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Deployant
Breaking News: Geneva Watch Days will take place from August 26th to 29th. Luxury maisons taking part: Bvlgari, Breitling, De Bethune, Gerald Genta, Girard-Perregaux, H. Moser & Cie, MB&F;, Ulysse Nardin and Urwerk.
SJX Watches
With Baselworld all but finished in name – with the COVID-19 pandemic having served as the catalyst for its demise – its organiser has already lined up a potential replacement, according to Swiss newspaper Handelzeitung. Events company MCH Group, which owns Baselworld and Art Basel, registered the trademark “Swiss Watch Week” in late January 2020, perhaps an indication its management already knew that Baselworld was untenable. Departing Basel, the city that the namesake watch fair had called home for decades is seen as crucial to escape the baggage and bad publicity that has dogged Baselworld. A good part of the criticism levelled at the fair concerns the opportunistic pricing imposed by restaurants, hotels, and other accommodation during the fair. The result was a slow burn that culminated in the end of Baselworld. A scene never to be seen again – the halls of Messe Basel packed with watch brands. Photo – Baselworld Once the world’s largest watch and jewellery fair, Baselworld was hit by a gradually accelerating string of departures, starting in 2018 with industry giant Swatch Group – owner of brands like Omega, Longines, and Tissot – citing the exorbitant cost of exhibiting and other city-related expenses. Swatch was followed by Seiko and others in 2019. But the fatal blow arrived in April 2020, when the fair’s biggest exhibitors – Rolex, Patek Philippe, Chanel, Chopard, and Tudor – pulled out and announced a move to a new, yet-to-be-named fair in...
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An educator turned guilloche specialist, Joshua Shapiro launched his namesake brand, J.N. Shapiro, in 2018 with the Infinity Series. a classically-styled wristwatch with a hand-made guilloche dial featuring a nested engine-turned pattern of his own invention. His latest creation is the Infinity Series P.01, a collaboration with Collective, an American watch-collector club. Though it looks similar to the standard Infinity Series at first glance, the P.01 most definitely isn’t. While it does have a guilloche dial, the dial material is not the usual silver and gold, but meteorite – a first in watchmaking. Initial thoughts Two things stand set the P.01 apart from Mr Shapiro’s work so far. The first is tangibly impressive – an engine-turned meteorite dial, a significant accomplishment in terms of craft and skill. The result is a striking surface that overlays the natural and random Widmanstätten pattern of the meteorite with Mr Shapiro’s sharply-executed engine turning, which sounds confusing but appears to be a pleasing mix of order and chaos. But perhaps more important for J.N. Shapiro as a brand is the brand-new serif typeface for the Arabic hour numerals. Designed with the help of an artist, the numerals give the watch a style that’s distinct – and more 20th century contemporary – compared to the typical J.N. Shapiro watch that features Roman numerals and a Breguet-inspired aesthetic. And the P.01 starts at US$21,500 in steel, which is not that much mor...
Hodinkee
"No one can say when we will see economic activity normalize," Johann Rupert suggests.
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Richemont’s fourth quarter was one of the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic, pulling down its results for the full year to end-March 2020. Even though the full year’s tally was not down substantially, Richemont chairman Johann Rupert was gloomy in his prediction for the coming year. China, the first country to recover from the pandemic, has “apparently returned to ‘business as usual’ remarkably quickly” and Richemont stores there are enjoying now “strong demand”. But because everywhere else is only partway through the crisis, the plain-speaking South African tycoon raised the possibility of “12, 24 or 36 months of grave economic consequences”, while halving the annual dividend to €1 a share to conserve cash. Johann Rupert. Photo – Richemont The Swiss luxury conglomerate, which owns brands like Cartier, IWC, and Panerai, enjoyed “good sales performance” until the fourth quarter, with its jewellery brands and online retail performing better than other divisions, including watchmaking, which has lagged for several quarters. At actual exchange rates, annual sales eked out a 2% rise to €14.2 billion, with most regions growing slightly, save for a 5% decline in Asia Pacific. Net profit fell 34%, excluding a one-off, non-cash gain due to a share revaluation the year prior. The declines were largely due to the fourth quarter, where Richemont took a massive hit. In the last quarter, sales fell by 18% globally, with Hong Kong crashing 67%. The group end...
Time+Tide
In what is surely, surely the last press release relating to the collapse of Baselworld, the MCH Group has announced that it has “taken the decision not to hold Baselworld in 2021”. Insert saddest ever meme here. The release also outlines the “amicable” end to a dispute over brands accessing refunds for this year’s cancelled … ContinuedThe post Baselworld officially cancelled for 2021, though MCH Group considering comeback via “follow-up formats”; journalists just pleased press releases will stop now appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
This week’s gone full Speedmaster. On Saturday, it was the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission, deemed to be a “successful failure”, because there was indeed a major malfunction, but all astronauts on the mission lived to talk about it. I was very fortunate to have heard this story told by one of the … ContinuedThe post Tasneem’s Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch connects him to more people on earth than he knew before appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
The point of the large watch fairs is (or was) the sheer scale of their visitor numbers. In no other venue can brands meet with so many clients, collectors and press, and vice versa. If a large fair is limited in visitor capacity by health restrictions, can it still dominate the launch cycles of big brands? Ian Skellern examines likely winners and losers of the brave new world of exhibitions in 2021.
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Swiss private bank Vontobel has just published its highly-regarded annual report on the luxury watch industry – the news for 2020 is grim. Put together by a team led by managing director Rene Weber, the Vontobel Luxury Goods Shop predicts a 25% fall in Swiss watch exports in 2020 – the biggest drop in 50 years as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. A proxy for the global luxury watch market, Swiss watch exports declined 22% during the 2008 financial crisis, and recovered swiftly the year after. But during the financial crisis there were no store or factory closures, and no halt to international travel. Since mid-March most watch brands, including giants Rolex and Patek Philippe, have shut their factories, or introduced short-time work, with between 60-70% of employees at Swatch Group working reduced hours. File photo of the Rolex factory in Bienne that’s gone quiet for now. Photo – Rolex At the peak of the pandemic in China, when practically the entire country was in lockdown, Vontobel estimated February sales fell 80%, something it expects will be repeated throughout the rest of the world. And even e-commerce is not enough to alleviate the situation substantially, because of logistical challenges. The report notes that as of mid-March,”the Swiss watch industry has come to an almost global standstill.” Unsurprisingly, the bank expects the pandemic to result in a steeper fall and slower recovery for the Swiss watch industry. The bank expects a s...
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Having postponed its traditional April and May watch auctions till June and July respectively – no doubt with fingers crossed and a quiet prayer – as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Sotheby’s has just announced Watches Weekly, an ongoing series of online-only watch auctions starting April 1, 2020. The auctions will take place on a rolling basis, with each sale lasting a week, then followed by the next sale, and so on. Each auction be centred around a theme while being relatively compact – the first sale is made up of 19 watches by Rolex and Audemars Piguet. The subsequent auctions will be Patek Philippe Design and Horology from April 8-15, then something for bargain hunters, Swiss Wristwatches with no reserve on April 15-22. Sam Hines, Sotheby’s global head of watches, explained the move in the announcement: “[Clients] are also increasingly confident [of buying] important pieces online. This was demonstrated last week, when we set a new record for a watch sold online at Sotheby’s [162,500 Swiss francs for a Rolex Daytona “Paul Newman” ref. 6262].” According to Mr Hines, the newly-announced online auctions will “complement the calendar of live sales and other online auctions already planned for the rest of the year”, implying that the rest of the auction calendar will proceed as planned. Watches Weekly makes Sotheby’s the first mainstream watch auctioneer – its peers are Christie’s, Phillips, and to a lesser degree, Antiquorum – to s...
Time+Tide
Good news is hard to find in today’s locked down, socially distanced world. But we have some. Because today, after patiently waiting for all watches to be received by their buyers (two of the remaining watches are unique pieces and are still in production), we went to the bank and drew five bank cheques for … ContinuedThe post Some good news in the gloom, we just sent out the first round of bushfire donations! appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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Trade body Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) just released its monthly export figures for Swiss watches – a proxy for the broader luxury watch market since Swiss timepieces dominate – and the February numbers are bleak. The month’s statistics illustrate two obvious trends that have shaped in the industry recently: the COVID-19 coronavirus is having a massive impact, and low-cost Swiss watches are being trounced by low-cost smartwatches. An Asian crisis, for now Compared with February last year, the value of exports globally declined by 9.2% – with export volume plunging 22.2% – but as the report notes darkly, the drop “does not yet fully reflect the actual situation in certain markets.” Unsurprisingly, the steepest declines were in the biggest Asian markets – China and Hong Kong – which suffered the worst period of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in the first two months of the year. The biggest fall was in Hong Kong, where exports fell 42% – the largest monthly decline in 20 years. The city imported just CHF143m of Swiss watches, compared to CHF246m for the same month last year. Exports to China fell 51.5% to CHF73m, from CHF151m for February 2019. February was merely an acceleration of a months-long decline. For the first three months of the year, exports to Hong Kong have fallen 33% compared to the same period last year, while exports to China are down 22%. Though exports to other large markets like the United States, Singapore, and Germa...
Time+Tide
Rolex Chief Executive Jean-Frédéric Dufour has today informed Rolex staff that they will be shutting down three factories in response to the increasing threat of COVID-19, from 5pm today. First reported by WatchPro USA, the news of the shut down was shared to Rolex employees in a letter, indicating the shut-down is set to last … ContinuedThe post BREAKING NEWS: Rolex shuts down production for 10 days, closing three factories appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Despite feeling that Geneva Watch Days was wrong, hope, stupidity, and self-interest prevailed enough to cause Ian Skellern to hold off on canceling his accommodation in Geneva previously booked for the now-canceled Watches & Wonders 2020. He was hoping organizing brand Bulgari would cancel the event first and take the decision and uncertainty out of his hands. But it didn’t. Now’s the (well-overdue) time to say bye-bye to Geneva Watch Days 2020 in his opinion.
Deployant
Breaking News: Citizen is the latest to exit from Baselworld 2020, citing worries about the current epidemic of COVID-19 as the reasons.
Time+Tide
While the Coronavirus outbreak certainly offers a number of reasons for the watch industry at large to be concerned, its effects haven’t been severely felt yet. According to recent data from the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), the first month of 2020 has seen strong watch sales, with a 9.4 per cent increase in … ContinuedThe post BUSINESS NEWS: Swiss watch exports unaffected by Coronavirus outbreak yet, according to FHH appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
Are you a watchmaking student? Apply now for awards up to $10,000!
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Swiss jeweller De Grisogono, which in its prime was one of the most extravagant brands on the planet, has just filed for bankruptcy in Geneva, as a result of Luanda Leaks, the financial scandal that has engulfed Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s former president, reports Swiss newspapers Tribune de Geneve and Le Temps. Luanda Leaks, a trove of leaked documents published by investigative news organisation ICIJ, revealed Angolan state funds were allegedly channeled to Ms dos Santos, helping make her the richest woman in Africa. Even before the leaked documents, Ms dos Santos and her family were already under pressure from her father’s successor, who has vowed to root out corruption in the oil-rich African nation. According to the documents, a portion of went to fund De Grisogono, which was acquired by a Angolan investors in 2012. The investment was led by Ms dos Santos’ husband, Sindika Dokolo, but allegedly funded by Sodiam, Angola’s state-owned diamond company. With De Grisogono continuing to lose money since 2012, the brand’s owners had been hawking De Grisogono for some time with no luck, and Luanda Leaks were the final nail in the coffin – the brand declared bankruptcy on Tuesday, January 28, 2020. The King of Black Diamonds Founded by Fawaz Gruosi in 1993, De Grisogono was perhaps most famous for its incredibly lavish annual party at the Cannes Film Festival – reputedly costing as much as 3 million francs in some years – that everyone who ...
Time+Tide
As one of the most important model series in the world today, the Rolex Daytona is used to living life in the spotlight. What that means is that there are very few things to say about the Daytona that haven’t already been said, but here’s a rundown of five milestone changes to how the Rolex … ContinuedThe post 5 things you never knew about the Rolex Daytona appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
If you regard yourself as a fan of luxury watchmaking, it’s probably fair enough to assume that you have heard of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. For those of you that haven’t, it is, quite simply, an icon. It is the epitome of luxury steel watches, and there’s a good reason for that (read on … ContinuedThe post 5 things you never knew about Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
The Patek Philippe Nautilus forms the basis of this historic brand’s sports collection, which rivals the very best in the business. And the genesis of this iconic model shares its history with another legendary sports watch, further cementing the status of the man behind both pieces. Designed by Gérald Genta, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak … ContinuedThe post 3 things you never knew about the Patek Philippe Nautilus appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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News last weekend that Switzerland’s competition regulator, COMCO, also widely known by its German acronym Weko, was weighing a ban on ETA movement sales to third-party brands caused a major stir in the watch industry – and a terse, lengthy response from Swatch Group, ETA’s parent and Switzerland’s biggest watchmaking conglomerate. The move was ostensibly to allow alternatives to ETA – once Switzerland’s dominant supplier of mechanical movements – to develop. According to the Swatch Group, the ban was entirely without merit, especially given the fact that ETA was no longer the biggest supplier of movements to the industry. That title now belongs to Sellita, which supplied a million movements in 2019, compared to half the number for ETA. Now COMCO has formalised the year-long ban in an announcement that puts in place a “temporary suspension of the supply of [ETA] mechanical movements to customers”. The ban will be in force until COMCO makes its final decision by the summer of 2020. The ban, however, allows ETA to sell its movements to existing clients that are small- and medium-sized watch brands, defined as having less than 250 employees, which will probably be of little consolation to ETA. According to a Swatch Group spokesman quoted by Reuters, the majority of ETA’s movement sales are to companies with more than 250 employees, and as a result, ETA foresees it won’t be able to sell any movements next year. According to the statement, the ban is foun...
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According to Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Wochenende (via Reuters), Switzerland’s Competition Commission, a federal body that oversees competition and antitrust matters, is considering an outright ban of movements sales by ETA to third parties, in other words brands outside of the Swatch Group, starting January 2020. Also known as COMCO, or its German acronym WEKO, the agency is expected to deliver a verdict on December 19 . No explicit reason was cited for the potential ban, but it was implied that a recent COMCO report on the industry structure of the movement business is the reason. It is possible that COMCO believes the number of alternatives to ETA is sufficient that the watch industry would be better served over the long term by forcing watch brands to switch away from ETA. COMCO has long tussled with Switzerland’s biggest movement maker, in a dispute that began 17 years ago, when ETA announced it would gradually halt sales of ebauches, or movement blanks, to brands not owned by its parent company, Swatch Group. Because ETA was, and still is, Switzerland’s largest movement, reputedly producing some five million movements a year, its decision was regarded by COMCO as anticompetitive. And the wider Swatch Group – which is the country’s largest watchmaking conglomerate – produces perhaps a third of the components needed for watch movements in the entire industry. In the subsequent years ETA and COMCO reached various agreements over movement supply, with the l...
Quill & Pad
The Swiss press is reporting that the tug of war between Swatch Group and Comco is now back on the table – and could result in dire consequences for the entire industry as soon as 2020, when ETA may stop delivering movements to outside brands. Get the story here.
SJX Watches
An educator by profession, Josh Shapiro had a longtime interest in watchmaking, which sharpened into a pursuit of traditional engine turning in 2013. After several years of practice – and a roomful of guilloche machines – the self-taught guillocheur and watchmaker produced a handful of dials for American watchmaker David Walter in 2016. And last year Josh launched his own brand, J.N. Shapiro, which he now pursues full-time, while remaining a part-time vice principal at a high school in Los Angeles. His debut watch was the Infinity Series, named after the Infinity Weave, a proprietary guilloche pattern he invented. The first J.N. Shapiro Infinity Series delivered, the watch pictured here, was finished earlier this year – and is numbered “N.01”. Though Josh offers a variety of options for the case and dial colours, this watch hews closely to the prototype, with a rose gold case, silver dial, and blue hands. It’s important to note this is actually the first watch Josh sold, and consequently shows some of the inevitable inconsistencies of a watchmaker’s early work. There are a couple of stray marks and burrs on the dial, and a bit of lint, but the early work of independent watchmakers is usually inconsistent, which is part of the hand-finished charm, and also proof of how artisans evolve. Josh’s subsequent dials have improved tremendously. Josh Shapiro with one of his straight-line machines. Photo – J.N. Shapiro The Infinity Series has a simple but effect...
SJX Watches
The latest figures from trade body Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) show a massive fall in Swiss watch exports to Hong Kong, a statistic that is proxy for sales of luxury watches. According to the FH numbers for the month of October 2019, exports to Hong Kong fell 29.7% to 191.3m Swiss francs. This comes after a more measured, 4.6% drop in September. Exports to Hong Hong have now fallen below those to China, which rose 10.8% to 218.4m francs. Enjoying a 11.2% rise to 227.5m francs is the United States, which was the largest market for Swiss watches in October. For the year to date, Hong Kong remains the world’s largest market for Swiss watches, though the gap between it and the second-placed United States is falling. Hong Kong imported 2.26 billion francs of Swiss watches in the year to date – a fall of 8.8% compared to the same period las year – compared to 1.97 billion francs for the United States. Pedder Street in Hong Kong’s Central business district, ordinarily a shopping paradise. Photo – Hong Kong Tourism Board The drop in watch exports to the city confirm industry talk that the luxury goods has been hard hit by the six months of protests that have roiled Hong Kong. Shops located in the worst affected areas can only stay open for a fraction of a business day, or not at all on some days. Several executives from both watch brands and retailers in the territory have cited consecutive, month-on-month drops in store sales that reach into the double d...
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Having just announced its six-month results to the end of September, luxury conglomerate Richemont eked out a rise in sales driven by its jewellery division, with its online business staying in the red and watchmakers showing no growth. Sales rose 9% increase to €7.397 billion, with a stable net profit of €869 million, based on actual exchange rates. The group reported double-digit sales growth in China, Korea, Japan, the US and the United Kingdom. But overall sales in Asia Pacific, which accounts for 37% of the group’s sales, has been subdued, mostly due to the political unrest in Hong Kong, which accounts for around 10% of the group’s revenue. The city saw sales drop by double digits. Richemont’s jewellery brands, namely Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, though it just added Buccellati to its portfolio, reported an 8% rise in sales. Notably, it was led by a higher increase in watch sales than jewellery. Prospects for the group’s watch brands, which include IWC and Panerai, have been muted due to the slump in its biggest market, Hong Kong. Richemont singled out Panerai, A. Lange & Söhne and Vacheron Constantin as enjoying the highest growth within the watch division, which is notable for the fact that these brands are not usually the drivers of growth, at least in recent years. The A. Lange & Söhne Odysseus, launched too late to help sales but its maker did well anyway In terms of sales channels, retail sales at Richemont’s own stores were up by 4%, but who...
Time+Tide
Vacheron Constantin is one of the grand dames of Genevan watchmaking - tracing their lineage and continuous operation back to 1755, or 260-odd years. Shortly after Vacheron Constantin’s founding, Captain Cook set sail for Australian shores, claiming it as British sovereign territory in 1770. It took Vacheron Constantin a little longer to make its way … ContinuedThe post NEWS: Vacheron Constantin opens first Australian boutique in Melbourne appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Overnight, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève dropped the list of their 84 pre-selected watches, which will be judged within an inch of their lives and presented to an adoring crowd of industry professionals. You can check the full list over at the GPHG site. There’s a lot to dive into, and quite a few … ContinuedThe post NEWS: The GPHG has announced the full list of finalists for 2019, and we’re pretty excited by these 5 contenders appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
The Swatch Group have published their 2019 Half-Year Report, revealing some interesting information. The group has reported an increase in their inventory levels, which include components, movements and watches, to a total of 7.1 billion Swiss francs (up 2.6 per cent from 2018). More broadly, the group, which owns brands such as Tissot, Longines and … ContinuedThe post BUSINESS NEWS: Why the Swatch Group has millions of watches sitting in warehouses appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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