Hello welcome on TheWATCHES.tv, welcome at
TheWATCHES.club and welcome on a special edition
of PRIMETIME mainly dedicated on what just
happened here in Geneva with the first and
probably only multi-brand event of 2020.
But on the 1st of September Rolex also revealed
some new watches, naturally taking over the
entire blogosphere and getting people unsurprisingly
crazy, but on that very same day we have something
even more important which happened as we are
celebrating the 9th anniversary of TheWATCHES.tv.
Can you imagine this??
Already 9 years that we cover our beloved
watchmaking industry and I take this opportunity
to thank you for watching us and for your
support and interaction, of course a very
special thanks to our Patrons making this
possible and you are all welcome to join,
link somewhere below, in the corner up here
and you are now more than 127’000 subscribed
to this channel and this totally fills us
with joy and truly inspires us to do much
more, still so many stories to tell.
So who says 9th anniversary means that next
year will be a very special year and we are
working on a pretty sexy surprise and we will
naturally come back on this in the next few months.
So let’s go back to PRIMETIME and today
we will go over some of the things seen during
the Geneva Watch Days, but not necessarily
covered with our individual video reports
and for info we haven’t yet published all
of them, so more good stuff coming your way
and before talking watches just wanted to
say a couple of things about the event itself
and simply how fantastically good it felt
to see and meet people from the watchmaking
family, wether brand people not seen since
a little while, watch aficionados, retailers
and of course my fellow journalist colleagues.
Everyone was just happy to see each other,
there was a super vibe to it and it really
pointed out quite explicitly the importance
and pertinence of such gatherings for the
good of the industry.
And I’m not saying that it was nice to see
old friends, it wasn’t only like a good
old alumni school reunion, but it was actually
useful.
Brands made business, some even surprised
by it, brands presented some of their new
pieces and people got excited and contributing
to a much-needed forward going momentum
considering the context.
Ok, the downside is that maybe we’ll soon
hear about the Geneva Watchmaking Covid Cluster
soon, but I sincerely doubt it, proper measures
were taken, masks were worn and so forth,
but really this event gave us all a nice breath
of fresh air, weather was beautiful and for
some journalists coming for the first time
to Geneva at this period compared to often
pale weather experienced during the SIHH still
in winter, it made them discover another rather
pleasant facet of Geneva and some people even
came from another time period to participate
in this event.
Anyhow for me the most important thing that
came out apart from this positive signal that
the watchmaking planet is still turning is
that events can be done differently and
I guess this was a real eye-opener for some.
Just last week on this channel I talked about
the situation regarding where we stand when
it comes to the watch shows for 2021, the
future of Watches & Wonders etc., but now
I am pretty sure that what has just been experienced
will indeed greatly influence what will happen
next year.
First of all, the decentralised format which
enabled brands to do more or less like they
wanted, spend according to what they can, have
this informal feel to it, well all this really
worked.
People that attended came because they really
wanted it and not because they were invited,
meaning ie. flights and lodging paid for them,
it was their own commitment and I have to
say that this automatically filtered the ones
that really care about watchmaking instead
of bringing fashion bloggers and the likes
whose interest for mechanical art can be slightly
questioned and is ultimately paid by brands
at some great expense.
So to make it short, brands officially participating
were scattered around 5-6 hotels, but all
quite next to one another and you do have
to remember that Geneva is a village, so it
was really easy to go from one meeting to
the other and then you had some other brands
which benefited from this, having their little
things going on throughout the city, but that’s
all fine.
You had for instance FP Journe which hosted
a special exhibition celebrating the 20th
anniversary of the Chronomètre à Résonance
and we’ll soon come with something special
on this, just a little teaser.
Well all in all, this was a great experience,
a bit of a mix of what used to exist at Baselworld
with the Palace for those of you who remember
this and the Dubai Watch Week and I firmly
believe that this is the way to go.
We will most probably have some kind of big
event in April with the big players in Geneva’s
convention hall, but now I really hope that
this Geneva Watch Days format will indeed
be developed upon and that many other brands
will be able to enjoy and participate in a
great watchmaking week here in Geneva.
Of course one has to take into consideration
the special Covid circumstances of the moment
and this naturally limited the number of people
being able to attend, but at the same time
I think brands did a pretty good job with
their digital presence and exemplifies nicely
what a “phygical” event will look like
in the future and there is naturally room
for improvement, but this was already a very
good start and I would like to thank the initiative
and the risks taken by Bulgari and Breitling
in pushing to pull this off, bravo and thank you
and also proves that big players and much
smaller outfits can co-exist, well actually
they need to co-exist.
It’s not one against the other, it’s beneficial
to the entire watch ecosystem.
Ok, enough about the event and let’s now
talk about some of the watches seen there
with a small recap of the things we didn’t
cover in our previous videos.
But before getting there and instead of doing
a wrist shot of what I am wearing, just wanted
to show you a pretty cool time-telling object
which now stands in our Old Town Club.
This clock is called Sculpture of Time and
the idea is pretty simple.
As you can see, you have a linear 24-hour
scale starting at 6am till 6pm and you have
this marker which moves ever so slowly and
indicating the actual time.
Ok, hard to see the precise minute, but that’s
not what this object is about, just a visual
allegory of time passing by and I quite like
this dimension of this limited Swiss-made object.
Alright and now watches and we were very happy
to see in the flesh the new Bovet Récital R26
Brainstorm Chapter 2 coming in this very
original monobloc sapphire case where this
beautiful tourbillon movement is fitted on
the case back and cleverly attached to the case.
This new model will come in slightly different
versions and the one we got to see was the
blue quartz version limited to 10 pieces but
overall 60 R26 Chapter 2 will be produced,
usual production numbers for Bovet for these
kinds of exceptional timepieces.
You have a moon phase indicator at 9 o’clock,
a universal time indicator at 3 and as always
the level of execution is simply stunning
and fully demonstrating the brand’s commitment
to fine craftsmanship, just look at the finishing
of this timepiece, just incredible.
One original feature is the linear 5-day power
reserve indicator seen at 12 o’clock between
the lugs and what I really liked is that you
feel like this movement is kind of floating
within this transparent case, really spectacular
and though the watch is rather big, almost
48mm in width but it strangely doesn’t feel
this big.
Then we saw the new version of the Virtuoso
8, also a flying tourbillon, but this time
coming with 10 days of power reserve, you
can see the indicator at 10 o’clock on this
dedicated sub-dial, central hour and minute
hands and a big date indicator at 2 o’clock
and the date is very simply set by pushing
a small button found on the crown at 12 o’clock.
Size of this timepiece is 44mm, comes either
in a pink or white gold case and as the R26
comes in this signature sloped writing desk
shaped case, but now they just added like
a small delicately engraved wave 
which really brings a little something.
Overall this new timepiece will be limited
to 50 pieces.
Ok, next brand and actually this will also
be a little teaser as we got to see the new
Ferdinand Berthoud FB2, a totally new timepiece
for them, new rounded case design in comparison
to the octagonal-shaped FB1, new movement,
not a tourbillon, but it still uses fusée-chaine
mechanism dear to them and when I said little
teaser, I just wanted to tell you guys that
very shortly we will do a full video on it
and share much more details about its making
and some super interesting facts regarding
its timekeeping performances achieved with
this new movement.
We then saw the new Ulysse Nardin Blast models
coming in a 45mm case, a case with some strong
design elements with these angled and faceted
lugs and open-worked features and there’s
a very modern feel for this tourbillon watch
coming in 4 different materials: titanium,
black or white ceramic, as well as rose gold version.
Mechanically speaking, I quite liked how they
fitted the rotor of this automatic watch directly
on the barrel, quite ingenious and nice looking.
But for me the highlight was this pretty cool
mask I received there and yes Ulysse Nardin
is really going full-on with their shark inspired
communication campaigns.
At URWERK we go to see a one-off version of
the UR-T8, that’s their flipping timepiece
introduced a few years ago, but here presented
with these dinosaur inspired engravings and
to engrave titanium is quite a challenge.
I have to say that it’s pretty enjoyable
to flip it around, feels really cool and solid
at the same time.
So on one side you have this scenery and on
the other side you will find the signature
satellite time telling display and for the
little fun I went to visit them wearing my
very own “cheap” version of this mechanism
with my Gorilla watch.
Ok, I know this was a bit provocative, but
we had good laughs anyhow.
And I just wanted to say that they will soon
introduce a new timepiece, an evolution of
one of my favorite watches of all time and
we will get back to you with another report
on this one in the near future.
I know, just a bit of additional teasing ;)
And then we went off to see Jacob & Co who
showed us the latest version of their crazy
Bugatti Chiron timepiece with this amazing
engine animation and I know there is not much
purpose to it, but it’s nevertheless such
a cool thing to activate, always gets me going!
They modified a few things compared to the
model with had showcased on this chanel, for
instance they slightly spreaded out the three
crowns which actually makes it much more convenient
to wind and trigger this animation and there
has also been a few tweaks on the case design
as to make it even closer to the design of
the supercar.
Then we were shown another crazy timepiece
called the Phoenix and based on the Astronomia
coming with this imposing and spectacular
beast taking almost the full volume available.
It’s made out of solid gold, it’s initially
casted and then an artisan took months to
engrave it and just look at all the details,
really quite something and as you can expect
this is a unique piece, quite heavy on the
wrist, but since you need pretty large wrists
to wear it, I guess it won’t be much of
a problem for the future owner of this extravagant
watch.
But since we were there and since Jacob is
first and foremost a jeweller, well we got
to see something really unique with this unique
ring featuring an amazing 44-carat Paraiba
Tourmaline stone.
Just look at that colour and how this thing
reflects the light and we weren’t even in
a very luminous room but this stone was shining
in a completely hypnotical manner.
Ok, we’re getting a bit out of our watchmaking
universe, but still wanted to share this with
you, not every day that we will come across
something like this!
Well we did see some other interesting things,
but we didn’t have the time to shoot everything,
but again, for me these Geneva Watch Days
have been a very interesting experience, one
that hopefully will set a precedent 
and one to be repeated I hope.
Kind of a game-changer and I am pretty convinced
that those who were initially really sceptical
about this concept have now totally changed
their minds, brands who were hesitant in participating
probably have a few regrets and I say this
because most of the people we talked too were
really happy on the business side as well.
So not only did it send a positive message,
but most importantly it proved its reason
of being; events can be done at a much lower
cost, more down to earth, more efficient and
this naturally makes me very happy for the
industry if this new way of doing things will
now be embraced by additional players.
So on this positive note, we will now share
a few words from Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO
of Bulgari and initiator of the event on his
view about the Geneva Watch Days and again
bravo for pulling this off!
Viva Watchmaking, Viva new ways of doing things
and I will shortly hand the mike to Mr Babin
but for those who haven’t seen them, well
we did produce a few videos regarding MB&F
and their new Tripod clock made with L’Epée,
H. Moser and their centre second three-hander
Streamliner, Reuge and their beautiful musical
automatons, De Bethune and a special and sexy
DB28 and still coming in the next few days
we have something on Breitling and a new timepiece
but most importantly we wanted to understand
where the brand is standing today and where
it is going, another video on Bulgari and
yet another record for the thinnest automatic
chronograph tourbillon and the reintroduction
of the Aluminium collection, also a report
on new Czapek, not totally new, but a new
animation and finally one on Maurice Lacroix
and the 20th anniversary of the Pontos collection.
So yes, a few extra videos for you guys.
Enjoy, see real soon
and thanks for watching and sharing!
Love you all, see you soon.
