4th Forum de la Haute Horlogerie – Time is a treasure to be shared

Dostoevsky wrote in The Idiot that “lack of originality, everywhere, all over the world, from time immemorial, has always been considered the foremost quality and the recommendation of the active, efficient and practical man.” In other words, business has always been seen as the preserve of individuals bereft of creativity, of the originality that brings authenticity and the ability to innovate, and which is characteristic, for example, of the arts.

Such a supremely nihilistic affirmation confirms the Russian genius’ intuition: that business is business, a locked-in world that leaves no room whatsoever for expectation, instinct or impulsiveness.

The temptation of nihilism

Alas, the temptation of nihilism exists: not just moral nihilism, as Benedict XVI has rightly pointed out, but economic nihilism too. The financial crisis from which we are struggling to disentangle ourselves is dazzling proof. He who pursues only his own interests to the exclusion of others; who has cast aside the most meaningful productive realities to devote himself solely to profit he knows comes from accumulation, plunder and pauperisation, has undermined the foundations of a system of growth which should, on the contrary, serve well-being, not capital. And well-being increases only when culture, not just money, circulates.

Circulation: a word that is intimately linked to the idea of flow, travel and movement, all of which adapt themselves perfectly to those most precious elements that are blood, water, time and money. This was the view defended by Francesca Rigotti, a lecturer at the University of Lugano (USI) and the University of Göttingen, at the fourth Forum de la Haute Horlogerie. Each year, the Forum succeeds in conquering the scepticism and disinterest of “matter-of-fact” individuals and reaches out, effectively and with determination, to the “original thinkers” who, thankfully, still know how to keep business prospering.

A new vision of Fine Watchmaking

The theme of the Forum was Time to Share, an intention that can be taken two ways. Our more immediate understanding is that the time has, finally, come for us to pool our experiences, points of view and projects. Alternatively, we can consider time as an asset to be shared and multiplied to counter the fragmentation that leaves individuals isolated and distanced from each other.

This theme of sharing, circulation and the acquisition of values that derive from movement, be it symbolic, geographic or economic, is the thread that ran through the presentations delivered at the Forum. Ultimately, they gave rise to a new philosophy of Fine Watchmaking that is geared not just towards production, profit and expansion, but towards sharing the moral principles that will safeguard and strengthen this system; a philosophy aimed also at introducing a culture which can and must encourage each market player to perceive the values a luxury watch contains and represents.

Sharing experiences

These values are repeated in the dreams of customers from the four corners of a changing world; a world, said the former foreign minister Joschka Fischer, facing liquid, protean challenges that refuse to take solid form. A world whose very borders are becoming blurred. Migration, movement, climate change command a human and economic flow that only intuition and science can help us decipher. Rigidity and withdrawal are not just anachronistic but profoundly opposed to the construction of the values of a luxury good, as Francesca Rigotti rightly affirmed.

Rather than rushing to conquer new markets, we should be sharing our experiences. For if it is true that we are always ruled by that which we govern, then we should act as ambassadors, not colonisers. Such a view was made explicit by Leslie T. Chang, who is an expert on the Chinese market. She focused on a phenomenon that few people have analysed to date, probably because it is such a fast-moving one: the rise of the middle classes. This social ascension will force luxury brands to reflect long and hard on their own identity, an observation made by Dominique Turpin, president of the IMD. A brand cannot extend its influence beyond a certain point without losing its identity. This threshold more closely resembles a system of meanings than a clearly marked line on the ground. It is, precisely, a system that circulates like air, water and wind, the fundamental resources for life on our planet, and essential components of well-being that cares nothing for luxury but values existence and the individual’s responsibility towards the whole.

The living breath of a community in an object

In an ever more interconnected world, where precious things must be protected and appreciated, not divided and accumulated, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman of the Board of Nestlé, presented social responsibility not just as inevitable, but as a strategy that results in a better living and working environment for all. The externalities of systems that effectively impact education, energy, savings, environmental protection and learning will stimulate other growth in other contexts. Knowing that “other” does not mean “external”, and that distance (between countries, cultures and values) is bridged by universal criteria such as beauty and truth. This is the road the art critic Philippe Daverio invites us to take. As the Ancient Greeks already suspected, the splendour of beauty is also that of truth, authenticity, and the originality of an object that contains a professional ethic, a talented craftsman’s passion, and the living breath of a community.

To espouse a fragment of this vision and adapt it to our own story is already enough to bring fresh air into our world. Only sharing can achieve this, by going beyond the impatience, the distance and the intolerance that stifle and ultimately suffocate so many small, impermeable and archaic worlds.