Category: Industry News

Industry News – Richemont Announces Strong 2017-2018 Results – Sales and Operating Profit on the Rise

Echoing its rivals in the luxury goods industry – including LVMH, Kering or Swatch Group – Swiss luxury powerhouse Richemont just announced growth for the year ended 31 March 2018. Sales increased by 3% at actual rates and by 8% at constant rates to EUR 10,979 million. The group reports strong performance in their retail network. Operating profit grew 5% at EUR 1 844 and the proposed dividend will be CHF 1.90 (a 6% increase compared to previous period).

6 years ago

Interview – Patrick Pruniaux, CEO of Ulysse Nardin, on the Future of the Brand

Replacing another Patrick (Hoffmann, CEO of the brand from 2011 to 2017), Patrick Pruniaux could easily be qualified as a luxury expert – watch expert, of course, but not only. He certainly is part of the new generation of CEOs who know about the watchmaking industry but who also spent some years outside of this microcosm. From the Wine and Spirit division of LVMH, followed by several positions at TAG Heuer, Patrick will later cross the Atlantic in 2014, as he was hired by Apple, in Cupertino, to prepare the launch of the Apple Watch as a member of the Special Projects team. He was then promoted to the position of Managing Director for UK & Ireland in 2015, and was also a member of Apple EMEA Executive Committee. He finally joined Kering Group in September 2017 as Chief Executive Officer of Ulysse Nardin. Today, we have this 2.0 luxury CEO talking to us about the future of Ulysse Nardin.

6 years ago

Industry News – Baume (without ‘et Mercier’) is Richemont’s new Value Proposition

Yesterday Richemont announced to start a new watch brand named Baume. That’s right, Baume, without ‘et Mercier’, is being lined up as the new Value Proposition from the Richemont Group. Over the past years, Baume et Mercier was positioned as the affordable luxury brand from the group, with pricing that did not always match this slogan. So it’s now up to Baume to fill the segment of € 500 to € 1,000 Euros, a segment that’s completely new to the Richemont Group. They are coming with cheap affordable Asian movements (mainly quartz and a mechanical Miyota), lots of eco-friendly materials and an online configurator.

6 years ago

Interview – Talking about the Oscars of Watchmaking and new Developments for the GPHG

As of January 1st, 2018, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, or short GPHG, has a new president: Mr Raymond Loretan. He took over the helm from his predecessor Carlo Lamprecht, who, together with Mrs Carine Maillard, director of the GPHG foundation, has built the GPHG to what it is today. What they achieved in only seventeen years is very impressive! Besides a new president, there are two more prize categories that we wanted to know more about. MONOCHROME sat down with Raymond Loretan and Carine Maillard to talk about the GPHG’s past and future. 

6 years ago

Industry News – Massive Shake-ups Again at Richemont – Inc. New CEOs for JLC and Baume & Mercier

2017 has been quite hectic for the Richemont Group. Indeed, we’ve seen the “Big Reshuffle” with 4 CEOs leaving (JLC, Vacheron, Piaget, Dunhill) as well as the appointment of Lambert as Head of Operations and Kern as Head of Watchmaking, Marketing and Digital. Everything was planned until Kern announced its departure for Breitling, which led Lambert to be appointed COO of all the Maisons. The storm isn’t over yet, even if the situation seems easier today. According to Business Montres, there are new CEOs for both Jaeger-LeCoultre and Baume et Mercier.

6 years ago

Industry News – Massive Shake-ups Again at Richemont – Incl. New CEOs for JLC and Baume & Mercier

2017 has been quite hectic for the Richemont Group. Indeed, we’ve seen the “Big Reshuffle” with 4 CEOs leaving (JLC, Vacheron, Piaget, Dunhill) as well as the appointment of Lambert as Head of Operations and Kern as Head of Watchmaking, Marketing and Digital. Everything was planned until Kern announced its departure for Breitling, which led Lambert to be appointed COO of all the Maisons. The storm isn’t over yet, even if the situation seems easier today. According to Business Montres, there are new CEOs for both Jaeger-LeCoultre and Baume et Mercier.

6 years ago

Auction – Bonham’s and TAG to Offer a Unique Re-Edition of F1 Driver Ronnie Peterson’s Gold Heuer Carrera Ref. 1158 CHN

During the 1970s, Heuer was deeply involved in Formula One, as the perfect communication tool to promote their racing chronographs. Some Carrera watches – rare ones with gold cases, under the reference 1158 CHN – were gifted by Jack Heuer to successful drivers. In 1972, Jack gave Swedish F1 Driver Ronnie Peterson such a watch – a watch that was recently auctioned. If the original one is now part of the brand’s museum collection, an opportunity to get your hands on a 1:1 replica will be offered by TAG and Bonham’s during the upcoming Monaco Auction “Les Grandes Marques”, with proceeds going to Peterson foundation.

6 years ago

News – Chronoswiss Creates CryptoCurrency-Inspired Watches To Be Auctioned Via Exchange Platform Zaif

In their latest press release, Swiss watchmaker Chronoswiss just announced the creation of several CryptoCurrency-inspired watches. What comes today as a piece of news is actually the result of a process engaged a few months ago, when the brand announced accepting payment in Bitcoin (as reported by HDK here). The second step is even more surprising, with several dedicated models to soon be auctioned via cryptocurrency exchange platform Zaif.

6 years ago

Industry News – Alpina AlpinerX Launches on Kickstarter and it’s Selling Like Hotcakes

Smart watches, quartz watches, digital watches… that’s nothing for MONOCHROME. You know us, we cover high-end mechanical watches (and a value proposition once in a while), because the beauty of mechanics is what gets us going. The other day, however, Alpina launched their latest creation on Kickstarter and I think that’s rather novel. A big and established brand launching their latest watch on a digital platform mostly used by new-comers.

6 years ago