Making a sound investment in time

If you’re like me, a watch would serve mainly three functions: to tell the time, as a fashion accessory, or for cuteness’ sake.

But for some people who can afford it, a watch can mean more than that–it can mean style, status, investment, a great appreciation for luxury or fine watch making, or all of the above.

It may be little known, but in a quiet corner of Rustan’s Silver Vault lies a selection of fine watches by Vacheron Constantin, a Swiss brand founded in 1755. It is a watch favored by royalty, celebrities and famous people in history.

Vacheron Constantin is the maker of the Tour de l’Ile watch, which topped Forbes.com’s list of the most expensive watches in the world in 2005–priced at US$1.5 million.

Vacheron Constantin was the wedding gift given by Katie Holmes to Tom Cruise (cost: US$23,000), while Colin Farrell wore his Malte Chronograph Perpetual Calendar in platinum (US$95,000) in Miami Vice, the movie.

In the Philippines, Vacheron Constantin is favored by very low-key, moneyed clients, and has been a faithful partner of Rustan’s since the ’70s, according to Rustan’s Kristina Velhagen.

Recently, Vacheron Constantin’s managing director for Asia Pacific, Jean Michel Paray, was here to introduce their new timepieces from the Overseas and Les Historiques collections, as well as their Collection Excellence Platine.

At Rustan’s Makati I had a brief chat with the talkative and very pleasant Mr. Paray, who discussed the basics of Vacheron Constantin.

How expensive is a Vacheron Constantin watch?

We start slightly below US$10,000 and after that, the sky is the limit.

We have in the regular collection watches for half a million US dollars to one million US. It’s a lot of money.

So it depends on the technicality of the movement, how complicated the movement is.

If it’s very difficult to manufacture, you need highly skilled people.

Or it depends also on the diamond that we put on the watch. Depending on the size of the diamond, the quantity of diamonds, the carats or weight of diamonds on the watch.

Is it marketable in the Philippines?

Anything is marketable. It depends on the quantities. You can have potential clients for entry-level watches in our collections–you can have hundreds of clients here. Or maybe for a one-million-dollar watch we have only one or a few customers. In every country in the world it’s the same.

So what is your biggest market in Asia?

The biggest market in Asia today is Hong Kong. But in Hong Kong, don’t forget that it’s not only local clientele. You have a lot of people from around Asia shopping in Hong Kong and mostly the vast majority of shoppers in Hong Kong come from mainland China.

Is there an age range for Vacheron Constantin clients?

Any age range is OK. As soon as you can afford to buy one, you are welcome to buy one. Or if you can get one as a gift from somebody you’re welcome to get one. In China, for instance, today young people–25, 30 years–buy our watches. And they love and buy complicated, highly expensive watches. So there is not an age limit or bracket for that. As long as you enjoy it, that’s fine.

What type of person invests in a Vacheron Constantin?

The person who buys a Vacheron Constantin is definitely one who understands fine watch- making. Because it’s a lot of money, Vacheron Constantin is definitely for collectors and people who want to make a sound, financial investment as well. Not only for their own pleasure, because those products are magnificent, they’re beautiful. We use only the best materials possible.

But also they know when they invest in a Vacheron Constantin they will make a good and sound investment for the future. That’s the reason why more and more people buy our products.

How many watches are sold each year?

We manufacture approximately 17,000 pieces per year and all of them are sold. We don’t build a museum. We don’t build up stock. All our watches go to the trade and the trade sells them as they come. And people wait for our watches. Sometimes they even make a down payment or deposit to reserve a watch, which may come in a six-month, 12-month, or 18-month period of time.

That long?

It depends on the model. Some models are highly complicated and take up to a year and a half to manufacture. And more basic models like automatic with two hands (meaning, hours and minutes) can take up to a month or month and a half.

Because everything is done by hand, even though we use machines to help cut metal and do certain operations, all of the finishing is done by hand. So it’s very time-consuming and has to be very precise.

How often does a new model come out?

Every year in April we present in a trade show in Geneva the several new models that come into our collection–anywhere between 20 to 50 new models. It can be one model in different versions of gold, like yellow gold, gold-gold, and steel. So we have different variations along the same model.

Finally, have you heard of Filipino time, that we’re always late?

Nope. On the contrary, I’ve been impressed. Every time I come to the Philippines everything looks like Switzerland–you know, everything is running on time. You were on time, you were early. Other people were early this morning, it’s amazing. That’s something that must be a legend because I did not get a chance to experience it. Everybody has always been sharp on time. I’m amazed. Filipino time is a myth. To me it doesn’t exist.