Editorial Universal Genève: What We Wanted, What It Is, & What It Could Become

Even though my deepest desires were for the brand to jovially jest about their 1990s efforts while ignoring them completely and picking right up where they left off before selling out to Stellux, what stunned me the most was that I wasn’t surprised. That was surely always going to be the way, especially once Gallet was brought in as the more affordable foil. So, why am I still thinking about it, why was the response what it was, and how are we going to talk about Universal Genève in, say, five years' time?

While I won’t spend too much time talking about the brand’s history without having something novel to add, it’s worth talking about their golden years to understand the heights the new owners are to contend with. Their 1894 founding coincided with the peak of the Swiss établissage system, or the complete opposite of the integrated manufactures we speak so highly of today, and even this early on, their work with chronographs is what set them apart.

There were two distinct periods of Universal’s chronograph-making, the first lasting from 1932 to 1956, which saw the best of the partnership with Martel Watch Co. During this time, the company would adopt “Universal Genève” as its official name, and produce watches like the Compax and Compur, all powered by Martel movements.

In 1941, Universal funded a full renovation of the Martel building, while making sure their name was also proudly displayed on the facade. This investment bore fruit with the introduction of the first calendar chronograph pieces, the now-famed Tri-Compax launched in 1944. The partnership with Martel ended with the opening of Universal’s new Carouge factory in 1956, and the brand would begin to use Valjoux-based calibres for watches like the Nina Compax and Clapton Tri-Compax.

Apart from the chronograph, what we most often associate with Universal is the Polerouter and the micro-rotor (or Microtor™ in UG-speak). Though it began life featuring a bumper automatic in 1954, the Polerouter would become synonymous with the Universal-Buren calibre 215 that it would be updated with the following year. Over the following decade, Universal continued to refine it, launching the UG-66 in 1966 as the thinnest automatic calibre on the market.

Just thinking about all of those iconic pieces gets me all hot and bothered - and I know I’m not alone here. While I’m just as happy to collect the Altesse as I am a Tri-Compax, the Universal Genève that was had one clear throughline. It wasn’t affordable, necessarily - sure, it undercut other manufacturers on price with great products, but I’ve always thought of it as a thoroughly unpretentious brand. There was this air of honesty about their vintage pieces, and even as they garnered interest and badly refinished or downright fake examples started to become more common, the community around them was always as welcoming as they were incredibly resourceful. In some ways, buying a vintage Universal was your ticket to really becoming a watch aficionado that’s in the know, regardless of whether you spent $500 or $50,000.

So, I’d hazard a guess that the expecting WIS wanted more of the same. Universal was doing all the right things, too. They appointed a board of advisors made up of some of the most respected voices in the vintage UG space, interviewed passionate collectors who made up that aforementioned community, and their storytelling focused on deep-cut models. Though perhaps slightly toeing the line of pretentiousness with some of the launch events, don’t tell me you would not be up for a UG-themed flight over the North Pole. I needn't tell you the ferocity of my nodding had I had the opportunity.

The cherry on top was the two pre-launch releases, if I could call them that. First, a trio of unique Polerouters featuring restored micro-rotor movements to coincide with the anniversary of that polar flight, and then a special box set of Compax models once again powered by vintage calibres. Yes, all were very expensive, but it was clear that these were made for the die-hard fans, and in such limited numbers, why worry?

Well, with everything leading up to this point in mind, perhaps some folks should have been better at paying attention. Universal was telegraphing exactly what the revived brand was going to be, but putting a sort of nice bow on it and hoping you’ll understand. And truthfully? It was never going to be the utilitarian watch brand with undecorated movements that many of us fell in love with, and to be fair to the new management, they never pretended it was going to be that either.

If you’re still struggling to understand why, let me be crude - it’s about money. Partners Group had tasked Monsieur Kern with a difficult proposition. There’s the question of developing at least one new calibre from scratch, because a Polerouter isn’t a Polerouter without a micro-rotor. On top of the millions it would’ve cost to pay for movement development, there’s also the cost of production per movement, which Le Temps Manufacture quotes to be between CHF 2,000 and CHF 3,000.

Then there’s the question of form factor, because a wider audience just isn’t going to respond to a mid-30mm dress watch. You also have to consider how to justify this inevitable elevation in positioning, hence the "couturier de la montre" angle. Why? Because you don’t spend $70 million on a passion project.

Being the dormant brand with the most street cred, it was only a matter of time before someone snapped Universal up. I do say probably for good reason - outside of the initial loss term that Partners Group is planning, questions have already been raised about the brand’s future prospects. The initial excitement about the brand’s return will eventually go from headlines to a part of the news cycle, and with the launch itself somewhat dampened with a negative response sizeable enough that it can’t be ignored, some wonder whether it’ll all just be too much.

I doubt we’ve seen enough to really be able to call it yet, and I’m sure that the brand’s management is capable enough to have anticipated the pricing uproar, but that still doesn’t mean they played it perfectly. Would I love a new 35mm, micro-rotor-equipped Polerouter that undercuts, say, a Rolex OP in price? Absolutely, but in lieu of that happening, there are a few things that I believe the brand could do to further elevate its standing and hopefully make for a more stable future.

The most egregious lapse in communication was around the origin of the brand’s movements. There’s very little time spent talking about the process in the brand’s literature, with my most hated watchmaking term also overused: “Manufacture” Calibre UG-110 - eugh. If you had the chance to watch Hodinkee US’ recent video where Messrs Clymer and Kern sit down to run through the collection, you would’ve heard a little more about UG’s work with Le Temps Manufacture, a respected procurer of horo-excellence for a number of brands under white-label agreements based in Val-de-Travers. Of the partnerships they’re able to disclose, you’ll find names like Cartier, Akhor, and Niton pop up, the latter being one of the most impressive new calibres built in recent memory.

Though things are a little less glamorous on the chronograph side (UG is using Breitling’s B01 as a base for the Compax here, which explains why a Polerouter is priced the same despite being less complicated), transparency goes a long way in the eyes of enthusiasts, and could also help justify the necessary positioning if the brand were to be revived properly.

Speaking of positioning, Universal’s target is attracting a customer base that’s perfectly split between women and men, which is another reason why there’s so much emphasis on the watch as a fashion accessory. But if you’re already doing so much legwork to revive the brand in a new light and appeal to a varied customer base, I wonder whether a less gendered approach would’ve worked better, and worry that there was a bit too much shrinking and pinking (and gem-setting) going on with some of the releases more obviously targeting women. Haute couture rejecting the gender binary is not news, so perhaps Universal Genève could follow suit, pun not intended.

With the entirety of Universal’s collection anchored around pieces from the brand’s past, I believe the true litmus test of the revival will be the introduction of an all-new model, but I have no doubt we’ll get a pretty good idea based on sales numbers before that happens in a few years’ time. In the meantime, there are some actual hidden gems for the fans (the Dioramic and Uni-Compax are pretty sweet), and all those vintage stunners that we fell in love with will only feel that much more special.