Summer impressions on a past year
By: Dje (registered) Thursday, September 27th, 2007Summer time.
I
thought that would be the right time to think about what is true or not, to
acknowledge what gives value to our common passion for horology. I don't
mean to be general but just to share some thoughts about Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Let's
say that this subject begun end of last November in Paris, in the conference
rooms of the palace Hotel Bristol on the Faubourg
Saint Honore.
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Jerome
Lambert was there. He was not alone of course. Yves Meylan
from Jaeger-LeCoultre
France and Marc
Frisanco from Richemont were
there too, among others.
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Mr Frisanco is in charge of Intellectual Property for
the Richemont brands, i.e. his work among other
duties is to fight counterfeiting.
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The subject of the conference was "Innovation and
Tradition", with a focus on the luxury industry. Out of the watch
industry, other examples were brought by the luxury hotel industry, with the Hotel
Bristol manager, and the French company Hediard
represented by his vice-president. The conference was organized by the Wine and
Business Club and attended by more than a hundred business men.
Seemingly the tradition was that night defined as the DNA of
watchmaking, while the innovation is what is done of
this DNA, how it is expressed. Innovation on the company
side, to develop itself in the changing distribution channels against the evolving
competition, but also to some extent innovation from the customer side, with
new markets opening and expanding in the last years.
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Jerome
Lambert reminded that the nearly 1 000 people of Jaeger-LeCoultre
cumulate 9 000 years of experience. That's probably one of the secrets
of the alchemy: how to always do the same thing differently, or how to do
different things the same way! What is JLC?
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Clearly innovation, if not always invention, was a major
objective in the last years at JLC. We saw the large date, the 1000 Hours
testing, the Gyrotourbillon, the Master Minute
Repeater, the Reverso Grande Complication, the Atmos a Regulateur, the
Compressor keys, the Amvox2, the diving range, the Duometre,
the snow setting and rock setting of stones, the Extreme Lab, and many other
aspects I forget in this list.
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While some are entitled to think that Jaeger-LeCoultre has derived from its classical approach and
forgotten the traditionalist consumers, another point of view reveals a great
inventiveness that transformed itself in successful sales. What other company
can propose such a wide range of watches, from the simple and traditional
Master Ultra Thin to the Reverso Grande Complication,
with so many intermediary steps between these two?
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I
personally don't like all the new offerings of the last years of course,
but there are so many new babes for me and I see so different tastes even among
this forum readership that I'm not worried for Jaeger-LeCoultre.
They are doing a great job at a time when I feel that many are choosing the
easy way to cash milking.
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So
JLC is an innovation and invention company. This is allowed by several facts: an
integrated production for a true manufacture, a renewed but experienced,
motivated and talented staff, a history and a spirit of invention, an
increasing and thirsty market and last but not least a daring and demanding leadership.
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Jaeger-LeCoultre is not only writing today's pages of the
Horology story, but also is already experiencing tomorrow's directions. The
Master Compressor Extreme Lab is a very appealing concept and reality watch,
but also the very first implementation of many aspects that will change the kind
of our watches. Don't hesitate to look back to it to prepare yourself for next year SIHH!
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As
there is no real watch competition out of the competition for market shares, It
seems to me that Jaeger-LeCoultre plays against its
past to get better. Racing improves the breed, say the British racers. That's
quite true with the Aston martin partnership that brought to the range the
Polaris daughter Amvox1, a potential intermediary step before the real thing,
but more importantly the Amvox2, the distress of my sleepless nights. We will
quite probably see an Amvox3, and why not an Amvox
Lab!
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The
Extreme Lab is to the JLC range what the DBR9 is for Aston Martin. An extreme watch for extreme situations.
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We will see before that the coming Amvox
DBS, a mere secret named after the new Aston Martin DBS seen in the last James
Bond movie « Casino Royale". The New
DBS (the car) will replace to some extent the glorious Vanquish that brought
back AML to its rank. The DBS should reveal to be an improved, lightweight,
more powerful DB9 with a stronger styling.
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No doubt though that some hard core AML owners will choose the Duometre a Chronographe as their time
instrument.
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Fortunately there will be some more affordable choices for
the younger audience with the just beginning development of the Squadra range.
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While a wider range would probably not be a priority for the
new diving models they will also be a striking aspect of this year's
examples of innovation from MJLC.
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So what Jaeger-LeCoultre gave us
this year is in my opinion value, watches that should live up to Jaeger-LeCoultre's symbolic name. As Marc Frisanco explained in Paris
counterfeiters concentrate on the symbol of the name or iconic styling, without
value. But when design and development teams of Jaeger-LeCoultre
create a new watch it seems that the brand name is the only aspect that is
written in marble. Their work brings back the DNA in very variable ways because
all the strengths of JLC are expressed in the final product range!
Let's
get some rest now to prepare for what is next, another baby from the design and
technical duo, from the various craftmakers of JLC.
Dje
