Irreverent Italian watchmaker U-Boat is 20 years old this year, but its founder and creative director Italo Fontana is showing no signs of growing up now the company is out of its teenage years.
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Mr Bennahmias had a restless mind during lock down and says he dreamed up a concept that will change the face of the watch industry when it is revealed.
Precision timekeeping, performance racing and passionate sailing fans are an intoxicating and irresistible mix for Swiss watchmakers.
“My grandfather’s dying words were: “stay away from watches”,” recalls CEO Terry Betteridge during a conversation with about the past, present and future of the family firm.
We might all have put on a little weight during the pandemic but, be in no doubt, fitness is big business. Health and athleticism have always appealed to watchmakers, and few brands have served sports and activity enthusiasts better than Casio’s G-SHOCK, whose rugged timekeepers have been firm favorites for decades.
Watch winder specialist says its team proved incredibly adaptable and motivated to bounce back, and are now taking orders from key accounts that are — remarkably — even higher than last year.
Businesses that have been conceived primarily as ecommerce operations have weathered the storm better than those relying on brick and mortar retail, and the leading pre-owned and secondary market players have suffered far less than those in the primary market.
Smartwatches were supposed to have wiped out the Swiss watchmaking industry by now. Despite 31 million Apple Watches being sold last year, it is a long way from taking down the traditionalists.
NOVE is a watch brand created by Generation Z entrepreneur Tiffany Meerovitsch , who grew up in a watchmaking family while living her life through social media. It gives the business a unique insight into the watches younger customers want to own and how they want to buy them and that is translating into sales across three continents.
German manufacturing is admired the world over for its engineering, artistry and innovation. POINTtec is part of this grand tradition, and has been making more precision watches in Germany than almost all of its contemporaries over the past three decades. The business, still operating under its founder Willi Birk and his daughter, is building on over 30 years of excellence and continues to fly the flag for German watchmaking.
