Inside the city’s Palexpo exhibition centre, a crowd is gathering. It’s dark – nightclub dark. Most of what little light there is filters down from a giant illuminated yellow “B” hovering over a temporary set. There’s a DJ, balming the air with a pensive, anticipatory beat. And then a gush of bright lume, a surge in volume, a dry-ice bomb. A shadowy figure emerges through a tunnel under the giant B. “Ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome… UK luxury Breitling replica watches CEO Mr Georges Kern!”
Kern is no stranger to razzle-dazzle. Not quite five years into his tenure at the Swiss 1:1 fake watches brand, he’s put himself centre stage. Onto that stage, he’s invited luminaries of contemporary culture, partnering high quality replica Breitling watches with the likes of Brad Pitt and Charlize Theron. At the height of the pandemic, Kern turned chat-show host, becoming the face of virtual “Summits”: glossy, high-octane webcasts that, he claims, have been viewed by millions around the world. Having launched a limited-edition best fake Breitling Top Time watches collaboration with the cult motorcycle brand Deus earlier this year, Kern’s August shebang was to unveil a collection of copy watches for sale tied to vintage American muscle cars, the Mustang, Shelby Cobra and Corvette.
This, to call it what it is, is “hype”. Not the vacuous, hyperbolic hype of old and not the kind you shouldn’t believe in. Hype, by its contemporary, positive consumer-culture definition, is a business strategy that recently emerged from the fashion world. It capitalises on FOMO and the drive to find the next big thing to boost excitement, desirability and, in theory, profitability too.
It wears a familiar face. Take a product, typically one that we don’t need, add a collaboration, limit it and then amplify it at launch – the “drop” – on social media. You can’t hype a banana but, we now know, you can hype the super clone watches wholesale online.
Over the past few years, replica Breitling watches shop site and a host of its luxury watchmaking peers have switched on to the hype model, elevating their stories with activities more commonly associated with fashion, sport and pop culture. These brands are suddenly working to a new, far more intense rhythm. Once plodding, they’ve moved up several gears, behaving more like streetwear brands, feeding a community hungry for novelty, limited edition Swiss movements knockoff watches and creative collaborations, with meaty drops on an almost monthly basis.