A luxury watch brand can sell a limited edition of 19 watches, and you can be certain that it was not a mistake on its part. Numbers are by no means in high horology, just numbers. They are signals, and indicators, and occasionally silent gestures to people who have access to the right places.

When Chopard reveals a new watch with just 19 copies, it is doing what the maison does best, which is to add beauty to the meaning and a feeling of mystery to it.

Unpacking the reasoning behind 19 being such a delicious Chopard pick.

A Subtle Nod to History

Chopard began in the 19th century, in 1860, which is to say that it was very much of its time: the time of patient and mechanical craft, of objects designed to be more enduring than those who made them.

Keeping a watch on 19 implies it is stuck to that creation myth. Neither is it yelling heritage in large letters nor whispering it; it is murmuring it. He knows, if you know, and he does not know-the watch does not know. Such confidence is very Chopard.

The Prime Number Effect

Nineteen is a prime, and this is more important in the psychology of luxury than you may believe.

Prime numbers can not be practically divided. They resist symmetry. They are deliberate, even obstinately so. To the collectors, that is an element of inaccessible rarity. You’re not one of twenty. You’re one of nineteen. There is no pure method of categorizing, classifying you or cloning you.

It helps that in a world where the term limited edition is used to denote hundreds (or even thousands), 19 is uncompromisingly refreshing.

An Easter Egg of Silent Watch-Making

Then there is one more layer, which is valued by watch lovers: 19 jewels.

Though the technical minimum number of jewels in a fully jeweled mechanical movement was 17, movements of 19 jewels were in fact widespread historically–and sometimes a sign of intelligent design, and not of overindulgence. It is a figure that will sit very well within the tradition of watchmaking without screaming to get attention.

Chopard selects 19, making the restriction not only branding/storytelling, but the mechanics as well. A deep cut allusion, and that of the sort which collectors like to find out about only after the fact.

Exclusivity without the Ego

The ingenious thing here is that only 19 pieces of a watch can be offered as a limited edition, and it is not vulgar.

It does not engage in the performative drama of one in the world, but is sufficiently scarce that most individuals, including even serious collectors, will never see one in the metal. It indicates that the watch was created due to the desire of Chopard to do what is right rather than to create noise.

That restraint is quite consistent with the current identity of the brand, particularly in the watches that are at the high end of its production: technically ambitious, aesthetically refined, and anti-gimmicky.

The Reasons Collectors Care (and pay attention to)

Numbers such as 19 are effective to collectors, performing the job of making the object feel personal. Every work is rendered statistically significant. It is not a purchase into a batch, but a very small club in which each member is fully aware of its smallness.

And since 19 is not pegged to an apparent anniversary or marketing tagline, it can be interpreted. That ambiguity makes the watch exciting even after the press release has been forgotten.

The Takeaway

Chopard did not pick 19 on the basis of it being quirky. It selected it due to its loaded nature, including history, symbolism, and watchmaking DNA, and being coolly undressed.

That is, the figure does just as much as the watch does: appear pretty at a visage, and reward those who look closer. And in lavishness, that is no accident.