The luxury watch market has matured significantly over the past decade. The driving force behind this has been the huge boom in luxury sports watches that began around 2015. Following this qualitative expansion, discerning watch enthusiasts are now shifting their interest from fashion to timepieces that will stand the test of time. So what kind of watches could become the horological heritage of the future? Special contributions by renowned journalists and interviews with experts shed light on the qualities of masterpieces that connect the past and the future.
Edited by Yuto Hosoda (Chronos-Japan), Hiroyuki Suzuki
[Article published in the July 2024 issue of Kronos Japan]
Makers of the Future of Watches ① Parmigiani Fleurier CEO "Guido Tereni"
CEO of Parmigiani Fleurier. Graduated with a degree in Business Administration from Luigi Bocconi University. Joined Bulgari in 2000. After serving as Marketing Director, he became Head of the Watch Division. He has held his current position since 2021. Having led the company to success with the Tonda PF, he has perfected an ambitious "trick."
Guido Terreni, who previously held the helm at Bulgari before moving on to become CEO of Parmigiani Fleurier, is a man with a calm, forward-looking perspective. Perhaps no one is better qualified to discuss the future of watchmaking than him. COVID-19 and asset values have dramatically altered the watch market. How does he view these market changes?
The conditions for a masterpiece are a distinctive aesthetic, principles, brand size and clientele.
"The change that has occurred over the past two or three years has been speculation in watches. There are two reasons for this. One is that COVID-19 has caused the watch industry to stop production. As far as I can remember, production has only been halted during World War II and the COVID-19 period. However, even in times like these, people still celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Travel is also not possible. As a result, people start looking at books and websites. Many people now have the time to read books and become familiar with high-end watches, and Hirota's business has flourished (laughs)."
He continues, "While the discontinuation of production led to shortages, the number of people wanting watches increased. As a result, the watch market skyrocketed. Prices of complicated watches in particular more than tripled. Under these circumstances, many people saw value in watches, and those who didn't want to wait wanted to get their hands on one right away. This is when flippers (sellers) came on the scene, and the watch market became like the stock market. It's actually harder to make money from watches than stocks, though. But now that production has recovered, sell-outs have fallen, flippers have reached saturation, the value and prices of watches have fallen, and the secondary market has stabilized to where it was about five years ago."
Tereni cited Vacheron Constantin's Historiques Américaine 1921 as an example of a masterpiece from another manufacturer. "This is my favorite watch. It's original, extremely beautiful, and has style. I also think the Patrimony is a good watch."
That's certainly true. That's why we need masterpieces that will remain in the future.
"A competitive balance is necessary (laughs). Jokes aside, it is important for all masterpieces to have unique characteristics. They must be original. And aesthetics are important. Of course, the content is important, but what many people fall in love with is the appearance. And that style needs to continue for 100 or 120 years. To achieve this, the design needs to be something that people will never tire of or get tired of."
However, Tereni says that design alone does not make a masterpiece.
"Another element is principle, discipline. Being a brand is important. I'm not criticizing in any way, but I think Gerald Genta was a creative person, but he lacked management skills. It was both Genta and the manufacturers who made the Royal Oak and Nautilus icons. It was a 50/50 situation, and without either of them they wouldn't have become masterpieces. Incidentally, some brands haven't made any progress in the last 30 years. They're just making replicas of things from the past or making adjustments. Luxury must evolve creatively, and that's what I want it to be."
What kind of watch is a masterpiece, specifically?
"Bvlgari's Octo Finissimo could become a masterpiece. It's ultra-thin, innovative, suitable for everyday use, and has an iconic style. I'd like to see the Tonda and Trick become like that as well, but the collections are too young to know what their future holds. Also, we're a niche brand, so it may be difficult for us to become iconic. We have the elements to succeed as a brand. We have principles, we're distinctive, and we have the management skills. But I think we need a certain level of scale."
Bulgari's Octo Finissimo also ticks the boxes for what he considers a masterpiece: "The Royal Oak and Nautilus are undeniable masterpieces, but the Octo Finissimo may soon join them. It's ultra-thin, innovative, suitable for everyday use, and has an iconic style."
Singaporean journalist SJX also said that the size of the brand is important. However, in this age of the internet, if you make high-quality watches, customers will promote them on their own. It seems that the size of the company and the number of watches produced are no longer important.
"That brings us to the fourth element: our customers. Our brand image is also created by our customers. We are fortunate to already have a discerning clientele, so we can start from the top. If we succeed here, our followers will look up to us."
His approach will be successful, especially for those who crave quiet luxury, but if it's successful, other brands will copy it.
"If people are copying it, that's a good job (laughs). After all, the most copied watch is Rolex. As I said earlier, originality of design is what attracts discerning customers. To protect that, you need to continually improve the quality and protect your creativity. For example, to copy the Trick, you need to use a gold movement and excellent finishing. You have no choice but to create a top-notch product that makes it obvious at a glance whether it's fake or real just by looking at the back. To be honest, if someone can copy the Tonda PF or Tonda PF Sport, I'd love for them to do it (laughs)."
Although the brand is small, Tereni said he hopes the Tonda PF will also become an icon. "I thought the Parmigiani Fleurier icon would be the engraved bezel and guilloching. However, regular guilloching would look old-fashioned, so I made the pattern more detailed to give it a modern look."
When talking about a masterpiece, isn't it also necessary to consider its time period?
"Trends don't last forever. That's why I don't really like the term quiet luxury. I would rather say private luxury. True elegance, true luxury, is being true to yourself. Quiet luxury is a trend. When this is over, orange clothes might become a trend (laughs). There's a saying that customers are victims of fashion. They want the latest things, the things that everyone else has. We want the opposite."
The Tonda PF and Toric have large areas of empty space on the dial, which seems to leave the viewer with something to think about, in a good way.
"These two watches have a style with small indexes, a minute scale on the periphery, and a logo at 12 o'clock. They are slightly different, but the tricks are consistent with Parmigiani Fleurier. The reason we left space on the dial is to make the hands look attractive. To make it easier to read, we toned down the back, but it's important that it remains an icon."
This work demonstrates the principles and consistency that Tereni speaks of: "We went back to the values of 10 or 15 years ago. We didn't change the values, we just changed the interpretation. And since the role of a watch is to tell the time, we made the hands more legible so they're easier to read."
After joining Parmigiani Fleurier, Tereni first thought about design.
"Parmigiani Fleurier is a technical company, so we weren't used to thinking about aesthetics. We're not an old company, but we looked back at our history. I thought the bezel processing and guilloching were distinctive. The color palette is also extremely important. If you want Tiffany blue, go to Tiffany (laughs). There's no need for us to do that. What we need to have is consistency and principles as a brand. And we need to make things that match our customers. It would be inconsistent to produce modest watches and flashy ones at the same time. Color is one example of that."
