Did not see that one coming https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/i...elaunch-under-the-same-ownership-as-breitling
I would have preferred literally anyone else but them (i.e., a pure-bred financial investor plus GK) Sorry, but I feel it’s appropriate here:
Not a big fan of the new owners considering how they handled F1 under their stewardship, they’ve done a bit better with Breitling but their reputation for milking a cow until it’s dead still persists
What would have been a better partner? At least Breitling did some fantastic stuff regarding their vintage heritage. I think it is in good hands.
Some fantastic watches in the UG back catalogue to bring back to life that's for sure. I'm curious as to how it will go.
@paysdoufs watch (sic!) out: Volkswagen = Audi, Seat, Škoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge, MAN, Scania, und Das WeltAuto
Better than nothing, but not the best scenario. As the company was defunct for so long, I don't know how they can handle the "heritage" part, as not a single person from Universal will work in the new company - it is just a name now. And if it was acquired by SG or Rolex would be a better perspective maybe. But still lets hope that this will be a worthy come back.
Breitling has done well with their movements lately and their vintage reissues. I think this is a positive development. This will change nothing with the original UG models everyone loves; but to have such a great name producing watches again is absolutely great. The name only holds value with vintage people anyway so the first watches will almost certainly be very high quality vintage reissues.
Hi Nico, Nice seeing you here, too… Personally, I would have preferred a smaller and vintage focused “re-founder”, maybe like Guillaume Laidet or the guy from Airan (Sorry -forgot his name). I’m afraid that Partners Group and GK are just going to want to maximize the hell out of their (probably considerable) investment. Nothing wrong with running a profitable business, but a bit of “Herzblut” doesn’t hurt either, IMHO… However, this coming from someone who does not consider the last years of Breitling as being very convincing - despite the occasional vintage goodness sprinkled over the big marketing machine.
Sure but would it really be a great relaunch of UG using the same microbrand movements of those companies? I don't personally think so, and having the financial reserves plus watchmaking capability of Breitling we have a better chance of true excellence inside and out
@abrod520 - You here, too? Sure - but let’s be honest: Breitling’s current catalogue consists to 80% of cased-up Sellitas. I think this already gives you an idea of how much of the UG launch Budget will be devoted to R&D and how much to marketing…
If you've ever handled those Sellita-base watches you'd know they are really well-finished. No rotor issues, chronometer timekeeping does not fall off after a year, etc. Breitling does a good job these days on all fronts. We'll have to wait and see about whether they put out a Polerouter with one but the comments about this taking time suggest they're looking into other solutions. If they were to go with Sellitas they could have waited 6 months to announce and launch day-of with a slapped-together Polerouter, and they didn't.
I think a well done relaunch can only help with vintage resale value. Archives are thin because much was lost when the company disintegrated. Wait and see.
