Women Of The Hour

Shaping the watch world through a feminine lens.

- Celine Yap

Like many other industries, luxury watchmaking is a man’s world no matter which part of the product chain you’re looking at. The making, selling and buying of watches are predominantly male-driven pursuits. But like a lot of other industries as well, change is afoot, in spite of Swiss watchmaking’s deep-rooted resistance to change.

Not only are brands doubling down on their efforts to make seriously good ladies’ watches – in response to the growing number of women in its target market – but the industry has also been listening more intently to the voices of women in leadership positions.

They include Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Catherine Rénier and Piaget’s Chabi Nouri as well as Vanessa Monestel of the independent watchmaking atelier Laurent Ferrier and Fabienne Lupo, chairwoman and managing director of Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie.

But women have always been involved in Swiss watchmaking, in primary aspects such as assembling, finishing and decorating. The latter two are arguably among the most crucial elements in the manufacture of a fine timepiece and are the key factors that separate haute horlogerie from, well, almost everything else.

Carolina Bucci, jewellery designer

How do you reinvent an icon? Carolina Bucci would probably say, “Change it completely without actually changing it.” That sounds somewhat vague and esoteric, until you recognise what she did with Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak – arguably the most iconic luxury watch of all time.