He bears the title of Count and is related to the greatest surnames of the world, but surprisingly charming and easy to communicate. Meet Jerome de Witt - founder, owner and president of the watch company De Witt. It would seem that what else is needed for a person who has grown up in an aristocratic environment and has been kind to fate since childhood? It turned out that own hours.
It all started with the fact that Count Jerome de Witt organized a watch brand in 2003, came up with the philosophy and design of the first watches, and soon his grandiose works were appreciated with the swiftness that the watch world of quiet and hard-working Switzerland is capable of in general. For example, the Tourbillon Differentiel Academia by the masters of De Witt in 2005 won the Innovation nomination at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve, the world’s premier watch award. Together with Jerome de Witt, an excellent team creates a unique watch: he works with the former Vacheron Constantin president, Claude Daniel Proallox, the energetic Pascal Brand, who previously worked in Officine Panerai and Vacheron Constantin, as well as prominent specialists from the Patek Phillipe watch manufactory. We met and chatted with Jerome de Witt at the Jewelery Arabia 2008 jewelery and watch exhibition, held in Bahrain late last year.
Mr. Jerome, tell us about how the De Witt brand came about.
You can’t talk about the brand without mentioning the historical roots. De Witt is not a brand in the direct sense of the word. We created a brand associated with my past and my education, so it has a rich history. For example, I represent the fifth generation of the Napoleon Bonaparte family. In addition, I have Russian roots. But, this is from my father. De Witty is a Dutch family, and two brothers were executed in it in the 1740s. They chopped off their heads. Where could the family go? To France or England? Then it was impossible due to the political situation in Europe. Therefore, the family decided that it was necessary to go either to Germany or to Russia. The choice fell on Russia. From 1748 to 1919, members of the De Witt family lived in Russia. Among them were a lot of people. Take even the figure of Tsarist Minister Witte, one of my most prominent relatives. Sergei Yulievich Witte did a lot for the Russian state, successively holding the posts of either Minister of Railways or Minister of Finance. Minister Witte, along with other Russian Witt (and they began to serve Russia approximately from the era of Alexander I), I can rightly rank among my Russian ancestors.
My father was an officer in the tsarist army and served in it during the First World War and the 1917 revolution. He was a passionate collector of watches. In 1919, his father left Russia, as he had been afraid of communists all his life, and the rest of the Witte family remained. My uncle led the stables in which horses were raised for the Red Army cavalry after the revolution, and then the famous Russian horse breeds were restored - Akhal-Teke, Orlov trotters and others. He achieved great success in this matter. Largely thanks to my uncle, Russian racehorse breeds in the 20th century again took their place of honor in world horse racing.
And on the other hand, my pedigree is Napoleon and his sister Carolina Murat (to this woman, Carolina Annonciad Murat, the wife of General Yochim Murat, the great Breguet devoted his watch, which in modern times is better known as the Reine de Naples, or “Queen of Naples”). My mother was the last of the Napoleon Bonaparte family, and my full name sounds like Jerome Napoleon de Witt. You know, I feel a great responsibility as a descendant of such eminent dynasties, and thanks to numerous marriages among the royal blood, today I am a cousin of representatives of almost all the ruling houses of Europe. Moreover, after several of my marriages that have made me related to Italy, Spain, and other countries, I cannot say that I am French. I am just a European. But, nevertheless, I am De Witt and a passionate collector of watches and unique works of art. I inherited huge collections of both De Witt and Napoleon. For example, I have a watch that belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte himself. And then one day I arrived in Basel, looked at the Swiss watches presented around, and said to myself: “How cool it is! It is probably very interesting to create a watch?”. And I decided to release my first personal collection.
So easily, decided to become a watchmaker?
Yes, and began to do the first hand-made sketches to understand how I want to see my watch. I created the De Witt brand in 2003, and everyone immediately said that it was different from the others. Why? I think that the whole thing is in my past, in my upbringing and the values that were stored in my family. I decided to declare these values in my watch, in a design that I personally like. All my life I was surrounded by beautiful things, such as Faberge. Here is another example from my life. Your Russian Empress Catherine II was German by birth, this is a well-known fact. And then she somehow gave her beloved Count Orlov a complete set of silverware, which included dishes, and plates, and bowls, and goblets, and much more. Some of the surviving items from this service are stored in the St. Petersburg Hermitage, and some are in our home, inherited from De Witt. Believe me, it is very interesting to use the things that once served the royal people. For me, this means that culture has no boundaries. And if you have a sense of beauty in you, even without being a designer by education, you can create beauty around you.
If you take a watch with diamonds from my collection, they may seem a little crazy to you, but I made them because I thought that this is also possible, and there are consumers for such watches. I believe that everything is possible in life, you just have to try and be sure to succeed.
How did you manage to quickly gain the recognition of customers and colleagues?
I believe that my extraordinary actions attracted a lot of attention. For example, I made this watch (it shows one of the models in the window) after Prince Albert of Monaco turned to me. He said he needed special watches that would be sold at a charity auction. I agreed to make such a watch and said that in 2008, somewhere in February-March, I will hand it to him. To which he objected to me, noting that the watch was needed by September 2007. I replied that this was impossible, to which he stated that I should try, since we are good friends, and this is necessary for good purposes. I said: "Well, I have an idea. I will send you an empty glass box and attach to it a description of the new watch. Actually an empty box with a description and will be sold at auction." You probably guessed that Prince Albert called me crazy. But I was sure that success awaits us. As a result, we just sold an empty glass box and a description of the new watch for 400 thousand euros, which went to charity. Even the sketch of the watch was not there then! Prince Albert did not expect this, 400 thousand - this is a very large sum for "it is not known what." And in March 2008, as promised, I made this watch, which fully corresponded to the description on the box. I went to China to personally hand them over to the buyer who paid at auction such a sum. He was terribly overjoyed and put up a watch in the window of his store with a "Not for sale" sign in order to show everyone his purchase. And, of course, on the same day, a man came up to him who wished to buy this watch. The first buyer did not agree to sell them for a long time, but, in the end, when the offered price reached certain limits, he gave up. And sold them. It all happened in one day. Here in such episodes you can see how the De Witt brand differs from other watch brands. I do not want any lies in my work. My watch is always one watch company, producing it from "A" to "Z", and for each watch unit one watch master is fully responsible. He does both polishing, and assembly, and all other necessary operations.
What is the average time for this?
From three weeks to one month for making a simple model, and up to eight months when it comes to complex watches.
Being the heir to such eminent surnames, are you surely interested in something else besides watches?
Of course. I have already said that I am a passionate collector. In addition, I love horses, and I breed Russian greyhounds, such as those on the cover of your magazine (we are talking about No. 27 of the "Russian Emirates" ed.). And this is also part of a dream come true. You cannot live in the world without a dream, because such a life will be joyless. Behind every watch of mine is a dream and a whole story. Now, take a look at this watch, you know what it is?
Not.
Once in Milan I bought glasses for myself, and then I needed to reduce the glasses in them. I did this in France, but when I received the bill for the work, I was horrified - the amount was prohibitive. But they answered me: "No, that's right." I flew back to Milan to find out what was the matter. And it turned out that in the manufacture of the glasses of my glasses, the smallest particles of natural gold were used, as is the case in the production of crystal, when gold dust is added to the molten glass mass. We took this method into service and cut such glass with the thinnest platinum, approximately 0.2 millimeters. And then they polished them. Thus, it turned out that inside the glass that protects the dial, we have gold dust. And this is one of my experiments, because I constantly dream. And everything that I see around me gives me tremendous pleasure.
Mr. De Witt, having strong Russian roots in the family, you probably have your own judgment about today's Russia ...
My feelings are simple. I remember how my father spoke Russian, but today he probably could not speak the same language with the Russian people. Even the words and intonations were then completely different. But so far Russia is, first of all, the richest culture. The second, when at the beginning of the last century in 1914 Russia was as strong as the United States in economic terms, everyone said that in 1920 Russia would surpass the United States in all respects. But it turned out differently. I do not want to talk about revolutions, politics or ideology. Russia is a powerful and very smart country, with good and smart people with great potential and endless possibilities. With any changes taking place in your country, there are always people who become stronger and more powerful, thanks to the current situation. Because they react faster than others. I think that in the coming years Russia will regain its former glory. Probably, half of my Russian blood speaks in me. I think that the mind and education of Russian people have not disappeared anywhere, and there are very great opportunities for creativity and creation. A new generation of Russian people will soon grow up who will be impossible to keep up with. Russia is a richest power, and as soon as new opportunities are opened for all people, your country will become very strong. I am absolutely confident in the brilliant future of Russia, it just takes a little time.
Mr. Jerome, what do you think of the current market situation in general, and the situation of the watch industry in particular?
I think it all depends on how we respond to what is happening. The economic situation in the world is ambiguous and it is not yet possible to say what will happen next. But when you see such exhibitions, you understand that people still think about the future and dream. A dream is the power of life. Therefore, all people have values to worry about. The way we do it at De Witt. As for the watch industry, I believe that a lot will change. Probably there will not be so many watch brands, but the best and the strongest will remain.
Tell me, Mr. Jerome, how did you manage to attract your son (Valerie leads the marketing and public relations department at De Witt) to the family business? After all, it is so unfashionable among modern youth to follow in the footsteps of their fathers, and it is difficult for parents, especially if a wealthy family, to teach children living in abundance to achieve their goals themselves ...
My son began his career with the advent of the De Witt brand in 2003, but then left the company for family reasons. He was engaged in the computer business for some time, but, seeing De Witt growing and believing in the future of the brand, he returned to me. I am pleased as a father, and the company employees realized that someone appeared in De Witt who, after me, will lead the brand to success.
I am sure that young people should be given a chance to try their hand outside the family. If you immediately tune your son or daughter to the fact that he or she will soon need to stand at the helm of a family business, trust me, they will never come to you and will not continue your business. And even if there are several children in a family, it can be very difficult when one works in the company of the father, and the other does not. You need to be very careful, and have a flexible approach to this issue, because no parent in the world wants his children to be at enmity with each other. I am the father of six children, and my wife and I allow them to live their own lives. When my son told me that he wanted to return to De Witt, I agreed. If someone else from my children wants to join - welcome. But I do not force anyone, I prefer to hear from them: "Dad, we want to work at De Witt."
Thank you for the conversation, Mr. Jerome. We wish you continued success and see you soon.
