For example, a salesman can offer one of our watch winders to his customer, rather than grant a discount on the watch itself. “However, we can be very practical for watch shops. “Too often, retailers and customers still think, wrongly, that they do not have enough space to accommodate our products,” says Simon Wolf. In a way, it’s a process of “evangelisation”. Before Wolf can sell its products, it must first convince the target audience of their usefulness, and popularise their features. As for Asia, a new giant in watch consumption, it is still an “underdeveloped” and “high-potential” market for watch winders. The United States, “probably the most mature market for the use of watch winders,” is Wolf’s main market, ahead of Europe. Wolf’s headquarters in Los Angeles, which also serves as a logistics center for North America Wolf now has some 2,500 points of sale around the world, targeting both collectors who are looking for good performance in their watch winders, and people who appreciate the design of their leather goods. These are sold at specialised retailers, but also in large shopping centres. The company produces more than 200,000 modules per year (one module corresponds to one watch a watch winder can accommodate up to 32 modules).īut the company founded in 1834 actually achieves nearly two-thirds of its turnover on another, more traditional activity, the production of boxes and kits for watches and jewellery, as well as other leather accessories. The watch winder is undoubtedly the most “intriguing” part of Wolf’s activity. Indeed, the brand also offers safes with multiple rotating modules, costing up to $250,000. Wolf’s watch winders – designed in California, made in China, like Apple – start at 250 dollars and position the company in a mid- to high-end niche. While it usually turns clockwise, some models with particular complications, notably by Patek Philippe, require counter-clockwise rotations for their continuing good health. Like the human body, a watch should not be permanently “activated” – the result would be exhaustion! The module is therefore set to pause regularly. It is possible to set the rotation time, and the number and speed of the revolutions, on the electronic module(s) fitted to each rotating watch case. and wear all your watches at all times, so they stay on time!”ġ834, top-of-the-range collection of rotating module safes by Wolf Otherwise, you should do like Nicolas Hayek Sr. “With our watch winders, you will find it in perfect working order. “If you leave your automatic watch on your bedside table, it will stop it will no longer keep time, all the complications will be out of phase and it will not be good for its long-term functioning,” says Simon Wolf. Simon Wolf represents the fifth generation of the family at the head of the companyīut what exactly is the purpose of a watch winder? The device serves as a kind of “sports coach” for the watch, to keep it in shape when its owner isn’t wearing it. We combine the work of leather with the mastery of electronics.” “It is a matter of assembling hundreds of components to produce a product that is both beautiful and effective. “Producing a watch winder is more complicated than we usually think,” says Simon Wolf, showing us around the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles, which also serves as a logistics and after-sales centre for North America. It’s a practical choice, given that it’s half way between the assembly lines in China and the heart of luxury watchmaking in Switzerland. The current heir, Simon Wolf, has decided to settle on the other side of the Atlantic, in California. Watch cases and watch winders are the speciality of the Wolf company, run by the British family of the same name for five generations. He workshops are well stocked with cardboard boxes, in this hangar in an industrial part of Los Angeles.
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