When Watchmaker IWC met AMG (owned by DaimlerChrysler)

18 september 2005

Photo from: TheStart.com.my website

PAUL SI discovers why watchmaker IWC and specialist car builder AMG make perfect partners.

IT was only a matter of time before IWC met AMG. When the renowned Swiss watchmaker set out to find a car brand to tie up with, it knew precisely the qualities a prospective partner would have: A respected name, a history of innovation, a tradition of excellence, a passion for engineering, an aura of exclusivity. In short, everything that IWC itself is synonymous with.

And it did not have to look far. Just down the road, in fact. Affalterbach, Germany, headquarters of AMG, is a rustic farming town less than 90 minutes drive from Schaffhausen, Switzerland, home to IWC since 1868.

In a cluster of innocuous single-storey buildings that could pass for a typical German farm, a small team of highly skilled technicians and craftsmen turns out some of the finest automobiles money can buy. Just across the border, an equally select group of experts make exquisite watches that grace the wrists of the world’s rich and famous.

IWC stands for International Watch Company while AMG (now owned by DaimlerChrysler) is formed from the initials of founding partners (Hans Werner) Aufrecht, (Eberhard) Melcher and Großaspach (birth place of Aufrecht).

The fact that the two companies bear names that are three-letter acronyms is just one of many similarities that hint at a kindred spirit.

Both have black and white as their corporate colours, both are dedicated to making fine precision machinery and instruments and both cater to an exclusive clientele that demands the best. While neither offer products that are purely for one gender or the other, both companies (and their products) have a decidedly masculine image.

But, why did IWC suddenly decide it needed to tie up with a car brand when it has been enjoying considerable recognition and respect in its own right for well over a century? Was it following a trend set by other partnerships, such as that between Bentley and Breitling, Aston Martin and Jaeger-LeCoultre?

“Well, there are striking similarities between high-end cars and watches in that both are luxury goods that people do not need so much as they want to own,” said IWC Asia Pacific managing director Etienne de Gramont.

“The customers for both are successful people who appreciate the finer things in life ? they can afford to pay for exclusivity and they demand the highest quality,” said de Gramont, who was in Kuala Lumpur recently for the launch of a special AMG edition of IWC’s classic Ingenieur automatic watches.

One reason for partnering with AMG is to raise the watchmaker’s profile and increase awareness of the brand in markets other than IWC’s traditional stronghold of Western Europe.

“IWC is one of the top 10 names within the very exclusive group of luxury watch brands that represent the finest traditions of Swiss craftsmanship,” he said.

He explains that there are three broad categories of watches. On top of the heap sit the pure luxury brands like Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Baume & Mercier and, of course, IWC. (The latter three, along with Piaget, Cartier, Panerai, Dunhill, Jaeger-LeCoultre and more, are all owned by Richemont Group, one of the world’s top luxury goods purveyors.)

Then there are the “luxury mass” brands such as Rolex, Omega and TAG Heuer, which also have a history but are made in larger volumes, and then come the Swatches, Seikos and Citizens of the world.

But, while it is widely known and highly sought after in Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy, awareness of IWC is low elsewhere.

“We want to put back the ‘I’ in IWC, to make the name truly international, and equally famous and desirable in Japan and the rest of Asia, in the United States,” he said.

Hence, the tie-up with AMG, which was formalised in October 2004.

“Like IWC, AMG is a respected brand ? not known by all and certainly not known to every one but those who know quality will appreciate what those three-letter names mean,” de Gramont said. “Both stand for high performance and superlative quality.”

The high point of the collaboration so far has been the limited edition Ingenieur AMG CLS 55, of which only 55 pieces will ever be made.

According to de Gramont, IWC crafted the watches and passed them to AMG designers who then matched appropriate parts of the car, such as the instrument dials, to the watch.

To lay hands on one, or to lay one on your wrist, you have to buy an AMG CLS 55. Yes, the car. Buy a car, get the watch free. Or, you could buy a watch for about RM1.5mil and get the car free.

For connoisseurs who don’t need another car, there are other Ingenieur AMG models available, priced from RM23,000 to RM30,000.

Article published by: TheStart.com.my (September 18, 2005)