Combine Film & Watches: Short Film Competition

Take a true look at Fakes
Art and Creativity in the fight to end counterfeiting – Short film competition
By: Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH)

Courtesy: phoenixsunmedia.org

As part of its mission to inform, the FHH is actively involved in raising public awareness of the risks and implications of counterfeiting. After its “Fake Watches are for Fake People” campaign (read article by WatchFreaks editor RJ @ FratelloWatches.com), the Foundation is launching a short film competition using the web, where many counterfeit products are sold.

The FHH is convinced that art can give its message greater impact, and is inviting you to make your short film on the theme of counterfeiting.

The shortlisted films will be shown at hautehorlogerie.org where visitors can vote for their favourites and share their selection on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The two winners will receive a timepiece by a Fine Watch brand:

* Jury Prize – awarded by five personalities from the world of art and film.

* Public’s Prize – awarded by online voting (voting open from March 1st to April 15th).

The two winning films will be shown at festivals, and will be the highlight of a gala evening in Lausanne.

How to take part

Counterfeiting: an economic scourge

Counterfeiting plagues every sector of industry. The global market in counterfeit goods is equivalent in value to almost 7% of world trade.

Today’s “second-generation” counterfeits create an almost perfect illusion, making it harder for end customers and distribution networks to identify them as fakes.

Counterfeiting amounts to nothing more than theft. It is the misappropriation of expertise, creativity, continued investment and the image a brand has forged over time.

See “Counterfeiting” on the FHH website.

See “Fake vs. Replica” on WatchFreaksBlog.com.

The Masters of Haute Horlogerie

Recently, I have been watching a series of videos on TheTimeTV titled “The Masters of Haute Horlogerie”. Being relatively new to the world of watches, it was really nice to be able to have a deeper insight about the various positions in the watchmaking world.

Technically speaking, these videos (as well as many other similar videos) can be found in the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie website (which I did try to find), but to me, I found it a little difficult to navigate around. But, there are so many interesting tidbits and I still had a good time reading about them. It is really amazing that there are so many dedicated professionals who are still faithfully producing the watches by hand.

I was watching with fascination about the movement designer, stone setter, the engraver and many more.  I am also beginning to wonder more. For example, in the instance a the stone setter, there seems to be zero tolerance of trembles. Any slight movements seems to be able to cause a failure. In fact, only the skilled stone setter understands how to combine precious stones with metal in a harmonious manner. As for the movement designer, he seems to have the biggest responsibility of all. He has to be responsible for the design and layout of combining all the various components and harmonising them as one.

Nonetheless, I think everyone who is interested in watches should still take a look at the articles or watch the videos at least once. As for me, I have watched them at least twice, and each time, I get more amazed and strengthen my belief that as long as there are these passionate professionals around, the watch industry is only going to get better. Perhaps you really need to take a look to believe my words? You can find them all in Fondation de le Haute Horlogerie or TheTimeTV.