If store openings are any indication of the state of the retail market, certain cities may be looking particularly healthy and well poised for retail sales.

The 30^th Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair 2011: Chinese traditional makers are showing their class and the Swiss have arrived in force.

Once a lone figure with its ceramic watches, Rado has since inspired others, beginning with Chanel in the early 2000s, with many Fine Watch brands following suit. Has the industry found an alternative to gold and its soaring price?

As early as 1986, IWC presented a Da Vinci watch with a zirconium oxide case. In doing so, it pioneered the use of this extremely dense ceramic, just a year after launching its new collection named after the Italian polymath. However, machining techniques in the mid-1980s were not sufficiently advanced to produce large volumes of ceramic parts, and only limited numbers of the watch were made.

Forty one-off watches were auctioned by Antiquorum on September 23rd in Monaco, under the high patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II. At EUR 1.4 million (USD 1.9 million / CHF 1.7 million), the Patek Philippe Ref. 3939 tripled its low estimate.