iW: Please describe the path that led you to your current position.
Roland Enderli: Following my studies in economics, I worked in the jewelry business for a couple of years and then joined Zenith in Switzerland in 2008. I was in charge of numerous European markets and was also involved in the development of our business in India, South Korea and Australia before I moved to the United States in 2011. I enjoy the challenge in this market that is filled with plenty of potential and opportunities. To work for such an authentic brand with an incredibly rich history is a real pleasure.
If your brand did not exist, which watch would you wear?

It depends on the occasion but in general I prefer classy, elegant timepieces. I particularly like watches from brands such as A. Lange & Söhne, Breguet and F.P. Journe.

Who do you consider to be the greatest watchmaker of all time?
Historically, numerous ingenious watchmakers have achieved true horological breakthroughs, such as Christiaan Huygens, John Harrison, Abraham-Louis Breguet. To date, I don’t think there is one single best watchmaker, but I especially admire Giulio Papi, who I had the pleasure to get to know during a watchmaking education that I received in Le Locle.

What are the challenges facing the watch industry?
The reduced supply of movements by ETA certainly poses a big challenge for many brands that used to focus their own resources on marketing rather than on an industrial basis and vertical integration. Moreover, the scarcity of talented and experienced watchmakers makes it difficult to meet the demand and ensure future growth. I also believe that after-sales services will face new challenges due to the significantly increased number of watches sold during the last decade.

Who is the most influential person in the watch industry?
Nick Hayek.

Stay tuned for the second part of Enderli’s interview…

Watchmaker Franck Muller last night kicked off a two-week U.S. tour at Tourneau in New York City where the co-founder of the watch company that bears his name spoke to collectors, members of the press and other friends amid showcases well stocked with more than 200 Franck Muller watches.

“I haven’t been to the United States on a tour like this in six years, “ Muller said. “I look forward to meeting everyone here during my visit. I have to see how people live, how they move, their ambience. This helps my creativity and gives me lots of inspiration and recharges my battery too.”

Muller will visit jewelry and watch stores from Florida to California (see schedule below), speaking with current and future Franck Muller watch owners.

He adds that he is proud of how his designs have influenced the Swiss watch industry over the past two decades, especially regarding design creativity, color—and case size.

“Watches weren’t very big before we started, and we made big watches but also we made watches in many dial colors, with every complication,” he tells International Watch.

“We were the first company to do every watch in every color of gold and any color of dial and in any size. With just this we offered thousands of possibilities for men and for women. Not less for woman. We offered choices.”

Franck Muller famously continues to offer its wide-ranging selections in a multitude of colors, dial shapes and case sizes, but also adds specialized complications like extra-large tourbillons, ultra-fast tourbillons and of course its patented Crazy Hours models that place hours markers in unexpected locations on the dial while still keeping perfect time.

Muller adds that he makes watches first for his own satisfaction, and then hopes others enjoy his often-unorthodox designs.

“I enjoy it. I know that everyone is unique and each of us must find the watch suited to our personality. I’ll meet 1,000 people with a Franck Muller on, and I never meet two with the same watch.”

During the two-week tour Muller’s watches will be featured in some of the best watch retailers in the country in the following locations:
-New York, NY at Tourneau Madison Avenue
-Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at Levinson Jewelers
-Atlanta, Georgia, at Neiman Marcus
- Los Angeles, California at Hing Wa Lee
-San Francisco, California at Neiman Marcus
-La Jolla, California at Westime La Jolla
-Newport Beach, California at Neiman Marcus
-Hollywood California at Westime Sunset Boulevard.

Contact each store for exact dates and times.

As Official Watch and Timekeeper of the Kentucky Derby and Entitlement Partner of Longines Kentucky Oaks, Longines—and its watches and luxury-branded clocks—enjoyed high visibility at this year’s Kentucky Derby, held Saturday, May 4, as well as other Derby-related events. These events included the Taste of Derby, the Longines Kentucky Oaks Fashion Contest, the Kentucky Derby red carpet and the Winner’s Circle Party. Longines also sponsored the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile during the afternoon of the Derby.

Longines has also been named as the Official Timekeeper and the watch of the Preakness Stakes, as well as the title partner in the Longines Dixie Stakes and the presenting partner of the International Pavilion held this weekend. The partnership begins with this year’s Preakness, which has played host to 11 Triple Crown winners and other Hall of Fame horses. Longines watches and clocks will have high visibility at the event, as do the hats. It’s all about timekeeping—and, of course, the hats.

-Kate Lawler, iW Web Editor

* Full interactive features on various formats available here.

1. Bulgari Serpenti
A contemporary interpretation of one of the brand’s most iconic series, this jewelry timepiece features a case in pink gold set with brilliant-cut diamonds.The dial is black sapphire crystal with brilliant-cut diamond indexes and is powered by a quartz B031 Bulgari customized movement with five jewels. The bracelet is two-twirl black enamel on pink polished gold set with more brilliant-cut diamonds.

2. De Bethune Dream Watch DW13
This intergalactic-looking piece features a platinum, 42.9mm case with matching platinum lugs. The in-house calibre DB2016 mechanical hand-wound movement powers functions including hours, minutes, spherical moon-phase indication, power reserve indicator and custom used rating. The dial is steel with a mirror-polished finish and silver-tined minute and hour rings. Flame-blued steel hands at sic o’clock highlight the moon-phase function in palladium. Adding contrast and finishing the timepiece, mirror-polished steel hands with flame-blued interiors.

3. Franck Muller Crazy Hours 8880 CH NR
With a reading of its own (see interactive feature above), this piece features a FM 2800 HF automatic movement powering a winding shaft with two positions. The case, 26.6 by 5.20mm, is forged in white gold with a black PVD treatment. The dial is sun-stamped and lacquered black with filigree and luminous Arabic numerals.

4.  HYT H2
After its success with the H1, HYT unveiled the H2. Still utilizing both mechanics and liquid, the H2 was built through a partnership with Audemars Piguet Renaud et Papi (APRP). The latest installment features the display in a V shape and incorporates the same fluid mechanics. As the hours pass, the liquid advances. This display is achieved through bellows driven by pistons which push and reduce the florescent liquid throughout the day.

5. Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso et le Dark Knight
Celebrating the release of last summer’s finale of the Batman Series, Dark Knight Rises, Jaeger-LeCoultre created a limited edition in the popular Reverso collection. The special edition Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Tribute to 1931 timepiece is stainless steel with an engraved and lacquered Batman emblem. A hand-wound Jaeger-LeCoultre 822 movement powers the timepiece with functions including hours and minutes. Finishing the piece, an appropriately-chosen black alligator strap.

6. Louis Moinet Jules Verne Instrument III
Inspired by Captain Nemo from Jules Verne’s 1869 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Louis Moinet imagined what the courageous captain would need on his voyages aboard the Nautilus submarine. A monopuher chronograph, the timepiece features a start-stop-resent function indicator, function indicator inspired by the Chadburn telegraph transmitter, central 60-second chronograph seconds, 30-minute chronograph counter, central hours and minute, small seconds and a date window.

7. Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece Seconde Mysterieuse
This model is powered by a new Maurice Lacroix Manufacture movement, the ML215 caliber. It features a linear way of reading seconds with a hand alternating from horizontal and vertical in 15-second cycles. The hand turns on its axis, giving the illusion of levitation. Additionally the fuel features off-centered hours and minutes in white lacquer and black print execution with rhodium-plated Arabic numerals. The model is limited to 125 pieces in each version.

8. MB&F JWLRYMACHINE
The perfect companion for a semester at Hogwarts, this piece is a collaboration between MB&F’s mechanics and the Boucheron jewelry house’s flare for haute-joaillerie. The model incorporates the Horological Machine No. 3 (HM3) and white gold with amethyst, diamonds and blue and violet sapphires. The feathered breast of the owl is sculpted and engraved from a single block of amethyst and, combined with the swings of the solid-gold battle-axe- shaped rotor, gives the illusion of a beating heart in the owl.

9. Romain Jerome DeLorean DNA
Channel your inner Marty McFly and jump back (and forth) in time with Doc Brown in this timepiece. Inspired by the iconic DeLorean, the automobile responsible for time travel in the successful Back to the Future franchise, this model utilizes not the Flux-Capacitor, but the comparable RJ001-CH movement. Its functions include central hours and minutes, small seconds and chronograph functionality with a 30-minute counter, 12-hour counter and central seconds. The steel case is 46mm in diameter and features a DeLorean-DNA engraving on the caseback.

10. Ulysse Nardin “The Night’s Watch”
Ideal for Sunday evenings at 9pm / 8pm central when Game of Thrones is on television, this model won’t leave you wondering where your dragons are. It is the collaboration between Ulysse Nardin and HBO, purveyor of the popular series. “The Night’s Watch” marine diver pairs sport and style in a monogrammatic motif. The 45.8mm case is forged from stainless steel and coated with matte black rubber. The case is finished with an exposed sapphire glass case back with the Game of Thrones logo. Finishing the timepiece an engraved strap with “The Night’s Watch” and “I am the Sword in the Darkness.”

Harry Winston unveils unique feather dials at BaselWorld 2013

One of the latest innovations to come from the Harry Winston Manufacture introduced at BaselWorld 2013 is the Premier Feather collection, a series of watches with dials harnessing the age-old art of feather marquetry. Tasked with tailoring and assembling the feathers artistically on each dial is artisan Nelly Saunier, who spends roughly seven meticulous hours on each unique composition. Sixteenth-century European feather mosaics inspired the expansion of the Premier collection, borrowing design elements from the arches of the prominent façade of the Harry Winston salon in New York.

The feathers are carefully selected from a species of peacocks and guinea fowl, raised specifically as a source for feathers out of respect for the environment.

Each of the timepieces are set with the three-dimensional diamond setting invented by Winston known as the Cluster, in which pear and marquis-cut diamond stones are grouped together.  67 diamonds in total decorate the watch.  Materials for the 36mm cases in this collection are white and rose gold, and are affixed to a satin strap fastened with a homologous gold ardillon buckle ornamented with 29 additional diamonds.

A fan and ambassadress of Baume & Mercier, actress Emmanuelle Chriqui has partnered with the brand in the design of specially made watch straps for the alluring Linea line (which is known for its easily interchangeable watch straps and versatility).  With delicate features, sultry eyes and an infectious smile, Chriqui has charmed many in her various roles, including starring in television shows “Entourage” and “The Mentalist,” and in the film “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.”

“I have gone in and out of the phase of wearing a watch every day.  I am very punctual and time is important to me. I find a watch to be very helpful from that perspective, and also from the fashion sense — to match my moods.”

Chriqui remembers getting her first watch ever from her father, whom she calls her hero. A culturally inspired Frenchman, her father had his own collection of watches, which intrigued Chriqui. Still her first watch request “was for a big clunky men’s

two time zone Guess watch, when I was fourteen.”

It was the start of her relationship with watches. The synergy between herself and Baume & Mercier has been ongoing since she visited Geneva at SIHH two years ago for the launch of the Seaside Living campaign and the new Hampton watch collection. “I was thrilled when they asked if I would like to collaborate on a piece. I visited the factory and spent several days with them talking about my design likes, and it seemed natural to create a new strap for the interchangeable Linea line. I said I thought it would be fun to incorporate texture into the look. Having a braided or woven strap is a nice combination of the different juxtapositions of hard and soft. It is cool and classic at the same time.”

In fact, the braiding of the Chriqui-designed strap lends depth and texture to the watch. The colors of the first collection of straps by Chriqui are white, neutral sand and orange. “White is an important staple for women, and taupe is so clean casual. I also wanted an electric blue, but that didn’t come. It’s okay, though, because the orange is bright and is the color of the chakra power center, so it is a good choice.”

Chriqui admits that time is a mystery for her. “On the one hand, as the seconds and minutes go by without us noticing, we wonder where did they go; on the other hand, sometimes we have the consciousness that time is slipping by so quickly. This resonates with me in the deepest sense. It is bittersweet.”

Chriqui likens that mystery of time to her recurring character in “The Mentalist,” who makes intermittent recurring appearances. “She comes in and out of the show; she runs away and we don’t know when we will see her again. It is a mystery. Sometimes mystery is good.”

Roberta Naas publishes www.atimelyperspective.com, where this interview first appeared.

The July issue is dedicated to Los Angeles’ premier watch boutiques, retailers, brand leaders and complete destination guides. Get an insider’s perspective with concierge profiles discussing the best LA has to offer including restaurants, shops, activities and nightlife. A highlight of On Location issues are the pull-out maps. The Los Angeles map geographically segments brand boutiques and retailers across the region as well as provides a collective index of each location’s address and telephone number. The map acts as the ultimate guide for watch enthusiasts traveling as well as residents looking to discover new brands and locations. Another special feature is the Red Carpet Guide, highlighting men’s timepieces ideal for public events.

iWMagazine.com will also feature Los Angeles-specific content. Many of the in-book features will be translated to the web, including the map which will become an interactive experience. Stay tuned for special interviews, updates and debuts and exclusive features on iWMagazine.com and be on the lookout for the Los Angeles On Location issue, hitting newsstands this July.

How to Enter:
-Like iW Magazine on Facebook
-Follow iW Magazine on Twitter (@iWMagazine)

-Like Reactor on Facebook
-Follow Reactor on Twitter (@Reactorwatches)

How to Win: A winner will be selected based on Twitter participation, thoughts and dialog as well as the contest pre-requisites of Liking both iW and Reactor on Facebook as well as Following iW (@iWMagazine) and Reactor (@Reactorwatches) on Twitter. When participating always use: #ReactoriW

*Note: Without using #ReactoriW in Twitter submissions, your participation will not be accounted for.

The giveaway will run from May 15 to June 15

Former Managing Editor Jonathan Bues took the model for a test drive, here were his thoughts:
Readers of International Watch are very familiar with the watch brand Reactor. We’ve profiled this extremely tough and rather affordable line of timepieces in these pages many times over the years, most often in the context of a military-themed article or in reference to their laudable durability.

Over a weekend in late August, I had the pleasure to test-drive the limited edition Reactor Poseidon (now that’s an apropos name!) in titanium.
I should start by admitting that while I wear a watch during just about every waking hour, it’s seldom something as oversized as this 48 mm Reactor. Wielding such a hulking case took a bit of getting used to for a guy who almost never wears a watch larger than 42 mm. The formidable case is obviously well made. It’s deceptively light for its size, owing to the fact that it’s crafted from titanium. It ships with both a titanium bracelet and a comfortable Reactor rubber strap with a large titanium buckle. Changing out the strap for the bracelet is a breeze with a small hex wrench. The strap benefits from a very nice detail that I’ve never seen before. On the end of the strap there is a large metal piece in the shape of the Reactor propeller. It holds the end of the strap in place.

A true diver’s piece, this variant of the popular Poseidon watch has two rotating bezels—an inner bezel that turns in either direction when unscrewed and pulled out, and an outer bezel that turns unidirectionally, as is required by all dive pieces. With 1,000 meters of water resistance, there isn’t a diver alive who could go deep enough to cause this watch to leak.

Divers sometimes bemoan the lack of legibility in watches purportedly made for the depths of the sea, and Reactor has heard them, one can only assume. Printed on this watch’s dial are the letters ND—for Never Dark. This means that Reactor has given the watch two independent levels of luminescence in a patented process.

This dive watch, like many modern watches, has SuperLuminova markers on its dial to aid in nighttime legibility. While very functional, SuperLuminova is often criticized for offering good lume at first with rapidly diminishing returns once removed from a light source. Like other watches, the Poseidon also has self- illuminating tritium tubes. The tubes require no external light, but are often not bright enough for someone to read after rapidly transitioning from light to dark. (They’re much more visible to someone whose eyes have had a chance to adjust to the dark.) By employing both technologies at once, Reactor has created a watch that is bright enough to be read while one’s eyes transition to darkness and that remains legible well into extended periods of darkness.

Powering the watch is an automatic, Japanese-made Miyota movement, visible through a small aperture on the caseback. Though this is a very basic automatic movement with date, a few nice touches can be seen in its finishing, notably the signed Reactor rotor and a nice Geneva waves motif along the bridges.

Price: $1,500

-Team iW wishes you good luck!

Located in Greenwhich, Ct., Manfredi Jewels is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary. To honor their achievement in 25 years of fine timepieces and jewelry as well as 25 years in philanthropic involvement, the establishment donated 100 tickets to the game where 18,000 rings were given to devoted Yankees fans 14 years or younger. In addition, Manfredi Jewels will donate 100 percent of the funds raised on for its anniversary celebration June 7 at the Greenwich location.

Aiming to honor and empower wounded warriors, the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) raises awareness and enlists the public’s aid for the needs of injured servicemen and women. Additionally, the program provides unique and direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Fl. For more information, visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org

Find out more about Manfredi Jewels in iW’s Leading Watch Retailer project, an annual publication both online and in print.

Earlier this week Raymond Weil sponsored actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s new play “A Family for All Occasions” at the he Bank Street Theater in New York.

Celebrating its partnership with the Labyrinth Theater Company, Raymond Weil also hosted an after party at the Mondrian Soho hotel. Some of the attendees included Philip Seymour Hoffman and the play’s leading characters, Jeffrey DeMunn, Charlie Saxton, Deirdre O’Connell and Justine Lupe as well as actor Yul Vazquez.

Labyrinth Theater Company is one of the nation’s leading ensemble theater companies driven by a diverse group of over 120 actors, directors, playwrights and designers from a wide array of cultural perspectives.

Raymond Weil continues its presence in the arts with Labyrinth Theater Company, the ensemble comprises over 120 actors, directors, playwrights and designers from a wide array of cultural perspectives. In addition to its partnership with the Labyrinth Theater Company, Raymond Weil has also sponsored the Brit Awards for the last five years and is also part of the VH1 Save the Music program as a sponsor.