To hear IWC President of North America Edouard d’Arbaumont tell it, moviemaking and horology have more in common than you might expect. “We’re both into storytelling,” d’Arbaumont explains. “Our business started 140 years ago, and we’re very much focused on our DNA and one great way to convey the value of the brand is to tell a story.”
And the tale that IWC is telling in conjunction with the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival is certainly a thriller. To commemorate this year’s festival, IWC has crafted two special watches in its honor: The Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days Tribeca Film Festival, which will be available at select IWC boutiques, and the one-of-a-kind Portofino Monopusher Tribeca Film Festival White Gold 1/1 Timepiece, which will be auctioned by Christie’s to benefit the Tribeca Film Institute.
Not only is IWC helping to fund the festival’s education initiative, it’s doing so in a way that deliberately deepens to bond between the two entities. “We could have simply sponsored the festival and it would have worked perfectly, but we really wanted to support them more,” d’Arbaumont explains. “We wanted to celebrate our meaningful partnership.” Indeed, IWC will not only donate the proceeds from the watch’s sale (it went for $50,000) to the Tribeca Film Institute, but will match the bid.
The luxury watch leader has a history of working with the film community. “We started a few years ago working with major film festivals all over the world, from Beijing to Dubai and Zurich,” d’Arbaumont says. “We chose to collaborate with Tribeca because it’s a very serious, strong festival with a great history. It’s genuinely trying to help younger filmmakers and that makes a lot of sense for IWC.”
And while the winner of the Christie’s auction will get (in addition to the watch) VIP film passes and an invitation for two to IWC’s “For the Love of Cinema” soiree, he won’t be the only one enjoying what the festival has to offer. While d’Arbaumont will have his hands full with business during the 11-day festival, he did admit he’ll find time to sneak away and catch some of its offerings. “There isn’t just one film I’m excited about,” he says. “I’ll definitely see a few.”
