It’s not easy to be a start up in the watch world, full of 100-plus year old manufactures. The Swiss have a virtual lock on fine watchmaking, and Ralph Lauren wisely launched his new haute horologerie collection in a partnership with the Richemont group.

This is not to say that Mr. Lauren did not have his hand in every step of the process. He is according to reports an avid watch collector (he also owns some of the rarest automobiles) and of course has his own distinctive style and unwavering dedication to quality. It’s also rumored that he rejected the brown color of his watchbands several times until it was just to his specifications.

All of this hard work and attention to detail has borne a distinctive collection of three first models, the Stirrup, the Slim Classique, and the Sporting collection. Movements range from manual winds to automatics.

The highest complication is a World Time in the Sporting collection, that has a second time zone, 40 hour power reserve, day/night indicator, and date. The collection was introduced at the 2009 SIHH show amid great anticipation from retail. Historically many fashion designers have licensed their name to manufactures but this is the first “designer” launch that embraces the craft of watchmaking at its highest level.