“WE have a lot of Saudi consumers coming to Geneva, London, New York, and Dubai to buy Quinting watches. As a result, for now, we have one shop of Quinting here in Jeddah but, we are planning to expand more with Rubaiyat Jewelry and Watches to open another branch in Riyadh,” said Pascal Berclaz, an electronic engineer, economist, and the president of Quinting watches in a special interview with Saudi Gazette.
The Swiss watch brand ‘Quinting’ is the first and only watch that’s 100% transparent with a sapphire movement, counterbalancing forces, and truly showing the moon phases. Quinting constantly explores territories, which have always been considered by Haute Horology, unattainable. Combining the traditional Swiss know-how of watches with the expertise of cutting edge technology, Quinting Watch manufacture has succeeded in pulling itself up to the level of the greatest watch-making brands.
“To create an entirely transparent watch, an entirely mysterious watch, was a dream that the greatest brains of watch-making have tried to realize for a century. Many of them, including the most prestigious watch manufactures, have tried to give life to this project, but all attempts were in vain. The mystery of transparency stayed impenetrable and the watch-making world agreed to assert that the creation of a totally transparent movement would remain an unreachable dream, until the arrival of Quinting,” Berclaz added.
The history of Quinting goes back to five passionate engineers about horology. Three are watch makers, one automotive engineer, and the electromechanical research engineer Pascal Berclaz, current president of Quinting, who decided to pool their knowledge and expertise to attempt to achieve the impossible, which is to create a completely transparent chronograph with a sapphire movement, unique to the world. This feat was immediately awarded by the prestigious “Prix Officiel de la Revue des Montres.”
Berclaz said, “Seven years of research and development were necessary to take on the challenge. In 1999, the first prototype of a totally transparent chronograph with a sapphire movement, unique to the world was created. This is when the feat was immediately awarded by the prestigious ‘Prix Officiel de la Revue des Montres’. We try to produce something very beautiful like an artwork that attracts both females and males. Today, we sell almost 50% for males and 50% for females,” Berclaz said.
According to a Guardian’s article published on Jan. 26, luxury Swiss watches faced challenges and hard times due to drop in sales by 10%, Berclaz commented by saying “Firstly, Quinting is a family company and the vision we share is a long vision. In other words, we do not bother if, for example, in 5 years the economics are difficult. This is simply because we understand that Quinting watches are one of the most sophisticated and complex models in the market. Usually, people look for the value and the high quality of the product.
“Quinting is impossible to copy because we are until now the only one in the world able to have developed and patented a totally revolutionary movement made up of transparent sapphires. It takes a long time almost 8 years to copy and try to produce a 100% transparent watch such as Quinting. This is why no one ever has tried to copy our watches. Therefore, if the economics are bad we are not afraid of drop in sales because we know we are original and customers look for originality and quality.”
He said that Quinting watches bear no similarity to other watches and are worn by some of the most well-known personalities of the world like Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, Vladimir Putin, Sepp Blatter, Joseph Deiss, and the majority of the Swiss government.
Nowadays, many people replace their watches by simply having the clock on their smartphones. However, what is different about Quinting from the rest of the watches and attracts consumers the most is that the watches’ artistic designs. “I would say that yes, it is true. Many people have quit wearing watches because of the smartphones and the technology we live in today. However, Quinting does not sell watches, we sell artworks. This is what makes us unique. If you like transparency, beauty, art, and technology then you would totally choose Quinting no matter if you have a watch on your phone or not,” Berclaz added.
