Richemont Group, the luxury powerhouse behind Cartier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and more, like most conglomerates operating in the luxury industry, has been dramatically impacted by the current sanitary situation and the COVID-19 pandemic with sales down 16% over the first 9 months of its current financial year (April-December 2020). Still, the group has released this morning […]
2020 will be remembered as a traumatic year… but also a turning point. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted virtually all aspects of human life. As far as the watch industry is concerned, it has been severely hit by the sanitary crisis. Swiss watch exports have seen a decline of 23.5% over the 11 first months […]
The FHS, the Swiss Watch Federation, just released its export statistics for November 2020. These were down 3.2% for the month, confirming the trend of a gradual slowdown of the decline over the past few weeks. This trend is mainly due to China with shipments up 69.5% but other markets are showing signs of improvement. […]
The FHS, the Swiss Watch Federation, just released its export statistics for November 2020. These were down 3.2% for the month, confirming the trend of a gradual slowdown of the decline over the past few weeks. This trend is mainly due to China with shipments up 69.5% but other markets are showing signs of improvement. […]
An application was submitted by Switzerland and France to UNESCO in 2019. This is now official, Swiss and French mechanical watchmaking practised for centuries in the Jura mountain region has been inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which celebrates well-known traditions, art forms and practices. The listing refers to […]
Parmigiani Fleurier and the Armani Group have just announced their collaboration for the creation of a new Giorgio Armani Fine Watches collection, which will be on sale from November 2021. Although Giorgio Armani has been a long-time partner of the Fossil Group – the partnership between the Fossil group and Giorgio Armani was extended for […]
France has a long watchmaking tradition and its ties with Switzerland are rich and vibrant. Watchmaking really developed in Switzerland after the French Huguenot refugees brought their watch- and clock-making skills in Geneva. The quartz crisis has crippled the French watch industry and today, watchmaking and watch production in France is at an almost standstill. […]
A few weeks ago, a Philippe Dufour Simplicity “20th Anniversary” was the highlight of the Phillips “Retrospective 2000-2020” Geneva auction. The watch – marked 00/20 – hammered for over CHF 1.3 million. Admittedly, Philippe Dufour is one of the most respected craftsmen of the industry, and his watches are regarded as the ultimate expression of […]
In the light of the uncertainty provoked by the current health crisis, most of the major fairs of 2020 were cancelled – including the two heavyweights that are Baselworld and Watches & Wonders, the latter having held a digital edition already in April 2020. For 2021, afraid of the (non) evolution of the sanitary situation, […]
This is it, the 2020 Oscars of the Watchmaking industry, the so-called Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève or GPHG 2020, is about to begin and the best watches introduced during the year are about to be awarded. From ladies’ watches to chronographs and exceptional mechanical proposals, the entire spectrum of watch production is covered. For […]