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...Growth, he says, has come from selling higher-end watches, having less unsold stock and increasing direct to customer sales through ecommerce and own-brand stores....
...Some of the thieves who steal watches for money end up keeping them instead: it is not only deep-sea divers and astronauts who like to display their professional status on their wrists....
...He says, however, that Hermès’ investment in its distribution network and the expansion of existing stores means there is more space for watches....
...“We need to open up the stories to more people, people [who] don’t necessarily buy watches.”...
...He held it down for two years, then travelled to Thailand where he made a living as a professional boxer, before embarking on a 650km walk across the island of New Guinea....
...But according to analysts, watches will remain resilient as a store of value....
...People pay much more for mechanical Swiss watches than Apple ones, although the latter tell the time more precisely and are more versatile. Origin, craft and mystique can be valued extremely highly....
...The first two 300-piece limited editions of its Swiss-made C1 Bel Canto chiming watch — the Azzuro Blue version of which won the prize for watches priced SFr2,000-SFr8,000 ($2,300- $9,200) — at last year...
...The collection will only be available in 32 of Leica’s 97 stores. However, Leica’s watch strategy has divided opinion....
...“Chiming watches have historically been one of the key inspirations in watchmaking for innovation and complications,” she says....
...ID Genève watches sold in stores are presented in boxes made from seaweed by London-based Notpla. This packaging can dissolve in water within hours and then be used as plant fertiliser, says Freudiger....
...A few weeks after launching its latest timepieces at this year’s Watches and Wonders trade fair in Geneva, Montblanc had another presentation in store....
...Bucherer has 15 stores in its home Swiss market, 30 in the US, five in the UK and five in Germany. It is also present in France, Austria and Denmark....
...Next month, Watches of Switzerland will unveil a renovation of the Mappin & Webb store on the corner of Buchanan Street and the arcade....
...ID Genève watches are currently available in Switzerland, the US and the UK, including in Watches of Switzerland stores, where they retail from £3,700....
...Georges-Édouard Piaget set up his first workshop in the Swiss village of La Côte-aux-Fées in 1874....
...He also projects that over the next decade, the Swiss watch industry, despite employing 60,000 people, could face a shortage of about 4,000 skilled professionals....
...He says about a third of the material in Oris’s watches is steel that has a recycled content of 60 per cent....
...Chinese consumers have been looking particularly towards gold jewellery as a safe way to store wealth....
...“The spark for SIAR was a dinner in 2001 organised for the late Severin Wunderman, owner of [Swiss brand] Corum watches,” says Alonso....
...Other well-heeled but cash-strapped professionals are finding a more discreet solution to their financial woes in the thriving market for luxury pawnbroking services....
...A former graphic designer who studied product design, Lee trained in jewellery design with Swiss house Adler in Hong Kong before working as chief designer for local jeweller Wendy Yue....
...I well remember looking at a branded Tiffany watch in its flagship New York store, the salesperson enthusiastically assuring me that Tiffany would only ever sell “Swiss-made” watches, as was clearly displayed...
...In Gstaad, Chanel has opened a pop-up that will feature everything from bags, watches and jewellery to the Coco Neige line....
...And the market opportunity in children’s watches is material, reckons Oliver Müller, founder of Swiss luxury watch industry consultancy LuxeConsult....
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