Luxury watches need to tell the time – but also be timeless, according to Jean-Christophe Babin, the chief executive of Bulgari.
That means the new generation of high-end connected timepieces – the Swiss makers’ answer to the Apple Watch – must not be disposable like smartphones, Mr Babin says.
Bulgari last month unveiled an “intelligent” watch concept called the Diagono Magnesium, which is set to retail at €5,000 (Dh19,473) to €6,000 when launched to the market. It is fitted with near field communication (NFC) technology that can unlock doors and grant access to a smartphone application called Bulgari Vault, which can be used to store personal information.
Here, Mr Babin explains why the new generation of luxury hi-tech watches cannot break with the Swiss tradition of being built to last.
How would you sum up Bulgari’s entry into the “intelligent watch” category?
I think it’s the affirmation that there’s no contradiction nowadays between true luxury craftsmanship and the integration of some technologies, as long as they don’t jeopardise the integrity of the craftsmanship and that they are real and valuable for the consumer.
How often will you need to upgrade Bulgari’s intelligent watch?
We have moved out of the watch, and into the application, all of the potential obsolescence issues. In a normal smartwatch, after two years you have generation two and after three years generation three. This is the story with the iPhone, so it will be the same with the Apple Watches. In our case there is no risk of obsolescence because the chip doesn’t need any upgrade; what does need an upgrade is the app. With luxury you cannot accept obsolescence. On the contrary, luxury has to be timeless.
Tell us about the NFC technology used.
The NFC microchip inside is big enough to last for decades in terms of capacity. A great advantage is that NFC doesn’t need its own electricity, it is activated by electricity that it finds in its environment. According to STMicroelectronics: “Ambient energy is available in a variety of forms, such as radio waves, waste heat and kinetic energy from movement by a user.” So this is the only technological watch which is 100 per cent mechanical. It is respecting all the integrity of the high-craftsmanship Swiss watch.
What kind of demand for a watch such as this do you see coming from the Middle East?
I see the demand coming globally. Because today a Middle East consumer is very similar to a Chinese, Italian or American, in the sense that we all deal with technology, we all have to store tens or hundreds of PIN codes, logins and passwords. We all have a digital life and an ecosystem around it. And we don’t want anyone to crack it.
Do you see a whole range of intelligent watches being produced by Bulgari?
The second step will be to have the same mechanism in a ladies’ watch. But we don’t need to present the same service in every watch. We don’t want to become a tech company. We are a luxury watch company – and this is what we intend to remain.
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