I had never heard of a Breguet watch until thumbing through a lovely glossy magazine published by the brand earlier this year. The booklet paid homage to the Swiss roots of the company, its longevity and amazing craftsmanship – Breguet created the world’s first wristwatch and opened for business before the U.S. declared independence. Inside and out, these timepieces are unlike any others in the world. Rolexes are elegant in their simplicity, Breguet timepieces are elegant in their overt beauty and celebration of complexity.
As the craft economy grows, so will grow the market share of companies like Beguet because they embody the movement (excuse the pun.) The craft economy, signaled by craft beers, Etsy, workworking channels, etc., has also spawned the latest trend, the maker society. The word “maker” is the latest pop marketing term and started with the very cool Makerbot. Maketbot is a 3D prototyping printer and was shown in a recent 60 Minutes piece creating a working hand prosthesis for a child…for a few hundred dollars. (The 3D printer is really a robot. The making of robots is cool; mass producing robots – not really craft economy stuff.)
Back to Brequet. When a person holds a “thing” in their hand made by another person and is astonished by the craftsmanship, it is an affirmation of humanness. (I encountered this feeling when as a volunteer archeologist in Maine I found a deer rib bone in the shape of a weaving shuttle, ornamented by human hand. Blown away.) Mass produced products do not astonish. Frankly they lack brand panache and brand story.
The craft economy does not delight customers, its goal is to astonish. Peace.
