Concord

Just in time to mark the start of its second century, Concord has renewed itself completely. The firm has retired its entire library of models, including its well-known Mariner and Saratoga collections, so it can focus on its new C1 chronograph, a  bold men’s watch made with steel, titanium, carbon fiber and rubber. The firm, which was the first Swiss brand purchased by Movado Group (now MGI group) founder Gedalio Grinberg (in 1970), has retooled its design staff, its marketing focus and its distribution emphasis to return to developing what it calls “leading-edge” designs aimed at a more select group of collectors.

During the century it has been making timepieces at its home in Bienne, Switzerland, Concord has made more than a few horological headlines. The company’s watches have been worn by world leaders, and have been crafted from coins celebrating other dignitaries. In fact, many collectors seek out Concord’s coin watches, which hit the market to great acclaim in 1946. Further acclaim greeted the 1979 release of the first Delirium, the thinnest analog watch ever made.

That Delirium, which showcased the firm’s cutting-edge methodology, began a trend among other Swiss and Japanese watchmakers for ever-thinner models.

The new C1 is quite the opposite. It’s fully 16.7 mm thick and includes a solid 3.3 mm thick sapphire crystal. In fact, the crystal itself is thicker than the complete Delirium, the first of which measured a wispy 1.98 mm (followed by even thinner models). C1, which essentially means Concord and Chronograph plus the “first” model, represents Concord’s return to the cutting edge, says the firm’s U.S. president, Alex Grinberg. The new watches are in about twenty to twenty-five retail stores in the United States, far fewer than the previous Concord models. Prices range from $9,400 to $29,900 (for the gold edition with a gold bracelet).

International Watch sat down with Grinberg at the MGI Luxury Group offices in New York City recently for an up-close look at the C1 chronograph and an update about the firm’s plans.

iW: How does Concord fit in to the Movado Group portfolio?

Grinberg: Concord is our first owned brand. My father purchased it in 1970. At the time the watch business was very different. It was mainly a carriage trade. Most watches were sold under a private label or a dual label with the retailer. And we used to make watches for Tiffany and Cartier among others. It really was a small business. It wasn’t’ until we started to actively market Piaget, which we distributed, as the world’s most expensive watch, that watches started to become a branded item.

In 1979 we introduced the Concord Delirium, which was the world’s thinnest watch. It was very important at the time because the Japanese had made serious inroads with quartz technology, so being able to demonstrate that Swiss watches could also develop high technology helped put Swiss makers back on the map.

How does the new Concord, with the C1, mesh with the brand’s past?

The brand has a great tradition in innovation and using its know-how to develop very leading-edge designs. That’s one of the things we want to take the brand back to. It is to be true to our DNA: we’re the world’s thinnest watch and the Concord Mariner was the first thin sports watch. It was probably one of the best sellers of the early 1980s. We were selling thousand-dollar steel watches, which at the time put us in a real leadership position.

Now, we want to take it back to where it should be. It should develop high-end interesting designs, and do it with a clear identity. You have to have a clear identity. We have to take this DNA and history and create some really unique timepieces. In the United States, over time, the C1 chronograph will be our focus. We’ll build on it with some unique constructions of it in the future too. It’s all about know-how and being daring and edgy and innovative. We’ll be phasing out the older models.

These Concords are the high-end fine watchmaking brand in the group, though Ebel has costlier pieces with jewelry and it now does its own movements. They also do many more ladies watches.
It’s going to get even more interesting soon.

Can you offer details about the new Concord?

This has been a big effort and it requires a whole new management team. We have Vincent Perriard [as president] who had been in the past with the Swatch Group, with Audemars Piguet and his own brand management firm. We have all new designers with some outside designers too. It’s a very thorough process. [New marketing director] Stefan Feltgen is also very experienced.

We have the resources and skills to build unique timepieces.

Our position is focusing on the ultimate watch construction. It’s know-how. We’re conceiving complicated movements and cases and it requires a tremendous amount of engineering. There are fifty-two different pieces for each C1 watchcase, including carbon fiber and four-layer dial. The watches are made to very low tolerances. All its screws actually screw into the case. It has a 3.3 mm thick crystal and it’s heavy.

What are some of its specifications?

The rubber strap includes reinforced titanium under the rubber strap, it has a see-through back for the big Valgranges movement. The rotor is PVD black with a “C” on it.  We’re making it in a very limited production with only 500 pieces in United States this year and about 1,200 to 1,800 pieces worldwide. We’re making eleven variations and these include a three-hand model and the chrono right now, and in models with a black carbon fiber dial, an engine turned dial and an orange dial. Everything is coated with rubber, so its bezel is steel with a rubber coating.

The gold version is 171 grams of solid gold. And all have the phrase “ audacious, savoir-faire, avant-garde” on the back. The rose gold piece has a gold rotor.

It’s a big watch. How does it feel on the wrist?

The attachment transfers the weight from the case to the wrist and makes it comfortable. Even though it’s big, it fits on the smaller wrist too. If you see the rubber strap, it also hangs straight down. We’re working on a patent for that unique buckle.
    
Can you give us a preview of what we can expect next year?

Were experimenting with some new non-metals. They will be utilized in a new way. We’ll see it at Basel. We’re working with one of the top workshops in Switzerland for an interesting mechanical movement. For our 100th  anniversary, we have a few very special pieces and we’ll also expand the C1 collection. In addition, we’re working on ladies’ pieces. We’ll have a few suitable for ladies too, though for now its strictly men’s. We showed a ladies’ line earlier, but it wasn’t quite ready.

How are you advertising the new Concord look?

In our new ads, we show a scientific formula being placed onto a chalkboard. The formula uses group theory and it’s a real watch formula. A Cambridge mathematician came up with a formula that describes the watch’s 52 components and its dial layers.       

For more information on this and many more Concord models, visit www.concord-watch.com