From History to Hype: The Decline of Noble Watchmaking

A few years ago, the world of watchmaking was an arena reserved for a class of individuals who, instead of pursuing transient fashions, dedicated themselves to going beyond time itself. Each watch was a laborious piece of art, a testifier to a history, a heritage and a tradition. Swiss, German, or Japanese brands, they were part of a line of continuity that brought innovations, no doubt but ever mindful of the lofty watchmaking spirit: striving for excellence, for precision and respect for century-old know-how.

Watchmaking before the era of fashion
There was once when a watch was not just an accessory but a mirror image of the soul of a brand. A watch might have a story to share, that of a family, a watchmaker, or an era. The great watchmaking names — Jaeger Lecoultre, Blancpain, Breguet, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Czapek, Patek Philippe, Omega, Zenith, Rolex, among others — were a little mystical in their approach. They raised the art of watchmaking, respecting traditions and innovating with caution.

Buyers weren't buying a watch per se, they were buying a piece of history, a piece of heritage. And model talk was often more heads than substance: what caliber, what complication, what was the story about this model? A brand was built on years of research and dedication. There was a discreet pride in the ownership of a higher watch, because it meant you understood and appreciated the craftsmanship of watchmaking in all its intricacy.

The fashion and fast consumption era
And then something changed. Towards the start of the 2015s, consumers began turning to watches, not anymore as the avatar of heritage, but for their symbolic potential. Brands, having caught wind of this new trend, then embarked on a more commercial trajectory. Watchmaking then began to converge with fashion, leading to a period where watches were now fashionable luxury items rather than precision instruments. This marked the beginning of the watch style craze. The catch line was "more seen, more showy." Watches were getting bigger, dials flashier and movements, once a promise of reliability and intricacy, secondary at times. Looks were what mattered now. Testimonial watches, now transformed into mass consumption, followed the "buzz" of the day.

Marketing has, in the form of social media and celebrity endorsement, played a role in what it is reducing watchmaking to as a fashion accessory. Instagram, YouTube and TikTok have witnessed business owners showcasing luxury watches as symbols of their success. This phenomenon has pushed brands to make limited editions based on nothing more than their exclusivity but often not based on technical excellence.

The massification of watchmaking
It's not simple these days not to feel uneasy about this revolution. Watchmaking, the domain once of those attuned to the subtlety of tradition, has become a sphere wherein one must have the newest "watch-it" in order to be fashionable in society. Craft has taken a back seat, defeated by glitz and prestige.

To meet this greater demand, brands have sometimes adopted mass production tactics. Models once rare and exclusive are now being mass-produced in million copies. Limited editions are no longer singular works of art but marketing releases whose value lies solely in their ability to awaken the imagination of the general populace.

Similarly, the search for identity has been eclipsed by aesthetic desires alone. Consumers, most often youth, are less interested in a watch with a story of origin than one that makes them visible and coveted by others. This is not peculiar to watchmaking — this is an era where everything is getting commodified, where identity is ever more established through trends and what we possess rather than who we are.

A return to authenticity?
Perhaps, in this fashion trend, there is a rebirth for some brands that are able to wed both tradition and contemporaneity. A few select houses still foster the heritage of watchmaking, as they evolve to meet the needs of this new public. But for the majority others, the question is whether watchmaking can still be this endless pursuit of perfection and eternality, or is it doomed to melt into the blizzard of fast and cosmetic consumption?

I believe that there is still a place for honesty in this world of fake-ness. But it involves going back to fundamentals of what watchmaking has always been: a dignified art form, a guardian of know-how, tradition, and heritage. Those brands which can make it through the two worlds — that of heritage and innovation — will have a very rosy future. But to do that, they will need to resist the lure of vulgarity and keep their focus on the nucleus: the art of time.