Audemars Piguet’s latest charitable endeavor is with music luminary Quincy Jones. Together they created the special edition Quincy Jones Millenary watch, limited to 500 pieces.

The Geneva School of Watchmaking and Chopard have worked together on the L.U.C EHG movement, which equips the L.U.C Louis-Ulysse The Tribute anniversary watch. This new calibre has also been supplied to the school in "kit" form for its students’ future study pieces.

Quartz saw the last of timing competitions. Now they return with the Concours International de Chronométrie, organised by the Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle. Jaeger-LeCoultre and René Addor are the victors of this first edition.

After conflict diamonds, advocates of sustainable development from industrialists to watchmakers, jewellers and retailers are training their sights on dirty gold. The first certification system will come into operation next January.

Efforts to track down and eradicate dirty gold must contend with numerous hurdles. According to a report by the WWF in Guyana, clandestine operations continue because of the "disconcerting facility" with which illegal production can be infiltrated into authorised channels. And Guyana is far from being the only country in this situation. Another major stumbling block is that supply is highly fragmented as refineries source gold from mines in more than 60 countries.

As a founder-member of the Responsible Jewellery Council, set up in 2005, Cartier is actively engaged in establishing responsible practices across the diamond and gold jewellery supply chains. Pamela Caillens, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Cartier, explains.