Rock side of the mood
The story takes place somewhere in Versailles, and the guys from Pink Floyd are playing. Then-EMI executive Gilbert Ohayon, deluged by journalists’ requests to interview the band, goes backstage and tells guitarist David Gilmour about it. A baptism of fire — with added brimstone for good measure — for the young executive. Gilmour takes one look at him and says, “I’m too rich for that.” You could just imagine Ohayon’s expression: maybe something like a cross between Syd Barret’s apocalyptic catatonia and a crushed Bob Geldof in The Wall movie.
Another story ends rather cheerily. Ohayon goes backstage to Paul McCartney bearing the same requests. Surprise, surprise. Macca readily agrees. The EMI executive is puzzled and tells the former Beatle he was a bit scared to ask at first. This was Paul McCartney after all, responsible for some of the best piano-driven ballads of all time. “He’s very nice. Maybe no one dared ask him out of fear,” Ohayon postulates.
Gilbert Ohayon has stories that could leave the Alan Joneses, Nick Kents and other celebrated rock journos of the rock ‘n’ roll frontline salivating. Ohayon remembers one magical night with the great Joe Cocker in Paris. Both of them stumbling into a club where tennis great John McEnroe was celebrating his birthday.
“McEnroe always dreamed of being a rock star. Onstage are professional musicians backing up a guy who — let’s put it this way — is a better tennis player than a singer. McEnroe motions to Joe Cocker and asks him to sing.” Cocker climbs the stage. He sings. Like a golden-throated canary in a coalmine in the City of Light, singing about the blues and redemption, mad dogs and Englishmen. Maybe an old Dave Mason song, maybe a deconstruction of a track from “Sgt. Pepper’s.” Maybe this, maybe that. “Suddenly everything is different. We are attending a private Joe Cocker concert, a unique moment. John McEnroe watched in the sidelines.”
On another occasion, Ohayon along with the other EMI executives surprised Iron Maiden singer and birthday celebrant Bruce Dickenson with a nervous rendition of Happy Birthday. One wonders what the other guys from Maiden were playing that night. The Number of the Beast? Can I Play with Madness? The mind boggles.
Ohayon, now the TechnoMarine chief executive officer, recall those days very well. Ohayon is in the Philippines for the launch of “Walking on the Mood” campaign at The Manila Peninsula featuring TechnoMarine watches that fuse “aesthetic uniqueness and watch-making expertise” that create subtle associations between “high-end watches and luxury accessories.”
Dig the synchronicity. Gilbert Ohayon went from handling a band like Pink Floyd who has a classic tune called Time, to being the CEO of a watch company.
“It is interesting because the last time I produced Supertramp, the tour was called ‘It’s About Time’ (laughs),” he recalls. “Maybe it was a message I wasn’t aware of.”
Ohayon gave 12 years of his life to the music industry beset by piracy problems and jousts with egotistic rock stars and Machiavellian managers. When it was time to move on, Ohayon — an avid watch-collector — met the TechnoMarine owner and fell in love with the brand.
“It was a new entrepreneurial adventure. I felt I could fit in with the brand. I personally like watches (and chess). With TechnoMarine, it’s a different way of doing things, communicating with consumers. It’s not the traditional watch mentality. The brand is more about fashion and accessory business. Different tone, different attitude. And I felt that a lot of those values, techniques, strategies are very similar to what I enjoyed in the record business. It wasn’t a major change.”
Ohayon has great things to say about TechnoMarine Philippines. “We are doing very well. We think we can grab more market share from the competition especially now with our current strategy of going a bit more upscale. What’s great about a small country like the Philippines is that, because of smaller resources, the people are smarter and have more agility. They are more creative. I always learn something during these trips. I pick up ideas here and there.”
Right now 70 percent of TechnoMarine loyalists are women. The typical wearer is someone who cares about her appearance. Ohayon explains, “She wants to be different, she is what she wears, and likes the irreverent fun approach of the brand. She could wear her watch to match her dress by changing straps. TechnoMarine is not conventional. It is not boring.”
Never boring, always riveting like rock ‘n’ roll. The featured TechnoMarine watches exude that same rocker appeal that Ohayon found fascinating as an EMI executive.
Launched in 1997 in St. Tropez, France, TechnoMarine initially started with one elegantly designed watch called Raft, which soon spawned a full collection of diving watches and chronographs. Now comes the Cruise collection — a “fun and daring take on the first-edition chronograph.” The watches boast ergonomic designs. For one, you’ve got the Diamond Cruise, which is encrusted with full-size white diamonds, mother-of-pearl dial and an interchangeable gel strap.
The brand is also introducing its Neo Classic Fusion, which offers men and women a “trendy and refined chronograph watch.” The watches come in stainless steel and black ceramic with a diamond-studded dial.
UF6 watches are “colorful, sporty and elegant.” RoyaleMarine watches are dubbed as “the ultimate luxury for diving for demanding men.” The materials alone give wearers the urge to rock ‘n’ roll: titanium and black PVD, stainless steel and PVD, as well as stainless steel and blue aluminum. MoonSun watches are stylish timepieces that “match the needs of urbanites and sports enthusiasts.”
What a TechnoMarine watch has going for it is unconventionality. (Like the orchestra of alarm clocks that presage Time, or the odd time signature in Money.)
Ohayon concludes, “Our brand is all about doing unexpected things. Be a bit rebellious. If others go in one direction, those who wear TechnoMarine head the other way.”
Marching to a sound of a different drummer. That’s so rock ‘n’ roll.
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TechnoMarine watches are available at the TechnoMarine flagship store at Greenbelt 3, TechnoMarine Boutique at SM Megamall, Rafael Jewellery at Shangri-La Plaza Mall, T. Florencio at Makati Shangri-La Hotel, My Diamond at Glorietta 4, My Diamond at Gateway, My Tempo at SM North EDSA, My Tempo at Robinsons Place Manila, Time Plus in Greenhills, Wasthington at Rockwell and TechnoMarine TriNoma.
