Happy holidays!

Our final SIHH preview of the year suggests that there is plenty for the watch fan to look forward to in 2018. Piaget closes out the year in style with the presentation of the world’s thinnest self-winding watch. Discover the Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Automatic today on WorldTempus, together with the Piaget Extremely Lady which has a gold bracelet with a sumptuous hand-engraved texture.

Three separate stores for Swatch Group brands at the recently-opened luxury Bürgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne seem to confirm that the upward trend in the industry is likely to continue next year. Longines CEO Walter von Känel came to open his brand’s first “corporate” store in Switzerland personally (the brand already has its own stores in Lucerne and Interlaken operated by retail partners), showing the importance of this new location for the brand.

I recently had the chance to talk to Favre-Leuba CEO Thomas Morf on his plans for the company. He has a refreshingly unpretentious approach to watchmaking and is keen to upheld the brand’s fantastic history of offering technological innovation and value for money. Read the full interview tomorrow.

Our offices will be closed over the holidays, which means that our next regular newsletter will be sent out on 15th January to coincide with the first day of the SIHH. We will nevertheless be bringing you news throughout the holiday period, notably with articles from this year’s GMT Lady and issue 55 of GMT, which has just been published. Our advent calendar competition continues until 24th December with some great prizes to win. We will announce all the winners on 3rd January 2018.

I would like to thank all our readers for their loyalty throughout the year and look forward to bringing you the latest watch news throughout 2018.