by Kyle Stults on July 07, 2009
A Crisis for the Manufacture of the Crisis Tourbillon?
After an initial report by French watch industry report Business Montres, Perpetuelle.com has confirmed the departure of Managing Director Yvan Arpa (pictured below) from Swiss watch brand Romain Jerome. Reasons and circumstances surrounding the relatively short lived tenure of the brand’s leader are yet unknown. Romain Jerome’s last reported financial condition was robust, but I do wonder how much of its last reported CHF 50 million order backlog from Baselworld 2008 is still on the table and whether a sharp decline in global economy may be in play here. However such speculation is unverifiable, at least for the moment as I am told by a Romain Jerome representative that the company will issue more formal statement, presumably in the very near future.
Founded in 2004, Mr. Arpa arrived at the young brand in 2006 and quite literally led it to new heights (and depths) with the creation of the now famous “DNA of Legends” watches which utlized rare materials such as rusted steel from the Titanic and dust from the surface of the moon.
Romain Jerome Managing Director Yvan Arpa
The brand created a great following and the love and hate of many a watch collector with its bold and unconventional watch designs, including even a “watch” that does not tell time. Under Arpa, the company pushed the envelope in every way – even going so far as to issue a special watch earlier this year in a sort of open defiance of the global economic recession. The “Crisis Tourbillon” (show below) boldy declared “ma petite enterprise ne connait la crise” (my small enterprise knows not of a crisis) and boasted of the brands robust sales and profitability.
Has pride cometh before the fall for Yvan Arpa, or is the reason for his departure more benign? Stay tuned.
Romain Jerome’s Crisis Tourbillon – Offered at CHF 198,000 
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