As a result of a weak economy, high unemployment and confusing government decisions concerning healthcare, retirement wages and job planning, Germany’s watch and jewellery branch was suffering from an average fall in turnover of 15%.
The savings rate is the highest ever, but people are not spending their money because they feel insecure and a little afraid of what the future might bring.
Basically a pretty bad situation for retailers of luxury goods especially some jewellers who have had decreasing turnovers for the last five years.
Jewellers, watchmakers and exhibitors were fairly optimistic prior to this year’s Inhorgenta Europe, the ‘biggest watch and jewellery fair inside EU’ which takes place annually in Munich in February.
Inhorgenta, which is already in a difficult position because of the timing of the Basel show in April, lost part of its attraction this year because several ‘A-brands’ (Swatch Group with fourteen brands, Chopard, Mauric Lacroix, Egana Group) had turned their back on this exhibition.
However, Inhorgenta is important for small watch companies since they can, in opposition to Basel, afford to hire space for their own booth. The Munich fair is also an ideal platform to meet their established customers and for making new contacts.

German watch design and jewellery with soul
Xen for instance, a producer of jewellery in stainless steel and yellow gold and based in the town of Rheine, northern Germany (their motto is ‘Xen is jewellery with soul’) presented their watch collection for the first time at the Munich show.
Some 45 different watch models, all driven by Swiss quartz movements match the style of their rings, bangles or necklaces. Consisting of mostly round watches, although there were some with rectangular cases, the collection embodies a very clear design, placing the focus on purity of design and easy-to-read dials. The cases are all made of stainless steel with a polished or a brushed surface.
“We try to have a discernible typical German style in our watches,” says Hans Gabriel Schroll, who is responsible for the design of Xen watches. “In my opinion, good readability is important with a watch. If I build a watch with sub-dials, such as a chronograph or a watch with a small seconds dial, there has to be a hierarchy of displays, different levels but absolutely keeping the minute and hour hand dominant.
“As to cases, I try to get along with very few lines. If you look for an analogy in car design, I would say, mine is Audi-oriented and not BMW. Few lines, a clear message and if decorative elements are demanded, I try to keep them in the background. If you look at our new metal bracelet watch, you will find the polished parts underneath the bracelet. So, in the evening, when the wearer takes off her watch, she can enjoy the contrast between the polished and the brushed surfaces.”
Further information: www.xen.de

Smallest chronograph
Klaus Ulbrich, owner and founder of Temption, another watch designer and admirer of rudimentary styled watches, introduced a mechanical chronograph, which claims to be the smallest ever built.
One model within the ‘smallest chronograph’ collection (diameter 29.2 mm), Ulbrich seems to contradict this principle. The model has a white gold or pink gold case and is set with diamonds- and it doesn’t look inconspicuous at all. But all other criteria of Temption watches, like flat luminous wide hands and luminous dial, screw down caseback and onyx cabochons on the push buttons and the crown are still to be found in this small watch.
“We want to produce watches which are based in our time. We do not understand the attitude of many other manufacturers who try to imitate the style of the past. Only watches reflecting the time they come from breathe style and have the chance to become timeless timepieces,” Ulbrich points out.
Further information: www.temption.com

Wood processing watchmaker
OK, one has to admit, wooden watches are not really new (Tissot launched their Wood Watch in the seventies of the last century). But Holger Wecker has another approach. The watchmaker with his own jewellery store in Kulmbach (yes, that’s the town where Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf was born) makes his watches all by himself, mainly by hand and sells and distributes them himself.
Beginning in 1974, Wecker made several clocks and barometers with wooden cases. Making wristwatches from wood, however was a very different challenge. The wood has to be stable with little reaction to humidity. It also has to be hard, easy to turn on a lathe and polish. After having decided to make watches from this tricky material, Holger Wecker tested many kinds of wood and ended up using briar, a wood usually used for the manufacture of pipes. In 1987, his first briar watch was ready and the Kulmbach watchmaker, who is also a master goldsmith, chose Brior as his brand name (from Briar and Or, the French for gold).
In 2000 he registered his brand, in 2001 he exhibited his watches at Inhorgenta Europe. Wecker’s collection consists of watches with moon phases, chronographs and skeleton watches with hand wound movements. Quartz movements are also available. All the movements are Swiss made and mounted in a protective metal container, so that the watches are also water-resistant to a depth of 30 metres. Since there is no contact with nickel-consisting alloys, Brior watches are an ideal alternative for allergy sufferers.
Because of the structure of wood, the wood grains are always different which makes each and every Brior watch unique. The latest trend from the ‘woodworking watchmaker’ is a chronograph in deep black ebony.
Further information: www.brior.de

From Russia with Love
Alexander Shorokhoff is a 44 year old Russian salesman who came to Germany in 1992 and has been living here ever since. Shorokhoff is Managing Director of the watch brand Poljot International, a company based in Alzenau in the Spessart mountains. Last year, Shorokhoff founded his own brand - named after him.
The first catalogue of the young company is entitled ‘From Russia with Love’ named after the James Bond movie of the 1960s. But the inference is totally different. It doesn’t refer to spy movies, more to the Russian soul. Shorokhoff’s ambition is to make his watches as a tribute to Russian art, history, craftsmanship and traditions. That is why each model of the Alexander Shorokhoff watch collection is dedicated to a famous Russian writer or composer such as Dostoievski, Puschkin, Tschaikovsky or Tolstoy. “I am proud to be a compatriot of these men,” says the Moscow born Shorokhoff who had just started a very promising career, when the Soviet Union collapsed some 15 years ago. “The novels of Leo Tolstoy and the music of Peter Tchaikovsky tell us about longings, dreams and passions. In their works the Russian soul is alive.”
Indeed, you see a different world of movement decoration if you look through the sapphire caseback of Shorokhoff’s watches. Fine engravings decorate the movement’s bars and bridges that create a very individual look on the movement.
To enable the wearer to catch a glimpse of it, a special case was designed for the ‘Peter Tchaikovsky alarm wristwatch’. A push on the small button at the 2 o’clock position releases the upper part of the case from the base. A hinge allows you to open the watch to see the attractive movement and, additionally, the watch can then be used as a traveller’s alarm clock that can sit on a bedside table. It sounds funny, rattling like a cricket and it may well wake you up. Tchaikovsky’s music would be more enjoyable.
Further information:
www.alexander-shorokhoff.de

Now on sale
One of the companies doing well despite the tough consumer climate in Germany, is Chronoswiss. The Munich based brand finally has its Repeater watch on sale – the one that was introduced at last year’s BasleWorld. The ‘Répétition à Quarts’ (Quarter hour repeater) consists of a C 126 Chronoswiss automatic calibre, on which a E 94 module developed by Dubois-Dépras was moounted. This famous Swiss constructor and manufacturer of mechanisms that are added to normal movements in order to make them ‘complicated watches’, created a 28 mm diameter module that contains a complete repeater mechanism. Two small hammers strike on two carefully tuned gongs. One of them chimes the hours and the other the quarter hours that have passed since the last full hour. The Répétition à Quarts is available with cases in stainless steel and white, red, and yellow gold, plus as a limited edition of 99 watches in platinum.
Further information:
www.chronoswiss.com

Unusual ideas at the right time
Dirk Hillgruber is one of those young entrepreneurs who has the courage to found their own enterprise because they believe in their ideas. Hillgruber started his business in 1999 with the intention of manufacturing wristwatches with unusual displays.
He was convinced he would attract the interest of those individual watch lovers who are always looking for something really different. Today, his brand Otium is well known amongst this very small minority of connoisseurs and collectors and despite times being tough in Germany’s watch business, Otium still has a small booth at the Inhorgenta fair.
Hillgruber’s latest creation is a rectangular watch in brushed stainless steel with a digital hour display. The mechanism is simple but original: a chain of 33 black and three white balls is driven along a groove by the wheel, which normally carries the hour hand. The white balls show the hours moving upwards alongside the numbers 1 to 12, while a small hand at the right of this amusing display shows the minutes – approximately.

Optimism finally
By the end of Inhorgenta, many watch and jewellery manufacturers were satisfied with the number of visitors and the orders taken. According to a poll organized by the board of Munich Fair, at least 38% of the visitors expect 2004 to be better than last year.
The CEO of Inhorgenta, Manfred Wutzlhofer, states: “The increasing demand from the retailers signals a growing optimism throughout the branch.”