Watches reflect a new timing that is all Chinese

Above: Jaeger-LeCoultre's Reverso watch with a dragon pattern on its back. Left: Blancpain creates a wristwatch with a traditional Chinese calendar. Photos provided to China Daily

Top Swiss watchmaker Blancpain has created a wristwatch with a traditional Chinese calendar.

It is one of the first in the world. The watch's function includes keeping time in 120-minute intervals according to ancient Chinese time measurement (instead of 60-minute hours), indication of leap months, five basic elements, and tiangan dizhi (10 celestial stems and the 12 animals of the zodiac in the traditional Chinese culture).

Blancpain chose guyu, a solar term in the Chinese almanac which fell on April 20 this year, for its launch of this product.

Guyu literally means "rain of millet", which shows that Blancpain expects a big harvest in the Chinese market.

Watch fans and collectors wonder whether this product is designed for the Chinese consumers only, or for those around the world. Marc Junod, vice-president of sales of Blancpain, said during the past annual international trade exhibition for watches and jewelry in Basel, Switzerland, that many Western media and clients also showed great interest and curiosity toward this watch.

"The breakthrough of function, technology and creativity of the Chinese calendar is truly unprecedented. The Chinese calendar watch has great practical value," he says.

The Chinese lunar calendar influences not only the Chinese mainland, but also Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and most Asian countries, as the region is deeply influenced by Chinese culture.

Before Blancpain, many Swiss watchmakers created timepieces with special appeal to their Chinese consumers.

Reverso is a basic watch produced by Jaeger-LeCoultre, the luxury watch and clock manufacturer based in Le Sentier, Switzerland.

When the company was celebrating its 80th anniversary last year, it produced a Reverso watch with a Chinese dragon pattern on its back.

Thirteen of the 150,000-yuan ($23,550) pieces had been sold as of last month. Since making one piece of Reverso takes a long time, that's already a very impressive sales figure, according to Jerome Lambert, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Kang Weikai, a well-known watch collector and critic in China, says high-end Swiss watchmakers are using a lot of Chinese elements in their products, especially during the past seven years.

He has noticed pandas, dragons and Chinese architecture appearing in luxury watches from century-old labels, including Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.

But high-end jewelers have had an eye on China since 1850. Swiss watchmakers like Bovet and Vaucher would use a lot of Chinese patterns, and even carve Chinese characters on the movement of a pocket watch, which made those products popular in China at that time.

Lambert agrees, noting that Chinese people liked Jaeger-LeCoultre watches at the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

But wars interrupted that market potential.

After 1980, when Swiss watch companies came back to their markets in the Chinese mainland, they enjoyed a huge success.

Thanks to its fast-growing economy, China ranks No 1 in the world's high-end watch market, once again spurring top labels to launch products with Chinese elements.

"Chinese watch consumers really love those which fit their wrists, as they have smaller wrists then Westerners. At the same time, they are crazy about watches decorated with diamonds," Kang says. But these watch designs are also loved by Western consumers who are fascinated with Chinese culture, he observes.