34th

35th issue - March 2010

Edito

Lacquer joins watchmaking’s métiers d’art

Marie-Antoinette adored it; artists of the Art Deco school, among them Jean Dunand (1877-1942), specialised in it. Christophe Roulet

Focus

Lacquer shines on exceptional timepieces

Fine Watchmaking’s preservation of the applied arts now extends to Japanese lacquer techniques, as Vacheron Constantin and Van Cleef & Arpels brilliantly demonstrated at the last SIHH. Christophe Roulet

Focus The sophistication of maki-e
Focus The secret of Japanese "varnish"

From our correspondents

London: Aspects of the UK watch trade in 2009 and prospects for 2010

The final report of the successful 20th edition of the SIHH last January provided a good reflection of how things have been for the trade in the United Kingdom in 2009. Michael Balfour

Passion

From the workbench: Audemars Piguet poursuit sa quête dans les matériaux high-tech

Pour la Maison du Brassus, le lancement de la Royal Oak Offshore Grand Prix sera l’événement de l’année. Christophe Roulet

Collection Time on a cosmic scale
In history Galileo, the man who revolutionised science

Points of view

The expert's view: Louis Moinet has its head in the stars

This year, Louis Moinet is presenting Meteoris, a one-off piece consisting of a new type of planetarium surrounded by four tourbillon watches, each inlaid with fragments of meteorite. Christophe Roulet

Interview Alain Silberstein pleads in favour of a collaborative model

Echoes

Economy: 2009 exports: all is revealed

Swiss watch exports contracted by almost a quarter in 2009, slipping 22.3% to CHF 13.2 billion. Quentin Simonet

In the market Panerai chooses selective distribution
The fight against fakes Cybercounterfeiting: a new growth industry (I)
Ad alert India’s stars work their magic