Watchmakers Celebrate Year of the Rabbit with Limited, Thoughtful Styles
Watchmakers are already preparing special editions for the Lunar New Year. This is the most important period of the lunisolar calendar. China East Asia.
The rabbit can be seen everywhere on these timepieces that are high-end and designed to appeal to the Chinese diaspora.
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At jewelers Harry Winston and Chopard, the color red dominated women’s styles with red crocodile straps and diamond-set watch cases, with filigree rabbit silhouettes taking pride of place on the dial.
Enameling was chosen as the method to represent the fourth tutelar creature in the 12-year lunar cycles on dials. It began with the L.U.C XP Urushi Year of the Rabbit (Chopard), which used the highly-sought Japanese technique for its dial.
Anita Porchet (embellist, Piaget Altiplano limited edition) represented a pair a rabbits facing forward on the 38-piece Piaget Altiplano limited edition. She has been with the brand since 2006.
Another duo, sitting among rolling hills, was executed by enamel specialist Donzé Cadrans for Ulysse Nardin’s 88-strong run of Classico Rabbit 40 mm watches in champlevé and cloisonné techniques.
Hand-engraving was chosen by Vacheron Constantin as the preferred technique for their timepieces. For the French luxury house, it’s a gold rabbit leaping across an aventurine dial toward a mother-of-pearl tree that was represented on its Grand Soir watch.
An engraved figure sits amid greenery inspired by paper cutting at the center of the Swiss watchmaker’s Métiers d’Art Legend of the Chinese Zodiac timepiece, which includes its Calibre 2460 G4 and four-aperture design.
Some players took a more subtle approach. Blancpain and IWC Schaffhausen hid the rabbit behind the case, while Tag Heuer placed the animal on the weight oscillating from automatic mechanisms. These styles feel more permanent than occasional.
Blancpain’s 50-piece limited-edition Year of the Rabbit iteration comes with a traditional Chinese calendar, which the brand touted as a rare feature as only a few watchmakers are capable of mastering its construction.
As China The COVID-19 rules were abandoned by most of its members on Jan. 8. Could the energetic and successful rabbit, believed to be the luckiest sign, bring a quick recovery to the luxury watch market in China after a bearish 2022
“It’s certainly an opportunity to sell watches and to create bonds with one of the biggest markets in the world,” a challenging one at that, confirmed watch industry veteran Oliver Müller, founder of consulting firm LuxeConsult.
However, it is becoming more difficult to get the attention of collectors and consumers.
According to Müller, Chinese consumers are beginning to “resent the fact that brands, watches or otherwise, rebound on [the occasion], feeling it is not a sincere way of trying to create bonds with Chinese collectors,” he continued, noting that the most successful models were those where Chinese culture was interpreted with subtlety and sensitivity.
These consumers may also be attracted to other products than themed timepieces.
Jaeger LeCoultre’s approach is an example. The Swiss watchmaker launched a new star-powered campaign featuring its global brand ambassador, award-winning actor Jackson Yee, sporting the Master Ultra-Thin Tourbillon Moon timepiece — with no mention of a rabbit.
“This watch has special meaning because the moon governs our Chinese New Year but also because its timeless elegance is like an anchor in a world that seems to be spinning faster all the time,” Yee said in a statement.
Sebastian Wang is a watch collector who is also chief editor at Woohootime. Woohootime is a Shanghai-based luxury watch trading platform that trades rare watches and luxury watches. He said he likes the more durable Chinese New Year-themed styles.
“Having a subtle but interesting ‘plus’ on an already popular model will be a good approach — a unique color dial, extra engraving on the movement or unique case material would enhance a great model and make it even better,” Wang said, adding that IWC’s burgundy Portugieser Automatic is a winner for him this year.
According to him, brands shouldn’t alter the dial layout too much for a festive occasion. A two-tone color edition for a normally one-color dial would be just enough, though it’s not uncommon to see some brands create dials around the Chinese zodiac, or use Chinese characters for indices.
Wang noted that this kind of approach isn’t widely appreciated among collectors as they “have a tendency of cultural stereotype and is way too predictable” and “these styles often are equipped with enamel or jewelry touches with hyped prices; they were soon forgotten and the residual value is usually very poor.”
He believes that a successful watch design should include a simple dial and a timeless design.
He singled out Vacheron Constantin’s Mercator as “a great example of innovation, bold but traditional in terms of aesthetics.” Some neo-vintage Cartiers like CPCP models have also attracted him for a while.
Samuel Xu, a watch expert who founded the WeChat channel Big Shot Weekly believes that a Chinese New Year-themed look is more than just a limited use or mechanical detail. It’s a mix of emotion and storytelling.
“I personally appreciate those with a unique perspective on our culture and can create a deeper bond with the consumer. A style featuring a Chinese dragon on the dial would be extremely trendy and eye-catching. It was made using the ancient bronze casting process from the Spring, Autumn, and Warring States periods. What I don’t like is a piece that has only form but no soul, such as a big red Chinese character of luck printed on the dial,” he said.
Xu contended that very few Chinese New Year-themed styles would see their value increase in the resale market since they usually are made in very limited numbers and there isn’t a sustained demand to drive up the price.
There is always an exception. “If it’s a classic style from a big brand with a high level of watchmaking craftsmanship and a creative and respectful spin on the Chinese New Year theme, then it will undoubtedly have more room for appreciation in value,” Xu said.
Launch Gallery Year of the Rabbit Limited Edition Timepieces