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AMERICA'S NO. 1 WATCH MAGAZINE Cartier Gets Serious: The Evolution of Cartier Men’s WatchesMay 7, 2013 By 2 Comments  In recent years Cartier, the king of haute joaillerie, has begun storming the bastions of haute horlogerie. In this full-length feature from our October 2010 issue, WatchTime's Joe Thompson explores the intriguing origins and bold future initiatives of Manufacture Cartier. … [Read more...] Million Dollar Club 2012: Watch Advertising at All-Time HighApril 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment  In an exclusive report in the upcoming May-June issue of WatchTime, we reveal which watch brands are spending the most on advertising in 2012, a record year for watch-company ad spending, and we provide a complete list of the 60 brands that spent more than $1 million on ads. … [Read more...] Hermès DressageSeptember 20, 2012 By 1 Comment  La Montre Hermès has updated its Dressage watch for men, expanding the diameter of its traditional tonneau case by 1.5 mm to 40.5 mm. The big news for Hermès is what’s inside: the firm’s first proprietary movement. The movement, Caliber H1837, is made for Hermès by Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, in which Hermès has a 25-percent share; the other 75 percent is owned by the Sandoz Family … [Read more...] Family Values: Patek Philippe’s Thierry and Philippe SternAugust 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment  Geneva’s Stern family has owned and operated Patek Philippe for 76 years. When it comes to making watches, they say, family matters. Click here to read WatchTime editor-in-chief Joe Thompson's up-close-and-personal profile of Philippe and Thierry Stern from our December 2008 issue. … [Read more...] Roland G. Murphy’s American WayJuly 2, 2012 By 10 Comments  Making a watch movement in Switzerland is one thing. Making one in the USA is quite another. Just ask Roland G. Murphy, founder of RGM Watch Company. Click here to read WatchTime's profile of Murphy and his brand as we kick off our "Salute to America" week devoted to American watchmaking and watches that celebrate America. … [Read more...] Million-Dollar Club: What Watch Brands Spent the Most on Advertising in 2011?May 8, 2012 By 3 Comments  If watch advertising is a barometer of the health of a market — and it is — then the U.S. watch market is bouncing back after the catastrophe of 2009. Spending on watch advertising in the United States jumped 16 percent in 2011 to $365.8 million, indicating that the watch market here is improving. … [Read more...] Rolex Romps 7 Million Chronometers in a DecadeOctober 11, 2010 By 1 Comment Watch enthusiasts know that when it comes to producing Swiss chronometers, there are the Big Three Brands – Rolex, Omega and Breitling – and then there’s all the rest. Just how big the Big Three are in chronometer production becomes startlingly clear when you analyze Swiss chronometer output by brand over the past decade. … [Read more...] Who are Switzerland’s Top Chronometer Producers?September 12, 2010 By 8 Comments Rolex, Omega and Breitling once again lead the list of Switzerland’s top producers of chronometer watches. Data recently released for 2009 by Switzerland’s official chronometer testing agency, COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres), shows that the Big Three accounted for 78% of all chronometer certificates issued that year. (A watch is designated as a certified chronometer if its … [Read more...] WatchTime’s New York ‘Inside Basel-Geneva’ Event Sold OutAugust 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment WatchTime’s “Inside Basel-Geneva” event in New York City, which will be held on Sept. 14, is sold out. WatchTime is putting names of people wanting to attend on a waiting list, said publisher Wolfgang Blum, but tickets to the event are no longer available. … [Read more...] Timex to Close Vincent BérardJuly 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment The Timex Group’s grand foray into the high reaches of the luxury mechanical watch market is ending. Swiss media are reporting that Timex is shutting Vincent Bérard S.A., the La Chaux-de-Fonds-based manufacturer of luxury mechanical watches, that it acquired in 2006. While neither Timex nor the Vincent Bérard firm has made any official announcement, sources close to Timex have confirmed to … [Read more...] Nayla Hayek Named Swatch Group ChairwomanJuly 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment Nayla Hayek has been named chairwoman of the Swatch Group Ltd., succeeding her father, Nicolas G. Hayek, who died of heart failure at Swatch Group headquarters in Bienne, Switzerland on June 28. She was elected by a unanimous vote of the board of directors on June 30. Previously, she was vice-chairman of the board. … [Read more...] Switzerland Mourns Its Watch “Messiah”July 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment Switzerland has responded to the sudden death of Swatch Group Chairman Nicolas G. Hayek on June 28 with a rare outpouring of grief, praise, and appreciation. Hayek, 82, was born in Beirut, Lebanon, but grew up in Switzerland and spent his entire professional life there. Hayek has been a prominent public figure in the country for four decades and one of the country’s most famous and, ultimately, … [Read more...] Watch Sales Down Again for Japan’s Big ThreeJune 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment Results for the fiscal year ended March 31 show that watch sales at Japan’s Big Three watch firms slumped for the second consecutive year as the Great Recession continued to suppress demand for mid-priced watches. Nevertheless, the watch divisions at Citizen, Seiko and Casio remained profitable. For the companies as a whole, only the Citizen Group reported a profit for year; Seiko and Casio both … [Read more...] What’s the Most Valuable Watch Brand? And Just How Valuable Is It?May 9, 2010 By 1 Comment Each year the Millward Brown Optimor consulting firm issues a ranking of the world’s top brands. MBO uses a complex formula to estimate a brand’s worth. Only one brand whose primary product is watches made the list: Rolex. MBO estimates that Geneva-based Rolex is the world’s sixth most valuable luxury brand with a value of $4.74 billion. … [Read more...] The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Watch Company Financial Results for 2009April 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment For the most part, the Great Recession of 2009 pretty much mugged corporate sales and profits. In the watch sector, for example, the Bulgari and Movado groups reported red ink for the year. But there were exceptions to the battered sales and profits syndrome. Fossil, for one, had its most profitable year ever. Here’s a survey of the full-year results of publicly traded firms who are watch … [Read more...] On the MendApril 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment The Swiss watch industry has not recovered from the Great Recession of 2009. But Baselworld showed that it is recuperating. … [Read more...] The Man Behind the Brand: George GrahamMarch 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment Sixteen years ago, two young men born and raised in the Swiss watch town of La Chaux-de-Fonds and working in the watch industry teamed up with the notion of getting their own watch brand. The question confronting Eric Loth and Pierre-André Finazzi was which brand? The Swiss names they wanted, they couldn’t afford. The French brands they could afford, they didn’t want. … [Read more...] THE MAN BEHIND THE BRAND: Daniel JeanRichardJanuary 16, 2010 By 3 Comments (This is the first of a series of articles on historical watchmakers whose names have been revived as contemporary watch brands.) In 1986, Luigi (Gino) Macaluso, a Swiss watch distributor in Italy, bought the rights to the name Daniel JeanRichard from Lemania, the Swiss movement manufacturer. Daniel JeanRichard was not a watch brand. It is the name of a 17th century Swiss watchmaker, who was an … [Read more...] 1969: Seiko’s Breakout YearDecember 20, 2009 By 1 Comment When it comes to anniversaries, the once generally ignored 40 is the new 50. This year has been marked by a parade of 40th anniversary bashes: Woodstock, the moon landing, and in watches, the legendary Zenith El Primero movement. Now, with two weeks left in the year, there is still one monster anniversary to go for watch lovers. … [Read more...] What Are These Guys Up To?November 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment TechnoMarine made a big splash a decade ago. A new team is hoping to do it again. The image of (left to right) Christian Viros, Vincent Perriard, and Steven Cohen, nearly up to their necks in water, is designed to make us wonder what these three bobbing Pep Boys are up to. The image is apt because that’s exactly the question lots of people in the watch world are asking. … [Read more...] WATCHTIME BLOG Christie’s to Auction Historic Patek Philippe Grand ComplicationAt the Important Watches auction on June 11, Christie's will be auctioning the historically significant Stephen S. Palmer Patek Philippe Grand Complication No. 97912. The watch, … [Read More...] WATCHTIME MAGAZINECONNECT WITH WATCHTIME
WATCH TO WATCH Breguet Type XXII 3880 in Rose GoldAmong Breguet's offerings at Baselworld 2013 — and perhaps overlooked in the wake of such haute horlogerie pieces as the Classic Chronométrie and Classique La Musicale, was a new version of its luxuriously styled Type XXII … [Read More...] More Watches To WatchFACETIME PHOTOS Facetime May 25Welcome to another installment of Facetime! Thanks to Stephen Danziger, Jason Hardin, and Michael Hershey for the great pictures! … [Read More...] WATCH WALLPAPER Watch Wallpaper: Seven New IWC IngenieursAt this year's SIHH, IWC Schaffhausen introduced its revamped IWC Ingenieuer collection, with designs and materials inspired by the brand's new partnership with the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One … [Read More...] WATCHTIME MAGAZINECONNECT WITH WATCHTIME
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