The Dior Christal tourbillion, as it is formally known, debuted last week at the Baselworld watch fair in Switzerland. It was designed by John Galliano and is the most expensive timepiece ever created by Dior. It was part of an event that included loads of similarly-priced items (a $750,000 pocket watch anyone?) and seemed like a sea of scary, unnecessary, downright gawdy extravagance.
To be fair, it must be a strange time to be a luxury watch maker. The number of people rolling around on their thousand-dollar bill collections shrinks every day, and the audience for a fancy-schmancy watch that basically screams to the world "I'm rich" is so small it might not even include Donald Trump. Even wealthy people don't want to seem wealthy right now.
According to a story in WWD, the "normally high-energy fair was more subdued this time around because of the slowdown in watch sales." However, retailers seemed to have contradictory views on how to respond to the crappy global economy. “Our new products, intelligently priced, have been successful in convincing our retail partners to invest in a challenging global economy," said one. While another reflected: “I’ve seen some really beautiful big pieces of jewelry. I think in this climate people need to create pieces that stand out in the crowd." Hmmm.
Source: WWD
