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Founded in
1858 and internationally renowned, particularly thanks to
the 1947 presentation of the world's first mechanical alarm
wristwatch, the famous Cricket, the company is once again
producing Vulcain alarm wristwatches. The company presented
its new collections, all equipped with the Cricket movement
that made a major contribution to establishing the company's
international reputation. The Cricket watch was also nicknamed
"The Presidents' Watch", since Eisenhower, Nixon
and Johnson were all loyal customers and eminent ambassadors
for the Cricket. This model, which has made its mark on
watchmaking history, owes its name to its distinctive sound
resembling the strident cry of the chirpy insect. Bernard
R. Fleury and Alain Claude, respectively President and CEO
and Technical Director of the new entity have launched the
production of 5,000 Vulcain watches this year and plan to
increase production progressively to reach 10,000 a year
in the medium term. The United States, Japan, Hong Kong,
Singapore, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Switzerland
are the first markets targeted by the new management team.
The company has chosen not to exhibit at the spring trade
fairs this year, preferring to focus its efforts on product
developments and host its clients at the company head office
in Le Locle.
1947 will remain a significant milestone in watchmaking
history. 55 years ago, the first genuinely functional mechanical
alarm wristwatch was presented by Vulcain. For the very
first time, watchmakers and scientists had succeeded in
achieving what many researchers had attempted before them:
a mechanical alarm wristwatch powerful enough to actually
wake up its owner.
For Vulcain,
a company founded in 1858, the year 1947 was to mark the
start of a new era. As soon the first alarm wristwatch models
were presented, the whole world appeared to be clamouring
for what would become "The Presidents' Watch".
More than 50 years later, the watch Manufacture intends
to rebuild on the foundations of this exceptional legacy
to write a major new chapter in the history of the Vulcain
brand.
It is in Le
Locle, strategically located in the Neuchatel Jura region
with its deep historical watchmaking roots that the company
has decided to establish itself in order to revive the Vulcain
brand and relaunch production of the Cricket movements in
their original functions.
The new Vulcain
philosophy is not to move mountains, nor to cultivate unbridled
ambitions for the company. On the contrary, since the brand
has not been particularly active during the past decade,
it must first be revived before relaunching. It is through
a policy based on a long-term vision that the new firm intends
to regain a niche position in the watchmaking world of tomorrow.
The new company
- In September 2001, Production & Marketing Horloger
SA (PMH SA), based in Le Locle, acquired the Vulcain and
Cricket brands as well as exclusive operating rights and
production tools to the famous Cricket mechanical alarm
movement.
President and
CEO Bernard R. Fleury and Technical Director Alain Claude
are the two main figures at the head of PMH SA. In light
of the fine quality of the product and the exceptional horological
heritage it represents, both men wished to revive the Cricket
calibre and to give the Vulcain brand a new lease on life.
PMH SA was set up on the basis of this determination.
Despite the
brand's rich past, the new company does not intend to implement
a backward-looking policy, either in marketing or sales
terms. Bernard R. Fleury and Alain Claude are not devoting
their energies to replicating what was done fifty years
ago. Quite clearly, it is on the strength of the mechanical
alarm calibre that the new company must be built, but they
intend to use it as a springboard towards new horizons.
Nonetheless, the rebirth announced in the spring of 2002
naturally needed to clearly express the strong ties between
the brand's heyday in the past century and the new entity.
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