In the last Founder’s Note for this magazine, I explained that the Swiss watch industry, like Silicon Valley’s tech world, remembers how you act not when times are good but when times are bad. So, first of all, I want to recognize everyone who has made a redoubled effort to contribute to uplifting this industry where science meets magic, craft meets innovation and design meets engineering; what you have done, is unique and beautiful.

Dubai Watch Week: A gathering of minds

In particular, I want to shout out the extraordinary Seddiqi family who, when not doing their biennial fair, Dubai Watch Week, take their Horology Forums on the road. Their 10th edition was a wonderful time in Hong Kong. I was very honoured and delighted to announce that, together with the Seddiqi family, my company Grail Watch has organized the first global competition to identify the next generation of talent in the field of watch design. Participants will soon be able to submit your designs, along with your business plans and your video testimonials, to our websites. We will fly our finalists into Dubai next year where they will be challenged by industry legend Jean-Claude Biver, technical genius Carole Forestier-Kasapi, brilliant designer Sylvain Berneron and the excellent journalist Ming Liu. If all goes to plan, we will even produce a pilot series of their watches for Dubai Watch Week 2025. The category for this competition is “Shaped Watches.”

IAMWATCH: A tropical affair we needed

I also want to give thanks to Michael Tay and The Hour Glass which hosted IAMWATCH in Singapore, one of the most fun, relaxed, convivial and educational fairs I’ve been to. The idea that collectors could meet and hang with their independent watchmaking heroes while wearing tropical shirts and shorts was brilliantly Singaporean. I also want to say a big thank you to the organizers of Geneva Watch Days and everyone who participated in the various symposiums we held there. It has become one of my favorite moments of the year, a relaxed, genuinely warm, friendly environment where friends can gather and share their passion for horology and each other.

Rolex is stronger than ever

This year has been a wake-up call for the watch world. To quote Warren Buffet, “When the tide goes out, you see who’s been swimming naked.” But as your eyes scour the landscape of bathers, the results of who’s been treading water à poil, as the French say, might leave you surprised. I remember during Watches and Wonders innumerable social media and YouTube channels declaring that it was “the end of Rolex.” But I think what we will realize at the end of the year is that Rolex is stronger than ever and most likely has even grown through out the turmoil of 2024. Why? It’s simple. During uncertain times, customers invariably return to known values, a sentiment that pushed gold to an all-time high where it surpassed the price of platinum this year. The ire at the beginning of 2024 sprang from the fact that Rolex didn’t launch a significant new sports model in the way it had last year with the left-handed “Sprite” GMT. But that would have been neither smart move or the one that continued their long term strategy.

If you look at how Rolex has increased both its quality and its average price over the last years, with an increased focus on precious metal and craft-based watches, you would understand that this year was precisely a focus on that, with launches featuring mother-of-pearl dials, gold cases and gem-set bezels. Because Rolex has gradually grown to dominate not just the sports watch category but also the precious metal watch in the range of 50,000 to 100,000 dollars as well. The objective of Jean Frédéric Dufour, the brand’s CEO, was not to simply be the most dominant player in the steel sports watch category but also in the precious metal category of watches that feature complications up to the chronograph and annual calendar. For now, he has not yet decided to push into the complication territory of the perpetual calendar and beyond. However if Rolex does one day decide to breach this threshold, it would undoubtedly do so with a watch that is the most intuitive and reliable in the category, and if combined with a chronograph with windows and a center date pointer in homage to the legendary 4768 Jean-Claude Killy triple calendar, then Rolex would begin to dominate the over 100,000 dollar category as well. Will Dufour ever do this? I don’t know. Maybe he has a gentleman’s agreement with Thierry Stern that they don’t overly encroach on each other’s territory.

Patek Philippe is a winner — it takes time

On the subject of Stern, Patek Philippe was another big winner this year. Why? Because it basically introduced the new “Square Nautilus” to its line-up, which actually fits perfectly into the brand’s offer. Now what about the innumerable negative comments on the watch? Well, it’s interesting because for the first time I’ve seen the luxury watch world reach its point of tolerance for the potential negative dimension of these interconnected platforms. And it’s not just Patek over the past years; I’ve watched as every time Audemars Piguet launched something, there was nothing but social media hate. And honestly I think many of us are simply fatigued by the negativity.

This actually is larger in scope than the luxury watch world, to the point that I think if Mahatma Gandhi, one of the greatest human beings to ever grace our planet, were alive today and started an Instagram Page, comments such as, “I hate your concepts on religious pluralism” and “Why are you in a diaper?” would soon bombard his posts. Sometimes people spread negativity because it gives them clout. After all, people are more likely to click on your post if it has some kind of incendiary title. This form of tabloid journalism has actually been around since the 1770s in the form of “Scandal Sheets.” In the 20th century in America, there was a title named the National Enquirer that basically fed the base human impulse to delight in the misfortune of others — an emotion that the Germans call schadenfreude. Studies have shown that when people post negative comments, their brains release dopamine into their central nervous systems and, like drug addicts, they keep coming back for bigger and bigger highs.

So back to the aforementioned Patek Philippe Cubitus. Is it a great watch? As a square Nautilus, it is definitely a good watch. Is it too big at 45mm? Well, it wears considerably smaller than that because 45mm is the measurement diagonally across its square shape. But sure, I would love a mid-sized version at 34mm to 37mm. If the 5811 is still only produced in gold, then this new watch will come to occupy the place of the one steel Patek time-only sports watch, which will make it first, highly coveted, and second, the bridge into the brand for many new collectors.

Much umbrage was taken and some of the more inflammatory sites and social media pages tried to blow Thierry Stern’s comments that most of the haters were not his customers out of proportion. But I understand from retailers the waiting list for all references is already many hundreds of people long. So to be fair, the rage and poisonous ire you see on these platforms don’t accurately reflect the commercial success of the Cubitus, which makes this a great year for Patek. However, it might spell the demise of how watch brands interact with social media in the future.

Interestingly, many people have asked me what is the future for watch media when information is so readily available today? To me, watch media is about offering all the best information possible for people to make up their own minds. It is not about perpetuating hyperbolic negativity as social media has become. That includes providing historical context such as an understanding of the other square-shaped alternatives to the iconic integrated bracelet sports watches over history. The other emblematic watches in the same category — the Royal Oak, the 222, the Polo — have all had square alternatives. Why have I or none of the other responsible watch journalists said that they are bad? Because they are not! Even though the more manipulative and negativity driven elements on social media would want us to believe so. As I said in the beginning of this Founder’s Note, my mission is to uplift this industry and not to tear it down. Finally, remember that this is just the introduction of the watch family and a mid-sized version of the Cubitus, if executed in yellow gold on gold, would be spectacular.