Watch brand league table: Rolex is now 25% of the entire Swiss watch industry, here are the other pandemic movers
Rolex is the biggest watch brand in the world (so long as you don’t count Apple). But while that information might not come as a surprise, Rolex has actually grown its market share in 2020 despite selling an estimated 140,000 fewer watches than the year before (due to factory closures as a result of the pandemic). This is according to a report by Morgan Stanley that stated Rolex has consolidated its lead at the top during the pandemic, increasing its market share to 24.9% in 2020, up from 22% in 2019. What is also remarkable is that Rolex SA, who also owns Tudor, has become the largest watch manufacturing group on the planet by claiming 26.8% of the market, beating Swatch Group who captured 25.2%. This growth in market share was in the face of a drop in turnover of 14% from CHF5.05 billion down to CHF4.42 billion, a fall that was softened by a 5% price increase across their range. In contrast, the latest data from the Federation Horlogère Suisse (FHS) industry body painted a grim picture across the rest of the industry, with a drop in export value of Swiss watches by 21.8% and the number of watches…
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I met Paul Newman once. Back in 2001, I spent an hour in his company. Just him and me chatting in a drawing room in Barretstown Castle, Ireland, where he had set up a residential camp for seriously ill children. Sure, he was a little slow on a staircase at that stage but trust me, the man was the most ridiculously cool 76-year-old you could ever hope to meet. We didn’t talk about watches, because I had yet to fall down that rabbit hole. I was wearing a basic Timex Ironman because it told the time and was cheap. Every box ticked. I didn’t even know watches were “a thing”. And I certainly didn’t know Paul Newman’s name was attached to a watch that was a big deal then – and which one day would become the biggest deal of all. Every now and again – especially after auctions such as the recent sale of his ‘Big Red’ ref. 6263 for US$5.5 million – I wonder what he wore on his wrist that day. Was it one of the “ones”? Did I miss a moment with horological history? And I wonder what I would have asked him if I knew…
That is if I ever really had one. When it was released in 2018, the Rolex GMT-Master II Pepsi Ref. 126710 BLRO quickly cemented itself at the top of my wish list, grail list, things-I’d-kill-for-to-own list (you get the picture). It remained firmly in the realm of dreams until recently when I decided to bite the bullet and pick up one second-hand. Yes, I paid market premium and all. Cue the laughter of the lucky collectors who were able to pick one up at retail – congrats to you if you fall into this category. The only way I could make it work without living on the street was by completely detonating my entire collection and going all in on the latest iteration of Pepsi. Was it worth it? Well let’s find out. Once I put it on I felt… Relieved more than anything. Relieved that I hadn’t just jettisoned some watches I really loved for something so hyped up. I was torn internally whether to go for it. Andrew warned me off it, telling me it was more blueberry than Pepsi. As someone who has wrist-rolled his way through pretty much every important watch out there his opinion carries a lot…
When we talk about what attracts people to watches, you may typically expect the response to be the movement. But when it comes to the larger marketplace, arguably the most important element, aside from case diameter, is the dial. The dial is what catches your eye first. As much as some people jest they would want to wear a watch flipped over on their wrist to be able to see the movement at all times, intriguing dials are the first element you notice – the headline to pull you in and make you want to know the full story. Sport and tool watches are typically associated with plain dials that mean business, but in order to stand out today sometimes you need to spice things up. To begin celebrating the 60th anniversary of the brand, Sinn has introduced a new limited edition diver that presents a more interesting dial without losing the tough and reliable German engineering aesthetic they are known for. The Sinn U1 DS Limited Edition with “Grinding Dial” captures the image of a battle worn hull, its irregular decorative pattern sure to generate inquiry into the diver. The 44mm bead-blasted case is 14.7mm thick, 50.5mm lug to…
We recently unveiled our Time+Tide Clubhouse Club, as well as our first weekly room “The Breakfast Club”. Each week, Fridays at 5pm EST / Saturday morning at 9AM AEDT, I will be hosting and moderating the Time+Tide “Breakfast Club” on Clubhouse where we will tackle a watch (not breakfast) related topic. Typically the prompt will be a question posed to our team and readers, where ideally we all get to share our thoughts on the matter. With the second Time+Tide “Breakfast Club” weekly meeting fast approaching, I wanted to unveil this week’s topic, and for those less initiated into the Clubhouse app, the rules of the room. It is my goal each week to be able to engage as much as possible with you during each room, and in order to make that happen I have decided on three simple rules. But before we dive into that, let’s reveal what we are talking about this week. Our topic this week: “Apples to Apples: Which Watch Would You Choose Between…?” Based on our first discussion, we found it very interesting that many of you voiced your conundrum of trying to choose between two similar pieces when considering your next watch. One…
Paw prints, Celtic bands, bows on thighs, pretty much anything inked on the face… There’s no shortage of tattoo choices that are questionable at best and watch tattoos represent yet another baffling sub-category. After all, if you want to visibly declare your passion for a particular brand or model, there’s a straight-forward way to do it. You simply wear that watch on your wrist. But this doesn’t cut it for some people. Presumably, they think it’s all a bit fickle – the way you can take your watch off one day and swap it for another piece from your collection the next. Instead they want to go further and declare their commitment with a horological statement that’s more than skin-deep. Searching for positives here, I suppose watch tattoos do have certain advantages over the real McCoy. They’re ultra-thin (eat your heart out Piaget Altiplano Ultimate), they require zero servicing fees and they’re far cheaper than the actual timepiece. They may also prove instructive if you’re a degenerate watch flipper, too. A watch tattoo isn’t something you can trade-in on a knee-jerk whim for the latest shiny release on an integrated bracelet. In addition, it should be noted that tattoos and…
When Seiko launched their new, vintage-inspired sub range of the Alpinist, we shared the three standard models in our story here, but we’ve kept the star under wraps. Here’s the fourth smaller sibling, the limited edition SJE085 Alpinist 1959 recreation, vintage purity on a surprising bund strap. While it might look like mere tweaks to the design of the bright trio covered in our previous story, the SJE085 is, in fact, much more than mere hand-stitched leather cuff-ery. While the look is the same, the case and lugs are only for this Limited Edition, with a 36.6mm diameter versus 38mm for the standard model, and a svelte 11.1mm thickness. This is obsessively designed with a deep passion for the Seiko Laurel original, but why not before I hear you ask? Well, Seiko have been rather generous with their limited and standard diver’s watches, with only a smattering of Presage in between a strong selection of skin divers and Tuna cans. This time they’ve pushed the boat out, especially on what is a charmingly quirky chocolate-sweet bund strap, its whimsical seams and outer grooves looking like nothing else on a standard Seiko. The watch case is both a celebration of the…
Let me start by saying that I’ve had quite the week. Summer doesn’t seem to want to end, the T+T Team are working really hard on a few very exciting projects that we’ll be able to announce soon, but that wasn’t all. We were lucky enough to attend the first watch event in real life for the first time in almost exactly a year and it was great to catch up with several Melbourne-based collectors, as well as see some pretty special watches up close and personal. Also, this week we took a close look at a watch that isn’t a new release, but does have a new element to it. The watch in question is the Rolex GMT-Master II Ref. 126710 BLRO that was released in 2018. The element I’m referring to is the colour of the bezel, which has been a hot topic of conversation at T+T HQ. Is the bezel different at all, or is it just the lighting? If it has changed, what are the differences in colour? In our video review, Andrew recalls seeing the watch for the first time at Baselworld and wondering if there had been a mistake, or if these were the colours…
Clubhouse has become a wonderful platform for watch lovers of all genders, ages, and levels of knowledge to come together and talk all things timepieces. Though distanced by geography and circumstance, Clubhouse is allowing us to connect in a manner never truly available before. If you’re not familiar with the app, I previously put together an overview on what it is and what Clubhouse means for the watch the community – so definitely give that a read for the full scoop. For the Time+Tide team, our valued readers are priority number one and we could not pass on the opportunity to be able to engage with you all each week. This is why we proudly announce our Clubhouse Time+Tide Club and our first weekly recurring room: “The Breakfast Club”. What is “The Breakfast Club”? The Breakfast Club name is a cheeky reference to the fact that, while I may be based in New York City, USA, our HQ is in Melbourne, Australia. Therefore while I may be hosting the room every Fridays at 5pm EST, in Australia it will be Saturday morning at 9AM AEDT. I promise the room is not about John Hughes films or what comprises your favorite…
We all know that pretty much any stainless-steel Rolex sports watch is insanely popular right now. In fact, there’s an unrelenting groundswell of hype around these watches that is undeniable. But do they really deserve it? One of the most prominent watches in the Professional range is the Rolex GMT-Master II Ref. 126710 BLRO, which instantly commanded a long waiting list ever since it was first released back at Baselworld 2018. Sure, we know it’s a good watch, but is it actually worth the premium that it demands on the secondary market? With a 40mm stainless-steel case, red and blue Cerachrom bezel and solid-link jubilee bracelet, the Rolex GMT-Master II Ref. 126710 BLRO is a watch with a long history behind it. This history began in the middle of the 1950s when Rolex worked with pilots from the Pan-Am airline to develop a functional travel watch. Nearly seven decades later, the Rolex “Pepsi” GMT is still a watch in extremely high demand and its value continues to climb. Housed inside the Oystersteel case is the automatic in-house caliber 3285, which is Rolex’s most sophisticated GMT movement to date. With 70 hours of power reserve, an anti-magnetic Chronergy escapement and a temperature…