Today, I received a dispatch direct from Le Brassus, aka global headquarters for Audemars Piguet. The email cautions collectors that fraudsters are targeting clients of AP and other brands with potentially bad consequences. In the interest of collector protection, and as a bit of "public service," I'm copying the main body of the AP email below. Be careful out there, always check email headers and double-check with your known contacts at any brands before wiring money, for example: "Cybercriminals are trying to scam customers in every industry and watchmaking makes no exception. At Audemars Piguet we want to be sure that our trusted community is well protected against cyber- criminal exploits. Recently, threat actors have been using spoofing techniques to send fraudulent emails pretending to come from trusted brands, such as ours, in an attempt to deceive individuals into disclosing sensitive information, making payment to illegitimate accounts or engaging in fra...
When will the watch market hit bottom? A lot hinges on the answer to this question. A componenet from a Zenith El Primero movement. Maintaining cash flow in a down market is never easy. For brands that went into the slump with waiting lists, this is less of a challenge. But for those brands still working hard for every sale, the watch market downturn could easily represet an existential crisis. For example, Purnell Watches, makers of extremely dynamic timepieces featuring two triple-axis tourbillons, was dissolved on December 18 of last year. And, we certainly don't know the particulars, but Rolex shuttered Carl Bucherer very recently (according to many reports ). Regrettably, a Swiss industry group, the Union Patronale Suisse (Swiss Employer's Union), seems to believe that the downturn has quite a few months left. More specifically, Marco Taddei (the group's International Affairs Section Manager) recently penned an article suggesting that one of Switzerland's m...