Cityscape: Hamburg's latest will have them staring and singing

The Hamburg skyline has been getting a slow but dramatic makeover for the past decade. That’s how long the the Elbphilharmonie concert hall has been under construction, but come January they’ll be cutting the ribbon and throwing the first event in the new space.
 The massive building is the work of world-famous Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron, known for their attention to detail and innovative use of material.

First, the exterior: The form of the building was inspired by sports stadiums, ancient theaters and tents. Yes, camping tents. The geometry is all designed with acoustics at top of mind. The brick base is actually a warehouse from 1875 that was destroyed in WWII, restored, and extensively renovated yet again in preparation for this project. Now this historic port locale is experiencing a new life once more with the completion of this gorgeous anchor building.

 The futuristic glazed facade on top is actually made up of 1,100 glass panes,

individually shaped “to millimeter precision,” and treated to prevent overheating.

The space that connects the old and the new is called the “plaza”, made from 250,000 custom-made clay bricks, and it will be opening this November to the public. From it you get panoramic views of the city.
The inside is just as impressive as the outside: the structure houses three concert halls, a 250-room hotel, and 45 private apartments. The grand hall’s seashell-pattern “white skin” wall treatment is the result of extensive research into materiality and acoustics, and is designed to optimize the sound and carry it to every seat in the house.

Brands/Watches: Turning Back the Clock?

By 

MICHAEL CLERIZO

Q: I’ve heard that the prices of Swiss mechanical watches are falling. Is now a good time to buy?

A: You’ve got excellent intel. Prices for Swiss watches are, indeed, slipping, which makes it easier to contemplate a big-ticket purchase. It is happening for a reason: Sales are down.

According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, 2015 was the first year since 2009 that exports dropped. More recently the Federation reported that in April of this year, “the trend of Swiss watch exports remained sharply negative.” Exports were down 11.1% in value compared with April 2015, and “over the first four months of this year, the downturn stands at 9.5%.”

What’s behind the drop? The strong Swiss franc has kept prices high, while anemic economic growth in Europe has kept demand lower than expected. Meanwhile, the low price of oil has corresponded to decreased spending in Russia and the Middle East. InAsia, the weak Chinese yuan, coupled with an official crackdown on corruption and a shift in tastes away from conspicuous luxury, has depressed sales in China and Hong Kong.

As a result, inventories are bulging and some brands are quietly cutting prices by 5% to 7%. (Believe me, in Switzerland nobody shouts about these things.) That sounds like good news for buyers—and it is. But is a $15,000 watch that now costs roughly $1,000 less really a bargain?

Some watch brands are quietly cutting prices by 5% to 7%—but discounting won’t last.ILLUSTRATION: MICHAEL SLOAN

The industry realizes that discounting may not be enough of an impetus to buy a luxury watch these days. So some brands have managed to generate interest by adding traditionally pricey features to unusually “affordable” watches, thanks to cost-saving production innovations. What to look for:

Chronograph/Tourbillons

The most controversial watch introduced this year is the TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer-02T, which boasts a chronograph (stopwatch function) and a tourbillon (a device that improves accuracy) in a 45-mm titanium case. Prices for similar watches often start at $40,000 to $50,000; the 02T (this is the controversial part) costs $15,950.

Other executives accused TAG Heuer of horological treason for selling a chronograph/tourbillon at so low a price. At Baselworld, Thierry Stern, president of Patek Philippe, commented on the 02T to Bloomberg Pursuits: “If they’re willing to try to kill the quality of the Swiss product, they’re on a very good track.”

Jean-Claude Biver, TAG Heuer CEO and president of the LVMH Watch Division, explained the motivation: “When sales drop, there is a crisis, but you make the crisis your friend.” The brand simplified the production for the 02T, greatly reducing costs.

Perpetual Calendars

People who obsess about timepieces appreciate perpetual calendar watches, which display the day, date, month, year and phases of the moon, making adjustments for leap years. This spring, Geneva-based Frédérique Constant (acquired last month by Japan’s Citizen Watch Company) introduced a Manufacture Perpetual Calendar watch with an easy-to-read dial and a 42-mm stainless steel case. Peter Stas, CEO of Frédérique Constant, touted his brand’s “lean manufacturing processes,” which kept the price to $8,995, well below the $13,000 to $500,000 similar models fetch.

Complications

Watch lovers know that a complication (any function or design flourish beyond a simple time display) can drive costs up. So in January, when Cartier unveiled the Drive de Cartier, I was surprised by its price—$8,750, so much less than the $20,000 figure I had guesstimated.

An elegant asymmetry rules on this watch, which has a date window at 12, a second time zone dial at 10, a day/night indicator at half-past 3 and a small seconds dial at 6. The dial also has delicate engraved patterns called guilloché. All that Cartier chic is in a 40-mm stainless steel case.

These three watches arguably offer excellent value for the money. But with most watch executives predicting the present doldrums will last two more years, the quandary for consumers is: Do we buy now or wait in the hope that prices will drop even further? 

Brands: motoring enthusiasts on their "Ps"

Swiss watch manufacturer Frederique Constant is the official timekeeper of the 2016 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, one of the most extraordinary journeys that you can do in a motorcar universe.

With its first edition in 1907, The Peking to Paris Motor Challenge is one of the oldest automotive challenges still running today. Bringing vintage sports cars together side-by-side, their route includes driving in some of the world's toughest lands and requires the participants to maintain a demanding rally-time schedule.

Watches: A "Citizen" with a hefty appetitie

 Citizen Watch Co., Ltd (photo at left is of the Citizen manufacture) has wholly acquired the Frédérique Constant Group, including its namesake brand as well as its subsidiary watch brands, the sporty and affordable Alpina, and the high-end and very limited-production Ateliers DeMonaco.

Citizen already owns Bulova as well as Swiss movement manufacturer La Joux-Perret SA that includes the Angelus and Arnold & Son high-end watch brands under La Joux-Perret. With Frédérique Constant and Alpina, Citizen says it "will be able to augment its portfolio of brands and occupy the space in the markets where some of our competitors operate and further expand the presence of the Citizen brand in the market." To put that corporate speech into context: by acquiring Frédérique Constant and Alpina, Citizen clearly aims to go into battle against other competitively priced Swiss watch brands, which should include the likes of Longines, Hamilton, Baume & Mercier, and perhaps even Montblanc, Tudor, or TAG Heuer.

From Citizen's side, it is easy to understand why this acquisition makes sense: it helps them strengthen their position in the Swiss watch industry and get a slice of the highly competitive two- to eight-thousand-dollar segment largely dominated by the aforementioned (and a fair number of other) brands. You see, for the last decade or so, Frédérique Constant has been heavily investing into developing and manufacturing its own in-house movements; and the resulting know-how and manufacturing capacity of this caliber (see what I did there?) remains very rare and a huge asset to its owners.

Both Frédérique Constant and Alpina are established brands at this point, but when you add to the mix Citizen's arguably much larger distribution network, as well as all the possibilities of exchanging technologies between the two groups, you end up with a very powerful recipe. Although Citizen does have its own high-end, Swiss-made range of watches with Citizen Campanola (hands-on here), these two freshly acquired brands have an incomparably stronger international presence as well as a much more established product range.

The brand was established in 1988 by Aletta and Peter Stas, and through over 25 years of constant growth, the group has reached its current state where it manufactures around 150,000 watches a year and employs 170 people in six countries. While Frédérique Constant had been one of the last wholly family-owned Swiss watch manufactures, apparently there was no one in the family with the interest to take the baton and carry on managing the brand. While the present management personnel and staff are said to continue to hold their positions following this acquisition, we also know that Peter and Aletta will remain in their executive roles for the next five years.


- from aablogtowatch.com

Brands: End of a [Swiss] Era: landmark ROlex Dealer relinquishes amid economic downturn

As a watch aficionado, I always want to see watch makers and retailers doing, not poorly This, from the Sunday observer, is especially sad

After more than 80 years of being the sole agent for Rolex watches in Jamaica, Swiss Stores has given up the agency, and starts a new phase in its business development as of today.

“We have decided after 80 years to give up the Rolex agency effective the end of April,” Managing Director of Swiss Stores Ueli Bangerter told the

Jamaica Observer on Friday. “It is our decision.”

The company will continue to sell jewellery and certified previously owned Rolexes from its 107 Harbour Street flagship store, but will now be closing its only other shop in Rosehall, St James.

Swiss Stores started in Jamaica in 1935 after forming a direct relationship with Rolex to sell the watches here. But changes in the economy, on both a local and global scale, helped prompt Bangerter to make the decision to discontinue the agency relationship.

“We are no longer an island as we used to be,” Bangerter told

Sunday Finance. “We were not able to recover from the 2008 crisis, including Olint and Cash Plus, that took a lot of money out of the market.”

The end result was fewer sales, making it harder for the company to maintain its six stores islandwide. Previous locations in Ocho Rios and in New Kingston were closed some time ago.

“Rolex and other luxury brands demand – rightfully – that you have a store of a certain style and in certain locations.”

To help boost profits, Bangerter – Swiss-born nephew of director Peter Bangerter – had started to extend the jewellery store’s core business into real estate and the restaurant business.

The Harbour Street store was remodelled into a trendy, upmarket restaurant, F+B – originally serving primarily sandwiches and soups to business executives in the area, but then extending the menu to include a greater variety of options, including Jamaican, pasta and Chinese dishes.

Competing jewellery store Bijoux will now carry the prestigious Swiss brand as the official agency – a move that Bangerter is happy about.

Bijoux is “an excellent company with an outstanding reputation,’’ Bangerter said.

Bijoux already sold several prestigious watch brands, including Omega, Breitling, Hublot and Raymond Weil, but until now could not offer perhaps the most prestigious of all – Rolex. Its locations include its headquarters on Knutsford Boulevard in New Kingston and a location near the former Swiss Stores in Rose Hall. Other stores are at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James; Ocho Rios, St Ann, and in Falmouth, Trelawny.

But Swiss Stores is still maintaining good relations with Rolex. Although it will no longer sell new Rolexes, the jewellery business will still sell previously owned Rolexes and will also repair the timepieces.

“We will continue after-sales service and will remain the official Rolex service agent, with our state-of-the-art workshop,” Bangerter said.

“Swiss Stores will continue to retail fine jewellery, watches and selected gift items and also produce custom-made, high-end jewellery in our own workshop,” he declared. 

Watches: Swiss time and Silicon Valley tech go all the way

Peter Stas of Frederique Constant

Coming this May, the promise of full integration between conventional Swiss form and mechanical function, with cutting edge info-delivery will be realized in a single watch (or range) when watchmaker Frederique Constant/Alpina unveils its Swiss Horological Smartwatches, now in production.

Powered by MotionX, the new Swiss Horological Smartwatches are capable of bi-directional communication with iPhone and Android apps. Discoverwatches by clicking on “read more”…

“Frédérique Constant and Alpina, the Swiss Horological Smartwatches, retain their natural classic beauty and can deliver the benefits of the quantified self, all without ever having to recharge a battery”, said Peter Stas, the co-founder and CEO of the Frédérique Constant group and continued his introduction by saying: “The Swiss Horological Smartwatch is the synthesis of high-tech innovation and traditional Swiss watch craftsmanship; it is the link (no pun intended) between modern and classic, and the bridge between Silicon Valley and Switzerland. There is no digital screen on our Swiss Horological Smartwatch. Instead, the beautiful laser cut hands on the watch dial display information in analog form.”

The MotionX patented sensor-fusion engine tracks activity and sleep patterns with high accuracy. Activity and sleep information is presented in real-time on the Swiss Horological Smartwatch using traditional analog dials. The Swiss Horological Smartwatch synchronizes automatically with applications on Apple and Androidsmartphones. On the iOS and Android apps, simple and easy-to-understand graphics highlight how much one has moved and slept during the day, week, or month.

Profiles in Music: Di Govanah

Desmond Ray Williams began his career as Di Govanah at age 15 when he stamped his class as a talented  lyricist by decimating his teacher in a DJ showdown on a concert at his school, Maldon High, St James. With his star potential now exposed, Di Govanah's fan base quickly started to grow and by age 17 he had already recorded two albums: "Combination" and "Musically Equipped".

From those relatively humble beginnings, Williams matured rapidly in the business, and has racked up an enviable list of performance credits, including Reggae Sumfest and Reggae Fever. On the recording front, his output includes such tracks as "Time Like This", "Jah Say Don't" and "Inna Trouble."

Having been thus seasoned, the artiste believes he is close to the top of his game creatively, and anticipates a busy period over the coming months , during which time he will appear on several local shows whilst he prepares for a European trip come this summer. To accompany him on that tour of the continent is Swiss band Gully Echo, with producer Aron Franchetti. 

Ahead of that though, Govanah remains very active in the studios and is set to release a new EP, entitled "(Jam) Session". Already his fans are eagerly anticipating his arrival and commonly regard him as the "Young Peter Tosh". Accompanying him on this tour is 

Assessing his career to date, and reflecting on the struggles he quietly and humbly endured, the artiste is filled with pride, optimism and a sense of mission. "This marks a very exhilarating time for me musically as I strive to achieve the heights. My goal is to be a  voice for Jah people bringing a positive message while maintaining my musical relevance". 

Fully confident in the abundance of his talent and blessed with talent and with an infectious personality to match, Di Govanah is now set to unleash his arsenal of conscious reggae/Dancehall music to the world and is tipped to become one of Jamaica's leading break-out artistes of 2015.

Look out for Di Govanah, he is definately one to watch.