Philippe Dufour is setting salerooms alight; WatchBox has invested in De Bethune; Chrono24 has secured LVMH-backed funding; Watchfinder is presenting all the James Bond watches in its Paris showroom; Richard Mille has launched a certified network for its pre-owned watches… for watch fans, the moving and shaking is on the pre-owned market.
The change is real. Progressively, increasingly, ladies are acquiring their own watches, often with a mechanical movement. An irreversible trend explained by Nathalie Célia Koch-Chevalier, General Manager of Bucherer France, hired in 2012 to open the Paris operation, the largest watch and jewellery store in Europe.
Even without sun, you can still be bronzed. Simply wear a watch in the latest must-have metal. Choosing a bronze watch is to choose the unpredictable (oxidation) over the conventional (gold), to prefer Danny Wilde over Brett Sinclair, and to rally behind climate activist Greta Thunberg and her message to Make Green Great Again.
Brands imagine their watches as objects of desire, intended to appeal to our emotions. When adding method to these emotions, they have two means at their disposal: the addition of complications and words that sell.
Can you spot the ultimate opal, recognise a malachite, pick your turquoise of choice or know the best pedigree for a lapis-lazuli? Learn to decipher the quality of the gemstones used for watch dials.