replica audemars piguet, raymond weil and Zenith have joined forces with the music business to develop some memorable moments in time.
in nick hornby's love letter to music fandom, rob asks the question that doubtless hornby and a generation of pop nuts has wrestled with for years: "what came first in the first place, the music or the misery? did i listen to pop music because i was miserable? or was i miserable because i listened to pop music?" whatever, what is the relationship of the replica watches and music?
the same question minus the miserabilism could be asked of the watch industry's own fascination with music: has the recent focus on chiming complications (minute repeaters, up to and including fake audemars piguet's pitch perfect super sonnerie, pictured below, and a. lange & sohne's first of its kind Zeitwerk 'decimal minute repeater') focused its attention on the euterpean arts; or has music got under the skin of a new generation of industry leaders?
on this side of the atlantic, 2017 sees raymond weil celebrates a decade supporting the brits, for which it acts as replica official watch and timing sponsor. and in addition to develop special pieces for several brand ambassadors from the classical, jazz and pop fields (including violinist nicola benedetti, guitarist milos karadaglic and labrynth), recently stated an innovative business relationship with universal music home to sting, u2, sam smith and James bay amongst many others that permits its customers to access its artists via a bespoke digital music service made by the watchmaker.
however, replica audemars piguet's role in preserving 11,000 plus hours of archive footage from the montreux Jazz festival has been perhaps the most ambitious alliance. an inter disciplinary project involving the swiss manufacture, montreux sounds and the ecole polytechnique federeale de lausanne (epfl) that began in 2008, the aim is to restore, preserve and eventually make available via dedicated viewing booths 11,000 of high end video and nearly 6,000 hours of audio recordings assembled by the festival's founder, the late claude nobs.
a special distillation of a 'world art', painstakingly transcribed from various evolving technologies, today the montreux archive comprises an unmatched collection of performances, from ella fitzgerald to miles davis via led Zeppelin and muse, and represents the first audiovisual library to earn the accolade of unesco memory of the world. "he was a faithful and reliable friend," comments vice chairman of the board of replica audemars piguet directors, olivier audemars, of the festival's founder, "and we are proud to participate in the colossal technological efforts needed to transform this unique heritage into a first class digitised resource for future generations."
