Raketa’s Most Important Deal Yet
It is no surprise to those that follow the revived watch manufacturer that their ambitions are larger than just Russian sales and a handful of exports. A few days ago the Petrodvorets Watch Factory signed a landmark deal with the European conglomerate Total. Within this partnership the Raketa brand hopes to aim at the global luxury wristwatch consumer and emphasize it’s low-volume handcrafted watches to customers in the $1,000-$2,000 USD range. It should come as no surprise given that Raketa had been showing at the now-defunct Baselworld for two years and planned on showing at the 2020 show that never happened, going so far as to have a joint event with fellow Russian watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin live on Instagram instead.
Who Is Total?
Total SE is a multi-national French company that specializes in oil and gas. Amongst its many other products Total has become an innovative player in the electric vehicle cooling space, providing high efficiency thermal transfer fluids to companies like Renault, etc. In the western world Total has made headlines recently as it announced its departure from the American Petroleum Institute, a lobbying organization, after a difference of opinion on global climate change mitigation strategies. Today, Total has many arms to their global portfolio of products including:
Exploration and Production of Natural Gasses
Petrol, Renewables, and Power
Refining
Chemical Manufacturing
Trading and Shipping (Logistics)
Marketing and Associated Services
Human Resources
Health, Safety and Environmental Services
Climate Research
What Does This Have To Do With Watches?
Raketa partnering up with an oil conglomerate seems like an odd move at first glance, but if you carefully examine the company’s portfolio of products it starts to become evident why such a deal would occur. Raketa’s agreement is for a two-year technical partnership for lubricants and worldwide marketing. Total Vostok LLC (the Russian arm of Total) is contracted to provide cutting edge lubricants with longer service life and more advanced anti-wear properties generally reserved for the likes of Formula 1 (in which we also have a Russian driver this year!). Raketa’s goal is clearly to extend the service duration from the current recommendation of 3-5 years towards 5-10 years. The ability for a small company like Raketa to have access to these materials is a clear-cut advantage for their growth and will resound with customers who do not want to service their watch frequently.
Raketa’s press release indicates that in addition to the aforementioned technologies, Total Vostok would be engaged in “cooperation of the parties on the joint implementation of strategic projects, marketing campaigns, communication support and information exchange”.
The document of the final agreement was signed on March 2nd, 2021.
The document was signed by Pascal Rigaud, General Director of Total Vostok LLC, and David Henderson-Stewart, Managing Director of the Raketa Watch Factory. “Today both of our companies pursue common goals: to develop international business with the localization of production in Russia. We are confident that together we will be able to expand our horizons,” Rigaud remarked during the festivities.
Time will tell if this is a good move or not for the factory. A part of my heart always wants it to be the tiny little workshop nestled into St. Petersburg that I wandered into ten years ago. It is the conflict of every parent, I suppose, that we are to watch our babies grow and evolve from their humble start in life. Such too that I hope Raketa grows and evolves, but always maintains that humble one-at-a-time approach to watchmaking that has gotten them to where they are today.
Click here to view the original Russian Language press release. No English version was available at the time of publication.