Why has a brand that for 175 years kept its history almost exclusively to itself now decided to share their stories with the public?

1. IMMERSION
AS A KEY FORM
OF STORYTELLING:
PATEK PHILIPPE

2. A Two Week Snapshot
of What’s Trending
in the Luxury Watch Industry
02 November 2016 - 15 November 2016

3. OUR
MISSION

4. The mechanical watch is a wonderful
instrument and the guardian of craftsmanship
and creativity.
Our objective as the Fondation de la Haute
Horlogerie is to take this wealth of expertise
into the world through our four missions
to inform, train, recognise and organise.
Since 2005, we have promoted values
of excellence and tradition within
an organisation that has the support
of numerous brands.

5. In this series of trend reports
we aim to discover which stories,
pieces of news and industry developments
in the world of haute horology gain
the most amount of traction in the digital
sphere - uncovering why these trends
are important to the industry.
Every two weeks we’ll be diving into
the world of digital conversations to discover,
what’s trending.

6. SNAPSHOT
OF THE PERIOD

7. TRENDING TOPICS AND STORIES
BETWEEN NOVEMBER 02 TO NOVEMBER 15
Percentage of conversations on luxury watches penetrated by the topic
Armin Strom released a new timepiece,
the Mirrored Force Resonance watch
Panerai have released two special edition
timepieces, the Radiomir 3 Days Acciaio
Last week Geneva held host to the
Grand Prix d’Horlogerie
Nicholas Foulkes has released Patek Philippe:
An Authorized Biography
Phillips auction house sold a Patek Philippe 1518
in steel last week for $11 million, the highest
price wristwatch ever
1.25%
0.95%
0.77%
0.59%
0.59%

8. VOLUME OF CONVERSATIONS
ON HIGH-END WATCHES

9. What’s been published on the HH Journal:
Phillips sets a new auction record for a wristwatch
Phillips auction house sold a Patek Philippe 1518 in steel
last week for the $11 million, the highest price wristwatch
ever.
GPHG 2016 : and the winners are…
Displaying the biggest winners of the Grand Prix
d’Horlogerie de Genève.
Panerai - Less is more
Some background on the newest watch in the Panerai
collection
Armin Strom – Good vibrations
Telling us what’s so special about the Armin Strom Mirror
Force Resonance

10. ANALYSING
THE SOCIAL BUZZ
OF PATEK PHILIPPE:
THE AUTHORIZED
BIOGRAPHY

11. Patek Philippe: The Authorized Biography is not
quite as simple as it sounds. It is a first of its kind in
the world of Fine Watchmaking and something truly
unique. Until now, the history of the 175 year old brand
has been almost a mystery to common folk like us.
Nicholas Foulkes was - for the first time ever - given
access to exclusive interviews with the Stern family
(the company’s current owners), as well as with
current and former employees.

12. He was also free to look at formerly unseen
documents from the Patek Philippe archives which
reveal, for example, the story of the unique watch
bought by Queen Victoria for her husband Prince
Albert. He was even granted the privilege to
interview the widow of Gerald Genta, the designer
of the brand’s iconic Nautilus, on the year of its 40th
birthday.
The 544 page book includes a 40 page watch
reference guide with picture notes and looks over the
brand’s full history; from when Antoine Norbert De
Patek was exiled to Geneva after the Polish uprising
right through to the fourth generation of the Stern
family who have made the brand into what it is today
- one of the biggest fine watchmaking brands ever.

14. “I’ve tried to tell Patek Philippe’s unique life
story in a way that captures his enthusiasm,
passion and near religious depth of feeling
that this historic maker of watches inspires
connoisseurs and collectors all over the word”
- Nicholas Foulkes, writer of ‘The Authorized Biography’.

15. Among Influencers
8.34%
Penetration of conversations by
Patek Philippe in Swiss watch
related conversations
56.18%
Increase of Patek Philippe
mentions against the previous two
weeks
12.95%
Of mentions of Patek Philippe are
in relation to Nicholas Foulkes

16. Beyond Influencers
2,464
All online mentions of
Patek Philippe
18.92%
Decrease of Patek Philippe
watch mentions against the
previous two weeks
1.75%
Of mentions of Patek Philippe in
relation to Nicholas Foulkes

18. BEHIND
THE TREND

19. Why has a brand that for 175 years kept its history
almost exclusively to itself now decided to share their
stories with the public? Connection.
This need to connect with audiences isn’t a new trend,
but the innovative ways in which brands are now doing
so definitely is. Teaching consumers about their past to
secure their future.
It’s trying times for the Swiss watch industry; traditional
brands are feeling the need to connect on a more
personal level with their target audience. Traditional
storytelling is becoming a tried and tested method.
Immersion is the new storytelling.

20. With new digital media methods (and now virtual
reality) becoming prominent, it’s becoming easier to
immerse an audience. Long before these methods
existed, people would use books as a method to
immerse themselves into something other than their
own life.
Immersion is a way to create an instant connection
with a consumer. Burberry’s new campaign tells
us the story of their founder, Thomas Burberry,
and does something similar to the Patek Philippe
biography. Whether the people spoken about are
dead or not, projecting ourselves in their lives is a
way to give them an existence and a way to give
a brand an instant and deep connection with their
audience.

21. Founded by Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie,
the HH Journal is an online publication covering
watchmaking news in all its forms.
In collaboration with London-based agency RE-UP,
The HH Journal is producing a series of trend
reports to analyse which current topics within the
high-end watch industry are trending online.
Two key social tools are used to gather the data to
analyse the current trends: An in-house database
of 2,000+ influencers and online sources
specialising in luxury and watches – with the
ability to gather insight into 6 months’ worth of
conversations. A social listening tool, allowing to
measure and examines all online conversations.

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