Personalization is the process of customizing an existing model to create a unique piece. While this has long been an approach in the automotive industry, it has only recently become popular in the watch industry. We will explore the efforts of various companies and consider what customers can enjoy through this service.
Shigeru Sugawara, Takuo Yoshida, and Yuto Hosoda (this magazine): Interviews and writing
Text by Shigeru Sugawara, Takuo Yoshida, Yuto Hosoda (Chronos-Japan)
Edited by Yuto Hosoda (Chronos-Japan)
[Article published in the July 2023 issue of Kronos Japan]
Column: Bentley
A century of personalization
Everyone has their own standards for what constitutes the finest. However, it is common to think of "one-of-a-kind" items that reflect one's own preferences, in other words, personalization, as the core of one's value standards. Personalization is spreading to the world of watches. Its origins are often said to have been inspired by the automotive industry. We explored the origins of personalization by looking at the stance of British luxury car manufacturer Bentley.
Order, bespoke, haute couture, and personalization... All of these can be replaced with the Japanese word "Otome."
London, the capital of the United Kingdom, is a fascinating city for men. After getting your measurements taken at Henry Poole on Savile Row, you can get shoes made at London Rob, a pipe at Dunhill, an attaché at Swain Edney, and finally, a car made at Bentley on Conduit Street. In the past, the first thing royalty and aristocrats from around the world would do when they visited London was to have their suit customised.
Even though times have changed, the idea that "custom-made" is the ultimate in British cars remains unchanged. Of course, even in the automotive field, where production has reached a level that can be considered the ultimate, the tradition of custom-made cars remains in ultra-luxury brands.
Bentley Motors is a long-established British automobile brand founded in 1919. The leather and wood used in the interiors are always available in the company's showroom as raw material samples, demonstrating how the company is able to create custom orders that go beyond the scope of today's typical automobiles.
The origins of the "bespoke" customization that continues to this day at Bentley go far beyond the small whims of customers, and can be traced back to the very birth of the automobile. In the early days of the automobile, every model was unique, reflecting the customer's purpose and personal tastes. It is also interesting to note that early automobiles were made by automobile manufacturers, who produced the engine and chassis, and coachbuilders, who built the body (who had previously worked on horse-drawn carts). After ordering a chassis from Bentley, customers would choose their preferred coachbuilder to mount the appropriate body.
The Mulliner Derivative is available as the highest specification for Bentley today. The name Mulliner comes from the world's oldest coachbuilder. Originally a separate company that produced Bentley bodies, Mulliner was absorbed into Bentley as a group of craftsmen, and went on to build the Bentley State Limousine, one of only two in the world, which was once the beloved car of Queen Elizabeth. The Bentley Bacalar, which was produced in 2021 with only 12 examples produced, is also a masterpiece that Mulliner has coachbuilt for the first time in a long time.
If you pursue the ultimate in anything, you will arrive at personalization. That formula remains unchanged to this day. (Takuo Yoshida)
Case 2: Jacob & Co.
High-end personalization that goes beyond specification changes
Manny Khoshbin, an American real estate mogul and famous car collector, owns the only car in the world that is a collaboration between Bugatti and Hermès, and he ordered a special watch from Jacob & Co. This watch is a dream come true, combining Bugatti, Hermès, and Jacob & Co.
Founded in New York in 1986 as a jeweler, Jacob & Co. (hereafter referred to as Jacob) entered the watch industry in 2002. From the beginning, the brand has specialized in custom-made watches for celebrities and the wealthy. Even in its regular collections, the variety of designs and materials is so great that each piece seems unique. Jacob formed a partnership with Bugatti in 19, and the following year launched its new line, the Bugatti Chiron.
This immediately caught the attention of Manny Khoshbin, who asked Jacob & Co. to personalize a watch to match his Chiron Hermès, a one-off Chiron model that he had custom ordered from Bugatti.
The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon, which appeals to car enthusiasts with its unique case design inspired by the body lines of the Bugatti Chiron, its structure modelled on the W16 engine and the animation of its 16 pistons moving up and down, is available in titanium, 18K gold and titanium with white ceramic coating, as well as a sapphire crystal model and a luxurious jewellery version. However, in order to match the design with the car, he chose the titanium with white ceramic coating model as the base model.
In a video, Khoshbin shows his interactions with Jacob from that point on until the design was finalized. First, the case color was Hermès's signature "Cle" color, the same as his Chiron Hermès car, but the initial design Jacob came up with was rather dull, so Khoshbin requested Bugatti-esque red accents.
Next, when I told him I wanted something a little more glamorous, he sent me a design that used gold on the exterior and movement, but I rejected it because it was far from the image of the Bugatti Chiron Hermès, which does not use gold.
In the end, the only gold accents were the engine pistons, which are fun to watch, and the case back is decorated with the Hermès horse motif, which is used on the interior and exterior of the car—officially Hermès approved, of course.
In Khoshbin's case, the design essentially involves modifying the base model, but Jacob is prepared to accommodate any request and will even take orders from scratch, including creating the movement.
Founder Jacob Arabo himself is like a client, "making pieces that the world has never seen before," and the brand's distinctive feature is the abundance of watchmakers and jewelers who make these creations a reality. Incidentally, orders can also be made through the Ginza boutique in Japan, which opened in October last year. (Sugahara Shigeru)
