Some watch collabs just look right and the Group B rally homage chronos from Autodromo fall into that blessed category. Retro case design? Check. Wheel nut shaped pushers? Check. Bold 80s colours on the dials? Yep. Fire up your engines. Our fave is the T16, which has a sharp white dial with blue contrast sections. Some yellow hands and splashes of red add that dashboard … Continue reading Collabs: Hodinkee and Autodromo’s Group B Beauties
Why does it matter who controls a giant watchmaking, jewellery and fashion brand corporation? For most people, it seems like an Apprentice style sideshow. But the battle for boardroom control at Richemont has long term implications. If you read the history of business, then you’ll know that it’s usually the product line that suffers when things get messy at the top. To recap; Swiss law … Continue reading Battle For Richemont Group Will Be Bad News For Watch Fans
Mega Swiss brand corporation Richemont Group, who own Cartier, Jaeger leCoultre, Dunhill, Montblanc, Vacheron, A Lange & Sohne, Van Cleef & other luxury brands have had a tough Spring season in China, but done very well elsewhere. Here’s the official results statement, after posting accounts for April-June 2022. All channels and business areas, as well as most regions, generated sales growth versus the prior year … Continue reading Richemont Are Doing OK With This Watchmaking Lark
The pandemic hit many watch brands hard but after a tough 2020 when Swatch Group made a loss of CHF53m in 2020, the company posted a whopping CHF774m profit for 2021. That’s around £629m in Sterling. For shareholders the bonus is a 60% increase in the dividend compared to 2020. So how did they do it? Partly, it was down to increased demand for luxury … Continue reading Swatch Group Announces £629m Bounceback to Profit
Portugal based watch brand Meia Lua is donating 20% of the retail price on all watches to various charities who are helping refugees from Ukraine. After suspension of sales to Russia by Swatch Group and Hermes, the Indie brand is one of the first in Europe to take a stand in the conflict. WHEN WILL ROLEX, LVMH, RICHEMONT MAKE A MOVE? It looks likely that … Continue reading Meia Lua Watches Supports Ukraine Charities
Spare parts and servicing may sound a tad dull, but it gets exciting if your £10,000 Breguet, Vacheron or Patek cannot be serviced by an independent watchmaker – instead you have to send it away and pay whatever the manufacturer demands. That can easily cost £800-£1500, depending on which parts the manufacturer decides need upgrading. It’s a kick in the wallet that many Rolex owners … Continue reading Why Cousins Battle With Swatch Group Matters
Swatch Group will be free to supply mechanical watch movements wherever it wants, but won’t be allowed to abuse its dominant market position by undercutting rivals’ prices, Swiss competition watchdog WEKO said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The Swiss watch manufacturer has been in a battle with Sellita over the supply of movements to independent brands. For some time ETA dominated the indie watch brand … Continue reading Swatch Can Sell ETA Movements Again, But Not Swamp Indie Market
Longines is a well established brand in the UK, with a long distinguished history. Owned by the Swatch Group it obviously shares some expertise with other Swatch companies, plus Longines watches generally use ETA sourced movements – ETA is also owned by Swatch Group. That was the case for many years, but things are changing on the calibre front. Since the EU told the Swiss … Continue reading New Longines 1832 Black Dial – Is It Enough For £1700?
