitors, 3,000 journalists from 70 countries and the Markets are confident. This confidence comes from watch customers willing to buy at all levels of price. So the increasing demand brings watch Brands to review their production facilities and the supply chain. And here, the stress starts as the risk will be to lack of components. Swatch, Richemont and LVMH dominates the market and the race for components availability makes companies to purchase small swiss businesses to supply their demands. War has started.

swatch-group

It all started with a simple yet striking announcement made by Nicolas Hayek, CEO of the Swatch Group by the end of 2009:

“We no longer intend to produce or deliver to third-party watchmakers“

Eta-LogoThis sentence sounded like a big bomb. In deed, only a few watch brands do everything in-house. Most of the brands we know, they purchase some components, especially the mechanisms, to companies like ETA. But the thing is that ETA belongs to the Swatch group and if tomorrow they stop delivering competition, this might make a big cleaning in the watch market. Mr Hayek explained that by stopping the deliveries to competitors, they would lose around 7% of their annual sales (around 300 million dollars). It would be a lost they would be happy to bare as this would possible erase some competitor’s brand, especially at Richemont Group.

Since then, we assisted each year to amazing announcements of global international watch brands purchasing small swiss components manufactures. And here is a small list of recent financial operations.

Already in 2007, the Richemont group purchased the component sector of the swiss watch maker Roger Dubuis. This was already a strategic move towards a more independent approach in terms of supply chain. In the same year, the Geneva group buys Donzé-Baume, maker of luxury bracelets and cases.

ROGER-DUBUIS

2012 is the year of the component race. Hermès announced the partial purchase of Joseph Erard, maker of luxury watch cases in the beginning of the year. Now, the latest news say they would also purchase Natéber, a small company from La-Chaux-de-Fond, producing watch Dials.

Joseph-erard

nateber

March 2012, Louis Vuitton announces the buy of Léman Cadrans, a geneva based company, specialized on the production of luxury Dials. Last year LV already has announced the purchase of La Fabrique du Temps, a specialized workshop building watch movements and specific complications like tourbillons and Repetitions minute. Louis Vuitton launched its first watch 10 years ago and since 2002, all watches are produced in a manufacture in La-Chaux-de-Fond.

la-fabrique-du-temps

Patek Philippe, one of the unique high-class swiss watch Brands, announced that they will not get into this war as they have already invested into their supply chain. According to Thierry Stern: “Many companies are behind in their investments and are motivated to strengthen their Production. But these are things we have already done“. But we know, this situation is not that simple as Patek Philippe depends on a company called Nivarox, a Swatch Group company. Nivarox has a almost-monopole on “echappements“, a crucial component in the luxury watch making. So? Not that easy.

nivarox

Tag Heuer, the giant Watch Brand, which belongs to LVMH, is doing trials to replace Nivarox spirals by Atokalpa ones. Tag Heuer is working with Sandoz foundation, owner of Atokalpa, to make that change. Jean Christophe Babin, CEO of Tag, announced that Nivarox did not want to renew the contract with Tag as it arrived into an end this year. Will Tag Heuer be able to make this move? The arrival of Bulgari Watches will also make a difference in terms of component production.

atokalpa

The last news I got in the corridors of Baselworld last week was the purchase of Prothor  Holdings SA for about 5.76 billion yen. Inside Prothor, there are 2 interesting companies. The first one is the luxury watch manufacturer Arnold & Son SA. The second one is the mechanical movements makes La Joux-Perret SA. This time it is the Japanese who gets into the component race.

arnold-and-son

L-JOUX-PERRET

So which one is next? Today we realize that the label “Swiss Made” is not only a national treasure but it worth money in the world market. In a small industry with around 3,000 companies, competition is key and most of the brands realizes that in 2013, the production of components might dicrease because of the different Groups strategies. So, we might attend to a U-Turn in the Watch industry in which we will separate the true Watch-manufacturers from the others.

Watch-out!

LA

 

All info sourced in Les Echos, Worldtempus, Herald Tribune, Wall Street journal, Le Monde, and the different Watch brands official websites. All images are copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. 

 

Le Printemps in Paris, a success story.

LuxuryActivist
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Reading Time: 3 minutes

After a long period of renovation and a brilliant reveal of last year Christmas windows with Vanessa Paradis and Karl Lagerfeld, we see that Le Printemps became THE Parisian destination for luxury shopping in France.

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Le Printemps was founded in 1865 by Jules Jaluzot and Jean-Alfred Duclos. Jules Jaluzot was considered as a “self-made” man. He was one of the biggest entrepreneurs of that time, very charismatic and social. After learning the business at Le Bon Marché, he gets married with Augustine Figeac in 1864.

jules_Jalouzot

She is a member of La Comédie Française and she brings to the couple a quite big dowry of 300,000 francs. Thanks to this money, he can create with Jean-Alfred Duclos the french department store Le Printemps on November 3rd 1865.

To remind the different inauguration dates:

  • Le Bon Marché: 1838
  • BHV: 1856
  • Le Printemps: 1865
  • La Samaritaine: 1869
  • Les Galeries Lafayette: 1895

Le Printemps has a great history of innovation and modernity. The original building is expanded in 1874 and elevators were installed which was a great innovation at that time. They were the same presented for the first time at the 1867 Universal Exhibition.

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Figures of the Four Seasons were scupted by french artist Henri Chapu. Rebuilt after a fire in 1881, the store became proudly the first Department store with electric lighting. It was also the first Department store in Paris to have a direct access to the subway after its inauguration in 1904.

In this year, Jaluzot is replaced by Gustave Languionie as the business almost collapsed.

A remarkable feature of the Haussmann store is an elaborate cupola above the main restaurant in the store, installed during the 1923 reconstruction. In 1939, to avoid the risk that it would be destroyed in bombing attacks, the cupola was dismantled and stored.

In the beginning of the 70’s, the oil crisis brings down the french economy and Le Printemps becomes a corporation acquired by the Maus Frères Group. Led by Jean-Jacques Delort, the firm changes of strategy and creates specialty stores and Brands like Armand Thierry (clothes), Disco (food) and La Redoute (mail).

All Le Printemps businesses were acquiered by François Pinault in 1991 and merged with other holding into Pinaud-Printemps-Redoute, well known as PPR group. It brought a new dimension to Le Printemps, focusing more into beauty, lifestyle, fashion, accessories and men’s wear.

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In 2006, PPR sells several of its luxury activities and Le Printemps is sold to the Italian group Borletti.  Since then, Le Printemps stepped into a path of high-end luxury and the aim of Le Printemps is to become THE DESTINATION for luxury and lifestyle shopping in Europe.

Today’s CEO is Paolo Di Cesare, and his goal is to poursuit the transformation of Printemps.

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Do not hesitate to visit the Department Store official website: http://www.printemps.com to keep updated on the latest news, animations or new services.

LA

 

Info sourced at Le Printemps official website, wikipedia and lejournaldunet.com. All images are copyrighted and no reproduction rights available.

 

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