Innovations, intentions and interrogations - Hall one and beyond - Part 2 of 3

Gc & Guess
One of the problems with visiting the Gc and Guess booths is that there are so many visitors – both buyers and browsers – that it takes an age to speak to one of the girls at the reception desk. Having achieved that, getting time with Cindy Livingston, the CEO, is something else – but patience is a virtue and Cindy is very virtuous!
2009 at Gc and Guess combined was far from as damaging as was forecast – 3.3 per cent down on the overall business compared to the previous year. Gc, on the other hand, was actually 4 per cent up and retail sales were up by 9 per cent. Gc Watches are distributed by Sequel AG, which is headquartered in Zug, to 70 countries worldwide though a network of 60 distributors and 5,000 retail outlets. “We have a very focused strategy at Gc: smart luxury with a good price!” Cindy Livingston explains. “In addition to dealing with individual retailers, we currently have 20 Gc boutiques around the world. We will have an additional ten boutiques opening this year and the aim is to have 50 worldwide.
“The store strategy is to show the breadth of our watches and people are overwhelmed when they see the entire collection. Our prices range from as little as 350 Euros and go to 3,200 Euros for the Limited Editions, which isn’t so expensive when you consider that all Gc watches are manufactured in Switzerland using Swiss movements such as Valjoux and Soprod. We are also using ceramic and diamonds in a price range of 1,300 to 3,200 Euros.
“We don’t let our retailers overstock and we try to get people to buy right rather than more. We make an effort to control and even out inventories and by so doing the demand for the first quarter of this year is already up by 20 per cent.”
I saw many Gc watches that I’m sure are going to sell well, but the two that particularly caught my attention are the Sport Class XXL Ceramic and the B1-Class Lady. The Sport Class XXL Ceramic is a powerful looking 45 mm chronograph that combines stainless steel and white ceramic. The case is in steel with a unidirectional ceramic bezel with silver tone engraved minutes and the white multi-layered dial has hand-applied Arabic numerals, luminescent indices and hands coated with Super-LumiNova. The bracelet combines steel and white ceramic to great effect and has a deployment buckle with two side pushers to open it. The Swiss made chronograph movement has three counters – 30-minutes, 60-seconds and 1/10th of a second, there is a Tachymeter scale around the inside of the dial and it has a date window at 4 o’clock. The watch is water-resistant to 100 metres.

Cindy Livingston, the B1-CLASS LADY by Gc and the SPEEDWAY COLLECTION by Guess

For the ladies, Gc has launched a very elegant watch called the B1-Class Lady, an extremely feminine timepiece that somehow manages to combine grace with a sporty feel. The 32 mm case is in stainless steel and set with seventy 1mm diameter full-cut Wesselton diamonds (0.31 carats), and the mother-of-pearl dial has a central circle in sunray guilloché decorated with 8 full-cut diamonds (0.04 carats) of the same size. The Arabic numerals and indices are hand-applied and the watch is equipped with a Swiss made quartz movement. This is all rounded off with Gc’s signature T-bar stainless steel bracelet.
Guess watches, as opposed to Gc watches, are not manufactured in Switzerland, nevertheless they are massive sellers around the world. Three or four annual collections ensure that the brand maintains its trendy image for the fashion conscious watch wearers.
There are quite a few new Guess watches, but the ones that I felt made the biggest splash were those in the Speedway Collection. One has a stainless steel case and the other a black-plated PVD case, otherwise the basic features are the same: sunray blue dial with red details or sunray black dial with orange details; a quartz chronograph movement with elapsed 1/20th of a second sub-dial at 12 o’clock; date at 3 o’clock; elapsed minutes and hours at 6 o’clock; actual seconds at 9 o’clock; blue or orange silicone strap with matching stitching.
Inexpensive fun watches and great value!

Bedat & Co.
Dodging between the trams to cross the road to Hall 3 – something I won’t have to do when the new building is completed since there will be an overhead walkway – I attended the Bedat & Co. press conference. Essentially choreographed by Dino Modolo, the multi-talented designer, it was an entertaining hour since Dino Modolo not only enjoys talking about the aspect of design and his creations, but also clearly takes much pride in the final product.

No2 by Bedat & Co.

This year’s selection was exclusively dedicated to ladies’ watches, cleverly juxtaposing ellipses with ovals and marrying plain stainless steel or gold surfaces with diamond-settings. I found the Extravaganza model of particular interest, but perhaps the watch that underlines the direction of the brand is the new No2, a watch that graphically interplays with two ellipses. Measuring a mere 26.5 mm in diameter this new collection features a variety of finishing details, including original gem-setting, brilliant hour-markers, Art Deco inspired graphic design and mother-of-pearl dials.
The No 2 model I have chosen to illustrate Bedat’s new direction taken by the designer is in stainless steel with an understated diamond-set bezel (26 diamonds for 0.26 carats), steel hands and an alligator strap. The watch is water-resistant to 50 metres and is equipped with a Swiss ETA quartz movement.

Franc Vila
“We have to re-invent ourselves every year,” Franc Vila said. “We produce only Limited Editions (88 pieces) so the demand is high. Now that I have the latest watch in my hand after working for about three years on it, I think that I have reached maturity in watchmaking. I’m not a manufacturer. We create the designs – not the movement.”
Having said that, Franc Vila revealed some of the latest timepieces. The first was the FVa35 SuperSonico 5-Minute SuperLigero Concept Repeater that has a very clear sonority due to the combination of Lightnium – an aluminium-lithium based alloy used in aeronautical engineering and titanium. Light with a high tensile strength it transmits the sound of the repeater with the lowest possible loss of energy to the outer part of the watchcase.
The blackened case is in titanium with the inner part of the ‘carrure’ in Lightnium with the repeater pusher at 8 o’clock. The movement is a mechanical self-winding Calibre FV35 using the brand’s exclusive ‘Gold Concept Rotor’ and has a power reserve of 42 hours. The watch is completed with a black crocodile leather strap with a Black DieHard Extreme steel deployment buckle and a rubber sports strap. The Cobra Collection introduced the first evolution of the characteristic ‘esprit unique’ watchcase. The new case is dedicated to aficionados of extreme sports and is built to withstand the pressure at a depth of 300 metres. The Cobra timepieces are conceived for hard and intense water activities applying carbon fibre inserts to ensure the protection of the watch.

Franc Vila and the FVA35 SUPERSONICO 5-MINUTE SUPERLIGERO CONCEPT REPEATER

The latest model is the stunning, but eccentrically named, FV Evos 8Ch ‘Cobra’ Chronographe Grande Dateur Automatique. The case is in blackened DieHard Extreme Steel and carbon fibre with the ‘carrure’ in blackened titanium. The chronograph start/stop pusher is at 2 o’clock and the reset pusher is at 4 o’clock. There is a sapphire crystal front and back with double sided anti-glare treatment.
The 42-hour power reserve movement is a self-winding hand-finished Calibre FV8Ch with the exclusive ‘Gold Concept Rotor’ and a central Big Date. The guilloché dial is in carbon fibre with a minute counter at 6 o’clock, an hour-counter at 9 o’clock and a seconds counter at 3 o’clock. There is a black rubber strap with a Black DieHard Extreme steel buckle and a double-sided crocodile leather strap with red stitching to match the red hands, minutes and seconds track around the dial. There is another version of this model with a black and white dial with yellow numerals yellow seconds and minutes track.
Franc Vila has created an extensive collection of powerful looking timepieces, however his inventive use of lightweight yet robust materials make them easy to wear and his introduction of various complications offer watch collectors something different for their money.

Ateliers DeMonaco
Exhibiting for the first time in BaselWorld, Ateliers DeMonaco, which as the name suggest is based in Monaco, claims to challenge existing conventions: ‘We have always dreamt about making a mechanical watch movement that is the most precise in the world and will keep generations of scientists busy trying to figure out how we did it!’
To achieve this, the brand began by designing, developing and manufacturing their own high-end movements and complications in-house, although they admit that some parts are produced by specialized Swiss sub-contractors.
Inspired by opposites such as the blue of the Mediterranean and brown rock formation on which Monaco stands, or the belle époque architecture and the modern high-rise buildings of the Principality, or the oeuvres of Picasso and Chagall, the brand tries to capture this dualism in their timepieces. As they explain, ‘The straight lines of our case designs are contrasted with convex curves applied on the inside and outside panels of the case. The tonneau-shaped inner index ring contrasts the case shape. And when and where possible, we use contrasting materials and finishing … as so often in life, opposites create the tension as well as the attraction!’

Pim Koeslag and the GRAND TOURBILLON REPETITION MINUTE by DeMonaco

The timepiece that caught my attention was the Grand Tourbillon Repetition Minute. The manual winding movement offers chiming hours, quarters and minutes on command; a speed regulation of minute repeater with 18-carat gold weights; a patented XP® 1 minute tourbillon; a 48-hour power reserve; curved, chamfered and unique three-dimensional engraving; hand-engraved sunbeam pattern on the ruthenium-plated main plate; a silicium escape wheel and lever and a sapphire tourbillon bridge.
The 18-carat gold watch case measures 46 x 50 mm and the skeleton dial has applied Roman numerals cut by hand with the tourbillon opening at 6 o’clock. Water-resistant to 30 metres, the watch is completed by an alligator strap with an adjustable gold folding buckle.
There is also a Ronde d’Or tourbillon timepiece with many of the same technical features but without the minute repeater.
An impressive start for this young company and certainly a brand to watch in the future.

Marvin
Passing by the Marvin booth to arrange a viewing of the brand’s latest model, Cécile Maye, the brand’s CEO, promptly stuck a miniature cushioned panda on my watch. Why, what for? Who knows, but it certainly created a minor stir wherever it was seen.
On my return, Cécile introduced me to the Marvin Malton 160 Cushion watch named after a special edition timepiece dating back to 1906. Having released a round version of the Malton, Marvin is now launching a Malton 160 cushion edition. This new variation is fully in line with the brand DNA: original, modern lines backed by authentic horological know-how at genuinely affordable prices.
As with all Marvin watches, it has the traditional Marvin trademark signs: a red detail on every dial at the 8 o’clock position (a historical brand reference) and the triple point Marvin crown representing an inverted “M”.
The Malton 160 is an elegant, yet sporty watch and is the brainchild of two celebrity creators, namely well-known watch designer Jean-François Ruchonnet, of Monaco V4 and Cabestan fame, and designer Sebastien Perret, who, with his passion for horology, has infused his talent into every Marvin collection since the company’s rebirth in 2007.

MALTON 160 CUSHION EDITION by Marvin

The watch is equipped with an automatic Swiss-made Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement with fractional time measurement to a quarter of a second, a 30-minute counter at 12 o’clock, a 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock and a small seconds dial at 9 o’clock, with a day/date aperture at 3 o’clock.
The Malton 160 cushion also comes in a three-hand date version powered by a Sellita SW200 and two quartz versions, a chronograph and a three-hand model.
As Cécile Maye explains, “By placing more emphasis on comfort than prestige, quality over appearance, Marvin seeks to create an attachment based on trust. By attending to details that create the difference, the brand seduces collectors of elegance that is sleek, refined and full of character. A beautiful love story, but also one of humour, for Marvin can make fun of itself and reinvent codes. Marvin is seriously funny!”
Not only the watch carries this message, but also the smiling panda that now gazes out at me from my notebook!

Dubey & Schaldenbrand
Situated way back on the upper floor of Hall 5, it’s possible that visitors missed the first opportunity to see the watch collection created by Jonatan Gil, the new owner of Dubey & Schaldenbrand. Gil worked alongside Cinette Robert for a year to immerse himself into the running of the brand and develop his own vision for its development and when Mrs. Robert decided to sell, Gil stepped in and, with his determination to succeed and just enough time to prepare his marketing plan, he prepared his first Dubey & Schaldenbrand collection in time for BaselWorld.
Capitalizing on the basic fundamentals that already existed within the company, the ones that forged the brand’s reputation, Gil has now set out to continue the development of the brand’s specific techniques, whilst maintaining an open-minded approach to new technologies if they both enhance quality and introduce meaningful innovation.

Jonatan Gil, GRAND SHAR and ARTISANS Xtrême by Dubey & Schaldenbrand

The brand’s new Grand Shar is an eye-catching 44 mm timepiece in stainless steel with 60 ceramic baguettes set into the bezel. Equipped with a base self-winding Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement with three counters, hand-engraved and assembled by Dubey & Schaldenbrand, there is a DS logo cut out from the automatic rotor with a ‘black gold’ finish. There is a 48-hour power reserve and the watch is water-resistant to 50 metres.
The second watch that merits attention is the Artisans Xtrême. A 47.5 mm stainless steel chronograph equipped with a base Valjoux movement, with central hours and minutes, window display at 12 o’clock of the day and month, central pointer for the date, moon phase at 6 o’clock, seconds and a.m./p.m. hands at 9 o’clock, split-time function by large central seconds hand and a chronograph minute and hour counters at 12 and 6 o’clock respectively.
There are two superimposed dials – a mat black central one and a sun-brushed outer dial with a diamond-polished surround. The skeleton hands are coated with SuperLumiNova. This stylish timepiece is also available in black PVD-coated steel, 18-carat pink gold and a white gold version set with baguette diamonds.
All in all, a very fine start for the determined and agreeably enthusiastic new owner of Dubey & Schaldenbrand.

• Part 1 of 3 – Innovations, intentions and interrogations
• Part 2 of 3 - Hall one and beyond
• Part 3 of 3 – Brands to mention

Source: Europa Star June - July 2010 Magazine Issue