What’s ticking? All the latest news from Rolex, Tissot and more
Swiss watchmaking is a multifaceted beast. Here, Tissot does the digital time warp; one of its neighbouring Jura Mountains blue-bloods fast forwards to the materials future; while Germany’s finest ‘uhrmacher’ slides into top gear.
The Crown hits the town
In a shock move announced on 25 August, in the absence of any direct descendants, Jörg Bucherer announced he has sold his company’s eponymous retail empire to Rolex – Switzerland’s biggest and best-known watchmaker.
The company now finds itself in ownership of 100 luxury watch boutiques on high streets worldwide, from Austria to the US. For more than 90 years, the two businesses have worked together, with 53 of those Bucherer stores stocking Rolex watches and 48 its sibling Tudor.
Herr Bucherer is the last person to have known Hans Wilsdorf himself, Rolex’s founder of 1905, and will remain as honorary president of the Bucherer group. Rolex’s acquisition caused uncertainty among investors that the boat could be rocked when it comes to allocation of stock or opportunities to retain or open Rolex retail franchises.
But the Swiss blue blood, known as the ‘Crown’ after its famous logo remains adamant that “Bucherer will keep its name and continue to independently run its business… [The] fruitful collaboration between Rolex and the other official retailers in its sales network will remain unchanged.”
Roundabout proof that it is indeed business as usual came on Monday from Bucherer’s biggest competitor, Watches of Switzerland, which announced that it has started selling ‘certified pre-owned’ Rolex watches in the UK.
After an understandable plunge at the London Stock Exchange, Watches of Switzerland’s shares are rallying, back up to 605p at the time of writing (Wednesday morning).
Sound LCD system
With tongue firmly in cheek, Swiss stalwart Tissot has dropped a summer bombshell that not only takes you back to the back of the classroom, but celebrates all that was good about quartz LCD-display watches in the seventies.
The advent of this all-new technology from Japan in 1969 wasn’t all bad for Switzerland –it ignited an explosion in design creativity. The PRX Digital is a fusion of Tissot’s DeLorean-esque design language at the time, revived brilliantly in recent years with amazing-value Powermatic 80 mechanics inside.
Only now, the analogue hands switch to liquid-crystal digits, with a historic ‘DGT2040’ movement that’s still Swiss-made by Swatch-Group stablemate ETA.
It was 1976 when Tissot started toying with LCD – a miniaturised ’Stratos’ Lancia drafted by the Bertone coachbuilder in gleaming black – then the car connection kicked up a gear in 1979, when Tissot became official timekeeper of the Lotus Formula 1 team, creating digitals with multiple displays (the Quartz F1 and TS-X are both ripe for revival).
The arrival of a screen in place of a dial not only chimed with Tron-obsessed schoolkids (or, latterly, the ironic Casio wearers of Shoreditch), it also opened up a new frontier of timekeeping– brought to bear within the PRX Digital’s otherwise luxury-spec, multi-facet satin-polished case and bracelet: dual time zones, day-date, chronograph, timer, backlight… plus an alarm to annoy teacher.
- Tissot PRX Digital available now at £310 (black or silver) or £395 (gold-PVD coated) at tissot.com
Hampton tick
The 2023 Concours of Elegance took place this month at Hampton Court Palace. The spectacular gathering of 60 automotive treasures were spread like watch-dial indexes about the Fountain Gardens of Sir Christopher Wren’s Baroque south front, under the suitably discerning auspices of A. Lange & Söhne.
And while the master uhrmacher of Saxony’s Glashütte village wasn’t hosting many fellow German marques, it was certainly keeping time throughout the centenary celebrations of the Le Mans’ endurance race. Henry VIII and all six wives’ former home hosted 24 historic entrants, including the first car to win at Circuit de la Sarthe back-to-back in 1929 and 1930, Bentley’s Speed Six ‘Old Number One’, considered to be among the greatest of Le Mans landmarks, based on a sporting version of the venerable 6½ Litre tourer.
While the Bentley won the 1920s category, it was nonetheless an Italian masterpiece that came away with ‘Best in Show’ at the twelfth edition of the Concours: a 1955 Maserati A6GCS/53 Frua Spider. In Teutonic black, at least.