CHINESE SKELETON COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET

In May of 1998 we had our first ORBITA trade show in Basel, Switzerland. We rented a tiny stand at BASEL 98, the Swiss Watch Industry’s premier annual event. In order to demonstrate how our winders worked, I planned to use several automatic watches, with transparent backs to show the oscillating movement of the rotor. However, buying expensive crystal back watches and keeping them safe at a trade show was out of the question. On a hunch, I called ETA, the Swiss movement manufacturer, and explained my dilemma. Nice folks, they gifted me with 50 automatic movements that would suit my purpose wonderfully. So, with the movements in hand, I purchased 50 cheap quartz watches, threw away the quartz movements and, in their place, glued in the ETA automatic movements, installing them backwards so they would show the rotor movement in front. Not an elegant solution, but it sure did the trick for BASEL 98.

Later that year my wife and I took a few weeks off for a vacation to the Orient. One day I found myself in Beijing, staying at a beautiful five star hotel which had a watch shop that carried fine Swiss Automatics. When I chatted with the shop owner about watches, I learned that there was a small mainland Chinese producer of fine automatic watches who had produced them for the Chinese domestic market during the many years that the reclusive Chinese government forbade imports. It took some doing, but eventually I was able to track down the company and guess what… they also produced an affordable skeleton watch. Jeweled movement, hand engraved frame and rotor, crystal back and extremely attractive. Admittedly, not the stature of Brequet or Chronoswiss or Patek-Phillipe but not their price either. So I bought a few to use for our next trade show.

At BASEL 99, we had a much bigger stand and introduced our new QUATTRO four-watch winder and our new leather covered VARESE series for 2, 3 or 4 watches. To demonstrate these new winders, I used the Chinese skeleton watches… but with some apprehension. Would the many fine international watch retailers we hoped to attract be put off by our use of Chinese automatics at the show? I didn’t have to worry – many of them noted the watches: admired the quality, asked about prices and even offered to buy them, stating that many of their watch customers with a collection of fine automatics might enjoy having such an attractive, inexpensive and unusual skeleton watch to add to their collection. Clearly, this might be something to consider in my future marketing plans.

Well, that didn’t take long. Returning home, I called a number of customers to determine their interest. When I described the watch, everybody I spoke to wanted one and a few even ordered one, sight unseen. So much for a marketing survey. I was convinced. That’s how come I have decided to market the “Chinese Skeleton”. Of course, we are not in the business of selling watches and don’t plan to be major watch dealers in the future. Instead, I plan to give them away this year as a gift to any retail customer who purchases a multihead ORBITA watchwinder. In fact, we will be stocking and giving away two versions; a stainless steel version with black leather strap or 24K gold vermeil version with brown leather strap.

I’m sure that many automatic watch collectors will enjoy owning this fascinating skeleton automatic from China. If they decide to keep the origin a secret from their admiring friends, that’s OK with me. In or out of the closet, these are wonderful examples of the watchmaker’s art… and they also keep good time.

ORBITA Skeleton Watch Specifications:

· 20 Jewel Movement

· 21,600 Beats per Hour

· Crystal Front and Back

· Laser Engraved Frame Plate and Rotor

· 40 Hour Autonomy

· Bearing Supported Rotor

· Stainless Steel Case

· One-year Guarantee