Newsletter - A smartwatch without a phone? - Editorial

The much-hyped Apple Watch reveal confirmed that the Swiss watch industry has little to fear from the new timekeeping branch of the Apple ecosystem. As people were left wondering whether they could even wear the Apple Watch in the shower, in his interview with Worldtempus Peter Stas, CEO of Frédérique Constant, candidly revealed that he has already been working on a smartwatch for a couple of years. Given the brand’s price point and its credentials as a manufacture, watch industry insiders may do better to keep an eye closer to home in the battle for this potentially lucrative market.

Those behind the illustrious Poinçon de Genève, the symbol of quality watchmaking craftsmanship that is currently the preserve of only four brands – Cartier, Chopard, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron Constantin – announced a radical change in their hallmarking process, embracing nanotechnologies. Proof that, even at the most traditional extreme of the industry, watchmakers are more adept at embracing high-tech solutions in their industry than the high-tech industry is of embracing traditional watchmaking for their “wearable technology”.

We also punctuated our coverage last week with some musical notes with reports from the unique Reuge music box factory and an exhibition that combines avant-garde mechanical watchmaking from De Bethune with the finest Swiss made audiovisual equipment from Goldmund.

Coming up this week: another top ten, another tenth anniversary (Pierre DeRoche) and a new wind blowing at Cyrus.

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