LUXUO: Eric Wind on The Collaboration Between Watch Brands and Fashion
Nagmani recently wrote for LUXUO ‘Fashionable Precision’ Within the article Eric Wind is quoted on collaborations between watch manufacturers and the fashion industry.
Big names in luxury such as Chanel, Gucci, Hermès and Bvlgari have all invested in developing and manufacturing excellent mechanical watches. According to Eric Wind, the seasoned and much-cited watch expert and owner of Wind Vintage, “There is a long history of ‘fashion brand watches’ but in recent years these fashion maisons have tried to shed that label to make more serious mechanical watches. These are brands that have massive and loyal followings, so their watches can often serve as an important “gateway drug” to serious mechanical watches from the traditional watch manufacturers.”
Now the next big question is whether all luxury watch brands will follow what is now clearly more than a trend. “Not all luxury watch brands will follow suit — I don’t think we will see Rolex or Patek Philippe teaming up with Supreme anytime soon,” said Wind. ”Although many other watch brands would be thrilled to be able to offer a watch with Supreme on the dial. But even Patek Philippe has a long history of selling watches at Tiffany & Co. in NYC and the limited Nautilus reference 5711/1A with a Tiffany blue dial (above) could be described as a great collaboration in a sense — with the watch retailing for about US$52,000 and with a secondhand market value of $4 million.”
Asked how beneficial such collaborations are, Wind explained: “These collaborations have been very dynamic and brought new energy to watch brands – and seemed to have helped sales and raise brand awareness among fans of these clothing brands. I think these collaborations and partnerships are about more than just increasing sales of highly-sought after models by producing them in limited-editions, but are about making cool and desirable watches at the end of the day.”
Read the full article below:
https://www.luxuo.com/magazine/wow/#page=1