Romain Jerome: the horological storyteller
Manuel Emch, CEO of the marque, talks to us on the side lines of the Dubai Watch Week. We bring you excerpts from our conversation
Can you tell us what is new in Romain Jerome?
There are lots of things that are new. We have moved to our new headquarters; it is the second-oldest building in Geneva. It has a “Game of Thrones” look. There is a lot of duality because we have our avant-garde workshops in a very historic building. We are planning to open a boutique there in January.
We launched the Pokemon, a limited edition of 20 pieces that was sold out within three hours.
Why did you create only 20 pieces and why only Pikachu?
When we signed the contract, Pokemon was an iconic figure but one that people weren’t talking about anymore. We had regional limitations – we could sell the watch only in Europe, Middle East and America. We did 20 pieces because it was the 20th anniversary and because we want it to be genuinely limited. I am interested in telling different stories; I like to move from one story to another – sometimes the stories are very young and avant-garde, while at other times they are very traditional, watchmaking-oriented stories.
What is the traditional story?
The traditional story is our new Moon Orbiter GMT – a limited edition of 25 watches – in a round-shaped case. The watch is a ‘day-and-night’ edition, with a second time zone, and a retrograde GMT indication. It covers almost every aspect of high-end watchmaking. The case has Apollo 11 steel in it, while the Moon Silver RJ, an alloy made of low oxidation silver and genuine moon dust, is in the oscillating weight. It is priced at CHF95,000.
