REVOLUTION_International_Vol 54

THE GAME CHANGE –
LVMH WATCH FAIR IN DUBAI
WORDS WEI KOH
The LVMH Dubai
Watch Week setup
at Bulgari Hotel,
where invited guests
were treated to a
showing of some of
the most innovative
watchmaking in
the industry today
byBvlgari,Hublot
and Zenith.
The man who spoke of the desert’s potential most
eloquently, T.E. Lawrence, is renowned for saying,
“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream
by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the
day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are
dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open
eyes, to make them possible.”
And though we were seated at night in, of all places, a
bucolic restaurant by the river the day before the Baselworld
fair in March of 2019, it was clear that Bvlgari CEO Jean-
Christophe Babin had been dreaming in the day with open
eyes. He explained, “What is clear is that late April is too
late. You are practically midyear. I think we have to move our
presentation to January, right at the beginning of the year.”
And after he had discussed the idea with LVMH Group’s
equally dynamic head of the watch and jewelry division,
Stéphane Bianchi, the two men decided to strike decisively.
They would stage the first-ever LVMH-specific watch
exhibition that would take place in January.
Babin explained, “The idea of Dubai came about quite
quickly and organically. Dubai is the perfect intersection
for the world. It is almost equidistant from America, Europe
and Asia, and so, it would guarantee that the journey would
not be too long or arduous for anyone. Second, Dubai is one
of the most modern, dynamic and sophisticated cities in
the world with tremendous infrastructure to support such
an event. And third, we operate the Bvlgari Hotel in Dubai,
which we felt would elevate the tone of the event to another
level. It would be the perfect expression of our vision of
luxury in one cohesive message.”
From the perspective of strategic advantage, the January
LVMH exhibition was also a master stroke because, for
many of the brands, they would be showing watches that they
would deliver before the competing group’s events, Watches
& Wonders Geneva and Baselworld, have even begun.
The one brand that didn’t show at the fair was TAG Heuer
because, as Bianchi explained, “We had already decided last
year to make our watches available to buy the very day that
they were launched at Baselworld. As such, we decided to
keep to this strategy.”
Says one renowned retailer, “The idea for the January
show backed by rapid delivery times was brilliant, because
straight off, they would be taking a large percentage of our
budgets off the table. By the time we attended the other fairs,
we would be committed. And by the time these other fairs
started, retailers could already be selling delivered Bvlgari,
Hublot and Zenith watches, and bringing strong revenue
and profit based on new releases into our businesses, which
we would otherwise have to delay until midyear or beyond.”
However, the plan hinged on one key factor: for it to
succeed, the brands would have to produce watches that
were sexy enough to compel people to part with their money.
The watches would not only have to compel retailers, but
also, through the media, the consumers, to overcome their
impulse control sufficiently enough for them to dig into their
wallets and pay for them.
So the question is, were the brands able to do this? Did
they create adequately compelling watches to make all this
effort pay off? In the words of Revolution USA’s editor-atlarge,
Adam Craniotes, “F**k yes, they did.”
DUBAI WATCH WEEK HIGHLIGHTS
Let’s begin with Bvlgari and the single-most-photographed
and -lauded timepiece of the entire fair, which was the steel
black-dial Octo Finissimo on the brand’s patented bracelet
with its signature integrated clasp. Before we start looking
at this timepiece, let’s take something into consideration:
two of the world’s most coveted luxury watches were also the
first modern two integrated-bracelet sports watches ever
made, the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 and Audemars Piguet
THE MODERNIST 49