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| Watches |
Watchmaker’s Renaissance
James D. Malcolmson
01/01/2004
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Modern watchmaking, in many respects, began with Abraham-Louis Breguet. The name—with all of its historical and cultural underpinnings—makes its first appearance early on in most of our horological educations; yet familiarity with the accomplishments of the man rightly considered to be  the father of modern watchmaking brings with it an inevitable realization that the watches produced by the modern company represent an entirely lower level of quality and significance than those made by the man himself. But there are signs (and no small measure of industry discussion) that Breguet’s watches are poised to return to the very highest ranks, rejoining that group of four or five complicated manufacturers whose coveted pieces collectors might designate (though perhaps problematically) "investment grade."
While Breguet’s transformation from arguably the premier innovator to beautifully wrought also-ran has been two centuries in the making, the brand’s resuscitation is only a few years underway. Acquired in 1999 by the Swatch Group conglomerate (the most recent in a long series of ownership changes), the company has become the personal project of Swatch chairman and founder Nicholas Hayek, who has taken numerous steps to restore confidence in the brand. The process, however, is an arduous one, given that watch value for the collector—both emotional and, increasingly, monetary—is intimately connected with the history of the brand. Twenty-first century brand management in the end can only partially address the mistakes of the previous 200 years: Patek Philippe, far and away the leader in maintaining and growing aftermarket value, owes its position to decades of consistency in quality and management philosophy.
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