Kobold ran a campaign across the U . S ., including in this publication . Reactions ranged from bemusement and fascination ( the company sold out of a run of large-scale posters ) to rejection and strong criticism . “ That was the first time I said to myself that those folks who don ’ t get it aren ’ t our customers ,” Michael Kobold reflects today . The James Gandolfini ad foreshadowed a far bigger controversy that would engulf Kobold and its founder almost two decades later .
NEPAL SUBSIDIARY First , however , Kobold continued to grow . In 2012 the company opened its subsidiary in Kathmandu , Nepal following two back-to-back expeditions to the summit of Mount Everest by Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Michael Kobold .
The Everest expeditions marked the beginning of Kobold ’ s connection to this faraway land and its people . When the company opened its Kathmandu showroom in one of the city ’ s swankiest landmarks , a great number of Nepal ’ s elite attended the ceremony . Fiennes gave the opening address and the company presented its Himalaya line of watches , including the first watch ever with a piece of Everest summit rock as its dial . Kobold was the talk of the town . In fact , media outlets around the world reported the news of the Kobold Himalaya Everest Edition . What happened next gives some insight into how Kobold manages bad publicity .
Some prominent Nepali media outlets ran stories critical of Kobold and its watch with the Everest summit rock . “ One newspaper even ran a headline Everest Rock Mafia with Ran ’ s and my pictures beneath . We thought it was highly amusing . The U . S . ambassador told us not to worry and that this sort of smear campaign meant that some Nepalese official somewhere just wanted to be paid off .”
According to Kobold , the controversy sold far more watches than it caused damage to the brand . “ Overnight , everyone in Nepal knew about Kobold . All of the country ’ s publicists couldn ’ t have done a better job than that smear campaign ”.
As Kobold tells it , the U . S . ambassador and a cousin of Nepal ’ s royal family later met with the prime minister of Nepal to resolve the issue and the negative news stopped .
“ The prime minister asked for a free Everest watch and then made me his honorary ambassador for tourism . That was the end of it ,” Kobold recalls .
This episode gives a glimpse into the unconventional methods with which an outsider like Kobold could rapidly make so many high-level connections in Nepal . Following the bad press , Nepal ’ s elite snatched up Kobold Himalayas watches faster than the small outpost could produce .
The lessons learned from the Everest rock controversy were a continuation of those from the Gandolfini ad controversy and would prepare Kobold for an unprecedented amount of negative PR in the future . “ There is no such thing as bad publicity ,” says Kobold in hindsight .
MADE IN U . S . A . After sinking its teeth into Nepal , Kobold retrained its efforts on promoting Made in USA as a distinguishing feature of its main line of watches by investing heavily in vertically integrating the case making process into its Pennsylvania facility . In 2014 , the new Kobold headquarters opened its doors in Amish Country , an hour ’ s drive north of Pittsburgh .
While any new operation is plagued by teething problems , Kobold quickly faced a bigger dilemma . While its team of employees made the drive from Pittsburgh to the new facility , finding qualified CNC operators in such a remote location proved to be a challenge .
38 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | FALL 2022