Circle Of Watches

At the beginning of the twentieth century, when pocket watches became popular, Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf successfully realized his dream and created watches that combined precision, reliability and elegance. Since then, Rolex, the Swiss watchmaker’s leading brand, has encouraged individuals to achieve excellence. Over the years, Rolex brands and products have continued to develop and strive for perfection. Because Rolex watches are made only of superior materials and are designed by the best in the industry, they have become a symbol of elegance and dignity and excellence.

   Upholding the brand tradition and promoting brand values, Rolex actively assists artists to achieve excellence by supporting a group of carefully selected artists and artistic activities.
   Rolex seeks partners, and is as passionate as it is to strive for precision and excellence. Therefore, the association between Rolex and the art world is logical. Rolex’s collaboration with the art world dates back to the 1970s. At the time, New Zealand soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa started a long-term collaboration between Rolex and the art world.
   Over the years, Rolex’s support for art has expanded to many outstanding artists in various fields. In the field of vocal music, Rolex’s spokespersons include the famous Spanish tenor singer Plácido Domingo who has worked with the brand for more than 30 years, and the Italian baritone singer Cecilia Bartoli ( Cecilia Bartoli), German tenor singer Jonas Kaufmann, Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez, and British tenor singer Brian Bryn Terfel.
   Outstanding classical musicians working with Rolex are talented young Chinese pianist Yuja Wang. In addition, Rolex has established a close working relationship with Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel. As the world’s first-class orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Dudamel as its music director is also sponsored by Rolex.
   In the field of modern music, Rolex has collaborated with many well-known pop artists, including Grammy Award winners, Canadian jazz singers Diana Krall and Michael Bublé, and Indian sitar Performer and composer Anoushka Shankar, and the famous French ballet queen actor Sylvie Guillem.
   In addition to supporting artists, Rolex also understands the importance of working with prestigious art groups such as the fascinating Teatro alla Scala, the historic Royal Opera House, In September 2014, it supported the prestigious National Opera of Paris (Opéra National de Paris), as well as the prestigious Metropolitan Opera of New York. At the same time, Rolex fully supports the popular Salzburg Festival and the famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Rolex’s support for art has now extended to Asia and has become a dedicated timepiece for the National Centre for the Performing Arts.
   At the same time, Rolex also helps young artists realize their artistic potential through a number of sponsored projects, such as the annual international opera vocal contest Operalia, founded by Mr. Placido Domingo, and the Rolex Mentor and Sponsorship Program Protégé Arts Initiative), a program designed to discover talented young artists around the world for a one-year creative collaboration with art masters and receive one-to-one careful guidance during this period.
   Recently, Rolex partnered with Medici.tv, an online video site for classical music. With this unique platform, music lovers can experience the lively charm of well-known concerts at any time. Similarly, Rolex has partnered with Euronews’ music program, Musica, which brings audiences to the world of music and dance. Rolex partners also include Operaonline, a comprehensive online opera library open to all opera fans. These are all Rolex-backed art projects designed to expose the public to outstanding classical concerts, festivals, operas and musicians, and promote and popularize music around the world.
   Upholding the spirit of the founder, Mr. Wilsdorf, Rolex is becoming increasingly active in the art world and spares no effort to support outstanding talents and institutions in the art world. They all share the same as the brand, and they are relentless in pursuit of perfection and striving for excellence. This support will help continue the artistic tradition and make a lasting contribution to cultures around the world in a unique way.

In a sense, China’s wealthy watch collectors and investors have saved a race that is about to perish from the Swiss watch industry. Although these surviving ‘blue blood’ brands are still insisting on their ‘irreplaceable niche nature’ and sophisticated and exquisite ancient craftsmanship, everything seems to be just a cloud before climbing on this ‘big tree’ in China .

Today, for every five watches Patek Philippe sells worldwide, two are worn by Chinese people.
Centuries ago, in order to distinguish themselves from tanned labor, the Spanish nobles named themselves: ‘sangre azul’, which means ‘nobles with blue blood.’ Because at the time, it was clearly visible The white skin with blue veins is considered a symbol of nobility. For the Swiss watch industry, ‘blue blood’ is also of extraordinary significance. Only those family businesses that have an ancient history and remain independent at the top of the ‘pyramid’ are eligible to be called ‘blue blood’ brands.
Looking at the current Swiss watch altar, the pure “blue blood” brand is running out. Blancpain and Breguet have already joined Swatch’s door, Vacheron Constantin also announced his loyalty to Richemont earlier. Although Breitling still maintained its independence, it also changed the gate and was no longer the founder’s bloodline. Only Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe are still proud. At least for now, Audemars Piguet’s current global president, Phillippe Merk, is still confident in the status of the brand’s independent operation, and Patek Philippe’s head Thierry Stern has issued a public statement that he must pass on his family business to his son.
Because of the 100% self-sufficient high-quality movement, at least now Patek Philippe does not have to worry about the supply of ETA movements like other brands. ETA is an abbreviation for a blank movement developed by the Swiss ETA SA movement manufacturing plant (now part of the Swatch Group) in the 1980s. At present, at least eight of the ten Swiss-made mechanical watches are equipped with ETA-modified movements.
去年 Since last year, the Swatch Group has gradually reduced the supply of ETA movements to watch brands owned by other groups. This has forced many brands to start considering self-produced movements. Patek Philippe does not have to worry about the movement, but its future is still full of variables.
Nowadays, for the Swiss watchmaking industry, the integration of mergers and acquisitions is the general trend. Richemont, Swatch, Lowell Xuan, and single-brand groups like Rolex firmly hold the right to speak in the Swiss watchmaking industry. These wealthy luxury conglomerates, through the integration of channels and a large amount of capital investment, have made independent watch brands such as Patek Philippe increasingly face the dilemma of being marginalized. If it did not adhere to the ‘niche niche’ business model, and thus maintained a high added value, Patek Philippe may have become a cultural relic sealed in the history museum.
However, this is not enough to save these remaining ‘blue blood’ brands. The real turning point was that they discovered the ‘new continent’ of China’s luxury product. Since last year, the Chinese have almost swept through all the world’s top auctions, including Sotheby’s, Christie’s and the world’s watch auction ‘boss’ Andy Gullen. At these auctions, Patek Philippe became the most sought after lot of Chinese collectors.
At the Sotheby’s luxury watch auction that was hammered at the end of 2010, the total turnover of 300 lots was as high as HK $ 55.7 million, which broke Sotheby’s highest record since the auction of famous watches, and 70% of the buyers came from China Mainland. As of the end of May 2011, Sotheby’s Hong Kong’s turnover in watches and clocks has reached 73 million Hong Kong dollars, while its watch sales for the whole year last year were only 193.9 million Hong Kong dollars.
In addition, a Patek Philippe Ref.2419 minute repeater timepiece was finally included in a Mainland Chinese buyer at a high price of $ 710.5 million at the auction of Antigoron in New York this year.
The popularity of the auction market also naturally pushed up the sales of the ‘Blue Blood’ brand. Earlier, a senior executive of Patek Philippe said in an interview with a Chinese reporter that today, for every five watches Patek Philippe sells worldwide, two are worn by Chinese people.

Those who have been to the Maldives must have been fascinated by the beautiful scenery there, but after a hundred years, there may be sunk, and the beautiful scenery can only be fixed in the photos. Rescuing the Maldives and protecting the ecological environment have become urgent topics in the eyes of many people.
RisOris, a world-renowned watchmaker, joined this action to save marine ecology with a simple sense of social responsibility and pioneering thinking. Following the successful listing of the Oris Barrier Reef Limited Watch in 2010, Oris launched the Maldives Limited Watch again in 2011, with a global limit of 2,000. For each watch sold, Oris donates CHF 20 to Bluepeace, a non-profit environmental group, to protect the marine ecology of the Maldives.
旅游 Tourism in the Maldives, for diving enthusiasts, if you encounter a devil fish, it will be a lucky thing. This broad and flat catfish may cease to exist as the island sinks. To pay tribute to this precious protected variety, the Oris Maldives limited edition watch is exquisitely presented in a titanium alloy case, and the caseback is specially engraved with a unique image of a catfish. Make this treasured fish species forever remembered.

The unidirectional rotating dark blue ceramic upper ring has a 60-minute graduated mark, which can accurately grasp the time regardless of diving or other sports. With the dark orange fluorescent coating of the time and hands, it can be clearly recognized even on the dark sea bottom.
The titanium alloy crown guard is fixed with Oris herringbone screws and equipped with spherical cut internal and external anti-refractive sapphire crystals. With a rubber strap or stainless steel strap and a simple adjustment buckle, you can adjust the appropriate wearing length according to personal preference.
Waterproof function 30 times atmospheric pressure. The Oris Maldives Limited Watch is designed with taste and sophisticated functions to perfectly meet the needs of diving and sports enthusiasts.