That is an version of the e-newsletter Field + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. Join right here.
The watch trade’s sleeping large is slowly stirring. As collectors have fallen arduous for classic timepieces over the previous few years, probably the most talked-about manufacturers wasn’t even producing watches anymore. Common Genève has all of the credentials for a watchmaker that needs to be a dominant participant in 2024: a horny lineage of chronographs, elegant and distinctively formed girls’ items, and a foundational mannequin designed by none aside from Gérald Genta. Manufacturers right now could be a runaway hit by checking simply one of these packing containers—UG ticks all three with a fats marker. Luckily, final December, Breitling introduced that it had acquired the beloved Common Genève model and deliberate to revive it to its former glory.
There’s nonetheless a protracted highway forward earlier than UG begins producing new watches, however the model took its first main steps in that path yesterday with the launch of its very first web site (welcome to the twenty first century!). Out-of-the-know collectors, you’re formally on the clock: that is your likelihood to get acquainted so you may say you knew UG earlier than it was cool—or cooler than it’s, anyway.
So, what’s a Common Genève?
Common Genève—also referred to as Common, UG, or U-Genny from the Block (kidding)—is a historic Swiss watchmaker that’s developed a cult following over the past decade and a half. The corporate was based in 1894 and gained a fame for its creative chronograph watches. To place UG’s significance into context, in 1935, the model moved its headquarters to Geneva’s Rue du Rhône the place it was located straight between Rolex and Patek Philippe. However in 1989, the model struggled mightily to navigate the Quartz Disaster and ultimately folded. Stelux Holdings then bought the UG title and unsuccessfully tried to reboot the model in 1994 and 2005. The model has basically remained dormant for greater than three a long time.
What makes Common so particular?
Common’s resume is stacked. Many collectors discover their solution to the model by way of a wholesome love for Patek Philippe, whose ref. 1518, a legendary (and legendarily costly) perpetual calendar, bears a detailed resemblance to UG’s Tri-Compax mannequin. That’s how super-UG collector @DandyWatchman first found Common. “You are by no means going to have the ability to have the 1518, however you actually love the look of it. So, how do I make that occur? And taking place the highway of the Nineteen Forties Tri-Compax was principally the way you made that occur,” he informed me over the telephone this week.
However as soon as collectors are hooked on UG, they rapidly be taught that the model is a lot greater than a poor man’s Patek. “One of many massive [appeals] is the variety of what they did,” Dandy mentioned. Certainly, in its heyday, Common made a look ahead to nearly each use case. Pilots, medical doctors, and even movie administrators had been all served by particular UG chronographs. One of many coolest (and hardest to seek out) UG examples is the Movie Compax, which has a scale that measures the quantity of movie tape is being utilized in toes per second. The esteemed seller Sacha Davidoff and Italian collector Mr. A as soon as researched the reference and located that solely seven recognized examples existed. UG’s historical past is full of pleasant little fashions like this.
