#luxurybrands — Public Fediverse posts

The curious case of Fendi’s ₹9.59 lakh mirror-work bag

A $10,000 ( ₹9.59 lakh) bag by Italian brand Fendi has sparked a social media debate around Western…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #Fendi #culturalappropriation #Fendibag #IndianCraftsmanship #luxurybrands #lvmh #Navratribag
https://www.europesays.com/france/79966/

Fendi’s ₹8.3 Lakh ‘Navratri’ Bag Goes Viral; Harsh Goenka, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Call It Out | Viral News

News viral Fendi’s ₹8.3 Lakh ‘Navratri’ Bag Goes Viral; Harsh Goenka, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Call It Out Last Updated:September…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #Fendi #culturalappropriation #FendiNavratriBag #HarshGoenka #IndianCraftsmanship #KiranMazumdar-Shaw #luxurybrands #lvmh #Navratribag
https://www.europesays.com/france/79905/

K-ARTNOW: Hermès Foundation Missulsang Launches Digital Archive Spanning 25 Years. “On September 1, the Hermès Foundation unveiled a digital archive commemorating the 20th edition of the Hermès Foundation Missulsang, titled Memories for the Future: 25 Years of Hermès Foundation Missulsang. Since 2000, the Missulsang has sought out and supported new practices and experiments in Korean […]

K-ARTNOW: Hermès Foundation Missulsang Launches Digital Archive Spanning 25 Years. “On September 1, the Hermès Foundation unveiled a digital archive commemorating the 20th edition of the Hermès Foundation Missulsang, titled Memories for the Future: 25 Years of Hermès Foundation Missulsang. Since 2000, the Missulsang has sought out and supported new practices and experiments in Korean […]

K-ARTNOW: Hermès Foundation Missulsang Launches Digital Archive Spanning 25 Years. “On September 1, the Hermès Foundation unveiled a digital archive commemorating the 20th edition of the Hermès Foundation Missulsang, titled Memories for the Future: 25 Years of Hermès Foundation Missulsang. Since 2000, the Missulsang has sought out and supported new practices and experiments in Korean […]

K-ARTNOW: Hermès Foundation Missulsang Launches Digital Archive Spanning 25 Years. “On September 1, the Hermès Foundation unveiled a digital archive commemorating the 20th edition of the Hermès Foundation Missulsang, titled Memories for the Future: 25 Years of Hermès Foundation Missulsang. Since 2000, the Missulsang has sought out and supported new practices and experiments in Korean […]

Hyundai and Kia Close Quality Gap With Luxury Brands, U.S. Outlet Says

19th (local time) unveiling of the Genesis GV90 Neolun in San Francisco. Hyundai Motor Group Hyundai Motor, Kia…
#EuropeSays #Korea #KR #HyundaiMotor #Genesis #Hyundai #J.D.PowerAPEAL #Kia #luxurybrands #Palisadehybrid #U.S.autosales
https://www.europesays.com/korea/156539/

Aldi’s $20 buy beats item 15 times more expensive as Kmart and Big W praised in major Aussie awards

A kettle sold by Aldi for as little as $19.99 has beaten luxury appliance giant Smeg in a…
#Germany #DE #Europe #EU #Europa #Aldi #Breville #CustomerSatisfactionAwards #kettlebrand #Kmart #luxurybrands #Smeg #Süd&Nord
https://www.europesays.com/germany/92112/

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Harsh Goenka have a problem with Fendi’s ₹8.3 lakh bag

A Fendi handbag priced at around ₹8.3 lakh has sparked a debate on social media after industrialist Harsh…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #Fendi #culturalappropriation #FendiBaguette #Fendicontroversy #FendiNavratriBag #Fendi₹8.3lakhbag #HarshGoenka #IndianCraftsmanship #KiranMazumdar-Shaw #KMS #luxurybrands #lvmh #MirrorWork #SocialMediaDebate
https://www.europesays.com/france/79762/

This Turkish Retail Emporium Takes a ‘New Luxury’ Approach to Handbags

“It’s not that we don’t believe in luxury handbags anymore… because luxury will always remain, but I think…
#EuropeSays #Turkiye #Istanbul #Handbags #luxurybrands #Turkey
https://www.europesays.com/turkiye/46681/

Louis Vuitton to Exit Guizhou as Luxury Retail Landscape Shifts

Louis Vuitton is set to close its only store in Guizhou province on Aug. 31, marking the luxury…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #LouisVuitton #Guiyang #Guizhouprovince #LavantCenter #luxurybrands #luxuryhouse #lvmh #retailnetwork #shoppingmall
https://www.europesays.com/france/69502/

Why luxury brands are turning to cars again, Lifestyle News

For a brand that has built its identity around travel since 1854, Louis Vuitton’s latest automotive collaboration feels…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #LouisVuitton #Automotive #collaboration #craftsmanship #Design #luxurybrands #lvmh
https://www.europesays.com/france/68597/

Comedian Zarna Garg gets locked inside Hermès bathroom, calls it ‘Shakespearean tragedy’

Mumbai: Indian-American comedian Zarna Garg went to a Hermès store in Berlin this week, and ended up spending…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #Hermès #Berlin #Comedian #luxurybrands #ZarnaGarg
https://www.europesays.com/france/68126/

https://www.europesays.com/ie/647981/ Luxury Sales Plunge in China as Tax Push Hits Wealthy Shoppers #Bloomberg #Business #China #ConsumerConfidence #Economy #Éire #ForesightPerformancePartners #GlobalMarkets #IE #InvestmentGains #Ireland #LouisVuitton #LuxuryBrands #lvmh #ResearchFirms #StockMarkets

Top 100 Apparel Brands by Revenue: LVMH, Nike, Dior Lead

In an analysis by Sourcing Journal of data from S&P Capital IQ, the top 100 public companies in…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #LVMH #Apparel #luxurybrands #lvmh #LVMHMou00ebtHennessyLouisVuitton #MoëtHennessyLouisVuitton #Nike
https://www.europesays.com/france/61315/

Louis Vuitton Trademark Victory Sparks Debate Over Brand Protection in China

THE WHAT? Louis Vuitton has secured an initial trademark infringement ruling against …
#France #FR #Europe #EU #LouisVuitton #beautyB2B #beautybusinessnews #beautyindustrynews #beautynews #brandprotection #China #cosmeticsB2Bnews #cosmeticsbusinessnews #CosmeticsIndustryNews #Cosmeticsnews #globalcosmeticsnews #intellectualproperty #Legal #luxurybrands #lvmh #MollyTea #trademark
https://www.europesays.com/france/58540/

Kakao Talk Gift Shop Adds Italian Luxury Brand Miu Miu

Kakao (035720.KS) announced on the 28th that Italian luxury brand Miu Miu has officially opened a store on…
#EuropeSays #Korea #KR #Kakao #FW26collection #GiftShopLux #KakaoTalkGiftShop #luxurybrands #MiuMiu #premiumgifting
https://www.europesays.com/korea/101012/

Japan’s Luxury Jewelry Boom Hits Record as Weak Yen Fuels Demand

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Japanese consumers are driving luxury jewelry sales to record levels as the…
#EuropeSays #Japan #JP #Business #BusinessofJapan #departmentstores #Japan'sbusiness #Japanesebusiness #Japaneseconsumers #jewelrymaker #luxurybrands #luxurygroup #luxuryjewelrysales #PreciousMetals
https://www.europesays.com/japan/64023/

Japan’s Luxury Jewelry Boom Hits Record as Weak Yen Fuels Demand

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Japanese consumers are driving luxury jewelry sales to record levels as the…
#EuropeSays #Japan #JP #departmentstores #Japaneseconsumers #jewelrymaker #luxurybrands #luxurygroup #luxuryjewelrysales #Nihon #PreciousMetals
https://www.europesays.com/japan/63453/

How China can safeguard visual heritage against Western luxury brand exploitation

In early July, a Suzhou court ordered the…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #LouisVuitton #Apple #appropriation #BankofChina #Beijing #branding #Brands #China #Chinese #copy #Copyright #Dior #disney #exploitation #Fendi #Guangdong #Heritage #India #luxurybrands #lvmh #MollyTea #safeguard #Scotland #Suzhou #visualheritage #visualhistory #Western #WorldIntellectualPropertyOrganization
https://www.europesays.com/france/55753/

Manfred Fitzgerald on Driving the Future of Genesis

Founded: 2015Employees: More than 150 at Genesis HQAnnual revenue: Not disclosedCar sales: 100,000 vehicles per year Hyundai’s dominance…
#EuropeSays #Korea #KR #Hyundai #automotiveindustry #Genesis #HyundaiGroup #HyundaiMotorGroup #luxurybrands #ManfredFitzgerald #SouthKorea
https://www.europesays.com/korea/90136/

Pierre Hardy on Hermès footwear and the future of fashion

Some would say the opening shot in Hermès’ new autumn/winter footwear lookbook is surprising: it features a lithe…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #Hermès #fashiondesign #FashionIndustry #footwear #frenchfashion #highheels #luxurybrands #luxuryfashion #Paris #PierreHardy #trainers
https://www.europesays.com/france/53108/

Hermès Beauty Rouge Lipstick Launch Paris Luxury Cosmetics

Jérôme Touron’s favourite thing about makeup is that it offers a snapshot of a particular era. “If you…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #Hermès #BaliBarret #Beauty #beautyindustry #beautytrends #Chanel #cosmetics #cosmeticsindustry #Dior #frenchluxury #JérômeTouron #lipstick #luxurybrands #luxurycosmetics #luxuryfashion #makeup #Pantin #PierreHardy #Pierre-AlexisDumas #RougeHermès
https://www.europesays.com/france/50948/

Italy’s luxury portfolio expands with new openings from Hyatt, IHG and Dior Spa

Italy is always a good idea for travel. But what is it about the timeless peninsula, affectionately known…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #ChristianDior #designerlabels #HyattHotels #HyattRegency #IHGHotels #Italy #luxurybrands #lvmh #NunoGalvaoPinto #traveldemand #traveljournalist
https://www.europesays.com/france/45315/

Italy’s luxury portfolio expands with new openings from Hyatt, IHG and Dior Spa

Italy is always a good idea for travel. But what is it about the timeless peninsula, affectionately known…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #ChristianDior #designerlabels #HyattHotels #HyattRegency #IHGHotels #Italy #luxurybrands #lvmh #NunoGalvaoPinto #traveldemand #traveljournalist
https://www.europesays.com/france/44155/

Italy’s luxury portfolio expands with new openings from Hyatt, IHG and Dior Spa

Italy is always a good idea for travel. But what is it about the timeless peninsula, affectionately known…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #ChristianDior #designerlabels #HyattHotels #HyattRegency #IHGHotels #Italy #luxurybrands #lvmh #NunoGalvaoPinto #traveldemand #traveljournalist
https://www.europesays.com/france/43871/

Italy’s luxury portfolio expands with new openings from Hyatt, IHG and Dior Spa

Italy is always a good idea for travel. But what is it about the timeless peninsula, affectionately known…
#Italy #Europe #Europa #EU #ChristianDior #designerlabels #HyattHotels #HyattRegency #IHGHotels #luxurybrands #NunoGalvaoPinto #traveldemand #traveljournalist
https://www.europesays.com/italy/28567/

Italy’s luxury portfolio expands with new openings from Hyatt, IHG and Dior Spa

Italy is always a good idea for travel. But what is it about the timeless peninsula, affectionately known…
#Italy #Europe #Europa #EU #ChristianDior #designerlabels #HyattHotels #HyattRegency #IHGHotels #luxurybrands #NunoGalvaoPinto #traveldemand #traveljournalist
https://www.europesays.com/italy/28557/

LVMH Scores Highest in Top 25 Brands by Market Cap

When it comes to the market capitalization of publicly traded stocks, luxury brands rule. In an analysis by…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #LVMH #apparelbrands #ChristianDior #globalcompanies #HermèsInternationalSociété #luxurybrands #lvmh #marketcapitalization #MoëtHennessyLouisVuitton #NikeInc. #S&PCapitalIQ #smallercompanies #top25
https://www.europesays.com/france/43399/

Top Luxury Brands by Market Cap: LVMH, Hermès, Richemont & More

When it comes to the market capitalization of publicly traded stocks, luxury brands rule. In an analysis by…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #LVMH #apparelandfootwear #apparelandtextileindustry #luxurybrands #lvmh #MoëtHennessyLouisVuitton #retailapparel
https://www.europesays.com/france/43346/

Hermès Leads Luxury Brands in AI Search Visibility Rankings

As traditional search models give way to advanced AI and agentic commerce, measuring the strength of a brand…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #Hermès #artificialintelligence #Luxury #luxurybrands #onlineretail
https://www.europesays.com/france/39473/

https://www.europesays.com/ch/89632/ Rolex opened a boutique nearly 10,000 feet up in the Swiss Alps — and getting there costs almost as much as a watch #Alps #engelberg #LuxuryBrands #MountTitlis #RobertKiyosaki #Rolex #RolexBoutique #SwissAlps #SwissFranc #SwissWatchmaker #WatchCollectors #ZurichAirport

5 luxury brands that are restoring cultural heritage, and beyond – Emirates Woman

Fashion In an industry often criticized for its fleeting trends and disposable culture, the most revered names in…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #Fendi #BathsofCaracalla #culturalheriatge #IrthiContemporaryCraftsCouncil #luxurybrands #lvmh #palaisgalliera #Tivoli'sGrottoofDiana #TreviFountain #Unesco
https://www.europesays.com/france/38034/

Actor, producer and entrepreneur Priyanka Chopra Jonas has been named a Rolex ambassador, adding another prestigious global luxury brand to her portfolio. https://english.mathrubhumi.com/movies-music/news/priyanka-chopra-jonas-named-rolex-global-ambassador-o1oz3omd?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #PriyankaChopraJonas #Rolex #BrandAmbassador #LuxuryBrands

Actor, producer and entrepreneur Priyanka Chopra Jonas has been named a Rolex ambassador, adding another prestigious global luxury brand to her portfolio. https://english.mathrubhumi.com/movies-music/news/priyanka-chopra-jonas-named-rolex-global-ambassador-o1oz3omd?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #PriyankaChopraJonas #Rolex #BrandAmbassador #LuxuryBrands

Luxury brands are now optimizing for ChatGPT instead of Google

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://nerds.xyz/2026/06/luxury-brands-optimizing-for-chatgpt-not-google/

Luxury brands are now optimizing for ChatGPT instead of Google

http://web.brid.gy/r/https://nerds.xyz/2026/06/luxury-brands-optimizing-for-chatgpt-not-google/

Luxury brands are now optimizing for ChatGPT instead of Google

http://web.brid.gy/r/https://nerds.xyz/2026/06/luxury-brands-optimizing-for-chatgpt-not-google/

A 17-year-old was mocked for calling an $80 purse a ‘luxury.’ Her response was pure class.

http://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/80-dollar-luxury-purse-response-ex1/

A 17-year-old was mocked for calling an $80 purse a ‘luxury.’ Her response was pure class.

http://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/80-dollar-luxury-purse-response-ex1/

A 17-year-old was mocked for calling an $80 purse a ‘luxury.’ Her response was pure class.

http://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/80-dollar-luxury-purse-response-ex1/

Reuters: Luxury brands seek to lure America’s AI super-rich. “European luxury brands have sharpened their focus on the United States, with a surge of ​store openings and fashion shows to lure a new crop of wealthy shoppers enriched by the AI and tech boom and offset weak consumer confidence in ‌the rest of the world.”

Reuters: Luxury brands seek to lure America’s AI super-rich. “European luxury brands have sharpened their focus on the United States, with a surge of ​store openings and fashion shows to lure a new crop of wealthy shoppers enriched by the AI and tech boom and offset weak consumer confidence in ‌the rest of the world.”

Reuters: Luxury brands seek to lure America’s AI super-rich. “European luxury brands have sharpened their focus on the United States, with a surge of ​store openings and fashion shows to lure a new crop of wealthy shoppers enriched by the AI and tech boom and offset weak consumer confidence in ‌the rest of the world.”

The WNBA Tunnel: Commodifying the Athletic Persona

WNBA players are becoming fashion icons, getting deals with luxury brands. See how this changes sports and fashion.

#WNBAfashion, #playerstyle, #fashiondeals, #sportsandfashion, #luxurybrands

https://newsletter.tf/wnba-players-fashion-brand-deals/

WNBA players are now seen as fashion icons, not just athletes. This is a big change from the past.

#WNBAfashion, #playerstyle, #fashiondeals, #sportsandfashion, #luxurybrands
https://newsletter.tf/wnba-players-fashion-brand-deals/

https://www.alojapan.com/1480651/new-hotels-in-japan-the-standout-openings-to-book-in-2026-2/ New hotels in Japan: The standout openings to book in 2026 #AdaptiveReuse #CapellaKyoto #HotelKyoto #ImperialHotel #Japan #Kyoto #KyotoNews #LuxuryBrands #NaturalMaterials #NewHotelOpenings #news #京都 #京都府 Across Japan, new hotel openings are leaning into identity, whether that means heritage buildings in Kyoto, adaptive reuse in Nara or refined wellness stays built around onsen culture. At the same time, global luxury brands are making entrie

Ignoring the focus on labels in #luxurybrands risks missing timeless craftsmanship & personal meaning – a costly mistake that can waste your time & money chasing fleeting trends. ⏳ #highfashion

#Luxurybrands prioritize aspirational status over intrinsic value, creating a culture of conspicuous consumption that often feels hollow. 🚫 #highfashion

Women’s Wear Daily: Archive Fans Rejoice: A New Course in Luxury Heritage Management to Launch in Milan. “Titled ‘Luxury Heritage Management: Branding & Archive,’ the 120-hour executive course was conceived to meet demand and aimed at training future heritage managers and professionals skilled in understanding, interpreting, managing, enhancing and communicating the tangible and intangible […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/16/archive-fans-rejoice-a-new-course-in-luxury-heritage-management-to-launch-in-milan-womens-wear-daily/

Women’s Wear Daily: Archive Fans Rejoice: A New Course in Luxury Heritage Management to Launch in Milan. “Titled ‘Luxury Heritage Management: Branding & Archive,’ the 120-hour executive course was conceived to meet demand and aimed at training future heritage managers and professionals skilled in understanding, interpreting, managing, enhancing and communicating the tangible and intangible […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/16/archive-fans-rejoice-a-new-course-in-luxury-heritage-management-to-launch-in-milan-womens-wear-daily/

Pacotille and Counterfeits: Swiss Junk Watches of the 19th Century

It was a difficult time for buyers and dealers of watches: Cheap imports were flooding the market, built by unskilled peasants and even children working in substandard conditions, with little care for functionality or longevity. And making matters worse, many were designed with the appearance and even the name of famous and respected companies. How could respectable companies fight back? How could consumers protect themselves?

Incredibly, I am not describing the current state of the Amazon-Temu world, or even the so-called quartz crisis. This is a description of the flood of Swiss watches on the American market in the middle of the 19th century, a period of chaos that nearly wrecked the Swiss watchmaking industry before it truly began. Ill-finished and semi-functional watch movements were sold abroad in bulk containers, and Swiss companies specialized in counterfeit watches in the Glashütte, English, and American style. The situation was so bad that one 1868 commentator lamented that the Swiss were “imposters and cheats” who had ruined the reputation of their country’s products!

How did it come to this and why has this been forgotten? It was the rise of mechanical production colliding with international conflicts and the loose control of international trade. Once these issues were resolved, Switzerland rose to dominate watchmaking in the 20th century by abandoning the ideals of Daniel JeanRichard and taking mass production further and faster than its originators in England and America.

Daniel JeanRichard’s Accidental Legacy

It may seem cruel to begin this story by recalling Daniel JeanRichard, but his legacy of hand-made piece-work by rural farmers in the Swiss Jura was a blessing and a curse. We tend to romanticize it today, but there is no doubt that the etablissage tradition flooded the market of poor-quality watch components. It was only the crushing success of industrial watchmaking in Switzerland that gave the nation its current reputation for precision and quality. And this came despite vigorous opposition from the watchmaking establishment.

JeanRichard could never have foreseen any of this. As I recently described, he was a gifted craftsman who applied existing techniques in gunsmithing, metalworking, and clockmaking to build the first Swiss watches. When he and his apprentices were active, in the early 18th century, this was the only means of production. And their incredible skill established the remote Swiss Jura mountains as a credible competitor to the hand-made watches of Geneva, Paris, and London. But perhaps the craft of watchmaking was too-broadly adopted in the region.

Japy and Fontainemelon began producing plates and bridges in volume, standardizing on a few simple component sets, even though true interchangeability was a century away. So demand rose for the components needed to turn these ebauches into watch movements.

Between 1750 and 1850, thousands of craftsmen in the Swiss Jura began producing watch components at home. Each specialized in wheels, springs, pinions, or other components, producing sacks of rough parts. It’s not that the Swiss Jura craftsmen were unskilled: The story of the farmer and his family making watches through the winter has largely been debunked. But these metalworkers were paid based on the volume of their production and they were not involved in final assembly. So it is no surprise that these wheels and springs weren’t ready for use.

These were collected and brought to centers like Le Locle, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Fleurier, and Neuchâtel. The best components were painstakingly re-finished and fitted at the shops of the etablisseurs to create functional watches. The jobs were numerous, fueling the growth of these cities: Demonteurs disassembled the watches, planteurs re-drilled the pinions, repasseurs adjusted the timing, and remonteurs re-assembled the movement. This in addition to the expected graveurs, guillochers, doreurs, and acheveurs needed to finish the watches.

The opportunity brought by the etablissage system flooded the market with watch components, many of which were of dubious quality. Although the Swiss Jura produced many excellent movements, the bulk of the output was barely functional and required serious re-work before it could be sold.

Barrels of Worthless Trash

The worst of the worst was literally tossed in a chest or barrel to be exported in volume as pacotille. This word simply means “junk” in French, but it has important historic connotations. The barrels of beads and trinkets that were traded around the world by conquerers, profiteers, and swindlers for native furs, metals, and other commodities were also called “pacotille.” In the same way, the bulk of Swiss watchmaking output was shipped to other countries for local watchmakers to try to piece together. And even in Switzerland these questionable watch movements were called by the same name.

The resulting watches were “worthless trash”, according to William Keith, apprentice to pioneering American watchmaker Luther Goddard. They “exhausted the pockets and patience of the owners, and in a ten-fold greater degree, the patience of the watch repairer,” reported Keith. “Impatient under the torment,” Luther Goddard would regularly groan and set aside his work, telling his apprentice that “Job was not a watch maker.” Keith merrily reported that frustrated buyers would eventually pass these watches on to peddlers, who would melt them down for the scarce gold and silver they contained.

As poor as these watch components were, they served to stifle local production in America. Numerous English, French, and German clock and watch makers migrated to America before the Revolution in 1776, but very few ever attempted to build their own watches. Instead, they assembled watches from widely-available components, mostly in the bulky English verge and fusee style. The surviving examples mainly use high-quality parts imported from England rather than anything made in the colonies or Switzerland.

American Industry Rises to the Challenge

Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo Act of 1807 and the following War of 1812 changed everything. With foreign imports restricted, Luther Goddard seized the opportunity to produce watches at his workshop in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. In just 5 years, the Goddards were able to produce over 500 watches, with many of the components produced in the forge and tools of their own shop. This was America’s first watch factory. Production stopped in 1817, when the Treaty of Ghent ended the war and the embargo, but Goddard inspired a generation of American watchmakers.

American industrial watchmaking rose to become the best in the world in just a single generation. Goddard’s first apprentice, Jubal Howe, witnessed this first-hand, graduating to become the leading watchmaker in Boston. Howe saw the potential in a young man from Maine, Aaron Dennison, his own apprentice in Boston who traveled to England to learn from the best watchmakers there. Dennison was inspired by the Springfield Armory in central Massachusetts, which began producing muskets on an industrial scale based on common machine-made parts.

Dennison’s dream of mass-produced watches came to fruition thanks to his partnership with Boston clockmaker Edward Howard and watchmaker and entrepreneur William Keith, the Goddard apprentice mentioned above. Together they founded the great watch factory in Waltham, halfway between Shrewsbury and Boston, which applied the principles of mass production to watchmaking. The American Civil War drove massive demand for rifles and watches, and the Springfield Armory and Waltham Watch Company rapidly scaled production in the 1860s.

The Swiss delegation to the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia was astonished to see what the Waltham factory was capable of. Théodore Gribi and Jacques David of Longines issued urgent warnings to their counterparts at home, and factories there rapidly adopted the techniques of mass production. But the Swiss were not as foolish as this story suggests: The Waltham factory was barely 20 years old by this point, and the great factories in New Jersey, Illinois, and Pennsylvania had just opened. Back in Switzerland, the ebauche factories in Corgémont, Sonceboz, Cortaillod, Grenchen, and Madretsch were already producing movements using machinery, drawing the ire of traditional etablisseurs.

Swiss Clones and Counterfeits

Industrial-produced American watches were so good and so cheap that demand for hand-made imports quickly dried up. Machine tool technology advanced quickly near the end of the 19th century, spurring entrepreneurs to open new watch factories across the United States. Waltham and Elgin dominated the market by 1890, but Keystone, Waterbury, Dueber, Rockford, and others were also producing watches in volume.

The same process of industrialization was happening in Switzerland, despite vigorous opposition by the “old guard” etablisseurs. Bienne and Grenchen welcomed these new factories, as did smaller towns along the French/Swiss border. But Americans still preferred the heavy and rugged English-style watches produced by domestic factories to the more-refined products of Switzerland. And they were less familiar with Swiss watchmakers and brands. Switzerland quickly faced a new crisis of over-production, falling prices, and failing factories.

Seeking to better compete abroad, Swiss factories began producing watches more suited to the demands of local consumers. Along with fine Swiss crown-winding movements, they offered Glashütte three-quarter plate movements, English key-winding movements, and heavy calibers in American sizes. These were exported to be cased, finished, and sold by watchmakers and jewelers in America, Europe, and Asia.

Although some vendors proudly advertised these Swiss movements, many were sold in a less-honest manner. By 1885, the American publication Jewelers Circular wrote that “it has been known for some time that imitation American watches were being sold in Europe, in South America and some of the British Colonies.” It continued to point out that “the watches were made in Switzerland, and bore the name of the American Watch Company, Waltham.” Unsurprisingly, many of these found their way to American dealers as well. These journals published frequent stories of the discovery of counterfeit American watches at pawnbrokers, often discovered when local jewelers informed the factory representatives of cheaper suppliers.

“Imitation” American watches are common even today and are approached in a matter-of-fact manner at swap meets and by local collectors. An excellent 1960 article by Wesley R. Hauptman in the NAWCC Bulletin details a dozen such counterfeits spanning 19th century products from Goddard to Elgin, and a similar article by Jerzy Ganczarczyk appeared in 2003. The widespread acceptance of these fakes and forgeries speaks to just how common they were.

The issue of Swiss imitations and counterfeits was well-known even while it was happening. In the 1871 3rd edition of his book, “The Watch”, Henry-F. Piaget wrote of the “great mistake” made by Swiss watchmakers who put “English and fictitious names upon their watches, instead of their own.” This lead to their being unknown in America and “stigmatised as imposters and cheats, so that their watches, or at least many of them, were looked upon as disreputable pieces of workmanship, and the Swiss very nearly lost their American trade, and the reputation of being an upright nation.” Piaget recommended that Swiss companies proudly put their name on their best watches and develop real demand in export markets. And this is exactly what companies like Omega, Longines, Zenith, Vacheron & Constantin and many others did!

From Imitation to Imitated

We all know what happened next: The Swiss makers embraced precision manufacturing and industrial production as well as their own branding. Swiss cartels like Ebauches SA and ASUAG fought over-production and dumping of components overseas. Two world wars interrupted production in Germany, France, and America. American firms lost their advantage in manufacturing and the industry consolidated.

By the 1970s, once-proud American factories had closed, with most companies now focused on electronic watches. This too proved short-lived, as Japan, Hong Kong, and mainland China rose to conquer the mainstream watch market. By the 1980s, it was clear that branding was the most successful way to market watches, and the Swiss names were dominant. Today, a fight is underway over provenance of these once-proud brands, with the biggest consolidated into luxury groups and most of the rest being little more than a name. Who would have guessed that Hamilton would become a Swiss company while Movado and Invicta would be American brands? And the fight against junk and counterfeits remains just as pertinent today as it was in Luther Goddard’s time!

#AaronDennison #counterfeit #DanielJeanRichard #etablisseur #EuropaStar #HenryFPiaget #Landeron #LutherGoddard #LuxuryBrands #NAWCC #UniversalExposition #Waltham #WilliamKeith

Pacotille and Counterfeits: Swiss Junk Watches of the 19th Century

It was a difficult time for buyers and dealers of watches: Cheap imports were flooding the market, built by unskilled peasants and even children working in substandard conditions, with little care for functionality or longevity. And making matters worse, many were designed with the appearance and even the name of famous and respected companies. How could respectable companies fight back? How could consumers protect themselves?

Incredibly, I am not describing the current state of the Amazon-Temu world, or even the so-called quartz crisis. This is a description of the flood of Swiss watches on the American market in the middle of the 19th century, a period of chaos that nearly wrecked the Swiss watchmaking industry before it truly began. Ill-finished and semi-functional watch movements were sold abroad in bulk containers, and Swiss companies specialized in counterfeit watches in the Glashütte, English, and American style. The situation was so bad that one 1868 commentator lamented that the Swiss were “imposters and cheats” who had ruined the reputation of their country’s products!

How did it come to this and why has this been forgotten? It was the rise of mechanical production colliding with international conflicts and the loose control of international trade. Once these issues were resolved, Switzerland rose to dominate watchmaking in the 20th century by abandoning the ideals of Daniel JeanRichard and taking mass production further and faster than its originators in England and America.

Daniel JeanRichard’s Accidental Legacy

It may seem cruel to begin this story by recalling Daniel JeanRichard, but his legacy of hand-made piece-work by rural farmers in the Swiss Jura was a blessing and a curse. We tend to romanticize it today, but there is no doubt that the etablissage tradition flooded the market of poor-quality watch components. It was only the crushing success of industrial watchmaking in Switzerland that gave the nation its current reputation for precision and quality. And this came despite vigorous opposition from the watchmaking establishment.

JeanRichard could never have foreseen any of this. As I recently described, he was a gifted craftsman who applied existing techniques in gunsmithing, metalworking, and clockmaking to build the first Swiss watches. When he and his apprentices were active, in the early 18th century, this was the only means of production. And their incredible skill established the remote Swiss Jura mountains as a credible competitor to the hand-made watches of Geneva, Paris, and London. But perhaps the craft of watchmaking was too-broadly adopted in the region.

Japy and Fontainemelon began producing plates and bridges in volume, standardizing on a few simple component sets, even though true interchangeability was a century away. So demand rose for the components needed to turn these ebauches into watch movements.

Between 1750 and 1850, thousands of craftsmen in the Swiss Jura began producing watch components at home. Each specialized in wheels, springs, pinions, or other components, producing sacks of rough parts. It’s not that the Swiss Jura craftsmen were unskilled: The story of the farmer and his family making watches through the winter has largely been debunked. But these metalworkers were paid based on the volume of their production and they were not involved in final assembly. So it is no surprise that these wheels and springs weren’t ready for use.

These were collected and brought to centers like Le Locle, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Fleurier, and Neuchâtel. The best components were painstakingly re-finished and fitted at the shops of the etablisseurs to create functional watches. The jobs were numerous, fueling the growth of these cities: Demonteurs disassembled the watches, planteurs re-drilled the pinions, repasseurs adjusted the timing, and remonteurs re-assembled the movement. This in addition to the expected graveurs, guillochers, doreurs, and acheveurs needed to finish the watches.

The opportunity brought by the etablissage system flooded the market with watch components, many of which were of dubious quality. Although the Swiss Jura produced many excellent movements, the bulk of the output was barely functional and required serious re-work before it could be sold.

Barrels of Worthless Trash

The worst of the worst was literally tossed in a chest or barrel to be exported in volume as pacotille. This word simply means “junk” in French, but it has important historic connotations. The barrels of beads and trinkets that were traded around the world by conquerers, profiteers, and swindlers for native furs, metals, and other commodities were also called “pacotille.” In the same way, the bulk of Swiss watchmaking output was shipped to other countries for local watchmakers to try to piece together. And even in Switzerland these questionable watch movements were called by the same name.

The resulting watches were “worthless trash”, according to William Keith, apprentice to pioneering American watchmaker Luther Goddard. They “exhausted the pockets and patience of the owners, and in a ten-fold greater degree, the patience of the watch repairer,” reported Keith. “Impatient under the torment,” Luther Goddard would regularly groan and set aside his work, telling his apprentice that “Job was not a watch maker.” Keith merrily reported that frustrated buyers would eventually pass these watches on to peddlers, who would melt them down for the scarce gold and silver they contained.

As poor as these watch components were, they served to stifle local production in America. Numerous English, French, and German clock and watch makers migrated to America before the Revolution in 1776, but very few ever attempted to build their own watches. Instead, they assembled watches from widely-available components, mostly in the bulky English verge and fusee style. The surviving examples mainly use high-quality parts imported from England rather than anything made in the colonies or Switzerland.

American Industry Rises to the Challenge

Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo Act of 1807 and the following War of 1812 changed everything. With foreign imports restricted, Luther Goddard seized the opportunity to produce watches at his workshop in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. In just 5 years, the Goddards were able to produce over 500 watches, with many of the components produced in the forge and tools of their own shop. This was America’s first watch factory. Production stopped in 1817, when the Treaty of Ghent ended the war and the embargo, but Goddard inspired a generation of American watchmakers.

American industrial watchmaking rose to become the best in the world in just a single generation. Goddard’s first apprentice, Jubal Howe, witnessed this first-hand, graduating to become the leading watchmaker in Boston. Howe saw the potential in a young man from Maine, Aaron Dennison, his own apprentice in Boston who traveled to England to learn from the best watchmakers there. Dennison was inspired by the Springfield Armory in central Massachusetts, which began producing muskets on an industrial scale based on common machine-made parts.

Dennison’s dream of mass-produced watches came to fruition thanks to his partnership with Boston clockmaker Edward Howard and watchmaker and entrepreneur William Keith, the Goddard apprentice mentioned above. Together they founded the great watch factory in Waltham, halfway between Shrewsbury and Boston, which applied the principles of mass production to watchmaking. The American Civil War drove massive demand for rifles and watches, and the Springfield Armory and Waltham Watch Company rapidly scaled production in the 1860s.

The Swiss delegation to the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia was astonished to see what the Waltham factory was capable of. Théodore Gribi and Jacques David of Longines issued urgent warnings to their counterparts at home, and factories there rapidly adopted the techniques of mass production. But the Swiss were not as foolish as this story suggests: The Waltham factory was barely 20 years old by this point, and the great factories in New Jersey, Illinois, and Pennsylvania had just opened. Back in Switzerland, the ebauche factories in Corgémont, Sonceboz, Cortaillod, Grenchen, and Madretsch were already producing movements using machinery, drawing the ire of traditional etablisseurs.

Swiss Clones and Counterfeits

Industrial-produced American watches were so good and so cheap that demand for hand-made imports quickly dried up. Machine tool technology advanced quickly near the end of the 19th century, spurring entrepreneurs to open new watch factories across the United States. Waltham and Elgin dominated the market by 1890, but Keystone, Waterbury, Dueber, Rockford, and others were also producing watches in volume.

The same process of industrialization was happening in Switzerland, despite vigorous opposition by the “old guard” etablisseurs. Bienne and Grenchen welcomed these new factories, as did smaller towns along the French/Swiss border. But Americans still preferred the heavy and rugged English-style watches produced by domestic factories to the more-refined products of Switzerland. And they were less familiar with Swiss watchmakers and brands. Switzerland quickly faced a new crisis of over-production, falling prices, and failing factories.

Seeking to better compete abroad, Swiss factories began producing watches more suited to the demands of local consumers. Along with fine Swiss crown-winding movements, they offered Glashütte three-quarter plate movements, English key-winding movements, and heavy calibers in American sizes. These were exported to be cased, finished, and sold by watchmakers and jewelers in America, Europe, and Asia.

Although some vendors proudly advertised these Swiss movements, many were sold in a less-honest manner. By 1885, the American publication Jewelers Circular wrote that “it has been known for some time that imitation American watches were being sold in Europe, in South America and some of the British Colonies.” It continued to point out that “the watches were made in Switzerland, and bore the name of the American Watch Company, Waltham.” Unsurprisingly, many of these found their way to American dealers as well. These journals published frequent stories of the discovery of counterfeit American watches at pawnbrokers, often discovered when local jewelers informed the factory representatives of cheaper suppliers.

“Imitation” American watches are common even today and are approached in a matter-of-fact manner at swap meets and by local collectors. An excellent 1960 article by Wesley R. Hauptman in the NAWCC Bulletin details a dozen such counterfeits spanning 19th century products from Goddard to Elgin, and a similar article by Jerzy Ganczarczyk appeared in 2003. The widespread acceptance of these fakes and forgeries speaks to just how common they were.

The issue of Swiss imitations and counterfeits was well-known even while it was happening. In the 1871 3rd edition of his book, “The Watch”, Henry-F. Piaget wrote of the “great mistake” made by Swiss watchmakers who put “English and fictitious names upon their watches, instead of their own.” This lead to their being unknown in America and “stigmatised as imposters and cheats, so that their watches, or at least many of them, were looked upon as disreputable pieces of workmanship, and the Swiss very nearly lost their American trade, and the reputation of being an upright nation.” Piaget recommended that Swiss companies proudly put their name on their best watches and develop real demand in export markets. And this is exactly what companies like Omega, Longines, Zenith, Vacheron & Constantin and many others did!

From Imitation to Imitated

We all know what happened next: The Swiss makers embraced precision manufacturing and industrial production as well as their own branding. Swiss cartels like Ebauches SA and ASUAG fought over-production and dumping of components overseas. Two world wars interrupted production in Germany, France, and America. American firms lost their advantage in manufacturing and the industry consolidated.

By the 1970s, once-proud American factories had closed, with most companies now focused on electronic watches. This too proved short-lived, as Japan, Hong Kong, and mainland China rose to conquer the mainstream watch market. By the 1980s, it was clear that branding was the most successful way to market watches, and the Swiss names were dominant. Today, a fight is underway over provenance of these once-proud brands, with the biggest consolidated into luxury groups and most of the rest being little more than a name. Who would have guessed that Hamilton would become a Swiss company while Movado and Invicta would be American brands? And the fight against junk and counterfeits remains just as pertinent today as it was in Luther Goddard’s time!

#AaronDennison #counterfeit #DanielJeanRichard #etablisseur #EuropaStar #HenryFPiaget #Landeron #LutherGoddard #LuxuryBrands #NAWCC #UniversalExposition #Waltham #WilliamKeith

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🚨 Luxury alert: Gucci, Balenciaga & Alexander McQueen hit by a massive #DataBreach via Salesforce attack. Millions of customer records exposed, including names, emails & purchase histories—but no financial info leaked. Threat actor ShinyHunters claims responsibility. Stay aware! 🔐👗 #CyberSecurity #LuxuryBrands https://cyberinsider.com/gucci-balenciaga-alexander-mcqueen-victim-of-major-data-breach-via-salesforce-attack/
#newz

🚨 Luxury alert: Gucci, Balenciaga & Alexander McQueen hit by a massive #DataBreach via Salesforce attack. Millions of customer records exposed, including names, emails & purchase histories—but no financial info leaked. Threat actor ShinyHunters claims responsibility. Stay aware! 🔐👗 #CyberSecurity #LuxuryBrands https://cyberinsider.com/gucci-balenciaga-alexander-mcqueen-victim-of-major-data-breach-via-salesforce-attack/
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