Roger Khemlani, watchmaker, designer, founder and Director of Voilà, is thrilled to have at last managed to secure a booth at BaselWorld. Having convinced many people around the world of the originality and quality of their watches, including yours truly on various visits to Hong Kong, it is appropriate that the brand has at last been accepted within the Fair of Fairs.
I asked Khemlani how he felt about his partici-pation in BaselWorld. As usual, he had plenty to say!




TIME FLIES
Stainless steel watches (37.3 x 46.4 mm) equipped with a Ronda Calibre 732 quartz movement set with diamonds. Dial available in 6 colours, Italian leather or galuchat strap, water-resistant to 30 metres.


“We are excited! To start with, Voilà is Hong Kong’s first watch brand to exhibit in the Hall of Feelings, an international jewellery pavilion never before opened to a watch company from Hong Kong. Recently at a dinner I met the top brass of Hong Kong’s watch manufacturers and several of them told me their only dream was to stop producing watches for the world and be a Voilà. It’s not as difficult as it sounds, but in order to achieve success one has to come up with one’s own creative ideas and set trends, not follow them,” Khemlani explains.




LOST IN TIME
Stainless Steel cases (37.0 mm) with detachable bezel equipped with a Ronda Calibre 1062 quartz movement. Polished disc dial in an array of 6 colours, Italian ‘Wonder Snake’ leather strap, water-resistant to 30 metres.


“A lot of people believe Voilà is a fashion brand, we definitely are not, we create new classics. I try to explain that when the first waterproof watch was created in the mid-twenties, it was a gimmick, who would want to go swimming with a watch back then? Today it’s the norm. The very first Voilà, the ‘Op-La’, an easy slap-on watch created in 2001, still happens to be one of our best sellers.
“The shapes that Voilà has in its collections, like the ‘Fig 8’ fits the “!”, “the wow” DNA embedded in our brand and it is important we do not lose focus of the essence of the brand. Today you will see brands racing to make coloured ceramic watches, at Voilà we do not follow this trend, if we missed a colour or trend one season, its fine with us after all we are not in the fashion business, we are here to create new classics.
“Today in order to see time, one has computers, mobile telephones, PDA, and other devices; more and more watches are being created not just to tell time but to illustrate a lifestyle of an individual. An example of this is our ‘Lost in Time’ series, which expresses woman's most carefree desire ‘to see time only when she wants to see it.’
“Jewellery stores create the major part of our business, the fact that our watches are not exactly round and square watches, for example our new ‘Time Flies’ collection, a jewelled butterfly, is something that does not and will not sell in traditional watch stores. This keeps us ahead of our price level competitors who are licensed brands whereby a royalty is paid to the owners. At Voilà those costs that generally fill the coffers of designer brands are in fact added to the Voilà products. We have therefore been able to upgrade all our new collection to the Swiss Made label and still manage to be competitive in providing a high quality and a superbly designed Voilà watch.
“The last point I would like to make is that Voilà is a watch created by a watchmaker, a twenty-year veteran in the watch industry, and not some licensed apparel designer. Agreed we may not be the best in tourbillion or complicated mechanical watches, but the expression I get once someone sees my new Voilà watch for the first time tells me ‘YESSSSSSSS’ I still have it in me to create this ‘WOW’ this ‘!’, and that is what fuels my energy to create even better designs.”
So voilà, there you have it … the reasons why you should take the time to see the time at Voilà – Revolutions in Time, one of the exciting and highly creative new brands at BaselWorld this year.


Source: Europa Star April-May 2006 Magazine Issue