Even as the demand for luxury brands slumps in the United States and around the world as a result of the coronavirus, the Swiss watch industry has responded to the crisis in philanthropic ways big and small.
Certainly the luxury sector’s response to the pandemic “has become a social issue for customers and investors,” Erwan Rambourg, an analyst with HSBC, wrote in April on the bank’s global research website. And the watch sector is, proportionally, just a small part of the luxury universe.
But still it has, among other things, produced million-dollar donations, raised funds for vaccine research, provided masks to hospital workers and contributed to charities that feed the needy.
The large luxury groups have received headlines for their efforts.
Kering, which owns Ulysse Nardin and Girard-Perregaux, has made several gifts, including $1 million to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation. In addition to LVMH’s own multimillion-euro donations, its jewelry and watch house Bulgari helped buy research equipment for an Italian hospital and repurposed a fragrance factory to make sanitizing gel. And a $1.4 million donation to the Red Cross Society of China was just one of the donations by Richemont, owner of IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and other watch brands.
Rolex is among the larger brands that have made discreet donations. While it will not specify the amounts, recipients have included the Red Cross and the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund, and the City Harvest food program in New York City.
And some small and midsize brands have made significant efforts, especially considering the size of their businesses compared with their donations.
Fifty “local heroes,” selected from more than 1,000 nominations, have received Oris watches. “We were overwhelmed with the number of heartfelt nominations,” V.J. Geronimo, the Oris chief executive for North America, said by email.
People selected by the company were allowed to choose a watch from among 28 models, and have it engraved with “Local Hero 2020” and their name. “While the overall amounts may be relatively small in the grand scheme of things, it is the heightened awareness of these causes among our consumer base that makes the greatest difference,” Mr. Geronimo said.
Other brands turned to auctions, essentially letting the market decide the amount of their contributions.
Girard-Perregaux and the watch and jewelry retailer Wempe last week auctioned online a Girard-Perregaux Laureato watch, one of a limited edition of 20. The winning bid of $11,600 also will bring a lunch with the watchmaker’s chief executive, Patrick Pruniaux; a private tour of its factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland; and a stay in a luxury hotel. The auction benefited City Harvest.
A Girard-Perregaux Laureato.
The watch magazine Revolution and The Rake, its sibling publication on men’s style, are planning to auction several watches on Givergy.com during the week of June 15. Wei Koh, the magazines’ publisher, wrote on his website that he hoped to help countries that “did not have the same level of medical support and infrastructure that we have,” with proceeds going to the W.H.O.’s fund (although bidders can designate any other legitimate Covid-19 charity).
The watches — some donated by the magazines and some donated by the brands — include a George Bamford GMT with a pink and green bezel; a TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Blue Dreamer; a Sinn 155 Bundeswehr Dark Star; a factory prototype Hublot Aerofusion Chronograph Molon Labe in titanium and bronze; and a factory prototype of Panerai’s new Carbotech 44 blue index Luminor Marina PAM 1661.
Also, Georges Kern, Breitling’s chief executive, donated his own limited-edition Navitimer Pan Am on an Air Racer bracelet.
Some auctions went beyond watches and meals.
The British brand Bremont raised 4,000 pounds ($5,013) with its offer of a flight for four people in the “Bremont Bus,” a 1950s Broussard plane, and a tour of Bremont’s new headquarters — offered at a Bonhams auction in April in London to benefit the National Health Service Charities.
And Phillips Perpetual, the auction house’s private-sale boutique in London, worked with the men’s wear brand the Armoury on a limited edition of 25 wool City Hunter jackets, with about $325 of each $695 sale going to the W.H.O. fund.
On a larger scale, a limited-edition Porsche Design 911 Speedster Heritage Design Chronograph in titanium was the special accessory that accompanied a 911 Speedster auctioned by RM Sotheby’s, with Porsche matching the $500,000 winning bid in April to send more than $1 million to the United Way’s Covid-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund.
Artwork also has attracted auction bids, with a graphite pencil illustration of François-Paul Journe’s first wristwatch, drawn by the Canadian artist Julie Kraulis and signed by Mr. Journe, raised £20,500 in an online auction to benefit the Wellcome Trust’s Covid-Zero research initiative to develop a vaccine.
Does asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 happen?
So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare,” but she later walked back that statement.
How does blood type influence coronavirus?
A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.
How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?
The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.
Will protests set off a second viral wave of coronavirus?
Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.
How do we start exercising again without hurting ourselves after months of lockdown?
Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid,” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “When you haven’t been exercising, you lose muscle mass.” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.
My state is reopening. Is it safe to go out?
States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’t being told to stay at home, it’s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.
What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
How can I protect myself while flying?
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
How do I take my temperature?
Taking one’s temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as “normal” temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don’t have a thermometer (they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
Should I wear a mask?
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.
What should I do if I feel sick?
If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
A Collected Man, a specialist website for rare watches and other collectibles, organized the auction, and a month ago raised $37,000 for Wellcome with the sale of a limited-edition Urban Jürgensen watch.
“We had to do something,” Silas Walton, the platform’s founder, said in an email. “We’ve been fortunate as an online business, where others have suffered terrible disruption.”
Watch retail, he said, “is pretty disconnected from medical research, but I knew the Wellcome Trust was looking for donations,” and “it’s been fantastic to see the support of so many collectors for a good cause.”
The Belgian watchmaker Ressence and Sotheby’s also turned to art, asking competitors to design a version of the Ressence Type 1 Slim watch for an auction on July 11 in Hong Kong to benefit the Covid-19 research program at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
The design for a one-of-a-kind Ressence Type 1 Slim watch.
The winner of the “Time To Draw” competition was Raymond Ramsden, a 58-year-old interior design adviser from England’s West Yorkshire region, who outdid 465 others with what he called his “optimistic” and “very planetary” design.
However, he said, “I’m just a Regular Joe who gets up and goes to work to try to make a living and get on with my life.”
Mr. Ramsden’s design features colorful circles on a pastel blue background. The dark blue circle, he said, honors the National Health Service and other health care workers (including a tiny hand for, of course, hand washing); a yellow orb represents the sun that “keeps everything alive”; and a white dial is the moon “for the people who dream and aspire, people who make life interesting.”
The presence of red “represents the virus as a momentary marker,” he said. “I didn’t want to give it any prominence. It doesn’t deserve it.”
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