The True Value Of Collaboration And The Watches That Got It Right
6 min read
The best place to start any topic on collaboration and co-branding is to honor the absolute apex of the concept. The alliance of Patek Philippe and Tiffany & Co. is a seminal union of two houses that are at the peak of their disciplines, their interests, and their collectability.
It is also probably the most long-lived collaboration in the watch world. Tiffany’s partnership with Patek Philippe began in 1851, when Antoine Norbert de Patek sought Charles Lewis Tiffany as a retailer.
Since then, the depth of the involvement has only grown to mutual favor.
Beyond the heritage legitimacy of this collab, its discreet characterization makes it a desirable aside against what’re usually all-out ocular assaults. With just a little bit of extra ink on the dial, it doesn’t broadcast itself across the room. It’s the power dynamic of the enterprises itself that gives it wider resonance.
The said collaboration is an entity of a real historical relationship, meaningful to both parties, and the result adds value for the end-user.
And, as we already know, sometimes that value goes a bit too overboard!
That’s the power of a collab.
There’s More To Collabs Than Just Loud Co-Branding
It’s usually celebrity/brand collabs with watches that people tend to have strong opinions about. And reasonably, owing to a strong marketing push, such yield is what actually forms the chief topic of the discourse. It generates ample buzz and creates, sort of, a colorful or quirky manifestation of a watchmaking product resulting from such alliances.
The Moonswatch is a prime example of the above.
Although largely defined by saturation of hype-quirks now, the practice of collaboration has always been, and still is, the actual foundation of the Swiss watchmaking tradition. Without collaboration, the establishment as well as sustenance of the industry is impossible to realize. Its widespread pivot towards outsourcing creative and technical expertise has been a dominant theme for its 20th century functioning. There has been a genuine willingness from even brands, now attributed as strictly “in-house,” to engage out-house expertise and avail the convenience of artisanal/technical loaning.
But today, popular collaborations are mostly hype-driven, despite the practice still being dominant in all stages of product development.
The rise of the microbrands and indies is one of the most collector-rewarding aspects emanating from the watch industry’s culture of collaboration. Without shared efforts in design and development, we would lack much of the prime desirable yield forming the segment. In fact, as a brand, MB&F is completely found on the concept of collaboration and that’s probably the better of its many attributes. It’s a brand that takes pride in and celebrates the practice of collaboration, or as Max terms it: “friendship,” and maintains it as the creative and philosophical pivot for its yield.
If I keep on reinforcing the foundational impact and the diversity of collaborations functional in the watchmaking industry, the Swiss in particular, it’s going to read like an exhaustive catalog of its innumerable outcomes. But, that’s not today’s prime agenda. While I’m excising the former, I however can’t prevent myself from crediting the monumental impact of Omega on NASA’s space missions via the latter’s outsourcing of the Speedmaster. While not a conventional collab, it turned out to be one in its many follow-up realizations.
Other partnerships of proximal impact have to be TAG Heuer’s role in timekeeping innovation for Formula 1 and again, Omega, for the Olympics. Credit must be delivered wherever it’s due.
All of this sets the crucial sentiment for the discourse that beyond just co-branding, celebrity affiliations, and brand tie-ins, there exist collaborations of a deeper meaningful impact.
Some Matches Are Made In Heaven
In the practice and willingness to outsource creative input, technical expertise, or novel strategies of product placement, the intersection of similar, and sometimes distant, entities realizes a product that becomes an overall better proposition on many merits.
Take Omega’s Seamaster Aqua Terra “Ultra Light” for an example.
At just 55 grams, and featuring a telescopic push-in crown, and Omega’s first-ever titanium movement, this synthesized from the brand’s collaboration with pro-golfer Rory McIlroy.
Creating an end-product that manages to balance the input and identities, is the true recipe for product success. Also crucial is the element of pioneering originality and genuine effort. It mustn’t be a lazy collab!
Sometimes the chief tactic of the collaborative process is a matching of favorable technical eccentricities which are in their individual merits iconic.
Ulysse Nardin’s concept of the Freak and Urwerk’s orbiting satellite hours are both results of the late-90s creative surge in watchmaking which strongly demonstrated its experimental spirit. Now both realize innovation of a very distinct and daring kind in time-telling display, even to a level of iconicity, and emanate from the creative acumen of watchmaking icons - Ludwig Oechslin, Felix Baumgartner, and Martin Frei.
These parallel approaches to avant-garde haute horlogerie melded in, what’s in mechanical idiosyncrasy regards, a very ambitious collaboration of apex standards. The 2025 release of the Urwerk x Ulysse Nardin UR-FREAK delivers this convergence as a product that goes beyond cosmetic co-signing and realizes a technically satisfying synthesis with a dominant focus on mechanical and creative audacity.
In terms of collabs, the above watch is iconic on every level.
While an opus of the past, the Harry Winston Opus Series, in many ways, planted the seed of seeking collaborative efforts in watchmaking. The said, again, can be credited in part to Max Büsser, the brand’s managing director at the time. This series was realized via the creative undertaking of some of the best contemporary cabinotiers, such as, F.P. Journe, Vianney Halter, Antoine Preziuso, Christophe Claret, and Felix Baumgartner. It’s rightfully considered to be one of the most significant collaborative projects ever in watchmaking.
A similar approach to collaborative watchmaking efforts was sought for a unique project, which began in 2009, and is dedicated to “documenting and safeguarding traditional haute horlogerie skills via the practice of creating a handmade watch.” This legacy mission is overseen by the Time Æon Foundation and involves several watch Maisons and artisans in collaborative efforts.
The inceptive chapter of this project - “Naissance d’une Montre 1,” involved Robert Greubel, Stephen Forsey and Philippe Dufour alongside Michel Boulanger. The second chapter, “Naissance d’une Montre 2,” was led by Robert Greubel, Stephen Forsey, Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei, along with two young watchmakers, Dominique Buser and Cyrano Devanthey.
In 2025, the “Ferdinand Berthoud Naissance d’une Montre 3,” the third chapter of the series, was materialized via collaboration between the artisans at Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud and its parent brand Chopard.
This collective watchmaking project involving multidisciplinary teams is focused on the recovery and preservation of lost techniques in an increasingly automated industry.
Beyond these collaborative superlatives, the practice realized an endlessly vibrant assortment of products, of which the notable creations from the past year include: Yinka Ilori x MB&F M.A.D.Editions 1S Grow Your Dreams, Louis Vuitton x Voutilainen LVKV-02 GMR 6, Hublot MP-17 Meca-10 Arsham Splash, Ressence x Marc Newson TYPE 3 MN, TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph x fragment Limited Edition, USM x Zenith DEFY Chronograph, the very abstract Piaget Andy Warhol Watch Collage Limited Edition, Seiko 5 Sports x Pepsi® Limited Edition, and the Ressence Type 8 Daniel Engelberg.
The Perfect Alliance Exists
While I’ve listed plenty of products resulting from collaborative watchmaking indulgences, my favorite of all time has to be the sporty Jaeger-LeCoultre Amvox line created in collaboration with Aston Martin. The Amvox 7 in particular finds a strong affinity owing to its refinement and useful upgrades for the vertical trigger chronograph over existing iterations.
While it’s Breitling, and not JLC, that finds itself in a collab with the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team for 2026, with Jérôme Lambert back at the helm of the brand, a revisit to the Amvox series would have been at the top of my wish list for the year.
But I guess, it’ll have to wait.
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