HODINKEE Podcasts

This week on The Business of Watches, a fresh take on the new releases we saw at Geneva Watch Days and what they might mean for the market. Ahead of a special request summer fondue dinner, Tim, TanTan and Andy discuss what they saw, what they liked and didn't from the slew of novelties presented during the event.
We go deep into the debut of Gallet, discussing how the entry-level offering from Breitling's House of Brands will stack up against the competition and how it will re-enter the company into the cut-throat $3,000 to $6,000 price category at a time when the Swiss industry is struggling to halt the slide in volumes.
We also talk Bulgari, Oris, Frederique Constant, Girard-Perregaux, MB&F and the latest MADEditions, and why, when it comes to Doxa, you can't have just one. Plus, what the return of a new Northflag (now one word) heralds for Tudor.

Show Notes:
0:30 Tim Jeffreys

0:32 TanTan Wang

3:38 Gallet (brand website)

5:28 Introducing: The Gallet Flying Officer (Hodinkee)

5:50 Gallet Revives Vintage Fan Favorites With New "Classics" Multichrons (Hodinkee)

8:44 Business News: Breitling's House Of Brands Unveils New Executive Leadership With Georges Kern As Group CEO (Hodinkee)

11:30 Breitling To Relaunch Gallet Confirming Ambitions To Become Multi-Brand Watchmaker (Hodinkee)

12:55 Introducing: The Breitling Navitimer B09 Chronograph 41 Miles Davis (Hodinkee)

18:11 Essays: Prices, Volumes, And Passion: The Business Of Watches In 2025 And What To Expect In 2026 (Hodinkee)

22:30 Introducing: Frederique Constant Highlife Moonphase Date And Classics Moneta Handwinding (Hodinkee)

26:41 Introducing: Bulgari's Unexpected Dual Time Octo Finissimo With Vianney Halter, Plus A "Dazzle" Camo Release (Hodinkee)

30:45 Introducing: The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tadao Ando Limited Edition Ref. 103534 (Hodinkee)

32:38 Introducing: The Girard-Perregaux Laureato Fifty Tourbillon Micro-Rotor 39 (Hodinkee)

35:50 Introducing: The Oris ProPilot X Gonzo Edition (Live Pics) (Hodinkee)

41:19 Introducing: Oris' Big Crown Pointer Date Goes Small With A New 29mm Version (Hodinkee)

43:15 IntroducingThe Doxa Sub 300 Ti5 (Hodinkee)
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-doxa-sub-300-ti5

48:30 Hands-On: The M.A.D.Editions M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese (Hodinkee)

49:48 Business News: Corum Is Back: With A New Admiral, Fresh Designs, And A Plan To Return Brand To Former Glory (Hodinkee)

56:19 Introducing: The Tudor Northflag Returns With Dual Time (Hodinkee)

1:02:14 Best fondue restaurants in Geneva (geneva.info)

This week on The Business of Watches, a visit with the folks running Armin Strom, a true original in the small but increasingly crowded field of independent watch brands. It takes its name and original inspiration from the eponymous Swiss watchmaker who was best known for his innovative and record-setting skeletonizing techniques on watches and dials.

Childhood friends Serge Michel and Claude Greisler took over the brand in 2006. Michel, who controls the company, came from a family business background (in another field of business), while Greisler was a watchmaker and engineer. Twenty years on, Armin Strom is a true original in Swiss watchmaking, producing unique timepieces pushing the boundaries of contemporary horology from an atelier in Biel / Bienne, where most of the components are produced, decorated and finished for the brand's proprietary, in-house designed movements.

This week the brand launch a new version of its Dual Time GMT Resonance in a "manufacture blue edition" with a blue mainplate. The watch employs Armin Strom's unique take on the concept of resonance with dual oscillators kept in balance by its proprietary 'resonance clutch.' The story of the development of the brand's take on the concept is a key element in its journey and we explore and unpack that process in-depth in the episode. Currently making about 400 watches a year with a staff of about 55 people, Armin Strom is on the cusp of increasing its capacity and output. The question is what that growth looks like and Serge Michel explores the decisions the brand is making to take that next step.

Show Notes:
2:36 Armin Strom
3:25 Burgdorf, Switzerland (Wikipedia)
5:28 Armin Strom: Exploring Its Past And Present (Fratello)
9:00 Armin Strom's First In House Tourbillon (Europastar)
10:23 In-Depth: Understanding Resonance In Watches (SJX)
12:20 Armin Strom Resonance Clutch Spring
16:04 CSEM Neuchatel
18:02 Innosuisse
20:59 Abraham-Louis Breguet (Wikipedia)
23:10 System 78
25:56 Armin Strom's Groundbreaking 'Minute Repeater Resonance 12:59 First Edition' Lets You Chime The Time (Or Really Show Off) (Hodinkee)
28:10 Armin Strom Extends Marussia F1 Partnership (Watchpro)

This week on The Business of Watches, we're getting a preview and history lesson of Geneva Watch Days. Born in the dark days of the pandemic in 2020, it was a new kind of watch industry gathering, that prioritized access and community over exclusivity.

Jean-Christophe Babin, the former Chief Executive Officer of Bulgari, has been there from the beginning. He tells us why Geneva Watch Days started and why it's still needed. We discuss what to expect at this year's event and what the future of watch industry events might bring. 

With some 71 brands exhibiting, GWD has more marques than that other big watch show in Geneva that happens each spring, but it's very different in tone and feel. Using a 'decentralized' concept, brands pay fees based on their size and revenue and the show allows for plenty of smaller, boutique brands to show off their wares. 

Open to the general public, it certainly isn't as glitzy nor as pricey an event as some others. Babin says the entire budget of GWD is likely less than the cost of staging and running a major booth at Watches and Wonders. 

A veteran who has served as the head of LVMH's watch unit as well the CEO of TAG Heuer, Babin has seen the industry through a myriad of cycles, giving him a unique perspective on where the watch sector has been and where it's going.  

 

Show Notes

0:59 Geneva Watch Days website 

2:00 Geneva Watch Days 2020 / 2021 (FHS) 

5:06 Geneva Tourism - Geneva Watch Days 

9:12 Breitling was a founding member of GWD 

10:31 Watches and Wonders 

12:45 How Watches and Wonders Remains Worthwhile For Brands Big And Small (Hodinkee) 

17:16 Geneva Watch Days Agenda / Panels / Symposiums 

19:10 Phillips Geneva Watch Days Auction  For Geneva Watchmaking School 

22:15 Geneva.com 

24:03 Fondation du Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève 

31:18 Ferdinand Berthoud 

32:00 FHS Statistics 

33:40 The criteria for strengthening Swiss made (FHS) 

35:20 Swatch 37:50 Casio mechanical watches 

40:30 Swatch X Audemars Piguet 'Royal Pop' (Hodinkee)

This week on The Business of Watches, Collective Horology co-founder and Chief Executive Asher Rapkin joins us. He brought his lawyer.

While Collective is a Ventura, California-based retailer of independent watch brands, including Armin Strom, Czapek, Fears, Ming and J.N. Shapiro, Sara Albrecht is the chairman and CEO of The Liberty Justice Center. That's the non-profit litigation firm that led the legal fight successfully challenging President Trump's initial round of tariffs all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. They won, in a surprise decision that ruled the President didn't have the authority to impose the levies that boosted the cost of importing goods to the U.S., including Swiss made watches.  The government is now in the process of refunding the approximately $166 billion businesses paid out.

Of course, the Trump administration found a work-around and immediately slapped on new tariffs and, on July 24, initiated levies of 10% and 12.5% on imported goods, including Swiss made watches. That's the day that Collective Horology and another importer (dealing in exotic spices), filed a lawsuit against the President and various bodies and individuals in the administration including U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Rapkin tells us why his business decided to challenge the tariff laws and take on the President and his government while Albrecht lays out the legal argument driving their case. It's a matter of significant economic importance for U.S. business and the global watch industry. 

Show Notes
0:46 Lawsuit filed by Collective Horology et. al against President Donald Trump 

1:13 Swiss Watch CEOs Plot Next Move As US Tariffs Threaten Industry Sales (Hodinkee) 

2:24 Collective Horology website 

3:42 Watch Industry Cheers Supreme Court Tariff Ruling But Faces More Uncertainty As Trump Vows Workaround (Hodinkee) 

4:57 Liberty Justice Center 

7:28 Forced Labour Section 301 (U.S. Trade Representative statement) 

10:50 U.S. dollar x Swiss franc (Xe Currency) 

11:37 J.N. Shapiro Watches website 

11:50 The Watch Switzerland Can't Make - Karel Bachand (Barrelhand) - Openwork podcast 

14:53 Rolex And Richemont Executives Among Swiss Business Leaders Meeting With Trump (Hodinkee) 

18:31 Swiss-U.S. Trade Relations (SECO) 

20:05 U.S. Court of International Trade 

21:11 Jamieson Greer (Hodinkee)

This week on The Business of Watches, we take stock at the halfway point of the year for watch auctions. Remi Guillemin, Christie's head of watches for the Americas, Europe and Middle East, gives us his take on what's driving the interest of the top watch collectors these days. It's a pivotal time, with the watch auction market setting record sales results at most of the top auction houses despite global economic challenges and geopolitical tensions and conflicts. 

 The last time the market was this hot was in the post-COVID era of 2021 and 2022. Guillemin believes this time is different, and he tells us why references from F.P. Journe and Cartier, and (surprise!) pocket watches, are driving the market these days and how that's a fundamental shift from the hype watch driven boom post-pandemic. He also shows us some of the watches in his personal collection and reveals the grail he's still chasing. 

Show Notes

0:36 Remi Guillemin (Christie's website - scroll for bio) 
1:00 Auctions: The Five Results That Actually Mattered, From The Spring 2026 Auction Season (Hodinkee) 
3:08 Luxury Watch Sales at Auctions Drop 13% After Post-Covid Surge (SwissInfo/Bloomberg) 
5:17 Revealed: A unique Audemars Piguet monopusher chronograph wristwatch unseen since its manufacture in the 1930s (Christie's) 
5:49 Recent Daniel Roth Auction Results at Christie's 
10:48 F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain Reference T 
14:37 Private Sales (Christie's) 
17:23 Tiffany Blue Patek 5711 
18:37 Cartier London Crash  
20:42 Zuckerberg Wears $900,000 Watch To Announce End Of Meta Fact Checks (Bloomberg) 
23:40 The A. Lange & Söhne Little Lange 1 Moon Phase With Gold Flux Dial (Hodinkee) 
29:36 Krayon Anywhere (Hodinkee) 
30:34 Patek Philippe Reference 130 in steel (Hairspring) 
35:15 French Soccer Legend Zinédine Zidane Talks Watches And Why He's Offering His First Cartier To A Special Charity Sale