$11.6 million for a watch face
In August 2026 the British courts ordered Samsung to pay the Swatch Group 11.6 million dollars over smartwatch faces sold by third parties. No watch changed hands: what was costed was the value of a name.
COSC, Geneva Seal, viper's head: what each certification actually guarantees
Five certifications now circulate on Swiss and French dials. They do not test the same object, the same quality, or anything like the same number of watches. What each one measures, and what it leaves out.
Rolex converts the try of the big frying pan, more than 70 years on
With the Perpetual Padellone, a full annual calendar driven by a new calibre, Rolex pushes its non-sporting range a little further. The bet comes off, and it comes off without disowning anything of the house.
What a brand cannot open
The market pays more for a takeover rumour than for a record year, and the head of Watches of Switzerland says out loud that his trade is undervalued. Behind a watch shop window there are now three businesses with nothing left in common. Second part of a series on a two-speed industry.
Two years of short-time working: Swiss watchmaking seen from below
The Federal Council has extended short-time working in watchmaking to two years. While the subcontractors of the Jura arc shed jobs, the groups that own the brands are raising their dividends. First part of a series on a two-speed industry.
Geneva Watch Days and Watches and Wonders, two fairs for one industry
Since 2020 Geneva has hosted two watch gatherings five months apart, one free and open to all, the other professional and steered by the largest houses. What their coexistence says about the sector.
The logo on the dial
OpenAI had Tudors engraved for its researchers. In two generations the watch given by an employer has gone from the twenty-five-year jubilee to a badge of belonging resold at auction, and Swiss watchmakers have found a customer in it.
The highest Rolex boutique in the world
In June 2026 Bucherer opened the highest Rolex boutique in the world at the summit of the Titlis, 3,020 metres up, in a tower designed by Herzog & de Meuron.
Submariner and Fifty Fathoms: the watches that ended up leaving the water
Two watches born in 1953 to stop a diver dying. Seventy years later they are worn dry, under a shirt cuff. The story of a function that became a sign.
Has the Swiss watch given up on beginners?
In fifteen years Swiss watchmaking halved its volumes and left the entry level to the Apple Watch and the Japanese. Does the rebound of the first half of 2026 change anything?
The day Breguet put gravity in a cage
In 1801 Breguet patented the tourbillon to correct the effect of gravity on pocket watches. Two centuries later it is of almost no use and costs a fortune. The story of a gap.
The watchmaker as compliance officer
Since 5 August 2026, French watch and jewellery retailers have had to verify the identity and the source of funds for any sale above 10,000 euros, whatever the means of payment.
The last great leap in escapements: George Daniels and the invention refused for twenty years
For two and a half centuries every mechanical watch has beaten thanks to the same organ, the lever escapement, and its unavoidable drop of oil. In the 1970s a solitary English watchmaker invented something better. The Swiss industry took twenty years to deign to listen, until Omega industrialised it in 1999.
The Omega bet
Swatch Group lines up sixteen brands but really runs only one. Inside a locked conglomerate, between Morgan Stanley's dark snapshot and the rebound of the first half of 2026.
Cartier Santos, how flight moved the watch to the wrist
In 1904 an aviator could not read the time without letting go of his airship's controls. The jeweller of the place Vendôme strapped a watch to his arm. How a need born in the air took the watch out of the pocket.
The industry that wins by selling less
Four privately held houses take three quarters of Swiss watchmaking profit. Inside a sector where selling less has become the better business.
The Moon watch: how a NASA procurement round made the Speedmaster a legend
It is sold as the space race on the wrist. At the start, though, there is a far less glorious scene: a request for quotes and ordinary production chronographs put through merciless endurance testing. The story of a technical badge that became a myth.
The toy that paid for luxury: Swatch, the plastic watch that funded haute horlogerie
In 1983 an ultrasonically welded plastic watch arrived in Zurich. Nobody yet saw the till that would buy Blancpain and Breguet. How an object costing fifty francs paid for the rebirth of Swiss mechanical watchmaking.
The three watch groups: who owns what, and why it steers the market
Swatch Group, Richemont, LVMH. Thirty years of acquisitions have concentrated dozens of brands in three pairs of hands, which hold the movements, the components and the shop windows. Yet the most powerful names at the top end escape them. The story of a real and partial power.
Seiko and the Japanese ascent: the rival nobody took seriously
In the 1960s Switzerland looked down on Japanese watchmaking as cheap goods. Then Seiko climbed the rankings of the Neuchâtel and Geneva chronometry trials, until the trials closed. The story of a contempt that cost dearly.
The quartz crisis: how Swiss watchmaking nearly died of its own invention
It took fifteen years for Swiss watchmaking to lose two thirds of its jobs. The blame has long fallen on a thin sliver of quartz out of Japan. The real story is more troubling.