Introducing: Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Midnight Blue Edition
Presented in 2018, the Altiplano Ultimate Concept?earned the record for the thinnest watch in the world with its incredibly thin 2mm profile, making it Piaget’s (a brand known for its mastery of ultra-thin) slenderest mechanical watch ever. Since then, Bulgari and Richard Mille have even made thinner watches, but Piaget’s AUC remains a spectacular technical achievement. On the occasion of Watches and Wonders Shanghai 2023, the brand now presents a new midnight blue edition, which brings back a style made once for a unique piece.?The Altiplano Ultimate Concept was made possible by a radical re-engineering of the architecture of a watch, fusing the case, movement and bezel into one 2mm thin component. It is fashioned in an ultra-resistant cobalt alloy to ensure sufficient rigidity and its development resulted in the filing of no fewer than five patents. Piaget's remarkable Altiplano Ultimate Concept, once the thinnest mechanical watch in the world, made headlines when it was

Industry News: Richemont Reports Record Sales for 2023-2024, Appoints Nicolas Bos as new CEO
While the global economic situation might feel rather pessimistic, the luxury business and the watch and jewellery industry continue to post strong results for the year 2023. Following the announcement of a record year for Swiss watch exports in 2023, as well as strong revenues for both LVMH and?Swatch Group, it is now time for the other giant of the industry, the Richemont Group, to report record sales for the year ended 31 March 2024, with revenues up 3% at actual exchange rates to EUR 20.6 billion. The group also announces important changes with the appointment of Nicolas Bos (currently CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels) as the new Chief Executive Officer of Richemont, effective 1 June 2024.For the year ended 31 March 2024 (Richemont Group’s financial year starts on 1 April), the company reports sales up 3% at actual exchange rates and 8% at constant exchange rates, driven mostly by its jewellery brands and retail, each representing 69% of the group’s sales. The revenues of

Introducing: Steel-and-Gold and Gradient Dials for the Longines Spirit Flyback
Presented last year by Longines as the flagship model in its recent pilot-oriented collection, the Spirit Flyback paid tribute to an important function for the brand, the retour-en-vol chronograph. While the authorship of the flyback complication is a topic that is still discussed, the winged hourglass brand produced its first model equipped with a flyback function in 1925, then filed a patent which was registered on 16 June 1936. As the top of the range model in the Spirit collection, this large and higher-end chronograph now comes back in two warm and luxurious versions, mixing steel and gold, with green or brown tones.?Just like the?Spirit Zulu Time has to be seen as the bigger brother of the classic 3-hand models, the same could be said about the Spirit Flyback next to the classic automatic chronograph. A sportier take on the brand’s vision of a classic, highly precise pilot’s watch, this 42mm model features an external rotating bezel, something that the classic chronog

Industry LVMH 2022 First Semester Sales Report
LVMH, the world's largest luxury-goods company, has just released its results for the first semester of 2022. The French luxury powerhouse delivered again record performance with a revenue of EUR 36.7 billion, up 28% compared to the same period in 2021. Organic revenue growth was 21%. All business groups achieved double-digit organic revenue growth over the period. The profit from recurring operations has increased by 34% to EUR 10.2 billion.Just like what has been reported by other players (for instance Swatch Group for the watch industry), the growth has been driven by Europe, Japan and the United States. Business in Asia (excl. Japan) was impacted by partial lockdowns, especially in China. The performance was positive for all business groups and was once again remarkable for the Fashion and leather goods business group with revenues of EUR 18.1 billion (+31% reported). Ad - Scroll to continue with article

Report - 5 Unusual Things I Discovered When Visiting Raketa in Russia
Not so long ago we talked to you about Raketa and a pretty cool watch the brand launched, a tribute to the famous Polar exploration watches done in the early 1970s. But that wasn’t all. With a flight ticket in my hand and Back in the U.S.SR. from The Beatles in my headphones (I know, total cliche), I flew to Saint Petersburg and visited the Raketa movement manufacture. I’ve visited well over 40 watch manufactures in my career, mostly in Switzerland and Germany… But nothing that can compare to what I saw in Russia. A truly unique experience, an eye-opener, fascinating, unusual, emotional, nostalgic, touching, sometimes slightly melancholic but always human.?Raketa…The Raketa Watch Factory, founded by Emperor Peter the Great in 1721, is the oldest factory still active today in Russia. Created first to cut semi-precious stones to adorn the Royal family’s palaces (and then known as the Imperial Lapidary Factory), it was, under the Soviet era, transformed into