I love watches. Maybe it’s a guy’s thing and/or maybe it’s because guys don’t have much “jewellery” to bandy about. In any event, I was struck by a couple of things in a recent article in Le Figaro (“Des montres qui racontent des histoires” or “Watches that tell a [hi-]story”), reporting from BaselWorld 2009, the World Watch and Jewellery Show (March 26-April 2). First, there are no less than 618 different watch brands that claim to be Swiss Made. Certainly sounds like an industry with an opportunity for more consolidation. Secondly, I enjoyed discovering the tale of the watches made by Romain Jérôme. In 2007, Romain Jérôme (RJ) launched the Titanic (below), made with morsels of the famed liner. This year, in a decidedly more magnificent, dare I say time-defying, statement, RJ has created a watch with space dust in it. The casing of Moon Dust includes steel bits from the Apollo 11, while the strap has parts from one of the astronauts’ space suit. And the proverbial icing on the cake: the face contains particles of dust from the moon. With just 1969 pieces, the Moon Dust watch is priced at between 8,000 euros (for the automatic) and 130,000 euros (for the tourbillon). It is quite an exceptional concept. The watch oozes authenticity, texture and history. And for good measure, see below the Titanic model below, with 2012 pieces to celebrate the 100 years since the historic sinking.
What do you think of these concepts? What other great watches do you know about?
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