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Business News: May Swiss Watch Exports 'Paralyzed'
Switzerland shipped 1.3 million fewer watches to market this May than in May 2019.
6,170 articles · 2,512 videos found · page 54 of 290
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Switzerland shipped 1.3 million fewer watches to market this May than in May 2019.
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Ditat Deus.
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Our two retailers in this edition feature both the established favorites and some lesser-known brands.
Quill & Pad
There is no shortage of tourbillons in every manufacturer's collection, and standing out from the crowd is challenging. Here Martin Green highlights three new tourbillons that, thanks to a generous dash of creativity, manage to differentiate themselves from the rest of the field.
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Two top watch retailers: a fourth-generation jeweler and a first.
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What do both of these retailers have in common? Fantastic limited editions.
A novelty from an aspiring Japanese brand with 1950s vintage vibes.
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Hypercar meets hyperwatch.
Quill & Pad
Are you ready for fine high horology with a bit of glamour? Here are two of the more affordable and elegantly sporty models from two of watchmaking’s finest brands: Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe.
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Watch shopping? Check out these spots in the Steel City and the Big Apple.
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Revolution
Rolex takes a big precautionary step by shutting down its production facilities for two weeks to help curb COVID-19 spread
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Facilities will close March 17 through March 27.
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The latest limited edition from Grand Seiko marks a major mechanical leap forward.
Quill & Pad
Watch spotting on celebrity wrists can be a lot of fun if you’re watching a movie or TV show. Oh, who is Elizabeth kidding? It’s always a lot of fun. Here she shares five watches that caught her eye on the wrists of celebrities over the last couple of weeks.
Quill & Pad
Place Vendôme has always held an extraordinary attraction for Martin Green: he cannot visit the French capital without going there. The square is occupied by hôtel particuliers, or historical city townhouses, which served as homes and offices to some of the richest and most influential families in France. And while their façades are homogeneous, what's behind them is not: one of the magical places there is the Jaeger-LeCoultre boutique at 7 Place Vendôme.
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WatchAdvice
In 2019, the well renowned GMT Master II, reference 116710BLNR also known as ‘Batman’ was replaced by the new 126710BLNR model. The original 116710BLNR grabbed attention as soon as it was released at Baselworld in 2013. The high level of interest in this watch can largely be attributed to its bi-colour ceramic bezel. This model has been and still is a sought-after model that you may be wondering why Rolex have released a renewed model. Rolex have made some thoughtful changes to the older 116710 BLNR model to ensure that it is up to date technologically and aesthetically. Bracelet The biggest and the most obvious difference is the bracelet. The oyster bracelet on Ref 116710 BLNR has broad and flat three-piece links with brushed outer links and polished centre links. It’s the most universal bracelet in the oyster collection and was actually introduced in 1930s. This oyster bracelet has a classy yet sporty appearance. The renewed 126710BLNR model has a five-piece link jubilee bracelet which also has brushed outer links and polished centre links. It is visually striking due to the way it shines. It also stands out well when compared with the previous oyster bracelet. Even though the bracelets look different, they’re both made from Oyster steel. Oyster steel is specifically developed by Rolex, it belongs to the 904L steel family which is commonly used in high-technology and in the aerospace and chemical industries. This type of steel is extremely resistant, has an...
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Comparing two classic formulas – but which is best?
Quill & Pad
De Bethune is one of the most avant-garde watch brands on the planet. Knowing that, did you ever wonder what its factory looks like? Is it much different from other watch factories? What do this brand’s technicians do differently than others? How do they get the watches to look like that? And the most burning question: does the factory look like a spaceship? These questions and more get answered here.
SJX Watches
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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The $16.2 billion deal doubles the size of LVMH’s Watches & Jewelry division.
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Quill & Pad
What qualifies a watch to be "made in Glashütte" or "made in Germany"? Sabine Zwettler explains exactly that right here.
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Three brothers, three killer watches, and one big award.
SJX Watches
Abraham-Louis Breguet’s contributions to horology are as numerous as they are fundamental. Practically every avenue of watchmaking is built on the foundations he laid down, from the perpetuelle self-winding mechanism to pare-chute shock-protection for balance pivots. But most famous of all was the tourbillon, patented in 1801. It was crucial to the precision of mechanical pocket watches and clocks, the only kinds of timepieces in use then, which normally sat in an upright, vertical position. The Breguet Souscription pocket watch of the 1990s that replicated the 19th century originals, right down to the pare-chute escapement The tourbillon, however, was not Breguet’s only effort in improving chronometric performance. Prior to the tourbillon, he created the lesser known but more elegant echappement naturel, or natural escapement, in 1789. It was a double-wheel chronometer escapement that in theory, needed no oil. Breguet managed to incorporate it into just 20 pocket watches, but serial production of the natural escapement ultimately eluded him as its design had inherent shortcomings – primarily backlash in the motion of its wheels – that made it impossible to commercialise. The idea was ahead of its time, and it would take some 200 years before technology made the natural escapement feasible. The concept of natural escapements continues to fascinate watchmakers, many of whom have conceived modern-day descendants, the most recent of which is the Ch...
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Global exports through June rose just 1.4% in value versus the first six months of 2018.
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The war for our wrists is far from over.
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