Industry News Archives - Page 32 of 43

News – On the Road to Baselworld 2018 – What You’ll See on MONOCHROME

Rolex, Omega, Patek Phillipe, Tudor, TAG Heuer and many more… Tomorrow, the 2018 edition of world’s largest watch fair, Baselworld, will open its doors. Hundreds of new watches will be revealed to members of the press, retailers and collectors. Even though the general consensus around the fair itself seems quite negative, the industry is in relatively good shape and this won’t prevent the MONOCHROME team to “veni, vidi, referi” – “go, see, report” live from the fair, with an incredibly large coverage. Baselworld is coming, and we are on the road to Switzerland

Pre-Baselworld 2018 – Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier Launches Its Integrated, High-Frequency, Column-Wheel Chronograph

For once, this won’t a product-related news – understand here, the launch of a new watch – that we will share with you. Instead, we’ll look at the other side of the industry: suppliers. Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, one of the most respected movement constructors of the Swiss industry, indeed unveils an integrated high-frequency column-wheel chronograph, the calibre Seed VMF 6710. And it truly is quite an interesting movement, to say the least.

Apple Shipped More Watches Than The Whole Swiss Watch Industry in Q4 2017

We already knew that the Apple Watch was becoming a heavyweight of the watchmaking industry. Back in 2016, during the annual “Key Note” press conference, Tim Cook claimed that Apple was second only to Rolex in worldwide sales. In September, Cook announced that Apple Watch has become the top-selling watch globally. A few days ago came the final blow: Apple is on its way to sell more watches than the entire Swiss watch industry.

Bucherer, The Leading European Watch Retailer, Announces Acquisition of Tourneau LLC, The Leading U.S. Watch Retailer

Bucherer, the leading European retailer of fine watches and jewellery, announced that it has just acquired Tourneau LLC, the largest U.S. based luxury watch retailer. With 28 points of sale across 10 states and a fully integrated e-commerce website, Bucherer will thus reinforce its presence around the world and benefit from a top-tier partner in America.

Swatch Group’s 2017 Results Show Strong Growth (and some Baselworld 2018 novelties partially revealed)

After Richemont announced strong quarterly results just before SIHH 2018 and LVMH reported a double-digit growth for 2017, it’s now Swatch Group’s turn to come with their annual results for the year 2017. And before going into details, know that they are strong and that the outlook for 2018 is still very positive. Once again, the industry seems to be in full recovery, with one or two threats that will have to be managed in the near future though.

LVMH 2017 Annual Report Shows Double-Digit Growth for the Watch and Jewelry Division

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s leading luxury group, recorded revenue of EUR 42.6 billion in 2017, an increase of 13% over the previous year. The group also shows a sustained growth in organic revenue, with a 12% increase. The group profit is up 18%, at EUR 8,293 million. All business divisions recorded double-digit organic growth, with the exception of Wines and Spirits. For what is our main concern here, the watchmaking industry, LVMH (owner, among others, of TAG Heuer, Hublot, Zenith and Bulgari) reports an ‘Excellent year for Bvlgari and good progress at Hublot and TAG Heuer’.

Ressence Type 2 e-Crown Concept – The First Self-Setting Mechanical Watch (or how Smart-Tech can make sense)

Here, at MONOCHROME, we’re not huge fans of the smart-watches, to say the least. We cherish and celebrate watches in their purest (probably old-school) form: ME-CHA-NI-CAL! We love gears, pinions, hand-decoration, complications but also all the devoted people that work behind the scenes. Smart-watch, as tech objects, never ticked the boxes. However, we have to keep up with the times and admit that in some cases, technology can be brilliant (we are, after all, a web medium). Today, Ressence launches the Type 2 e-Crown Concept and they might have found the recipe to reconcile us with electronics…

Richemont Announces Strong Quarterly Results just before SIHH 2018

Just days ahead of the launch of the 2018 edition of the SIHH – the Geneva-based watch fair where all the watchmaking brands of the Richemont Group present their novelties – the Richemont Group posts its financial results for the last quarter of 2017. The positive trend continues with an overall 7% increase in sales for the Group.

H. Moser & Cie. does it again with the Swiss Icons Watch – Another Irreverent Piece to Draw Attention

H. Moser & Cie. does it again with the Swiss Icons Watch…! Yes, it is a mess. Yes, it looks terrible. No, it is not a joke and it does really exist. But indeed, it is again a brave move from the brand. Early 2017, Moser decided to remove the “Swiss Made” inscription from their watches and coincidentally they launched the Swiss Mad Watch (100% Swiss, including the cheese case). Now, the brand again wants to make some noise and to point what they believe to be the watchmaking industry’s main issue; the lack of creativity and the overly-present marketing.

Watch Dandy

Category: Industry News