After many teasers, Campagnolo has finally revealed what Movement is all about and no, it’s not a watch, or an e-bike groupset, or indeed anything remotely component related; it’s clothing. Congratulations Campagnolo, you trolled us.
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Movement is an all-new range of kit including jerseys, bibs, jackets, apparel and accessories.
Both men and women are catered for, although at the moment ladies get half shorts only, while men have a choice of bib shorts ranging from the €119 Vanadio up to the €219 C-Tech, which boast aerodynamic fabric and a chamois that includes a “bio-ceramic crystal component.”
Gents also get the option of a one-piece bodysuit, which sits somewhere between a standard bib/jersey combo and a full-on skinsuit.
Rumour enthusiasts still clinging to the watch theory might notice that there is actually an out-of-focus timepiece in one of the photos at the bottom of the men’s apparel page, but I’ve been hurt before so I’m putting it down to happenstance.
Anyway, the Movement kit looks nice, but was the pre-game hype justified? You decide.
Original article and update appear below.
Italian component maker Campagnolo is dropping hints that could be interpreted to mean that the brand is planning to make a mechanical watch.
Update 8 December 2017: As of today we’re still none the wiser, but Campagnolo’s ongoing teasers could be taken to mean that the Movement project is directly bicycle-related, and not something quite different like a watch.
A quick survey of BikeRadar’s staff has thrown up some different theories. Josh Evans likes the e-bike motor idea, while Jack Luke specifically thinks it’s going to be a hub-based e-bike motor, like the one recently announced by Orbea. Ben Healy thinks it really is a watch [update 5:08pm, 8 December 2017: Ben Healy claims he was joking, threatens litigation].
Despite my strong desire to be right about the watch thing, I’m getting urban bike vibes, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Movement is going to be some sort of utility-focused groupset, perhaps with an e-bike component to it.
What we can all agree on is that the whole teaser thing is getting irritating. Just give us the dang news, eh?
What do you think Movement is all about?
Original article below:
Right now all we’ve got to go on is a couple of Instagram posts featuring a photo of a watch movement and another picture of an amorphous grey blob that could be literally anything.
There’s also a short press release and this tweet, and all these teasers make liberal use of the word “movement”. The phrase "increasing mobility" crops up too, more on what that could mean below...
If the Campagnolo watch is real, the big question will be whether the brand is intending to make its own movement, which somehow seems unlikely.
Even basic mechanical movements have over 100 parts, and the investment in tooling and manufacturing one from scratch would be astronomical.
Perhaps a more likely scenario is that Campagnolo might buy in movements from a large OEM such as E.T.A. and design its own case, dials etc. Or, the brand might form a partnership with an existing watchmaker and simply launch a collaboration carrying Campagnolo branding.
Google’s Search by Image suggests that the movement photo Campagnolo shared probably isn’t a stock image, which supports the theory that this whole thing really is about a watch. Or is it?
Is Movement all it seems?
There’s no way to be sure if Campagnolo is actually talking about a timekeeping device, or if the concept of a mechanical watch is simply being used as a metaphor for engineering precision.
The marketing spiel also references a car and a boat, and we’re pretty sure Campag won’t be launching either of those things, although who knows?
BikeRadar staff writer and race tech obsessive Josh Evans reckons Movement could be a new e-bike power unit, and that’s led me to wonder if it could in fact be an e-bike-specific groupset à la SRAM EX1.
It would be a departure for the brand and no doubt irksome to its more diehard fans, but given the burgeoning popularity of e-bikes (especially on the Continent) it’s not hard to imagine why Campagnolo might want a slice of that pie.
Campagnolo has form in offending purists in any case, having embraced electronic shifting and hydraulic discs in recent years.
What do you think Campagnolo is brewing? Do you fancy a Super Record watch?
