The Ways to New

Chapter 9Revival-Based Disruption

In the seventies, during the quartz watch revolution, senior executives from Zenith ordered that the molds for their mechanical watches be ditched. They were obsolete. One person at Zenith thought “I'll keep them in memory of times gone by”—times when, day after day, he and his workmates manufactured unique timepieces with remarkable craft skills. Zenith's executives today should congratulate that person. Analog watches, and other “outdated” products like fountain pens, streetcars, Burberry trench coats, and new-look bookstores fighting back against Amazon have become part of a past that is experiencing a resurrection today.

Ryan L. Raffaelli, assistant professor at the Harvard Business School puts it this way: “The key to success lies in redefining the product's value and meaning,”¹ adding that Swiss watchmakers have succeeded in making their mechanical watches not just timekeepers, but emblematic status symbols. The fact that a mechanical watch is so much more complicated to make than a digital watch lends symbolic worth, way beyond financial value.

From San Diego to Paris, streetcars are making a comeback because they are a green solution to urban transport problems. And bookstores are, well, real places to meet and talk about books—and anything else. Old products come back, when they are adapted to suit the times. This is the spirit of vintage. It is called revival innovation. Even more interesting to me is the phenomenon of rediscovered ...