Wyler Vetta, the prestigious watchmaking company. is entering a new important phase with the sea playing a starring role. (Here all our posts about Wyler Vetta)
Wyler Vetta enters a new phase
The indication of things to come might well have been when the Wyler Vetta launched a watch called the Aquarama in 1932. Thirty years later that same name would make history when a certain boat, built by the Riva yard, quickly became an undisputed style iconic in the nautical world. A coincidence? Perhaps. But the eponymous watch designed by Wyler Vetta also hailed a massive technical leap forward on its launch because it had the first monobloc case. Something that had never been seen before. But that was far from Wyler Vetta’s only innovation.
Looking back at the brand’s journey through the decades and the watch industry, other high points quickly jump out. Now that journey has entered a whole new phase in which the sea will play its part as Wyler Vetta CEO Marcello Binda explained during the interview he gave recently to Sea Time.
2021 marked the 125th anniversary of your founder Paul Wyler’s birth and also the decision to make Wyler Vetta an independent brand. How did you come to that decision?
It was a result of our wish and need to bring a really great project to the market, bursting with new technical and aesthetic content, in as linear a way as possible – well removed from the kind of group logics that wouldn’t have us allowed us to be as agile as we are today.
What were the main milestones on Wyler Vetta’s journey through the watch industry?
Wyler Vetta has always been a leading-edge brand and has developed technical solutions that have made watches more useable in everyday life such as sport since its foundation. And we are still working on aviation and space-related projects to this day. By the beginning of next year, the collections we are currently testing on airplane pilots will be ready. We will fly into space and launch watches on the market that will be instruments genuinely designed for flight-related activities
Has the sea played a role for Wyler Vetta in the past and what role does it play now?
It has played a very important role in our history: for instance, in the United States, Wyler Vetta supplied maritime organisations for quite some time. In Italy, we launched the Aquarama in the 1970s plus another titanium collection in the 80s with strong links to that very subject.
Generally speaking, our creations have always been water-resistant. The sea has always been a source of inspiration – including for the Jumbostar, our top of the range collection, which was designed for the sea and now includes the new Jumbostar Diver 660, the first dive watch in a collection launched with the chronograph model in 1968.
What are your development strategies and how important is it to be able to count on someone like Fulvio Locci in that regard?
The decision to join Wyler Vetta on this new adventure was agreed between us. Fulvio and I brought significant experience to the project that meant we were able to very clearly define our field of action and our goals.
Having two of us was and is essential for something like this that demands constant comparison on so many different fronts: selecting distributors, customer relations to name but a few. And the project embraces a very rigorous style with huge focus on quality, both very typical haute gamme characteristics, even though we are the entry-level for that particular segment.
