LVMH Watch Week is upon us, and I have thoughts. But instead of doing a sort of traditional “review” that includes measurements and the such, this one will come straight from the heart. Having not been present for any sort of tactile experience with the new pieces, I can only comment on the emotional imposition each piece yields as an idea. So here we go, brand by brand, giving them a grade on an A+ to F scale, NFL draft grades style.
Louis Vuitton
Notable releases:
I’ll admit, I love it. I’ve only included 3 of the more notable releases, but these additions to the Tambour line caught me off guard. The Spin Time is actually a Louis Vuitton original first released back in 2009. In the time only variant, the current hour is displayed in a different color. When the hour changes, the old hour spins back to the same color as the rest, and the new one spins to be the odd color out. In the world time variant, the yellow local hour hand jumps, while the disc with all the numbers on it resemble the other time zones indicated by the spinning blocks. Each block has two time zones that are exactly 12 hours apart, meaning one would be day and one would be night. They alternate colors when the block spins when it becomes day or night!
The Tambour Convergence (far right) I find a lot less interesting. It looks like a jump hour, but it isn’t. The hour and minute tracks just crawl as the time goes by. That’s it.
I’d be in the market for one of the Spin Time variations if it wasn’t for the darn price. This is where my issues with LV watchmaking lie: they’re trying to play with the big boys. The watches they make may be in line quality-wise with the established players, but in my opinion, LV isn’t playing in the right market segment given the lack of brand cachet. Even Hermès is participating several price tiers down. With the Spin Time World Time listed at an eye-watering $99,500, the normal one at still ridiculous $72,500 and the Convergence at $33,500 (LV’s cheapest release of Watch Week), you gotta realize the opportunity cost is a freakin’ Vacheron Constantin Yellow Gold 222 or a Patek Philippe Worldtime 5330G. Would I be willing to sacrifice that so that I can wear an LV on my wrist? That’s a hard call.
Still extremely cool stuff though.
Grade: B+
Bvlgari (or Bulgari whatever it is)
Notable Release(s):
Bulgari’s shown up to the fair with some in-house automatic calibres injected into their Serpenti lineup, both the spiraling Tubogas and the more conventional Seduttori sub-collections.
To be honest it’s somewhat of a puzzling decision. Women have historically not cared as much as to what’s powering the watch, and mostly even prefer quartz so it doesn’t need to be set all the time (hence why a lot of women’s watches are quartz). I’m unsure if Bulgari’s reacting to a shift in market tastes or is trying to set the trend themselves, but it’ll take some good marketing to ensure the success of this decision. Otherwise that’s really it.
Grade: C+
TAG Heuer
Notable Releases:
Overall solid job by TAG Heuer. A new purple dial 39mm Glassbox, a model that’s been given heaps of praise already, no need to reiterate there, which at $6650 some say is a high price, but I honestly think it’s fair. The Chronosprint, in case you didn’t know, has the unique TH20-08 movement. The chronograph starts faster for the first 10 seconds before slowing down in increments to hit 12 right at 60 seconds, after which it goes faster again. The bezel allows you to read the time elapsed. The Formula 1 releases, of which I find the Red Bull one the best looking, commemorate TAG’s renewed sponsorship of F1. They’re based on ETA calibres and are a bit cheaper (and quite big). Overall solid from TAG.
Grade: B+
Daniel Roth
Notable Release:
This is high horology done right! The signature double ellipse case at 7.7mm thin and at 38.6m x 35.5mm is just peak dress watch. Some have commented saying it’s a bit small, but I’m in that old school camp that thinks dress watches should be diminutive. And at 45,000 CHF it honestly puts the aforementioned Louis Vuitton pricing scheme to shame. This one is worth every penny. Way to go Daniel Roth.
Grade: A
Gérald Genta
Notable Release:
I…have no comment. I know it’s a historical design and all, but I fail to see how this appeals to watch enthusiasts, or anyone really, outside of extremely wealthy, bored people. Price is listed as “upon request”. Hard one to grade really, but since this is my blog ultimately based on my subjective opinions:
Grade: C
Hublot
Notable Releases:
Just Hublot Hublot-ing. The MECA-10 has a 10 day power reserve which is nice. I was a little offended by Hublot’s description of the Spirit of Big Bang’s HUB4700 chronograph movement as the “successor” to the El Primero. But it’s just marketing. It does have a ceramic case, which is nice, and it’s worth pointing out that Hublot was one of the industry’s early adopters of ceramic. But at $23,000 for the MECA-10 and $27,400 for the SoBB (all three colors of which are 200-piece limited editions), this is ultimately just more of the same old Hublot.
Grade: C-
Zenith
Notable Releases:
I’m appalled. Zenith, what happened? After last year’s Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar release that was worth drooling over, this was the best you could do just a year later? This year’s releases were either Rolex or Hublot homages, nothing of Zenith’s own innovation. I want to like Zenith, I really do, but LVMH’s direction with them can be a hard pill to swallow sometimes. Honestly, if all Zenith did this year was introduce a new clasp for the Chronomaster bracelet, it would’ve been a home run. Instead…we get this.
Grade: F
Conclusion
I confess I partly wanted to write this post as a way to rant about Zenith’s releases this year. I’m honestly still in denial. Thankfully, we had some fun new releases like the purple dial TAG Heuer Glassbox, the Daniel Roth Souscription, and the LV Spin Time, even if the cheapest one is $70k+. What did you all think of this year’s releases? Was I being to harsh? Too lenient? Let me know in the comments below!