Swiss news and archive

Gusard Watches launch on Kickstarter

Gusard, a Paris-based online retailer for watches, has launched their brand and a 30-day Kickstarter campaign. The Kickstarter has a goal of 16,000 euros and features a limited-edition timepiece for the first 555 campaign backers at exclusive pricing of 129 euros, reduced from its 249 euro retail price. All Gusard watches feature engraved,...

Business

Swiss watchmakers call time on 2 years of crisis

Luxury Swiss watchmakers, gathering this week at the industry's premier annual show in Geneva, hope 2017 will finally mark the end of two crisis-hit years of falling sales. Many top-flight brands, used to running their ateliers at full throttle, have resorted to laying off workers in the face of crumbling demand. "2016 has been difficult,"...

Business

Sufficiently Swiss: at least 60 percent for watches

Switzerland adopted on Friday regulations requiring that locally-made parts account for at least 60 percent by value in order for watches to bear the coveted and lucrative "Swiss Made" label. The government said in a statement that the change, to go into effect on January 1, expands the criteria for judging whether a watch is sufficiently Swiss...

Report

Hit by strong franc, Swatch profits tick lower

Swatch on Wednesday posted a 21-percent-drop in its annual net profit, as the world's biggest watch group was slammed by a strong Swiss franc and a struggling timepiece sector. Last year, the Swiss watchmaker saw its net profit plummet to 1.1 billion Swiss francs (1.08 billion dollars, 990 million euros), dropping by more than a fifth from 2014,...

Fashion

Tag Heuer changes tune and is now exploring smartwatches

Barely a few months after dismissing Apple's smartwatch, the new chief executive of luxury Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer conceded Tuesday that such a hi-tech gadget might after all have a place in his firm's line-up. "Initially, we were all a bit reticent," Jean-Claude Biver told reporters in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Swiss city at the centre of the...