Nicholas Hayek is no more

Nicholas Hayek Aka Mr. Swatch, the animated man behind the Swatch Group, the world largest wristwatch company that single handedly saved the Swiss watch industry is no more. He passed away while at work. The Swatch Group brand stable includes such brands as Breguet, Blancpain, Calvin Klein, Certina, Endura, Flik Flak, Jaquet Droz, Glashutte Original and Union Glashutte, Hamilton, Leon Hatot, Longines, Mido, Omega, Pierre Balmain, Rado, Swatch, Tiffany and Co. and Tissot among others.

related links

Hayek and the future of the wristwatch industry
Mr. Swatch’s interview with Time TV
National Jeweler: Swatch Group founder Nicolas Hayek, 82, dies

Hamilton hung a plane from the ceiling at the Basel train station

Nixon at Baselworld

It’s that time of the year again and as usual, I packed my bags for my annual pilgrimage to Baselworld. Over the next few days, I’ll posting up press photos, news and a little bit of gossip.

3 years ago, Pierre Nobs lost his wristwatch brand, Ventura, to a fire sale. (You can read the entire story here) He tried to win it back at the auction but someone else won the bid. What was worse was that Swatch group, the owners of the trademark Ventura in the U.S. (it’s the name of a Hamilton model), filed an injunction against the winner claiming that their contract of co-existance ended with Ventura when Pierre declared bankruptcy. Thus, not only did he loose the company but Ventura was now stuck in limbo hell.

Pierre tried to move on. He launched a luxury belt but he couldn’t shake Ventura from out of his mind and with the help of his partners and friends, he was finally able to re-purchase Ventura’s assets and relaunch the company.

related links

Ventura is back

Scott Wilson

Back in 2008 Scott Wilson, the designer behind the Nike Presto watches gave a presentation at the Hong Kong watch and Clock fair where he showcased his work and also revealed that he was developing his own line of luxury watches under his agency name, MNML. This was before the recession hit.

Cut to late 2009 and he is launching (To be accurate, he’s co-founding) Uncommon, an on-demand fashion brand that allows consumers to print custom graphics (whether its your own design or from another artists from their artist gallery) on to any customizable accessory. This includes ipod cases, iphones and in the future, macbook cases and Yes, WATCHES – Fashion watches that allow consumers to easily upload their own design and order a custom edition for their own personal use or to make their design available for a 5% royalty fee on each design sold.

The process is being branded as 3D TATT (Thermo-active transdermal techonlogy) so I don’t know how exclusive the process is to Uncommon. The brand plans to donate 2% of all profits towards the pursuit of the arts and arts education and its nearest competitor, atleast in the wristwatch segment is France’s Wize & Ope.

The Nike Presto had an innovative packaging that could be reused as a plant pot

Scott had wanted to release a custom in-mold graphic design version of the Nike+ Amp but it never happened though it let to the development of his own brand, Uncommon

related links

Wrist Fashion coverage of Scott Wilson’s keynote at HK2008
Mocoloco interview with Scott Wilson
Cool Hunting’s feature on Uncommon Cases
Uncommon Main website
MNML

Pardon the title of this entry, it’s a reference to a hilarious internet meme. Anyway, Recession has been good for Timex. Marc Ecko, having incurred $170 million in debt, moved out of his $9 million office and sold his brand’s wristwatch license to Timex’s subsidiary, Callanen International.

This move was further encouraged by Callanen’s previous experience with Guess where Fossil tried to snatch the license away from them.

related links

Ecko puts his HQ on market

Just a heads up, I’ll be covering this year’s Baselworld fair. However, it’s been predicted that this year that the recession is going to take a toll on the fair in terms of business and visitors. In any case, 1952 exhibitors are exhibiting.

related links

Baselworld

The Gucci Group claims they never thought of Bedat as a strategic asset. The brand never took off for them unlike their other acquisitions – notably Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and stakes in Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen. So, given the financial climate, they decided to cut it loose and unloaded it on to a Malaysian brand management group named Luxury Concept.

Bedat was founded by a Christian Bedat and his mother, Simone in 1996 but they left the company ten years later after disagreement arose between them and executive at the Gucci group. Three years later, they dumped the brand.

related links

FWD: Gucci Group Relinquishes Bedat Watch Company

Movado Group founder, Geladio “Gerry” Grinberg has passed away at the age of 77. He was born in Cuba and became the exclusive distributor for Piaget and Corum watches for the Americas. Later, after establishing a $30 million business, Grinberg decided to concentrate on building his own portfolio of brands by first purchasing Concord and then Movado in 1983. The company has seven additional brands including Coach, Tommy Hilfiger watches, Ebel, ESQ, Hugo Boss watches, Lacoste watches and Juicy Couture Timepieces.

Gerry was successed by his son, Efraim Grinberg who is now the chairman of the group.

related links

Movado Group Inc
Watchtime Article about Gerry Grinberg
National Jeweler: Movado’s Geladio ‘Gerry’ Grinberg dies

So What do you do when your 125 year old company’s profits drops 44% in the last quarter and your stock isn’t looking so good? If you work in the luxury market, You cut costs without risking harming the brand’s image of opulence as in the case of Bulgari who has been renegotiating existing leases, pressing suppliers for better deals, introducing lower-cost boxes and bottles that may be cheap but customers may not know the difference.

NOT do something stupid like stop polishing the $10,000 wristwatch to save a few cents and then show the dull underside of your expensive product to a New York Times reporter that then uses it for the opening sentence of his article on your company.

Also, something to note in the article – Mr. Bulgari mentions that he would sell a stake in his company if he has to. I wonder if LVMH is interested.

related links

Bulgari
NYT: When the Lavish Cut Back (via Gawker)

The Good Design Award 2008 is Japan’s only comprehensive design evaluation and commendation system. It was first established in 1957. Casio’s G-Shock watch (G-SHOCK AWG-500-1AJF) was one of the winners of the 2008 Good Design Long Life Design Award.

related links

Good Design Award (via designboom)

Oakley’s watches seems to lowered its entry level price point after their acquisition by Italian eyewear maker Luxottica Group purchased it in an all cash deal of $2.1 billion. There were rumors at Basel world that things may change in terms of product design in order to reduce the cost of production after the departure of founder James Jannard, however I can’t confirm this.

John Biggs of Wristwatch Review has more on this.

related links

Oakley
Luxottica (Wikipedia)

The October 2008 issue of Wallpaper has an article on the new Tag Heuer’s new luxury phone, Meridiist that reveals a little more about how Tag is currently positioning itself.

In the article, Jean-Christophe Babin, President and CEO of Tag Heuer is quoted to have said that ten years ago, they were “only known for sports watches. Now in ten years time, they’ll be the luxury technology design brand of the 21st century.”

It also reveals that Tag has also launched it’s own hard drives and usb sticks but have limited the launch to just the Japanese market. This, in addition to their limited edition concept car and the luxury phone.

related links

Meridiist Phone
Tag Heuer
Wallpaper

The most frenzied bidding at a recent auction at Antiquorum that netted a total of $9.8 million collectively in sale was the for the “Einstein Watch,” a Longines wristwatch that belonged to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein. The watch sold for $596,000, more than 2,000 percent its estimate, and a world record for both a time-only and a Longines wristwatch.

related links

NJN: Antiquorum auction nets nearly $9.9 million

It wasn’t long ago when I spotted Jacob Arabov, better known as Jacob the Jeweler at Dubai airport getting on a plane after a recent real estate splurge, and now he’s going to jail for two and a half years. Jacob was convicted of lying to federal agents about owning jewelry seized from a major cocaine trafficker. At his sentencing, he told the judge that he felt ashamed that he broke the law of the country that had been so good to him and his family.

Arabov was also indicted in 2005 for allegedly helping the “Black Mafia Family” and its principals Demetrius and Terry Flenory launder $270 million in drug money. His plea agreement does not require him to testify against other defenders, but he did agree to forfeit $2 million to the government.

In an interview to City Magazine in 2004, he spoke of how he pushed himself to financial success:

“I went to Brazil, I went to Africa, I went to Russia to buy diamonds. Some go to Brazil [only] to the diamond office. I went to the worst places, where it’s dangerous. If you don’t put yourself through tests, you cannot really appreciate this life.”

related links

Jacob & Co
National Jeweler: Jacob the Jeweler sentenced to 30 months in jail
Jacob the Jeweler
Jacob’s New Store

]]> http://wristfashion.com/2008/10/jacob-goes-to-jail/feed/ 0 http://wristfashion.com/2008/10/hk08-michael-young-odm-rumor/ http://wristfashion.com/2008/10/hk08-michael-young-odm-rumor/#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:00:37 +0000 Adnan http://wristfashion.com/?p=1082
Designer Michael Young

What started out as a short collaboration for an event has now evolved into a full blown relationship. Michael Young who had previously designed the Zen SV27-1 for O.D.M to commemorate the ten year anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China is rumored to be designing some more for O.D.M. There is nothing to show yet but stay tuned.

Previous Collaboration: The Zen SV27-1

related links

The Zen SV27-1
Michael Young
O.D.M

While on the road to repositioning itself in the marketplace, Raymond Weil caught its $20 million dollar investment, Charlize Theron cheating on them on the red carpet. She was snapped wearing a Montblanc and a Dior at two seperate events and now the Swiss timekeeper has brought in the lawyers to prove she broke her contract by wearing another brand between the agreed period of October 2005 and December 2006.

A great way to gain exposure by signing a large celebrity and then getting your money back if you ask me.

related links

WF: Charlie Theron and Raymond Weil
Raymond Weil
Charlize Theron Official Website
Vancouver Sun: It’s time for trouble if you’re a star wearing the wrong watch

Another company to take advantage of the current economic crisis in the United States is the Italian watch and jewelry company, Binda Group. Binda, who’s stable includes Breil, D&G among others has purchased Advance Watch Co. which is also known publicly as Geneva Watch Group and the license holder for Kenneth Cole, BCBG and others. This deal was made possible because GWG had sold itself to the US private equity fund Heritage Partners who decided it was time to let it go and should allow Binda to firmly establish itself in the American market.

Binda group was established in 1906 and has 3 main business units: watches, jewelry and leather. It produces and distributes its own brands, such as Breil Milano, Breil Tribe, Wyler Geneve and Details, and brands under license such as D&G Time and Jewels, Moschino CheapandChic Watches and Jewels, Ducati and Ducati Corse Watches. It also distributes the brands Seiko, Lorus, Paris Hilton watches in Italy and Glam Rock in Italy, USA and Canada. It is currently headed by the brothers Marcello and Simone Binda, the grandsons of the founders.

On the other hand, Geneva Watch Group has two business units – Status and Advance. Status produces and distributes licensed brands (Kenneth Cole New York, Kenneth Cole Reaction, Tommy Bahama, Betsey Johnson, BCBG Maxazria, Ted Baker London, Mexx and Speedo) and its own brand Freestyle. Advance instead serves major retailing chains in North America.

related links

Geneva Watch Group
Binda Group
Heritage Partners Inc

Ventura V-Tek Sigma MGS

Earlier today, I posted news that Ventura had gone bankrupt and while it had been news for me, I later learned that it shut down last year in November and little had been written about it except for a few forum posts scattered over the web.

Ventura set itself up for the fall when Pierre Nobs, the self styled design entrepreneur behind the brand decided to forge deeper towards its goal of establishing a luxury digital brand by repositioning the company outside of the 1000-5000 Euro segment. In order to do this, they need capital and so they took on some outside investors. The company’s capital stock was upped from CHF500k to CHF900k, but when sales fell sharply the new investors bailed out and auctioned off the assets.

In a web post, he wrote:

Dear Friends,

Today, on the 12th of November, the receiver of the bankrupt Ventura Design on Time conducted an auction to sell the entire assets including the brand and the stock.

While I tried hard to get back the control, I stood no chance against the highest bidder, the US corporation Swiss Watch International SWI, who as of now is the new owner.

I am sure that this is good news to those seeking a bargain.

For me as the founder of Ventura, this is the moment to say goodbye to you; thank you for your loyal support over all these many years. You will understand that I will now first take some distance from the events of today.

Pierre tried to bid for it but lost to an American company named Swiss Watch International. SWI was a wristwatch wholesaler in the States that decided to venture into distribution by acquring the North American distribution rights for Givenchy and Jacques Lemans Geneve. They also had their own swiss made brand called Swiss Legend. And now, they owned Ventura except things didn’t end there.

Swatch Group filed an injunction as they claimed that they were owners of the Ventura brand in the USA. Ventura was the collection name of a Hamilton Model.
Swatch had a contract of co-existence with Ventura, under which Swatch received title to the Ventura brand and Ventura Design on Time SA was granted the exclusive right of use. Swatch claimed that the contract became obsolete when one signing party went out of business.

In an early interview with Timezone, Pierre explained how the Swatch contract came about:

“When I registered the name ‘Ventura’ in the USA, we got the rights clean and fast, but the same asshole-lawyer, to whom we paid dearly at that time, turned back on us a couple of years later, saying that his new client SMH had, although not registered-, older rights on the name. This was at a time that I did not particularly care about the US market, so we struck a stupid deal that would allow SMH to take over our registration, but giving us the right to use ’segments by Ventura’ as our US-brand.

I appealed to Mr. Hayek three years ago to give us a break (-after all we are good customers of ETA), but the SMH-laywers involved wanted to prove their salaries by demanding impossible terms, so we decided to go by that awkward name of ’segments by Ventura’ in the states, that’s how we started again a couple of years ago.

Then I find myself last year in a plane on its way to the Far-East, watching that movie ‘Men in black’ promoting the ‘Hamilton Ventura-watch’. So I questioned SMH, how they could infringe on our rights for the ‘Ventura’ name outside the USA. The result was as entertaining as the movie itself: a settlement with SMH was reached in weeks, giving us now the right to use our own brand ‘Ventura design on time’ also in the USA.” (link)

So far SWI is still trying to get the Swatch Group to negotiate a new contract. Until then, the entire deal is blocked and Ventura lives in limbo. On the other hand, Pierre remains defiant:

“There are yet many ideas, innovations and designs that are ready to stun the watch community and I have been encouraged to create a new and even bolder corporation”

Stay tuned.

Miss V

V-Tec Sigma

V-Tec Kappa

V-Tec Delta

V-Matic Ego Square

V-Matic Ego Round

V-Matic

The Sparc

Diamond Editions

Nicholas Cage wears the Sigma in his latest move, Bangkok Dangerous

related links

Ventura Watches (Pierre Nobs Website)
Europa Star: Ventura concentrates exclusively on digital
Jck: A closer look at the SWI Group
The SWI Group Website

Rumor has it that Swiss digital watchmaker, Ventura has gone down like the Zeppelin and filed for bankruptcy. Ventura was known for overpriced luxury digital watches and if there is any truth to the rumors, then I would love to see someone buy the company and make the watches a little more affordable since its price was its achilles heel.

Update: This news has been confirmed. I wonder if Ventura is going to become a collector’s item now. You can purchase one from the remaining stock from here.

related links

Ventura: World’s first Automatic Digital Watch

Ventura’s Creative Sparc

Ventura

Seiko’s Velatura KDD Yacht

If you’ve been following Seiko for the past few years, you’re probably aware that they’ve decided to go a little high-end, but if you didn’t, the following is what their 2008 collection would look like if they were ever called in for a police line-up.

Velatura Driver Chrono

Velatura Automatic

The Spring Drive

Spring Drive Chrono

Sportura Women

Sportura Honda

Sportura Driver Chrono

The Space Walk

Arctura

Arctura

More Arcturas

related links

Seiko Watches