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Breitling acquires Universal Geneve

WatchFred
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let me share what Georges Kern and Alfred Gantner, Chairman of the Board, wrote in today's press release.

"As excited as we are, we are also fully aware of the task at hand and the profound heritage we are set to uphold.

Universal Genève was once hailed as the couturier of watchmaking, renowned for its in-house movements and mythical models.

It is a brand that watch enthusiasts have dreamed of seeing make a permanent comeback, Rebuilding a brand with such a rich narrative is not a quick endeavor—it is a meticulous labor of love that we anticipate will unfold over the coming years.

This revival is a dream turned into a vision, it’s a process we are embarking on with the utmost respect and dedication with the aim of seeing Universal Genève restored to its rightful place in watchmaking.”


we mean every word of it - you will never see mass market movements in a Universal Geneve again.
it will take years until you will see the first results of our work - and we hope not to disappoint.

Fred S. Mandelbaum
Breitling Brand Historian & Consultant to CEO and Board


 
paysdoufs
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That sounds… awfully unaffordable. And pretty much like a reboot of the Blancpain business plan, no? 👎
 
WatchFred
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paysdoufs paysdoufs
How much are you willing to bet on that? 😉
well, seems you've decided to dislike anything about today's announcement, so how about I take you up on your offer?
yes. willing to bet. how about you?
 
Joe_A
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To do the UG brand justice, it will take an entity with deep pockets and yes, the watches will probably be less affordable than say, a faux Excelsior Park as produced by Guillaume Laidet.

There have been a couple of attempts to revive Gallet, for example. In my opinion, there was not enough money behind these attempts to assure success.
 
paysdoufs
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WatchFred WatchFred
well, seems you've decided to dislike anything about today's announcement, so how about I take you up on your offer?
yes. willing to bet. how about you?
I’m not going to lie - I indeed don’t really like what the person of GK represents as “pars pro toto” for the industry as a whole (The guy himself might be perfectly nice)…

But message well received and I’ll stop spamming this thread 👍

As regards the bet - it has pretty much lost all its flavor after the press release AND you being an insider, no?
Edited:
 
cristos71
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abrod520 abrod520
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.

Yes, this is exactly what I'd expect. Something along the lines of Polerouter and Compax reissues I can really see. Just like Zenith did recently with the 70's Defy's..... a range of starter 3 handers in the 'affordable' €6K range and a couple €9K - €11K chrono's....
 
NGO1
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No one outside of deep deep watch nerds (it’s a complement here) knows or heard of UG. It will require a complete relaunch of the brand to move this dead dinosaur into the crypto age and two 40ft containers of cash to revive it.

GK did a killer job boosting Breitling with classic reissues. Well-done reissues! the market and their core supporters welcome it.

Thanks the Lord, LVMH didnt dip their toes in this. I’m genuinely surprised LVMH stayed out.
 
Larry S
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NGO1 NGO1
No one outside of deep deep watch nerds (it’s a complement here) knows or heard of UG. It will require a complete relaunch of the brand to move this dead dinosaur into the crypto age and two 40ft containers of cash to revive it.

GK did a killer job boosting Breitling with classic reissues. Well-done reissues! the market and their core supporters welcome it.

Thanks the Lord, LVMH didnt dip their toes in this. I’m genuinely surprised LVMH stayed out.
And this is why I’ll be hanging on to my collection for while.
 
Fallout Boy
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Breitling now has to position UG's models - in its own store-world and in the face of its competitors. UG can probably also cover the women's/ladies segment.

For men, traditional chronographs and the Polerouter division are ideal. I'm curious.

I would like to see a cool hand-wound series in steel.
 
abrod520
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cristos71 cristos71
a range of starter 3 handers in the 'affordable' €6K range and a couple €9K - €11K chrono's....

This is very close to my guess, similar to Jaeger-LeCoultre's sporty catalog. $7-10k 3-handers and $15-25k chronos.
 
Larry S
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I’m thinking about Mont Blanc’s acquisition of Minerva. Hopefully not at the nose bleed level though. Bit of good news though on another bleak news day.
 
LesXL
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abrod520 abrod520
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.
I'm thinking the same here... Maybe they ordered a few of the new Polerouter book for inspiration 😀
 
fizz
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On the whole, this is largely welcome news because Breitling is ultimately a watchmaker of considerable pedigree. Whether they will do the UG heritage justice remains to be seen but they have gone and mined their back catalog with some great reissues (like the 806) rather well.

The problem seems to be a fear of either using mass market movements to make the UG relaunch models accessible or taking a more refined approach which potentially results in an expensive (and alienating) result. It's a dilemma either way and no one will be happy but let's wait to see what they inaugurate with (something tells me it might be a Polerouter - I just hope it's not sexed up 40mm in diameter, 13.5mm in thickness version in salmon dial monstrosity).
Edited:
 
fizz
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Yes they did and also the 765 AVI re-issue.

But....where's the fun is just making facsimiles of the past (ala Omega and Zenith).

I hope it's a mix of both modern reissues, but also, modern reinterpretations.

I'd love to see what a finely made, modern Tri-compax with similar configurations as the classics from the 40's and 50's (i.e. 35mm to 37mm range) would look like.
 
Caliber561
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fizz fizz
I'd love to see what a finely made, modern Tri-compax with similar configurations as the classics from the 40's and 50's (i.e. 35mm to 37mm range) would look like.

It's funny that we now hope Breitling, of all watch companies, might do this. They only seem to have realized recently that it's possible to make watches under 40mm...
 
septentrio
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I think the news is marvelous. What good did it to have the brand buried somewhere in Hong Kong’s archives? First action plan for me would be building a modern microrotor movement in the legacy of cal. 215 / 69. Thin, modern, luxurious. Built to last. Fixing some of the issues these original movements had. Learning from the past. And then a modern Polerouter interpretation, but also a limited heritage model completely faithful to the well-loved 204612 and with a 35/36mm case.
 
jumpingsecond
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I got into UG almost a decade ago and now I'm a ug guy through and through. When I found out about this acquisition I was really excited. For so long we waited for some true white knight to resurrect this brand. Brietling has flaws but so would anybody. Brietling has the incentive/cash to build it back up and I think its big win for us ug fanatics and for the industry in general. Can't wait to see what they come up with!
 
spacemission
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I only hope that new universal geneve watches won't have UG on the dial. U forever 😁

Please, don't say it.
 
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