Downturn

In the midst of this economic crisis, where sales are down almost everywhere in the commodity market, its interesting to see how the older companies keep them up. We all know what the deal is with Chrysler and Gottschalks etc. But lets take a look at a few of esteemed European timepiece makers and their responses, featured in Basel, Switzerlands annual watch fair, covered by Monocle magazine.

Francoise Bezzola, Director of Communications for TAG Heuer
"We don't think now is the time to be at a standstill. Being Innovative is the real answer to the crisis."

Stephen Urquhart, President, Omega
"It's more a confidence issue today. People want to be reassured. We haven't changed our strategy and we see customers willing to come and shop."

Marc Michel-Amadry, President, Ebel
"Today it's all about getting back to soberness, the pure and chic - the classics."

Three companies taking three different approaches. I guess we will see. Like I always say, good design will always be in demand, no matter what time it is. However, you will always appeal more to one type of customer more than another. That is another thing that won't change.
Well speaking of downturn, I found that the timing was right for a short visit to the south. The Sungod Festival is an annual attraction at the University of California in San Diego, offering entertainment and musical performances of various of genres. The headliner for this year?

I have to say, the most brutal contact sport in the world is a rock concert. It's hard enough trying to stand still during the music, but even harder when the whole crowd turns into a mosh pit. I must've left covered in sweat from over a hundred people and seven stds. Girls were being trampled on left and right and there wasn't anything I could do because I had a persons armpit in my face and another person's hair in my mouth. And if I remember correctly i got slapped by a few boobs too. This is perhaps also the only place where you will catch me doing remotely dirty dancing. I won't go into any further details with that. It's also one of few times when I'll yell "f*ck you" because Pharrell told me to. The first time I saw an N*E*R*D performance was during Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour last spring. It was a good show, but I honestly wasn't as impressed as I was this time around (despite the absence of Chad Hugo). This is new music. Perhaps being 5 feet away changes things. And not even they could ignore the economy, provoking a middle finger out of everybody for Bernie Madoff.

Besides that, it was nice seeing my boys in the sad excuse of a city in Irvine and waking them up at 5 in the AM. It felt like home.