RESETTING THE CLOCK
“Disruption” may be the buzzword on everyone’s lips — indeed, can one recall anything new, from a start-up company to a cupcake, that hasn’t been deemed “disruptive” in the past few years? — but until the past 12 months few of us had much notion of what the word really entails, or how devastating its effects can be. Because 2020 has been a year during which almost everything has been turned upside down, a fact that’s as true for the watch industry as it is for so many other spheres of human concern, from the global economy to the simple existential impulse of staying alive and healthy.
Even without the arrival of Covid-19, the disappearance from the calendar of Baselword and the transformation of SIHH into Watches and Wonders would have shaken up the industry. But as a result of the pandemic, the almost total suspension of watch shows and product launches in any physical sense may well have marked the emergence of an entirely new reality. Perhaps no longer will manufacturers, retailers, the press and enthusiasts gather in a single place and at the same time each year to gaze at through loupes, fondle and strap on to wrists, Tweet and Instagram images and videos of, and simply lust over the latest novelties from Geneva, La Chaux-de-fonds, Le Locle, Glashütte and Morioka. Instead, we’ll log on and watch virtual unveilings via our phones, tablets and laptops — and, quite possibly, rarely get to appreciate any of these new releases in the metal at all.
At this juncture, it’s hard to say whether that’s entirely a bad thing, unless, of course, you happen to run a hotel in Geneva or Basel, or you’re a small or emerging brand with little to no advertising budget that needs the oxygen of publicity offered by shows to stay in business. Manufacturers can now release novelties at any time of the year they please, rather than presenting them all in a single drop, either in January or March — and, moreover, there may not now be a six-month delay between an item’s unveiling and its eventual appearance in shop windows (by which time we’ve probably forgotten about it anyway). From the enthusiast’s point of view it could even be a good thing: after traipsing around a watch fair for three days, a degree of fatigue does tend to set in, though we’ll miss those convivial evenings sitting around steaming pans of fondue (if not the indigeston several hours later).
Whatever the future may bring, it seems certain that this new reality, if that is what it is, won’t dent our passion for watchmaking and the diversity of delightful ways of recording the passage time that it’s responsible for. And in that spirit, it’s our pleasure to present you with the best of the year’s releases in this first edition of Prestige’s annual watch magazine that now goes under the name Calibre. Time for a change? Definitely, but remember: tout ça change, tout c’est la mệme chose.