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Thankfully, there are some interesting options in the middle ground.
I agree that the Swiss Independents are catering to the growing group of UHNW collectors who are looking for the unexpected and spectacular, but at least non-Swiss entities are stepping into the gap between affordable microbrands and bespoke Independents.
A watch like Christopher Ward's C12 Loco cannot be described as a reconfiguration of an existing model. Chinese brand themselves are stepping up with their own original creations that are more than microbrand reconfigurations. Behren's Ultra-Light captures the innovative spirit of Independent watchmaking without stepping completely away from affordability. I don't think it will be much longer before the quality of their designs catches up with their technical capabilities. They may eventually decide to move upmarket, but I hope not.
No discussion, that is a GORGEOUS watch - Berneron Quantième Annuel
Love it but not the price. Unfortunately, once again far too expensive... but I guess we're used to that by now. Independents are asking the craziest prices these days, and that's why I checked out a long time ago. Long live the big, established brands th...
I like seeing more independents tackle complications
It’s refreshing seeing something that is not just a really well finished time only piece. His first model with the shaped case was awesome too. Like you though, I think I’d struggle to justify that much for this. There’s a lot of very interesting pieces i...
Thanks for posting
My thread on the Mirage at the other forum was locked without any reason. Bizarre but nice to see one here 🙏🏻
Fully agreed with you 👍🏻
Both on it being a great piece and on the price being a bit wacko for what you get 🤷🏻♂️ But as long as there are a sufficient number of buyers at the price point, great for them 😊👍🏻
I think the issue
is production runs. If you think of the cost of design (both case,dial and movement) as a fixed cost, then it almost makes sense. Price would go down sharply with volume, but that takes marketing and distribution. If the brand does take off (Journe) and i...
Agree so much with this sentiment.
The way the brands and new products have developed in the environment of ever increasing wealth imbalances have lost me.
Thankfully, there are some interesting options in the middle ground.
I agree that the Swiss Independents are catering to the growing group of UHNW collectors who are looking for the unexpected and spectacular, but at least non-Swiss entities are stepping into the gap between affordable microbrands and bespoke Independents....
Wow wow wow! Thanks for posting ❤️
This is a true work of hand-crafted horology art. 🤩 At 150k, bet you get more watchmaker hours-per-CHF than certain Big Box Store retail brands.
In blue, gorgeous..
not the sort of watch I would usually want, I’m time only, but I would have this. The price is beyond me but hopefully I still have 10 year (plus) in me!
First thought, this gives me Zeitwerk vibes.
It’s the dial layout, the deep apertures with the wide frames, and the sub seconds. It’s a beautiful looking watch. Nice size. The lighter dial looks best in my eyes. Someone here will surely buy one, or perhaps has already one on order. I look forward to...
My thoughts exactly.
That's the first thing I thought of when I saw the dial side of the watch: Lange. The Zeitwerk is much more innovative, though, and better balanced in my opinion. I'm not at all convinced by the dial of this Berneron (and I loved his original shaped watch...
Interesting! Seems that pricing is pre-determined for the next 3 years
From the Hodinkee review: Price: Pre 2026 - CHF 120,000 / 2027 CHF 130,000 / 2028 CHF 140,000 Availability: 24 pieces of each dial color per year for ten years. Limited Edition: No, but limited production
It's bold to announce something like this without a working prototype. Must have enormous faith in the team to pull through.
Bigger brands have had working prototypes in hand and still failed in the final stretch.
Very true. And some production watches that still needed post sale re-tuning !!
It still seems to be a sellers market in this category, so I assume folks have a lot of urgency in order to keep striking while the iron is hot.
It's an impressive step forward
The perfect mechanical calendar watch does not exist and is unlikely to exist in the near future. Berneron's annual calendar offers a compelling mix of symmetry, compactness, idiot-proof adjustment and instantaneous window jumps. For this to come from a y...
Excited for Berneron
After a lot of soul-searching I liquidated some of my collection and purchased a couple of allocations for the Mirage 34. I instantly fell in love with that watch– it literally took my breath away. The Quantieme is beautiful in its own right, but it's a m...
stunning movement no doubt but there are 2 things that puts me off...
1) it is a complete departure of the design code from the first version...in this annual calendar, if we take-off the brand name I would hardly guess it is a Bergeron. 2) somewhat all that is resolved were non-issue earlier, we've better annual calendar a...
It's all part of the brand ethos
Berneron's goal was never to make only quirky asymmetric watches - sticking with the same design aesthetic would be contrary to the whole ethos of Berneron. Sylvain left Breitling because he was trapped within their design constraints. If he does the same...
I saw this at Geneva Watch Days and that's what they were saying
They didn't want to be known as the asymmetric watch company. By making their 2nd watch so different from the 1st, they are able to define early on the scope of what people might expect from them over the future. Here are some pics on my 15cm wrist. One o...