The second in our series of listings, exploring how various luxury sectors are using craftsmanship and video to best express their savoir faire
When we first compiled a listing of Luxury Fashion Brands Using Craftsmanship in Video, it became very obvious, very quickly that leather goods, footwear and fashion films are driven by emotion and visual experience. Very few films in this first series had any kind of dialogue or narration. Almost none included spoken or written facts relating to the technicalities of production.
Timepiece videos – and indeed the products themselves – create far more technical communications challenges. The price and attractiveness of investing in Horlogerie has much more to do with mechanics, movements, metals and materials, than it does an essence, emotion or experience. Fashion and accessories have the luxury of being easy to understand visually, whereas the value of timepieces lies largely in elements that cannot be seen.
“ Video enables timepiece brands to distil layers of complex technical information into succinct and stylish content ”
In this sense, video presents a huge communications opportunity to watchmakers, enabling brands to distil layers of complex technical information into succinct and stylish content. Video can bring clients into Swiss workshops, or visually confirm the expertise necessary to produce these creations, and even reiterate messages of creativity, quality and excellence.
Initially it was difficult to distinguish the use of ‘technical nous’ from the use of ‘craftsmanship’ messages in timepiece videos. There are a host of brands – Panerai, Dior, Rado, La Montres Hermès, Harry Winston, Longines and Bulgari to name a few – that use 3D animation and component breakdowns as part of their advertising, seeking to highlight the complexity of their machines.
But at the time of press, I couldn’t find evidence that these brands were inviting consumers into their manufacturing spaces or seeking to connect them with artisans. The focus for these brands appeared to to be about end-product technical function rather than design, heritage, craftsmanship and the complexities of creation.
Below we present a listing of videos by luxury timepiece brands, which explicitly use the values of craftsmanship and quality to help tell their story.
YouTube: aptvofficial
YouTube: baumeetmercier
YouTube: Cartier
YouTube: CHANEL
YouTube: ChopardOfficial
YouTube: ebel2008
YouTube: RogerDubuisWatches
YouTube: MontresJaquetDroz
YouTube: frederiqueconstant
YouTube: GPwatchesOfficial
YouTube: hublotTV
YouTube: iwcwatches
YouTube: jaegerlecoultreclub
YouTube: LOUISVUITTON
YouTube: mauricelacroixwatch
YouTube: OMEGA Watches
YouTube: Piaget
YouTube: raymondweil
YouTube: TAGHeuerOnline
YouTube: vacheronconstantin
YouTube: vancleefarpels
YouTube: zenithwatches
We invite you to discover the first in our series, Luxury Fashion Brands Using Craftsmanship in Video, and to join the discussion below
