Watches
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Baume and Mercier exhibit snaps moments in time
By Joseph Dobrian
January 13, 2009
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| Baume and Mercier hopes its exhibit will draw attention to watches like this stainless steel ladies timepiece from the "ilea" collection. |
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Paris--Photographs freeze a moment in time, and time is what Baume and Mercier is all about.
So it seems natural that the watchmaker would team up with photographer Gerard Rancinan and journalist Caroline Gaudriault for "The Photographer," a photographic exhibition, which opened in Paris' Palais de Tokyo in November, and will travel the world in 2009 and 2010.
Renowned for his series of portraits of eminent personalities in various fields, Rancinan turned the camera on his own colleagues for the new exhibition.
All told, 24 photojournalists, artists, portrait specialists, fashion photographers and columnists participated--all giving individual "performances" for the exacting eye of the still camera. For her part, Gaudriault interviewed each subject extensively about his or her art and career journey, exploring the links between these very different members of the photographic world.
The subjects are Nobuyoshi Araki, Ragnar Axelsson, David Burnett, Patrick Demarchelier, Elliott Erwitt, Ron Galella, Eikoh Hosoe, Mimmo Jodice, Antonin Kratochvil, David LaChapelle, Peter Lindbergh, Mary Ellen Mark, James Nachtwey, Roman Opalka, Martin Parr, Pierre et Gilles, Rankin, Reza, Marc Riboud, Sebastiao Salgado, Malick Sidibe, Oliviero Toscani and Albert Watson.
"Baume and Mercier's connections to the arts in general, and photography in particular, go back many years, and this idea of an exhibition of photographs of other photographers struck us as new and exciting," says Michael Irilli, Baume and Mercier's marketing manager for North America. "When you think about it, there's a natural synergy between photography and watches. Both are closely related to history; both relate to capturing a moment in time."
In other words, Irilli suggests, a photograph provides a record of a moment, a person, an event--just as a watch will often be associated with a particular occasion, or at least will evoke vivid memories in the watch owner or the gift-giver.
Baume and Mercier also made a major splash at the Houston Center for Photography this year, when in February and March at FotoFest 2008, the brand teamed up with New York-based photographers' cooperative Magnum Photos for a showing of Magnum's most famous photographs of the past 60 years. The watchmaker also had a presence at photography fairs in Madrid, Spain, and Paris this year.
"We're still firming up destinations for this exhibition, but one of them will probably be New York, probably in a gallery, with a reception for our best VIP clients and people in the photographic world," Irilli says.
For the time being, Baume and Mercier has no plans to promote any specific watches in connection with the exhibition. The main idea, Irilli says, is to create buzz about the brand.
Jewelers will be able to take advantage of in-store displays and can impress upon their customers the fact that Baume and Mercier appeals to those who are educated and interested in the arts. The displays also depict brand ambassadors Teri Hatcher and Ashton Kutcher, and the charities the two stars are involved with.
"We try to build awareness of the brand, about how comfortable our watches are to wear, and how pleasing to look at," Irilli says. "We're in a good spot, in terms of the overall market, in a price range that's just entering 'luxury': $1,500 to $5,000."
Baume and Mercier will not be offering any radically new products in the near future, but will continue to push its new "ilea" collection of ladies round-dial watches, as well as its perennial best-sellers at price points that consumers will find surprisingly affordable, Irilli says.
"We're now approaching an uncertain time for the luxury watch market," he says. "Many brands that have been cultivating the aspirational customer will fade away."
The brand is not expecting extraordinary growth in these uncertain economic times, but does expect to hold its own.
"We will come out of it a little ahead," Irilli says. "This is a marathon, not a sprint."
Editor's note: This story first appeared in the December 1, 2008, print edition of National Jeweler.
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