Prime Time Luxury Watches – January 2016

Right from its origins almost 250 years ago, the inventor of the automatic or self-winding luxury watches, Perrelet has consistently cultivated an avant-garde spirit teamed with complete mastery of the elaboration of its timepieces. Karan Jain, Regional Manager at Perrelet SA, tells us about their collections, the competition and what sets these timekeepers apart

BEING AN ESTABLISHED HOROLOGIST SINCE 1777 WHAT DO YOU SAY ESSENTIALLY DEFINES LUXURY WATCHES?
Luxury watches are defined by two traits – craftsmanship and service. Beyond the utility of an instrument that tells the time, customers are buying into a brand’s pedigree, name and prestige, as well as a higher, more personalized level of service. Once you buy a luxury watch, your relationship with the brand has just begun.

ONE OF YOUR MOST POPULAR COLLECTIONS HAS BEEN THE TURBINE COLLECTION. WHAT WAS THE IDEA BEHIND THE SAME?
With the Turbine, we wanted a watch that was unique and immediately recognizable. The Turbine mechanism was inspired by the turbine fan in aircraft engines. Implementing it was a challenge, but our engineers were able to design a watch that successfully integrated a free-rotating high-speed titanium turbine with Perrelet’s industry-leading automatic movement. The results are there for everyone to see – the Turbine collection has become symptomatic with the quality and innovation that watch connoisseurs expect from a brand like Perrelet.

THE LUXURY WATCH CATEGORY CAN BE A TOUGH ONE, WITH LIMITED BRANDS AND A DOMINATION OF HISTORIC MODELS. HOW DOES PERRELET COMPETE IN THIS ARENA?
The luxury watch marketplace is definitely a busy one, but there is always room for growth and improvement. Perrelet is one of the few surviving brands from the golden era of watchmaking innovation from 1750 to 1800. It was during this time that miniaturization of horological processes made rapid progress and technical innovations – like the tourbillon, BreguetOvercoil and, of course, the automatic – saw the light of day. Today, Perrelet is popular because of its unique style and modern innovations.
All our watches contain in-house movements with mechanisms both designed and manufactured by us. We are the only watchmaker in the world to make double-rotor watches, and we continue to be an innovator in the industry.

YOUR TURBINE SHERIFF TIMEPIECE IS SAID TO PAY TRIBUTE TO YOUR FOUNDER, ABRAHAM- LOUIS PERRELET. WHAT MAKES THIS WATCH SO SPECIAL?
The Turbine XL Sheriff was a one-off piece made specially for the Only Watch charity auction 2015. Only Watch auctions unique timepieces from various brands to raise money for research into Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It has been doing this since 2005 to great support from the horological community. The Sheriff was a fun take on the current Turbine XL. We replace the turbine with a sheriff’s star and stamped the words “Wanted: Dead or Alive” above the name of the founder of our company, Abraham-Louis Perrelet. It’s a fun reference to old American westerns, as well as acknowledging the original Perrelet.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM PERRELET IN THE COMING YEARS?

The last year has been one of consolidation for Perrelet – where we have streamlined and fine-tuned our collection. While the Turbine has been a great success for us, we are now focused on the future and the next big technical innovation. What our customers can always expect from us are cutting-edge, avant-garde watches that are a joy to own and wear.

Volume 5 Issue 7