Category: Industry News

Industry News – US-Brand Timex Goes Back to Mechanical After 35 Years of Quartz, with a $200 Hand-Wound Watch

For most of the youngsters, Timex is synonymous of accessible, fashion-oriented quartz watches. However, if we look back in time, Timex actually played a major role in the history of the American mechanical watch. Timex was one of the most, if not the most prominent US-based manufacture, until the early 1980s when the company made a drastic strategic move. Yet, times are changing, and without saying that Timex is about to go back to its glorious past position, it is to be noted that the US-based brand returns to mechanical, with the Timex Vintage Marlin, a hand-wound watch priced under $200. A lot to love, and also not to love… You’ll see!

6 years ago

Industry news – Omega Opens New High-Tech Factory in Biel and Prepares for the Future

Today, Omega just unveiled their brand new eco-friendly premises designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. Located next to the brand’s historical building where the brand is headquartered, the new factory was inaugurated today (Editor’s note: November 2, 2017) and it is an important step for the brand, allowing to regroup its forces hitherto spread out between various sites. No revolution there (which Omega does not need) but an evolution bringing watch assembly training and quality control (T2/T3/T4 for those familiar with the Swatch Group production flows), under one roof, providing a cutting-edge setting to operate the brand’s production activities.

6 years ago

Breaking News – Phillips Sells Paul Newman’s Paul Newman Daytona for $17,752,500, Being The Most Expensive Wristwatch Ever Auctioned

This is it… This is the big one. The watch that the entire collecting community was expecting to see surfacing one day went under the hammer. This watch, as auctioneer Aurel Bacs explained to us in this video interview, is not only a celebrity’s watch; it represents much more than that. It’s the very watch that created an icon (the Paul Newman Daytona), the very watch that is, in fact, the reason why collecting steel sports watches is now so high. Well, it’s official, Paul Newman’s Paul Newman Daytona has been sold a few minutes ago, for a record price of over 17.7 Million, making it the most expensive wristwatch ever auctioned (and that’s with buyer’s premium).

6 years ago

Watch of the Year 2017 with CH24.pl and the Special Jury Prize for #SpeedyTuesday

For several years I’ve been a member of the jury of the Watch Of The Year in Poland, organised by our friends of CH24.pl. Last week was the gala award ceremony, as per usual held in the beautiful Sobanski’s Palace in Warsaw. Last year we celebrated the many prize winner, and especially the Grönefeld brothers who won no less than two prizes! This year the Special Jury Award went to a fellow Dutchman and that’s #SpeedyTuesday founder Robert-Jan Broer.

7 years ago

VIDEO – Aurel Bacs Talks Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona & Highlights From Phillips New York Auction

While Aurel Bacs’ reputation as an auctioneer was not to be done anymore, he recently managed to impress the watch-collecting community again, by being entrusted with the sale of no less than Paul Newman’s Paul Newman Rolex Daytona. So to say, a Holy-Grail in watch collecting. However, that’s not all. Phillips, in Association with Bacs & Russo, managed to create around this watch an entire and fascinating catalogue, which inaugurates the New York auctions for the Maison. Today, we’re pleased to receive Aurel, to talk Paul Newman’s Paul Newman Rolex Daytona and other highlights from the “Winning Icons, Legendary Watches of the 20th Century” that will take place in New York, on 26 October 2017.

7 years ago

VIDEO – An In-Depth Look Inside Carl F. Bucherer, Made of Lucerne

The name Bucherer might sound familiar to many of you, so we though it’d be relevant to clarify one or two things… After a closer investigation on the brand, we even discovered that there was actually much more to tell, to see, and to like! This is why today, we bring you this in-depth video focussed on Carl F. Bucherer – and for that, we sat down with CEO Sascha Moeri, we visited the manufacture, which has a strong focus on the in-house peripheral rotor movement, and we discussed history, present and future of the brand – and of course, the link between Carl F. Bucherer and Bucherer retail stores.

7 years ago

In-Depth – Zenith DEFY LAB, 3 Centuries of Regulation & Chronometry Revolutionized with a Radically New Oscillator (Technical Insights & Video)

It’s now time to lift the veil on the big and truly exciting news we had anticipated further to Jean-Claude Biver’s (President of the LVMH watch division) and Julien Tornare’s (CEO of Zenith) press conference last May: a groundbreaking development in the field of chronometry, exploring unchartered territories and challenging the basic operating principle of the mechanical watch regulation, invented in 1675 by Christiaan Huygens – a principle that has remained basically unchanged since its creation. The name of this watch is the Zenith DEFY LAB, and it comes with a revolutionary, yet technically quite simple, type of oscillator.

7 years ago

Business News – Richemont Announces Solid Double-Digit Sales Growth at Annual General Meeting

While times have been difficult for the industry in the last 2 to 3 years (see the 2016/2017 results of Richemont Group), signs of recovery are now more and more blatant. Indeed, Swatch Group’s Half-Year Report 2017 showed growth (with increase of sales and better profitability). It’s now time for the other luxury powerhouse, Swiss-based group Richemont, to announce a massive increase in sales for the five months ended 31 August 2017, as we’re talking double-digit numbers and no negative data to be seen in any region or segment.

7 years ago

News – GPHG 2017 Finalists Announced – Plus Our Analysis and Predictions

Every year in Geneva is the GPHG (Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève), or the so-called Oscars of the Watchmaking Industry, which celebrate the best watches of the year – the most advanced, the most innovative, the most creative timepieces – as well as the best in show, the Aiguille d’Or. Today we’re able to bring you, hot off the press, the complete list of finalists selected by the Jury. Only six watches remain in each of the twelve categories and, while the final jury selection will only been given on November 8th, 2017, we can already give you the full list, our impressions and our usual predictions about the possible awarded watches.

7 years ago