Traditionally, watchmakers held their breath as they dipped the assembled tourbillon in oil the first time, lest a month of painstaking work should suddenly collapse in front of their eyes. Nevertheless, the sheer challenge of realising the movement in wristwatch format, combined with the arresting visual impact of the result, has obsessed watchmakers and collectors alike for generations. Some experts view this movement as overkill in a wristwatch, which, unlike a pocket watch, changes position all the time. This worked by mounting the entire escapement assembly, which contains the balance wheel, in a cage that rotates once a minute, to average out gravitational distortions. The tourbillon was originally developed for pocket watches, to compensate for the distorting effects of gravity on the watch movement. A movement known as the “tourbillon”, renowned for being exquisitely difficult to manufacture and therefore rarely attempted, is becoming commonplace thanks to new design and production techniques. While TAG Heuer innovates in a deliberately flashy way, a more discreet, yet no less profound, revolution is occurring amongst the haut de gamme watchmakers in Switzerland. A commercial version should be on the market in 2007. And for those with a taste for the avant-garde, the Monaco V4 concept watch uses miniature drive belts rather than gears to power the movement-in the fashion of a car engine. It boasts one-thousandth of a second precision, normally seen only in larger quartz clocks. More cheekily, the face of the watchmaker's Monaco Sixty Nine concept watch swivels to reveal a digital display on the backside. This gives the device a one-hundredth of a second chronometer precision-the first time such accuracy has been achieved in a wristwatch. This involved designing an ultra-elastic strap without a clasp, and reducing the weight to an imperceptible 55 grams, all through the use of novel materials.Īnother technological novelty that TAG Heuer started marketing this year is the Calibre 360 concept chronograph, where the balance wheel oscillates at 360,000 vibrations per hour, more than ten times faster than ordinary mechanical watches.
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For example, Tiger Woods collaborated on the design of the TAG Heuer Golf watch, to achieve a device that could be worn by a golf pro without disturbing his game.
TAG Heuer is especially visible, with its clever association between top celebrities and new technology. The more progressive Swiss producers are adapting new strategies to appeal to a younger and more technophile clientele. Partly as a result, the market for Swiss luxury watches in America is growing at nearly 15% annually, almost twice the European rate. Many nouveaux riches from the recent dotcom and telecom booms, who are looking for original ways to spend their IPO gains, are drawn naturally to trinkets that reflect their affinity with technological progress. Yet, alongside such pillars of traditional craftsmanship are an increasing number of producers who see high-tech innovation as the best way to create new markets. Only a limited edition of seven of these masterpieces, which contain over 800 parts, will ever be assembled, and each one should fetch well in excess of $1m. This timepiece boasts a record 16 “complications”-the term used to describe all the other mechanical tricks that a watch performs besides telling the time, such as displaying Geneva sunrise and sunset times. Consider, for example, the Tour de l'Ile launched by the venerable Geneva firm Vacheron Constantin last year to mark its 250th anniversary.
Of course, diamond decorations can push prices arbitrarily high, and customers will still pay vast sums for traditional craftsmanship. And for anyone who thought a $5,000 Rolex was a bit pricey, a visit to some of Geneva's chic lakeside watch boutiques, where the more exclusive brands start their collections at around $100,000, provides an eye-opener.įor anyone who thought a $5,000 Rolex was a bit pricey, a visit to some of Geneva's chic lakeside watch boutiques, where the more exclusive brands start their collections at around $100,000, provides an eye-opener. But with over 50% of Swiss sales coming from the top 10% of watches by price, there is no doubt that luxury is where the Swiss excel. Granted, a good deal of that was due to the cheap and cheerful likes of Swatch, or medium-range brands such as Tissot. Last year, the Swiss watch industry, which dominates the world market for luxury watches, sold a bumper $9.6 billion-worth of goods.
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