Business & Industry
WatchPro
Rolex share of Chrono24 sales falls to seven-year low
Chrono24's own data shows Rolex's share of platform sales sliding from over 44% in 2022 to 30% today, its lowest since 2019, as Cartier, Patek Philippe, AP and Vacheron eat into every price segment. The sharpest erosion is among buyers under 30 (from over 50% in 2022 to under 35%), the cohort that housed the boom-era flippers, while Rolex still owns the €10-20k bracket at 61.5% and the DateJust and GMT-Master II Pepsi anchor its volume. Read it as the hype capital rotating out of steel sports Rolex and toward brands whose prices never inflated as hard, so they never had as far to fall.
WatchPro
Value of American watch market could comfortably rise 50% to $30 billion
Swiss watch exports to the US have more than doubled to CHF 4.4 billion, now 17% of global sales and outpacing China and Hong Kong combined for two years running, yet WoSG analysis argues America still spends half as much per capita as the UK, leaving vast headroom. With 250,000 UHNWIs, secondary-market prices running higher than Europe (a median $8,900 pre-owned versus roughly half that across the pond), and sales per door up nearly 30% in H1 2026, the case builds for the US luxury watch market to climb from around $20 billion to more than $30 billion. For a Swiss industry contracting since 2023 and leaning ever harder on high-price watches for the super-rich, America isn't just the biggest market, it's the only growth story that matters.
WatchPro
Off-White expands TIME watch launch with Flannels store takeovers
Off-White has followed the sell-out debut of its first watch line, the TIME collection (most references gone within 48 hours), with a nationwide Flannels retail takeover, including a 24-hour wrap of the Oxford Street flagship across 37 8K LED screens. The fashion label is running the collection on a streetwear playbook: frequent drops, evolving colourways and limited editions, under a three-month Flannels UK exclusive. The commercial tell is that Off-White is treating watches as hype product, not horology, and Flannels is betting its floor space that sneaker-culture scarcity mechanics translate to wrists.
WatchPro
This new platform wants to define what ‘British-made’ actually means in watchmaking
Stephen O'Connor has launched The British Bench, an independent platform building an evidence-led directory that grades British watchmakers on a five-tier provenance framework (currently v0.2 and open for consultation), from integrated domestic manufacture down to brand-in-name-only. Its first pilot assessed Roger W. Smith, anOrdain, Fears, Christopher Ward and Bremont using published evidence, with makers now invited to submit direct proof. As "British-made" claims proliferate across a crowded independent scene, a neutral standard that separates provenance from quality could become the reference collectors and the trade lean on, which is precisely why brands will want a say in how the tiers get defined.
Community & Culture
Revolution Watch
Omega Speedmaster Today: Moonwatch, Snoopy and Dark Side of the Moon
Revolution's Wei Koh and Constant Kwong break down the modern Omega Speedmaster in a video conversation, arguing the case for today's family (Moonwatch Professional, The First Omega in Space, white lacquer dial, Silver Snoopy Award, black-and-white Moonwatch, Grey Side of the Moon) over the vintage references collectors usually chase. The pitch: contemporary movements, ceramic cases and lacquer dials keep the Speedmaster commercially relevant without diluting the icon, which is exactly the balancing act Omega needs as it leans on space heritage to justify the current lineup.
SJX Watches
Book Review: ‘Universal People Universal Dreams’
Luca Mignini, ex-COO of Campbell's turned Bocconi professor, has published "Universal People Universal Dreams," a 384-page, 111-watch survey of his Universal Genève chronograph collection (highlights include an Hermès-signed 1937 Compax, the 55mm Compur "Bigfoot," and an A. Cairelli split-seconds), priced at €490 / US$577. The timing is no accident: it lands as Georges Kern and Gregory Bruttin revive Universal Genève inside the House of Brands, and the book quietly makes the case that the reborn line-up is far narrower than the marque's vintage back catalogue.
Worn & Wound
Windup in a Lake 2026: Celebrating Fifty Years of Citizen Eco-Drive Innovation and One Unforgettable Recovery Mission
Citizen sponsored "Windup in a Lake 2026," a Lake Michigan dive on the Wells Burt wreck timed to Windup Chicago and marking 50 years of Eco-Drive, showcasing Promaster models including the 42mm WaveTracker, 39mm Land GMT, and E365 alongside torch-lit Eco-Drive demonstrations. The stunt's viral hook: The Grey NATO's James Stacey lost a vintage Aqualand off his wrist at the surface, only for a diver to find it in the silt inside the wreck with the full dive logged. It's branded content dressed as adventure journalism, and a shrewd one, turning a milestone anniversary into a story enthusiasts actually want to share.
Worn & Wound
Identifying a Watch 101: The Elliott Smith Case Study
Worn & Wound walks through the sleuthing process of identifying the watch indie musician Elliott Smith wore across his career, using photo analysis and Google Lens before landing on a Swiss Army Officers 3888, a plain, inexpensive military-inspired field piece from the mid-to-late 1990s. The takeaway for the trade: celebrity provenance sells, and pinning a famous wrist to an accessible sub-$100 watch is the kind of discovery that quietly turns unremarkable inventory into a collector target.
Monochrome Watches
Twelve on Time – Chopard’s Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and his Personal Relationship with Time and Watches
Monochrome's "Twelve on Time" Q&A series turns to Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard, who name-checks the Ferdinand Berthoud Astronomical Watch No. 3 and the original L.U.C 1860 with its in-house calibre 1.96 as personal touchstones. The commercially telling bit: he flags speculation-driven buying as a fading concern and pegs the industry's real challenge as transmitting mechanical-watch passion to younger collectors, a soft but pointed reminder of where he thinks demand needs shoring up.
Fratello
Retrospective: Surprising Discovery Of Longines Boxing Timer
A Fratello writer chasing the elusive Gallet Boxing Timer instead surfaced a Longines-branded version, acquired from the son of a 1970s Lucerne boxing club trainer along with club memorabilia and a remote release cable. The timer tracks the four-minute bout cycle (three minutes of fighting, one-minute break, plus a "WHISTLE" ten-second warning), though Longines' own heritage historian found nothing in the archives, leaving the likely explanation that a third party produced the dial and applied brand names. A reminder that provenance and mystique, not just wristwatch glamour, still drive collector interest.</parameter> <parameter name="categories">["vintage", "chronograph", "tool"]
Reviews
Monochrome Watches
The Urwerk UR-100V Lightspeed Ceramic, Poetic Time Measurement at the Speed of Light
Monochrome Watches goes hands-on with the Urwerk UR-100V Lightspeed Ceramic (CHF 67,000 before taxes), the wandering-hour piece that swaps Earth's orbital calculations for a display tracking how long sunlight takes to reach each planet. They praise the brand's in-house ceramic composite (ceramic reinforced with glass and carbon fibre in a white polymer matrix) for its scratch resistance, improved impact resistance and organic shifting appearance, concluding that while the astronomical complication has "absolutely no practical purpose," Urwerk "stands tall" and occupies a category of its own. The trade takeaway: this is a material and storytelling exercise on the familiar 43mm case and Vaucher-developed calibre UR-12.02, not a mechanical reinvention.
WatchTime
A Spotlight on the Leica ZM 11
WatchTime spotlights the Leica ZM 11, a sub-$10,000 automatic collection (from $7,325 in titanium, $7,450 for the steel bracelet version) powered by Chronode's Caliber LA-3001 and housed in a 41mm case with Leica's camera-inspired quick-change straps. They praise the layered dial construction and the light-on-the-wrist titanium builds, singling out the steel Midnight Blue as their favorite; the trade takeaway is Leica's explicit play for a wider audience below its pricier ZM 1 and ZM 2, with Chronode able to make these in larger quantities, and WatchTime rates its chances "very good."
Fratello
Expensive Looks At A Budget-Friendly Price — The All-Exposing BA111OD Chapter 7 Skeleton
Fratello goes hands-on with the BA111OD Chapter 7 Skeleton, an open-worked, skeletonized sport-chic watch on an integrated bracelet powered by the Swiss Soprod P024-SQ, at CHF 955 on the steel bracelet (CHF 895 on rubber). Reviewer Lex Stolk, self-admittedly not a skeleton fan, came away smiling, praising the 40mm tonneau case's finishing, slim 10.5mm profile, tool-free micro-adjust clasp and the rare balance of transparency with legibility, while faulting the conventional spring bars for making strap swaps fiddly. The commercial angle Fratello hammers: it's a skeletonized integrated-bracelet watch at roughly CHF 1,000 with essentially no direct rivals, landing in the year's hot open-worked and sport-chic categories.
aBlogtoWatch
Erotic Donut Tourbillon: CronusArt Spring Daydream Central Tourbillon Limited-Edition Watch Review
aBlogtoWatch reviews the CronusArt Spring Daydream Central Tourbillon (ref. CM023-011), a 43mm titanium, disc-read central-tourbillon watch built on a rebranded Peacock movement (caliber 5711-CA903, 3Hz, 120-hour reserve) with a donut motif hiding erotic imagery, priced at $3,899 in an edition of just 10 pieces each. They praise the crisp detailing, quality craftsmanship, and the fun of the spinning central tourbillon, but fault the poor legibility, the tiny low-contrast time-reading arrow, and an hour-numeral ring with no hand to point at it. The real trade takeaway: the reviewer reads this as evidence of an increasingly confident, provocative Chinese high-end watch culture and expects more of it.
New Releases
WatchTime
Seiko: Seiko 5 Sports Motocompo — A Japanese Design Icon Rides Again
Seiko marks the 45th anniversary of Honda's folding Motocompo scooter with the Seiko 5 Sports Field Series Motocompo Limited Edition (HDB010K1): a 36.4mm titanium-carbide-coated steel case, yellow dial with a black bar and Motocompo-style graphics, automatic caliber 4R36 (41-plus-hour reserve), 100m water resistance, and scooter-referencing strap and packaging details. Limited to 8,000 individually numbered pieces at $456, available from October 2026.
Time + Tide
Trafford Watch Co. introduces its first permanent Core Collection
Trafford Watch Co. has made two of its best-known models, the three-hand Daytripper (US$799/£725) and the Touring GMT (US$899/£825), permanent as its first Core Collection, both sharing a 39mm hardened 316 steel case (12mm thick, 46mm lug-to-lug, 100m WR) and the Miyota 9075. The clever twist: the Daytripper ditches the GMT hand but keeps the movement's jumping local hour, while the Touring GMT runs the 9075 in full traveller's configuration with a date at six. The permanent lineup, stocked at Time+Tide's Discovery Studios in London and New York, gives the Austin microbrand a continuous entry point rather than the drop-and-gone model most indies live by.
WatchTime
Nomos Glashütte Adds Two New Faces to the Tetra 27
Nomos Glashütte has added two faces to its square Tetra line: the Tetra 27 White (three hands, small seconds at 6, DUW 4001 caliber) and the Tetra 27 Duo (two heat-blued hands, no seconds, DUW 4001 Duo with roughly 53-hour reserve), both in a 27.5mm by 27.5mm steel case just 6.1mm thick on a Horween Shell Cordovan strap. The White runs $2,400 (sapphire caseback) or $2,690 (closed); the Duo is $2,390 or $2,090 respectively. It's a play at the sub-$2,700 entry tier where Nomos does its highest volume, now stretched onto some of the smallest cases in the range.
Monochrome Watches
The Grøne Oldenzaal Horologium, a Refined, Hand-Wound, Attainable Dress Watch by The Grönefeld
Grönefeld's attainable offshoot Grøne Oldenzaal has added a third model, the hand-wound Horologium, in a 39mm x 10mm steel case with small seconds and a hand-wound version of the La Joux-Perret G100 (4Hz, ~60h reserve). It comes in two variants, the Dutch-orange "Quirky" and salmon-dialed "Classic," each limited to 188 pieces at EUR 2,390 excluding VAT, on sale 13 August 2026 via the brand's website with deliveries from mid-September. The design's close resemblance to the far pricier Grönefeld 1941 Principia is the commercial story here, raising the awkward question of what Principia owners actually paid for.
Monochrome Watches
The Baltic Aquascaphe MK2 Diver Resurfaces with the Option of a Date
Baltic adds a date option to its Aquascaphe MK2 diver, placing a discreet colour-matched window at 6 o'clock across two case sizes (37mm and 39.5mm) and four dials. The no-date runs a Miyota 9039 and the date a Miyota 9015; prices (ex-tax) span EUR 630 to EUR 720 depending on date and strap/bracelet choice. It's a low-cost line extension that keeps Baltic firmly in the accessible-diver lane where its volume lives.
Podcasts
Hodinkee
The Business of Watches Podcast: Collective Horology CEO Asher Rapkin And Liberty Justice Center Chairman And CEO Sara Albrecht On Suing Trump Over Tariffs
On The Business of Watches, Collective Horology CEO Asher Rapkin and Liberty Justice Center chairman and CEO Sara Albrecht explain why the Ventura retailer sued President Trump over tariffs on Swiss-made watches and how the Center's earlier case drove the Supreme Court to rule his initial levies illegal, a fight over the roughly $166 billion in duties now being refunded that carries direct stakes for U.S. importers and the global watch trade.