The Swiss Mean Business

When it comes to preventing counterfeits, it seems that the Swiss mean business. In particular, Vacheron Constantine's new watch called the Quai de l'Ile is meant to illustrate this. The Swiss watchmaker claims that is has created a watch that will be impossible to counterfeit. The company insists that by using technology such as invisible UV marking, laser perforations of certain of the watch's parts, and high security inks used in important goverment issued items such as passports and currency all make it highly unlikely that a counterfeit of the watch can be made.

Here are some interesting statistics about counterfeit luxury watches: "The Swiss Customs Service has estimated that as many as 40 million counterfeit watches are put into circulation each year. Switzerland last year exported only about 26 million watches, so there's a fairly reasonable chance that the expensive-looking watch on your neighbor's wrist could be a fake.
Watchmakers have long fought counterfeiters by adding special stickers and limiting supply through authorized dealers. Rolex -- probably the most faked watch of all time -- strictly controls the numbers of its watches that can be sold by a dealer and requires that all repairs be made with authorized parts. Rolex also puts a green hologram sticker on the back of its watches -- though counterfeiters forge that, too." (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122411896958338969.html?mod=article-outset-box)

Swiss legislation has gotten tougher. It requires that any counterfeit watch confiscated at its borders be destroyed.

The watch was a collaboration between the company's CEO and the Swiss Passport artist Mr. Roger Pfund. Such a collaboration allowed the company to have access to security inks that are used on currency and passports. This access was granted courtesy of Orell Füssli Security Printing, a Zurich firm that prints bank notes and Swiss passports.

It seems that all of these security measures are a kind of challenge to all counterfeiters out there to make a quality knockoff, but given that the company is planning to only sell 800 of these watches, any smart consumer can quickly figure out if what they are beholding is the real deal or a fake. The watch will sell between $29,000 to $60,000 and can be customized according to the consumer's preference. There can be up to 400 different varieties of the watch.

According to the company's CEO Juan-Carlos Torres, . "You have to secure a person's investment," he says. "It's our responsibility."

Given that there is a recession looming over our heads, is this a smart investment? I would say no. Why? Well paying that much for a Swiss watch just because it can't be counterfeited just seems plain silly. It also reeks of excess that is in poor taste at the moment. A company's responsibility is to provide a quality product that is protected by tougher legislation in the spirit of protecting the consumer. This just seems like a protection of snob appeal. I don't see any responsibility being shown by Vacheron with such a product launch.