Amidst a slump in sales on the heels of exponential growth, some mid-range luxury watchmakers have applied for government assistance in order to retain jobs.
I understand the economic incentives of keeping employment up and recognize that there are very real people, with families, on the receiving end of this aid. However, bailing out the luxury sector hardly feels like a judicious use of taxpayer dollars.
Co-founder of the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Education Program (WOSTEP) and arguably the world's most pre-eminent publisher and purveyor of horological books, Antoine Simonin has had an indelible and far-reaching impact on the world of horology.
Rob Corder reporting for WatchPro finds Rolex ADs reticent to fully embrace new Rolex Certified Pre-owned Program.
At the end of the day, retailers sending timepieces serviced by their in-house technicians to be certified by Rolex is an expensive theatric that will only catch the superficial issues Corder noted—like a new crystal, crown, or bracelet.
Rolex slowly cutting off the supply of spare parts to watchmakers for service over the past quarter century while simultaneously increasing the prices they charge for service led to a massive and very lucrative gap that Chinese, Italian, German, and American firms have come to fill. Even with an attentive eye, high magnification, and decades of experience working on the genuine article, it can be difficult to tell bona fide Rolex movement components apart from the more advanced facsimiles flooding the market without using an XRF spectrometer to fingerprint the molecular makeup of the specific alloys each component is composed of.
Kari Voutilainen's 22-year-old daughter, Venla Voutilainen, will be working full time at Urban Jürgensen. With Kari as the brand's new CEO and Venla on as a full-time watchmaker, the duo make up half of the current Urban Jürgensen staff, reinvigorating this storied brand that has a promising future.
