The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS) reports exports up 6.3% at 21.2 billion CHF in 2018, back above the 20 billion Swiss Francs mark. Exports have now climbed for two consecutive years as demand had bounced back in 2017 (19.9 billion CHF, +2.7%), after two years of decline. The performance achieved in 2018 is still inferior to that of 2015.
If the over $35,000 price point is not the most crowded at SIHH, it is equal to the 20-35k bracket before it. There are a lot of watches to choose from. From Baume & Mercier, with a well-priced perpetual calendar that dropped just over 35kAUD, to Richard Mille’s sweet Bonbon confection, practically all brands were in the arena for this podium call – though only three made it. One other small note about this bracket: this year we isolated the high complications to their own category, which means that all those people listing VC and JLC in their lists on YouTube, vying to win a handmade sterling silver Time+Tide lapel pin, are technically correct as they’re over 35k, but they might just make an appearance in their own big show, coming soon. Sorry, we tweaked the rules just a little there! To watch Felix and I talk through my selections, hit the video. If you’re impatient, see below. Vacheron Constantin’s Overseas Tourbillon Really tough call here, with a strong showing from Vacheron this year (that Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin has kept me up at nights) but in the end I “ate with my eyes” and preserved the shock factor of seeing…
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A new dial falls to earth for Piaget’s signature Altiplano ultra-thin.
The next big watch show is coming up sooner than you think.
While the attention was mainly focused on the new CODE 11.59 collection at the SIHH 2019, Audemars Piguet had multiple other new watches to show in its Royal Oak range – including a superb Salmon dial Jumbo Royal Oak and one extremely important watch, a new Royal Oak Selfwinding 41mm. Meet the reference 15500ST, replacing the 15400 and introducing several massive updates, including a newly positioned date and, mainly, a brand new movement.
The Audemars Piguet CEO talks about the influence of fashion in watches, his long-time Swatch obsession, and, of course, CODE 11.59.
With the new Aquis Date Relief, Oris continues a thing that has become sort of a tradition, a special edition watch attached to a good cause. Certainly, there is a lot to love in this new edition – it is, after all, an Aquis with a cool new colour scheme – but the most important […]
Now that the SIHH 2019 is over, it is time to sit down and to take a closer look at the dozens of watches that have been introduced. Overall, it has been a good year in terms of novelties – probably not the best edition ever, but still, there were some pretty interesting things to see, especially in the field of complication. This also means that the “entry-level” or “affordable” categories have been slightly forgotten by some brands. After all, SIHH means Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. Thus, you won’t be surprised to see that our selection of the 10 best watches of the show is quite “high-end” focused.
If my other two lists (here and here, in case you forgot) had loose themes tying them together, this one is all over the shop, covering off the serious to playful spectrum very nicely indeed. So, let’s start with the serious … A. Lange & Söhne’s Zeitwerk Date It’s larger and thinner, but the real news is the smartly executed date. You’d be forgiven for expecting a date aperture, in line with the time display, but no, Lange opted for an open-worked date disk that looks very nice indeed. Cartier Tonneau Dual Time Skeleton Cartier’s skeleton watches are well known, and typically they’re not the sort of watch I could imagine myself wearing. This guy, though, I would wear all the freaking time. Perhaps it’s the combination of the richly shaped case and skeleton movement, or maybe it’s just the smart dual dials. All I know is I love it. Richard Mille Bonbon collection Picking an entire collection is a total cheat move, but you know what, I don’t care. All these watches — indulgently artistic takes on the sweeter things in life — are great, playful and absolutely ridiculous. Richard Mille, masters of the high-end timekeeping machine, prove that things…
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As the SIHH 2019 excitement settles down, we take a look at four watches unveiled by independent watchmakers in January 2019, as an aside to the Geneva-based watch fair. Creativity, boldness of the shapes and colours, beauty of the mechanics… The independent watchmaking scene remains full of surprises.