The best new watches you’ve never heard of
Inside the independent watch event that had the industry buzzing.
There must be some kind of obscure Swiss term for a gathering of watch enthusiasts. Another still perhaps for a collective of what must surely be the most unusual and interesting watches ever spied in one place.
In October specialist watch retailer The Hour Glass, which has boutiques throughout Australia and Asia, held the IAMWATCH event in Singapore. It wasn’t just a celebration of independent watchmakers, but of the growing cohort of those who admire them.
Brands in attendance included the likes of Akrivia, MB&F and Raúl Pagès, the winner of this year’s inaugural Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for independent creatives. The award was established by Louis Vuitton watch director Jean Arnault, son of LVMH boss Bernard Arnault.
Arnault was an eloquent panellist at the event and also enthusiastically manned the event booths of Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth, two independent brands he has revived under the Louis Vuitton umbrella.
Many of the founders and watchmakers behind these brands are something akin to rock stars in the watch world, if you were to judge this by the number of guests who had them signing books, hats, shirts and who tagged them in their social media selfies.
Maximilian Büsser, founder and creative director of MB&F – in which Chanel recently took a 25 per cent stake – was one of the most in-demand guests at the event. And as he notes, now is a fantastic time to be part of this growing independent movement.
“If you buy a watch from a young independent watchmaker, you are helping him or her create the next watch. So, you’re not only a consumer, you’re actually a patron,” says Büsser. “We need less to buy, less stuff and have more interactions with people. And independent watchmaking is exactly that. That’s why people love independent watchmaking.”
Still, he too was astounded by the depth of attendees’ enthusiasm. “If somebody had told me 10 years ago [that] I would be having 250 people lining up to get a photo and autograph, I [would say] I don’t know what drugs you are taking, but you should not take those ones,” he jokes.
Whereas watch enthusiasm was once contained to niche forums, social media now means millions of wrist shots on Instagram, the proliferation of #watchtok on TikTok and social media stars with serious cachet and vast online followings.
But Büsser isn’t the only one to observe that what watch fans really want is the connection that a shared passion provides.
“Appreciation follows education,” says Michael Tay, managing director of The Hour Glass. “One cannot appreciate what one doesn’t know.
The internet has been a great leveller in providing enthusiasts – or potential enthusiasts – with the knowledge, opinion and access to dive deep and discover a subset of the watch industry that was once confined to watch blogs and hobbyist magazines.
“I suspect the abundance of information will reach a tipping point and enthusiasts will continue to curate, value and appreciate offline opportunities more to discover and educate themselves, be that through more frequent [get-togethers], watchmaking workshops, horological workshops or programs such as IAMWATCH.”
Akrivia founder Rexhep Rexhepi – recently dubbed the “Indie watch king” by GQ magazine – was another in-demand guest at IAMWATCH, having garnered a cult following for his beautifully finished timepieces.
“I think we are more open, maybe, to see something different,” Rexhepi says of the growth of independent watchmaking.
To exist outside of the big names means making fewer pieces, their rarer nature driving the “if you know, you know” factor. But perhaps it’s more about the spirit of creativity and ingenuity, of obsession and originality that these independent players possess.
A new player on the independent scene, at 75 no less, is Jean-Claude Biver, a titan of horology who previously led almost all the big brands, including Omega, TAG Heuer, Hublot and LVMH.
“The independent watchmakers bring innovation, they bring new thinking, they bring individuality,” says Mr Biver, as he is known in the industry. “There is a real trend now for individuality. People say, ‘I don’t want the same watch that everybody has. I want a personal watch. I want my watch, I want my taste …’ And this is why today this independent trend is getting stronger and stronger and stronger.”
Biver – who started his eponymous brand with son Pierre – says he is sure of two things highly pertinent to the world of watchmaking: firstly, follow your passion and you’ll never work a day in your life. And the rules of success, always, are to be “first, different and unique”.
This is, he notes, “very easy, but extremely difficult”.
This story is from the December issue of WISH.
