A year of the rabbit for watch brands?
China, which weighed on watch exports at end 2022, will be the key to activity in 2023, a year that opens with mixed prospects. Will China’s impact on luxury sales be as great as in 2021?
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What next for the pre-owned market?
Once dismissed as a hang-out for unscrupulous traders touting fakes, in little more than a decade the pre-owned watch market has grown to remarkable proportions and is expected to surpass sales of new watches. Consultancy firm LuxeConsult predicts this reversal in roles for 2033.
Omega raises the bar for certification
Omega is launching a new certification - Master Co-Axial Officially Certified - in partnership with the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology. This new standard imposes more stringent criteria than the COSC, including tough demands in terms of resistance to magnetic fields. It will be open to the entire Swiss watch industry.
The search is (still) on for new escapements
At its recent Study Day, the Société Suisse de Chronométrie highlighted the impressive chain of innovation in regulating organs.
Mexico closer to God
With new president Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico has renewed faith thanks to an ambitious programme of reforms intended to establish the country as a foremost economic power. For the time being though, results – like watch sales – are playing hard to get.
COSC: number-one for precision
Internationally recognised as the symbol of Swiss precision, the Contrôle officiel suisse des chronomètres (COSC) attests to the chronometric precision of a movement and, by extension, a watch. Introduced in 1973, it is still going strong.
Patek Philippe well feted for its 175th anniversary
Excluding the Henry Graves Supercomplication, which went for an astounding CHF 23.2 million, this November's Geneva sales realised CHF 25.4 million with Patek Philippe alone. Antiquorum, Christie's and Sotheby's closed their autumn sessions on a total CHF 78.6 million.
What’s next
The 6th Forum de la Haute Horlogerie considered the future that awaits us, and how we should approach it if we are to go the distance. At the heart of discussions were the wrist-worn technologies to which we have become slaves.
