The latest figures from Swatch Group demonstrate the pain suffered by the watch industry in 2016. After the Richemont Group’s announcement back in October 2016, reporting a 45% drop in profits in the six-month period up to 30 September 2016 in comparison with the previous year, Swatch Group has released its consolidated figures for the…
Occasionally we bloggers get invited by watch brands to their head office, factories and museums. It’s a great way of understanding their individual approach to their trade and so I never say no to this sort of opportunity. The episode whose memory still brings drops of anxious sweat to my brow occurred in Milan, one…
They say that there are more book competitions than there are new books published, and though obviously an exaggeration, this sort of hyperbole could also be applied to the watch sector, in which there are a lot of awards ceremonies. The most important is GPHG which is held in watch capital Geneva, but which has…
The first Dubai Watch Week will begin on 18 October 2015, running until 22 October, held at the Gate Village building 3 in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). It is organized by Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, a luxury retail group with many boutiques in Dubai. The event will include an exhibition of watches taking…
Speedometer Official is a brand based in Turin, making a variety of products inspired by Rolex watches. Apparently, while Rolex have many patents on their watches, they don’t have one for the two-colour rotating ceramic bezel that has become an immediately-recognisable feature. And so Speedometer Official was able to transfer the design into fashion accessories,…
From 2020, ETA (part of Swatch Group) will be able to stop supplying third-party clients with watch movements. ETA currently supplies about 70-75% of all Swiss-made movements, both to Swatch Group companies and to other brands, including their competitors, watch movement manufacturers such as Sellita and Soprod. The latter and their like therefore have about…
Yesterday, Friday 16 January 2015, Swatch Group shares dropped by 16%. Why? Nothing to do with Swatch Group, but rather a surprise move by the Swiss National Bank that scrapped the cap on the exchange rate between Swiss franc and the euro (previously capped at 1.20 Swiss franc to the euro). The result was that…