Watch companies and watch retailers are not just focusing on selling more and more watches, but are also trying to make the world a better place.
As the Only Watch Auction comes around again this month, I am reminded of one of the greatest things about the watch industry: watch companies are very often in the position to help others and do good work.
Just about every watch company has some charitable program, some more than others, but the bottom line is that, in general, watch companies go out of their way to give back.
The Only Watch Auction held in Monaco this month (September) is the rarest of the rare, with 2013 marking the fifth incarnation of this spectacular charity event for which watch companies make unique pieces and ALL the proceeds go to the Monegasque Association against Muscular Dystrophy, specifically for research.
In 2011, the event raised about 4,400,000 Euros.
A Patek Philippe in the auction this year, a split-seconds chronograph and perpetual calendar in titanium (ref. 5004T, the only one of its kind to be made in titanium), is projected to go very high, and that’s just one lot out of 33!
Bravo to all the companies who support the efforts of Only Watch, and bravo to all the collectors who bid and buy the watches.
Some other companies who work with charities include:
• Rolex – Awards for Enterprise, Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, Young Laureates Programme
• Blancpain and the National Geographic Society
• Louis Moinet and The Dan Marino Foundation
• Omega and the GoodPlanet Foundation as well as the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital
• IWC – Adventure Ecology, the "Plastiki" Expedition, the Charles Darwin Foundation, the Laureus Foundation, the Cousteau Society and more
• Perrelet: Peace & Sport
• Hublot and Children’s charities (in association with Usain Bolt, Dwyane Wade, Maradona)
• Porsche Design: Chromosome 18 Registry and Research Society
• Ralph Lauren: The Pink Pony Fund
• Raymond Weil and Chef Thierry Marx
• Blacksand and International Foundation for Parapalegic Research
• Cartier and Fondation Theodora, Love charity bracelet
• Cuervo y Sobrinos and Lágrimas y Favores
Jewelers for Children (watch and jewelry retailers),
• Audemars Piguet and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Audemars Piguet Foundation, the LeBron James Family Foundation, the Clinton Foundation
• Bovet: Artists for Peace and Justice charity gala
• Longines and the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy
• Richard Mille and Jackie Chan’s Dragon’s Heart Foundation
And many more...
Add to this all the charitable things watch retailers are involved in on a local level, and the amount of giving back is really and truly remarkable.
Watch companies and watch retailers are not just focusing on selling more and more watches, but are also trying to make the world a better place.
And they make me proud to be part of the watch industry.
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