The latest news of November 2024 in the Watch World

In the past two weeks, during this November 2024, several major watch brands have made notable announcements and experienced significant developments.

Here a little recap:

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Richemont Group

• Sales Decline: Richemont, the parent company of luxury brands like Cartier and Piaget, reported a 1% decrease in sales for the quarter ending September 30, 2024, totaling €4.81 billion. This decline is primarily attributed to weakened consumer spending in China, leading to a 19% drop in their specialist watchmakers unit.
  
  “In the first half of this fiscal year, we continued to deliver sustained resilience in a world where uncertainty has become the norm,” Richemont Chairman Johann Rupert said in the release. “We saw solid sales growth across most of our regions offsetting continued weakness in Chinese demand, which, as I had predicted, will take longer to recover and is particularly affecting our Specialist Watchmakers.”
  
  Rupert also discussed the October sale of Yoox-Net-A-Porter to luxury digital platform Mytheresa for 555 million euros, which he said is expected to close in the first half of 2025.
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LVMH

• Acquisition of Swiza: LVMH has acquired Swiss clockmaker Swiza, known for owning L’Épée 1839. This move marks LVMH's entry into the niche market of luxury clocks, highlighting a growing interest in high-end timepieces beyond wristwatches.
  
  Based in Delémont, in the Swiss Jura, L’Epée 1839 has been a custodian of unparalleled horological expertise for 185 years, crafting pieces that have been contrived, developed, and manufactured in-house. Now gaining mastery in the realm of clocks, the company is praised for its unmatched prowess and its unique creative vision in blending form and function.
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Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) 2024

• Upcoming Awards: The GPHG 2024 is set to announce its winners, with 57 luxury watch brands competing for the prestigious Aiguille d’Or prize. 
  
  The ‘Oscar’s of the watchmaking world’, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), take place on 13 November with a prize for “eco-innovation” making its debut.
  It will be presented to one of the 90 competing timepieces featuring watchmaking developments placing particular emphasis on sustainability and traceability.
  
  The award was simply known as “innovation” in previous editions, of which the industry is never short of. IWC Schaffhausen announced earlier this year that it has created a patent-pending luminous ceramic which will be appearing on its watches in the near future.
  
  

These developments reflect the dynamic nature of the luxury watch industry, with brands navigating market challenges and exploring new avenues for growth.