Horological Meandering

Report of the JEANRICHARD Graphiscope cocktail in Paris

 

Yesterday, it happened a big horological event in Paris at the Opera Gallery. You may smile by reading these words but as you know I'm always as interested by the communication strategies of the brands as by their watches and what I saw was quite unusual. Actually, JEANRICHARD unveiled a limited edition of 3 watches (25 pieces each) created with the Street and Graffiti artist Gully. These watches get their own name, the Graphiscope while they are based on the Terrascope. The fact that their names changed gives the proof of the importance of this limited edition.

Of course, it will not have a big impact of the turnover of the brand. We are talking after all about 75 watches. Of course, it doesn't revolutionize the catalogue of the brand. They remain Terrascope watches. But to my knowledge, it is one of the very first times I see a partership between a watch brand of a large luxury group and a Street artist. It is a very refreshing move and a way for JEANRICHARD to have the ability to enlarge its customers base to people more fascinated by art than by watchmaking. Moreover, it gives a very contemporary touch to JEANRICHARD which is always welcome. The companies tend to communicate a lot about tradition and the drawback of such strategy is the risk to be perceived as old-fashioned by some ranges of potential customers.

The Graphiscope line also gives the proof that the Terrascope is a well-born watch since it can change its own context without any difficulty. It can be sober, sportive, sometimes elegant... and this time fun and colourful!

The event gave the opportunity to the guests to discover an impressive exhibition of paintings by the artist without forgetting a new painting especially made for JEANRICHARD and the event: "Philosophy of Art 2".

If you expect to see pictures of the artist, forget this idea. Gully wishes to stay mysterious to avoid the traps and the constraints of  success and of public life to stay focused on his artistic approach. And when you started you career clandestinely, you don't want to change your behaviour... it is a part of your DNA!

When did the idea of the Graphiscope come?

Gully was painting with a Terrascope on his wrist and after a hard day of work, he realized that a lot of splashes of pain were all over it... including the strap. So this new decoration style came to his mind!

The guests could see this famous watch, the original Terrascope in a display located in the entrance room of the Opera Gallery... so we already knew what would be the style of the watches which would be unveiled later during the evening...





The Philosophy of Art exhibition has a common thread. The idea behind each painting is to imagine how could be famous art pieces by other artists like Warhol or Canaletto (yes, it is a very wide range!) seen by children's eyes. And I LOVED this exhibition. You can trust me, I will come back to the gallery to see it again!

With Sylvie Viot, brand manager of Girard-Perregaux and JEANRICHARD:

Some pictures of the exhibition:

 

I love the Canaletto one!

Bruno Grande, Managing Director of JEANRICHARD explains the reasons behind the partnership with Gully:

"Philosophy of Art 2" is about to be unveiled...

You will notice the presence of the Graphiscope on the painting but do you know the context of the topic? The origin of this painting is the Cattelan artpiece, the LOVE sculpture located in front of the Milano stock Exchange which created a huge scandal:

Bruno Grande is unveiling the Graphiscope line:

Bruno Grande, Monica Macaluso and François-Henri Pinault who honoured the guests with his presence:





Here is the first wristshot of the evening, more will come:

Let's have a closer look at the 3 watches. They share in common the decoration style made of dots and splashes but at the end they are quite different:

This is the watch which is found on the painting:

My fav version with its blue details:

I remind you that the Terrascope has a 44mm diameter. Its design  successfully mixes the round bezel with the cushion shape of the case:

The Graphiscope are powered by the JR60 movement which is actually a Sellita SW200 movement:

I love the dots on this version:

The shy signature of the artist is usually found on the back of the paintings. With the watches, it is found on the caseside.

The flawless finishings of the dials:

I was surprised by the overall quality of the three watches. In this very specific atmosphere, the main hurdle is to avoid to create a ridiculous watch. If the balance is not preserved, the Graphiscope would look like a watch for a circus.

Fortunately, they embody a successful design because the creative decoration is balanced by the strict and rigorous Terrascope structure:

The best way to end this report is to shoot the actual Graphiscope in front of the painted Graphiscope: the circle is complete! Even if it is a lovely one of Gully's painting, I prefer to have it on my wrist!

I would like to thank a lot the JEANRICHARD team for the invitation and the perfect organization of the event.

Fx

This message has been edited by foversta on 2014-09-19 15:01:38

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