Traditional (but): I've rated Christophe Claret as a Contemporary brand because of the wilder models, but this independent has a foot in both camps and I rate this Soprano as Traditional, or perhaps "Traditional with a twist"

Want To Launch A High-End Watch Brand? What The 9 New Independents At SIHH 2016 Teach Us

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Post-SIHH reports indicate that the inclusion of the so-called indies was a big success for both visitors and the small brands alike, but also that there was a little grumbling from some of the large established SIHH brands generated by the fact that visitors to the fair remarked − with justification − that there were more interesting watches in the Carré des Horlogers than in the rest of the SIHH altogether. What can the industry learn from their inclusion in 2016’s first fair?

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Wristshot Hautlence Vortex

More Changes For Hautlence Expected In 2016

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As the SIHH closes its doors, the Hautlence team will no longer include co-founder Guillaume Tetu. At the end of 2015, Tetu announced that he would be leaving his own company to “take up a new challenge.” So what happens to Hautlence now? Read on to find out.

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Mechanical-Exception watches pre-selected for the 2015 GPHG. Clockwise from top left: Christophe Claret Maestoso, Hautlence Vortex, HYT H3, Jaquet Droz The Charming Bird, Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One, and Dewitt Academia Mathematical

Quill & Pad’s Predictions For The Mechanical Exception Category Of The 2015 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève

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Welcome to the 2015 edition of Quill & Pad’s early Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) predictions in which we pick our favorites and explain why. The six pre-selected finalists in the Mechanical Exception category are the Christophe Claret Maestoso, Dewitt Academia Mathematical, Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One, Hautlence Vortex, HYT H3, and Jaquet Droz’s The Charming Bird.

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Tourbillon watches pre-selected for the 2015 GPHG. Clockwise from top left: Antoine Preziuso Tourbillon of Tourbillons, Blancpain L-evolution C, Tourbillon Carrousel, Bovet 1822 Braveheart, MB&F Horological Machine N°6, Ulysse Nardin Ulysse Anchor Tourbillon and Greubel Forsey Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision

Complete List And Photos Of All Pre-Selected Watches In The 2015 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève

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The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) has just published the list of 2015’s pre-selected watches in the run-up to the big red carpet event in Geneva on October 29. The pre-selected watches will go on a world tour that includes stops in Hong Kong, Seoul, Dubai, Geneva, and London in October and November. But enough preamble, let’s have a look at the watches that are now in serious contention to take home big prizes this year.

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Wristshot Hautlence Vortex

The Hautlence Vortex: Is This The World’s Slowest Tourbillon?

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Over its eleven years of existence, Hautlence has experienced the tumult of both changes in investors and senior management. Hautlence co-founder and CEO Guillaume Tetu has been through it all. And he’s still smiling!

Vortex is the brand’s latest, and most complicated, watch post-MELB acquisition, and it’s success, or lack thereof, will be an important milestone for Hautlence as it looks to the future. So how is the watch?

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The Hautlence Invictus Morphos resting on a cover image of its designer, Eric Cantona

Hautlence, Branding, Eric Cantona, And The 10-Year Anniversary

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The date was March 2004. The place was Basel. I had gotten wind of a new “brand” and was heading down the street from Baselworld’s Hall 1 toward the local Starbucks to meet with the founders. In the ten years since that coffee-fueled day, Hautlence has basically experienced its own birth, middle age, near death and reincarnation. That’s quite a lot of history for any 10-year old brand. Read this story to find out where it is now and why Eric Cantona is the new “gentleman rebel” face.

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