REVOLUTION WATCH Issue 36

This issue of Revolution represents the final issue of 2020. And what a year it’s been, with global upheaval unlike anything that any of us has experienced in our lifetimes. And through it all, I have to say the creativity of the watch industry has offered me a much-welcome reprieve and escape from what has sometimes felt like a relentless tide of ominous news — in particular, watches like Omega’s incredible “Silver Snoopy Award” 50th Anniversary Speedmaster, which celebrates the mighty Swiss watch brand’s receiving of this coveted award for outstanding service back in 1970. The story of how a Speedmaster allowed Apollo 13’s astronauts to time their crucial 14-second rocket bursts to angle their crippled spacecraft, so that it would make it safely back to Earth and neither burn…

Adam Craniotes In addition to contributing to Revolution, New York City-based Adam Craniotes is the founder and president of RedBar Group, the world’s largest collective of watch enthusiasts, with chapters in over 60 cities across the globe. He is a lifelong watch collector and harbors an almost irrational love for G-Shock. Munster A fashion and commercial photographer based in Singapore, Munster has 13 years of experience in the industry and has worked with brands and titles both locally and internationally. His love for creating beautiful visuals began while he was in film school and he translates the same richness in motion pictures to his photography today. Barbara Palumbo A watch and jewellery writer, Barbara Palumbo is also the mastermind behind the insightful and humorous web publications Adornmentality and What’s On Her Wrist. Barbara is also…

Colour, as a noun, is first described in the Oxford English Dictionary as, “the property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way the object reflects or emits light.” Colour goes far beyond just nounhood, however. The term can also be used as a verb, as an adjective, and — as it relates to the study of the mind — colour is considered a branch of the broader field of behavioral psychology. Those who have worked in the marketing world or with marketing agencies understand that colour has a major impact on the consumer. A 2006 study by the University of Winnipeg in Canada stated that, “People make up their minds within 90 seconds of their initial interactions with either people or…

You don’t need to be an economist or a business expert to work out that 2020 has radically changed how people buy watches. People — especially people from China — aren’t travelling, and that’s caused watch markets that rely on the tourist dollar to dip dramatically. In many parts of the world, retail outlets have been closed for extended periods, and even when they are open, people are spending less than usual because of the pervading mood of financial instability. Not to mention the fact that many brands have pared back their release schedules. This year, Swiss watch exports are down around 30 percent from last year. The flip side of this is that watch brands, and consumers, are adapting. More luxury brands than ever before have started offering fully-fledged…

Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention — a concept certainly not lost on a young Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, otherwise known by the nickname “Butzi”, when he found himself along with all other members of the Porsche dynasty cast out of all executive roles in the family company. This decree came from his father “Ferry” Porsche, son of the company’s founder Ferdinand Porsche, who had become so exasperated by the constant in-fighting with his sister Louise Piëch’s side of the family that he decided to unilaterally remove all of his father’s descendants from management duties. Butzi, who had — amazingly enough — designed the Porsche 911 which debuted at the 1963 motor show and would go on to be the single most enduring and iconic act of automotive…

There’s a reason that Cartier is one of the small handful of brands that not only weathered the seismic life-changing storms of 2020, but actually continued to excel, gain market share and grow in profitability. And that is because it is creating exactly the watches that we, the collectors and consumers, want to purchase. Now, this may sound like a simple thing but it is actually the most complex, intuitive process there is in the luxury business, and I would go so far as to say the vast majority of the watch world still struggles with it. Because it goes much further than engaging your clients in a dialogue to better understand their needs. It goes much further than having a sensitivity in watch design that evokes the zeitgeist of…