Aikon #tide: Maurice Lacroix Rides the Rising Tide of Environmentalism

While the Aikon’s target clientele is in the 25-40 age bracket, the Aikon #tide is aiming to attract an audience of 16 to 25-year-olds with a environmental focus and a radical rethink

“We’re not into greenwashing. The Aikon #tide represents a fundamentally new approach – a mature, transparent, well-thought-out. We’re not going to change the world, but we’re going to do what we can.” Thiébaut Bentz clearly means every word. At Maurice Lacroix, they’ve understood that if they’re going to appeal to a younger, more environmentally aware clientele, they need to drop the overused superlatives and concentrate on honesty, realistic commitments and verifiable data.

The younger 16 to 25 age group has so far eluded Maurice Lacroix’s reach. The Aikon #tide is made specifically for them. With a starting price of CHF 690, it marks a new entry level for the brand. A model with jewelled indexes is available for CHF 850. Both versions have a quartz movement and are water resistant to 100m. But this young audience won’t (only) be buying the product: they’ll be buying the global action that underpins it.

Aikon #tide: Maurice Lacroix Rides the Rising Tide of Environmentalism

A seasoned supplier

Tide isn’t new to the market, to recycling plastic bottles, or to watchmaking. Tide has already partnered with a number of big-name watch brands, supplying them with straps. But Maurice Lacroix is taking the partnership further than merely straps or dials made from recycled PET bottles.

The bezel, case, caseback, crown, strap fastenings and buckle of this new model are made from a composite material based on PET combined with glass fibre, resulting in a material that is twice as hard and five times stronger than PET plastic itself. This innovation has enabled Maurice Lacroix to extend the warranty of the Aikon #tide to five years.

But, all technical specifications aside, it’s important to be able to relate the product to what it represents. The composite used is equivalent to 17 recycled bottles. That’s a concrete, tangible data point. Obviously, that includes not just the watch but also the container it comes in: a mug, which can be kept and reused.

Aikon #tide: Maurice Lacroix Rides the Rising Tide of Environmentalism

A global initiative

In addition to these 17 bottles from which the watch and its case are made, Maurice Lacroix is committed to recovering 10 million PET bottles currently polluting the oceans. The system for incentivising collection is as old as the hills. Any sailor who recovers PET bottles from the sea can hand them in and be rewarded with cold, hard cash. It’s a simple scheme, but an effective one. It will be accompanied by other initiatives: the purchase of a long-tail boat and other essential equipment, warehouses to store the bottles and educational programmes.

An ambitious launch

The campaign to launch the 10 Aikon #tide models will be commensurate with the scope of the programme. Maurice Lacroix will launch in the United States, supervise bottle collection in Thailand, and recruit new influencers for the Aikon #tide to take part in digital campaigns (TikTok) and also, most importantly, a television campaign, the company’s first for a very long time.

Aikon #tide: Maurice Lacroix Rides the Rising Tide of Environmentalism

Next steps

In the short term, Maurice Lacroix’s distribution network has assured delivery of thousands of Aikon #tide watches, which will be visible in shop windows from today. But the watch brand wants to explore different outlets, branching out from traditional watchmaking channels into other locations such as sneaker stores, for instance. Online purchasing is also possible from the brand’s own website.

In the medium term, Maurice Lacroix also plans to bring out a #tide composite bracelet. Development is currently under way, and the design should be finalised by the second half of 2022. The Aikon #tide will be ready, since each watch comes factory fitted with an interchangeable strap system.

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Stéphane Waser