Image - A watch photo crisis?
Whether or not it goes viral, the photograph is fast becoming the main tool of communication. Watchmaking in the 21st century, which claims to be as creative as ever, shows a surprising level of conservatism when it comes to its photographic expression. And the gap between horological creativity and photographic conservatism seems to be getting bigger.
Our elders love to remind us that things were better “in the olden days”, often making us smile as they do so. We are understanding yet dubious and sometimes sceptical. Surely with the technology of the new millennium the “olden days” have no chance of being better than the here and now? One thing that is sure about progress is that it is irreversible. So why are watch photos so boring at the moment?
Subjectivity cannot excuse everything
Tastes, colours and everything in between may easily be used to dismiss arguments against our premise and beauty is, after all, in the eye of the beholder. But watch photography from the 1950s to the 1980s was undoubtedly more creative than it has been in any other period.
The genre seems to be confined to two unbelievably poor terms: “soldat” (the French for “soldier”, referring to packshots of the watch standing to attention) and “mushroom” (referring to packshots where the watch case appears perched on top of the strap, like the head of a mushroom), each portrayed on deserted white or black backgrounds. Dry, ascetic, uniform, standard. Where is the emotion?
Marketing dissonance
And yet everything seems to suggest that there should be free reign for creativity in watch photos. Watches and watchmaking are all about emotion and the brands are effusive with their emotional terminology. Watches are “generous”, “audacious” and “avant-garde”. The rhetorical imagination is limitless.
But how do the brands translate their lyricism into photography, the final act in the product presentation and the one that will decide the sale? By a packshot on a black or white background. The most cynical among us conclude: all that for this?
Fashion to the rescue
Watchmaking is a product of luxury and/or of fashion, just like a prestige automobile, designer clothing, a great fragrance or fine jewellery. Fortunately, these worlds know how to show off their wares and are masters of colours, modelling, not to mention contextual and chromatic risk-taking.
The most recent campaign by Chanel is a brilliant example of how the brand’s two universes – high fashion and watchmaking – can feed off each other. The latter benefits from the audacity of the former, which takes the beautiful advertisements from the past century as its creative inspiration.
Independent saviours
In practice, the majority of brands use freelance photographers. But their freedom with respect to the brands hiring them is far from unrestrained and often deftly managed by the creative director of the brand.
Nevertheless, some take risks and manage to convince their customers. Guy Lucas de Peslouan partnered with Richard Mille in 2006 for a work in which each page dissects with a scalpel the hundreds of components in one of the brand’s watches. This clinical universe was a great illustration of the hypertechnicality of the brand and was far removed from the standards of the time.
Denis Hayoun has produced photographs in which the shadows are more important than the light. Unlike packshots that have no modesty, in these shots it is up to the observer to plunge into the photo and look for the lines, the light and the gestures.
The short-cut to effectiveness
Nicolas Lefeuvre works in both fashion and watchmaking. “A watch is a technical product and is becoming even more so,” he says. “To show everything, or as much complications as possible, the wide packshot is the most effective short-cut, often to the detriment of creativity”.
The Internet and ecommerce are other aggravating factors. ”These channels only work with packshots and the entire creative universe of the print catalogue is immediately lost.” And then there is the audience itself, who “believes that the product is sufficient in itself and that there is no need to create a brand universe, an aura, like a model can do for jewellery or cosmetics. We have shifted from a genuine culture of advertising to simple product communication. The younger creative directors are no longer sons of advertising, they are marketers”.
David Carteron, a freelance photographer, has the last word: ”Brands dissociate their visual communication from their event marketing. For watches, it is a simple packshot on a white background. At events, there is richness and show. The product is now hardly visible in sponsoring, for example. It is almost left up to the customer to make the connection between the product seen in the press and the event that he or she is attending. And when it comes to budget, the event takes precedence over the photograph.”
And tomorrow?
Things are starting to change. Partly, but not entirely, thanks to these freelancers. Social media, an eager consumer of increasingly well thought-out images, is also responsible. Some brands are also evolving. Raymond Weil has produced some interesting shots of the watch it created in partnership with Gibson, along the lines ArtyA’s Son of Sound model. Even the sage A. Lange & Söhne has tried something new with its Datograph Black & White.
Some brands have understood the popularity of creative photos. Baume & Mercier has long put the emphasis more on the Hamptons than on the product. Patek Philippe puts it more on inheritance than on its latest annual calendar. These brands are still exceptions to the rule but they do prove one thing, as Guy Lucas de Peslouan sums up: “you can be marketing-oriented and artistic at the same time”.
Jaeger-LeCoultre - Master Grande Tradition à Répétitions Minutes
The creation of a minute repeater watch requires not only decades of experience in some of the most exacting aspects of Haute Horlogerie, but also an in-depth knowledge of musical theory and of the physics of sound, combined with the ability to create a miniature instrument that is capable of transforming the precise, mechanical measurement of time into a universe of pure harmony.
The unstinting commitment of engineers and master watchmakers in Le Sentier to the highest possible level of excellence in the field of Minute Repeater movements has been amply demonstrated in recent years.
Faithful to their customary approach, they have striven to uncover the techniques employed by the master watchmakers of days gone by. They have also been keen to go even further, never hesitating to take on new challenges by applying contemporary methods and technology. Having paid tribute and acknowledged the achievements of the past, today's watchmakers have not been slow to take up the gauntlet.
Innovation
In 2005, the launch of the Master Minute Repeater Antoine LeCoultre (Calibre 947) had already created a sensation with its patented crystal gong, constituting a major breakthrough in the world of watch sound. The gong heel was soldered to the watch's sapphire crystal so as to make the most of the sapphire crystal's properties of velocity to magnify the intensity and purity of the sound vibrations emitted.
After several years of research aimed at creating the purest sound possible, Jaeger-LeCoultre perfected a totally new shape of gong, used for the first time ever on the Master Minute Repeater watch in 2007. Consisting of a single part extending from the heel to the actual gong itself, this new design has a square cross-section rather than the traditional round cross-section, and a larger surface area that comes into contact with the hammer, which for its part can also strike with increased force. The gongs meanwhile were made out of a material for which Jaeger-LeCoultre possessed, and still possesses, the exclusive and confidential formula.
A succession of technical innovations were inspired by the Calibre 947, which consolidated its place in the history of watch sound when in 2009 Jaeger-LeCoultre unveiled the first minute repeater watch with a two-week power reserve combined with a regulator display.
Performance: exceptional sound
The magnitude of the project that the watchmakers had taken on gradually revealed itself during the course of a series of detailed studies undertaken with a view to achieving a sound hitherto unknown for a minute repeater watch. The first priority was to define the characteristics of the sound required and to establish parameters for it.
Sound is made up of four main components.
The volume is the strength of the sound as it is perceived. Expressed in decibels, it represents the sound pressure level to which the ear is exposed. It is a direct function of the acoustic pressure exercised on the eardrum. A variation of 10 decibels represents a doubling of the pressure exercised on the eardrum, and therefore a doubling of the perceived volume.
The second component of a sound is its duration. This represents the time that elapses until the sound emitted loses 20 decibels. The durations measured are of the order of a few hundred milliseconds.
The two other characteristics of a sound are its richness and pitch. The richness depends on the number of partials (or tones) perceived. The higher the number of partials, the more the sound is colourful and harmonious. The pitch corresponds to how high and harmonious is the value of the note struck, and to the respect for the principle of a third between two notes.
At the Manufacture, all measurements are taken using a microphone placed at a given distance from the sound source, but also with the assistance of a laser so as to obtain measurements that are not disturbed by the ambient medium.
Jaeger-LeCoultre specialists have studied each of these parameters so as to obtain the best possible combination. The result is quite simply breathtaking. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition à Répétitions Minutes produces a sound that has never been heard before in a wristwatch. With 64 decibels, durations of over 600 milliseconds and a richness of 9 partials, the sound produced surpasses any performance previously obtained with a wristwatch.
Even the least musically-inclined listener will immediately notice the difference.
Minute repeater watches: the quest for a major watchmaking achievement
The technical difficulty of a repeater watch lies in the complexity of the mechanism that serves to read the time shown by the hands so as to transcribe it through a succession of strikes that, in the case of minute repeaters, count out the hours, quarter-hours and minutes. In the case of minute repeater watches, the barrel spring stores up all the energy needed to launch into the mechanical ballet that is to follow, thanks to the angular shifting action of the bolt. At the same time, what are known as the hour, quarter and minute racks (parts which have a series of aligned teeth) are wound up and set in position. An ingenious form of disconnecting-gear makes it possible to take out of action the strike-train and the centrifugal governor during the winding process. While the racks are being wound up, the hammers of the two gongs move aside from their positions to let the racks pass. This is why a minute repeater mechanism must never be re-wound when it is ringing.
Once the winding process has been completed, the energy of the barrel spring is liberated through the speed regulator, which uses the principle of centrifugal force to maintain a constant striking speed for the hammers.
The quality of the sound is largely dependent on the rapidity of the striking. If the hammer stays in contact with the gong, the latter's vibrations will be seriously disturbed, and the sound emitted will be of mediocre quality. The setting of the striking action is an essential and extremely delicate aspect of minute repeaters.
The production of sound by a watch depends on this mechanism, which requires the presence of two circular gongs rolled up inside the case, and of small hammers to strike them at regular intervals.
The sound quality of a watch that gives an acoustic indication of the time largely depends on the gongs, the essential parts for producing sound, in much the same way as in a piano the strings are struck by the hammers. The case then amplifies and enriches the sound emitted by the gongs by adding a variety of tones a
Master Grande Tradition à Répétition Minutes. Technical specifications. Movement • mechanical hand-wound movement, Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 947, crafted, assembled and decorated by hand • 21,600 vibrations per hour • 15-day power reserve • 413 parts • 43 jewels • 8.95 mm in height • 34.7 mm in diameter Functions • hours, minutes, minute repeater, power reserve, barrel torque indication Dial • gold-plated, openworked • rhodium-plated applique markers Hands • dauphine type Crown and push-piece • 1 crown for winding the watch, and for setting the hours and minutes • 1 catch to activate the minute repeater Case • ø 44 mm, thickness: 15.6 mm • 18-carat pink gold • sapphire crystals • water-resistance: 5 bar Straps • chocolate-brown alligator-skin strap with pin buckle in 18-carat gold Reference • Q50125 50 18-carat pink gold
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