When I caught wind of Universal Genève being acquired by Partners Group Holding in a move that would ultimately put Breitling’s Georges Kern at the helm of a rebirth, my first reaction was cautious optimism. This is a brand I’ve long admired, and like many of us, I’ve often imagined what kind of watches a modern Universal Genève might be producing. It’s a brand perfectly positioned to capitalize on the throwback trend, and seeing Kern’s involvement left little doubt that that’s exactly where it would be heading. With the reveal of a new Polerouter in SAS guise to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the historic Scandinavian Airlines Systems flight, we confirmed exactly that. The watches are elevated versions of the original design. Beautiful, following the same formula we’ve seen established by Kern in the past.
The release represents much of what I’ve come to expect from a new watch launch, especially from the likes of Kern. There’s a tie to history to attach a larger than life story to the watch, establishing the brand’s foundation in the process as having some weight to it. The original design, which came from the mind of a young Gerald Genta, holds up as well as you might imagine, remaining just as handsome today as it was in the ‘50s. Sure, it reads as a watch from that era, but so do a lot of watches being released today. If watches are an emotional product, then the story surrounding them imbues meaning. Kern understands that better than most, though I’d argue that it can come off as a bit disingenuous rather than organic.
There’s an underlying element that I can’t quite shake, and that has to do with the watch itself taking a backseat to the emotional elements of the story. Its value is associated with the story’s ability to elicit an emotional reaction from potential buyers. This plays into the increased frequency of new watch releases, which I’ve often argued is unsustainable. It’s easier to sell an incredible story and a piece of history than it is a lifelong companion ready to make its own stories in the context of your life and experiences.
It’s no longer positioned as something personal that you take through life, but rather as something that represents a more amorphous history. When you don’t think about a watch in terms of how you plan to wear and use it, and what it might end up meaning after decades of bonding, you’ll likely end up buying more of them, because the goal is no longer tied to what it will mean to you in the long run.
In considering watches like the Submariner or Speedmaster, we find plenty of history and great stories that are often touted in marketing materials, but we also find two watches that have an unbroken history. These are two watches that rarely change, and represent a clear throughline to their original ideas. Their consistency is what makes them attractive to buyers who view watches through a long term lens. Sure, the history is cool, but it’s not the reason they work so well today, and I’d argue that the history itself should not factor into a purchase decision in a big way. The meaning is something you add over time, not something that comes pre-packaged from the brand.
So, what to make of the new Polerouters? Well, they won’t be available to the public in any meaningful way, so their sole purpose seems to be laying the foundation for the stories that the brand is looking to tell. There’s deep history and meaning there that is certainly worth celebrating within that history, and I’m thrilled that more will come to light, but it’s important to separate that history from what the new watches will mean to buyers today. The watches themselves should be held to a different standard, and I’d love to see them move the ball forward rather than keep it in the same place with pure reissues. What does a modern Universal Genève design language look like? How will it evolve over the coming generation? What kind of history is being built right now beyond merely preserving what came before? All these are questions I’ll be keen to see answered as the brand is rolled out proper over the coming year.
At the end of the day, I hope to see Universal Genève watches that are more than purely collectors items. I’d love to see them on the wrists of enthusiasts making a new generation of the brand worth celebrating. Universal Genève