The Weirdest Brand in the Swatch Group
White Tee Watches
1,432 views
Harry Winston might be the weirdest brand in the entire Swatch Group.
05:33 for the weird watches
Most people know the name for diamonds, high jewellery and red carpets — but hidden inside the catalogue is some of the most outrageous watchmaking of the last 25 years.
In this video, we look at Harry Winston’s stranger side: the Opus series, collaborations with names like F.P. Journe, Vianney Halter, Urwerk and Greubel Forsey, the completely unhinged Histoire de Tourbillon collection, and just how far the brand was willing to push high horology.
From mechanical jukeboxes to four-tourbillon monsters, this is the story of Swatch Group’s most eccentric relative.
If you enjoy exploring the stranger corners of the watch world, consider subscribing — there’s plenty more to come.
Which Harry Winston watch is the most ridiculous one here?
#HarryWinston #Watches #SwatchGroup #Horology #LuxuryWatches #IndependentWatchmaking
3 Comments
The Weirdest Brand in the Swatch Group
White Tee Watches
1,432 views
Harry Winston might be the weirdest brand in the entire Swatch Group.
05:33 for the weird watches
Most people know the name for diamonds, high jewellery and red carpets — but hidden inside the catalogue is some of the most outrageous watchmaking of the last 25 years.
In this video, we look at Harry Winston’s stranger side: the Opus series, collaborations with names like F.P. Journe, Vianney Halter, Urwerk and Greubel Forsey, the completely unhinged Histoire de Tourbillon collection, and just how far the brand was willing to push high horology.
From mechanical jukeboxes to four-tourbillon monsters, this is the story of Swatch Group’s most eccentric relative.
If you enjoy exploring the stranger corners of the watch world, consider subscribing — there’s plenty more to come.
Which Harry Winston watch is the most ridiculous one here?
#HarryWinston #Watches #SwatchGroup #Horology #LuxuryWatches #IndependentWatchmaking
Thank you for a fascinating journey through the hallucinatory weirdness of Harry Winston and their unbelievable watches! What they've achieved is incredible, unnecessary but incredible, if we're being honest, not unlike the tourbillon itself.
Now to your final question, is Swatch Group throttling Harry Winston, the simple answer is yes. The not so simple answer is that Swatch Group is throttling most of its portfolio, most egregiously Longines. Even Omega (though it doesn't look like it) is suffering.
Swatch Group has so rigidly placed the brands that they're stewards of in such an iron clad and regimented hierarchy that it's choking them all. A perfect example of this is not allowing them to put "Master Chronometer" on the 39mm Legend Diver, the Spirit Pilot or the Ultra-Chron because they refuse to allow Longines access to METAS certification. They actually did with one watch, the 39mm Legend Diver which passed with flying colors and word came down from Swatch Group that they couldn't put it on the case or in any of the marketing because they didn't want Longines to threaten Omega's position. Yet they're allowing Tudor access to METAS?
The fact is that Omega is bloated, their product lines are so bloated that it's almost impossible to find what you're looking for — have you looked at the Seamaster umbrella lately? It includes everything from the Railmaster to the Proplof and about a zillion other slightly differentiated models as well.
A situation that would allow Longines, an older brand with a much more illustrious legacy to actually compete with Omega would be the best possible thing for both brands, it would force Omega to savagely cut the bloat and concentrate on a leaner, stronger catalog and it would free Longines to shine.
If Longines did end up rivaling Omega, it would only make both brands better.
The Swatch Group was created in the ashes of the Quartz Crisis and they weathered that crisis by being daring and letting their brands innovate. Now that they face a similar threat from smart wearables, they're contracting and not fighting. And that's a mistake.