Favorite High End Swiss Brand

[RobbieG]

I have been pondering the new high end dress watches for some time and potentially using my wedding next year as an excuse to get something dressy maybe. Being primarily slanted toward sports watches as a collector it has been one part new and one part refresher course for me. I think we all tend to focus on sports watches more here for obvious reasons - given that most of the best reps are those and in steel and fit the budget profile that most of us figure to be able to pull off. But higher end dressy type watches tend to hit another part of the brain and I thought it would be cool to discuss it. When I consider these kind of watches I tend to consider things like timeless design, movement history and finishing details, history of the brand, advertising goals, exclusivity, etc. and virtually none of those things come into consideration when choosing a sports watch for me.

That said, I also tend to seperate the Swiss brands from the German ones and put them in two distinct piles that way. For me, Lange is the clear winner in the German camp. They are almost utilitarian to a fault and for some reason I never consider them to be well rounded. Amazing though - just really different than the Swiss stuff. Don't get me wrong, the German brands are sort of more perfect even in some ways, but almost too perfect lacking the soul of the Swiss stuff. But that is probably left to another discussion...

Of all the Swiss brands I'm sure most would agree that the cream at the top will probably be confined to a few key brands: Vacheron Constantin, Patek Phillipe, Audemars Piguet being in the top three - although some may consider Breguet, Blancpain, JLC, etc. as well.

For me I would have to say that nothing moves me more than VC for a few reasons. First is history. VC is the longest continual running Swiss brand dating back to 1755. Other brands have started earlier, but revamping a dormant brand in the 80's is not the same. Actually, that is kind of a pet peave of mine when brands trade on their history and then you find out that they were out of buisness for 200 years and then started up again. What is the point of the original date if that is the case? Anyway, I also like that VC they have never changed anything in terms of corporate direction since then. No "new directions", major design changes, etc. since inception.

Finishing is suburb as well. In fact, I one had a watchmaker tell me that VC had the highest level of finish he ever saw on parts you don't see and that everything in the movement was finsihed to the same level as the visible parts.

I also love that VC has never done celebrity endorsements of any kind. That is another pet peave of mine. What is the point of an endorsement? If you pay someone to wear it what does that say about you or the wearer as it relates to the watch? Nothing.

Design wise, VC always hold my interest as well. I find all but the most complicated Patek's to be too plain and stodgy for my taste and AP models like the Millenary to be too funky to hold that real classic feel as much as I love them. I also love that the line os not protracted with a bunch of watches that all look the same. That was one thing, BTW that always annoyed me about Breguet. There are just so many of those classic watches that are all basically the same. With VC, There are really just two cases for the round dress watches - the Malte and the Patrimony and they are only varied by complication without any duplication with regard to sizes, etc.

I also have always liked their advertising approach which is focused on seeing how VC fits into the major progress events of mankind and through them all they were never shut down. One of my favorites is, as mentioned by a freind of mine on another forum, VC was already 150 years old when man discovered DNA and was over 200 years old when we landed on the moon, etc.

Finally I like that they strived to keep the numbers of dealers and annual production down. There is just an air of exclusivity about them. You just don't see them in every AD or on as many wrists as the others. They also have the lowest annual production of the big three at less than 15K as compared to Patek at over 40K and AP at around 30K.

So anyway, there is my consideration for choosing VC as my favorite of the old time high end brands. So, my fellow RWGers, what is your fav and why?

My three favs: A Patrimony Traditionalle Small Seconds, The Malte handwound column wheel chronograph, and the Malte Power Reserve. Enjoy...

[RobbieG]

Oh, and I almost forgot, if any historians out there have any more advertising or celebrity related info that VC or any of the other big three have used over the years do tell. That stuff is always fun to look back on...