Sustainability: a drop in the ocean?
The One Ocean Summit in Brest aims to mobilise the international community to take tangible action to save the ocean. Yet another emergency for the stricken planet. Part one: taking stock.
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Luxury, biodiversity and the sixth mass extinction
At five points in the past 500 million years, life on Earth was almost completely wiped out. We are now on the brink of a sixth mass extinction, and we are the cause. Can humans right their wrongs? The luxury industry must lead by example.
Time runs out for Nicolas Hayek
Nicolas G. Hayek passed away in his office at the age of 82. Rightly credited as the man who saved Swiss watchmaking, he worked relentlessly to develop a group which, with its 24,000 employees, 160 factories and gross sales of CHF 5.4 billion in 2009, stands head and shoulders above the global watch industry.
George Clooney: "I’m proud to call him my friend."
Nicolas Hayek was known for his straight talking, for his no-holds-barred stances, and for his talent as a showman.
Under the Caribbean sun
Tourism is taking off again in the Caribbean, and watch sales with it. In Saint Martin, Barbados and Porto Rico, purchases are made in a matter of minutes, and retailers must explain complex timepieces to holiday-makers in less than an hour.
Parmigiani is China bound
Parmigiani plans to open three stores in China this year, where the brand currently has next to no representation, and take advantage of the "amazing growth" in what has become a priority market for Swiss watchmakers.
A new "modular" movement from Concepto Watch Factory
Established in 2006, the manufacture presents its calibre C2000, inspired by the Valjoux 7750. With seventy variations in a single movement to incorporate all types of dial displays, Concepto aims to attract customers in search of an "all-in-one" solution.
Cybercounterfeiting (IV): the fight against fakes
The phenomenon of counterfeiting has now reached an unprecedented scale. The value of the global counterfeit goods market could grow from $5.5 billion in 1982 to nearly $600 billion in 2010, which is 10% of world trade, according to Eric Woerth, former French budget minister.
