Swatch Group Sales Beat Industry Averages
Swatch Group AG's half-year 2009 financial report sent the company's shares higher on the strength of sales that outperformed industry averages and an indication that signs of recovery are at hand. For the first half of 2009, gross sales for the watch segment fell 16.4% to CHF 1,960 million, compared with export figures for the same period falling 26.4% by value. Swatch Group shares jumped 13% on the news. Swatch Group attributed its results to its presence in all price segments, its distribution network, and a favorable geographic mix. The Group said that unlike 2008, currency volatility did not have any substantial impact on sales.Swatch Group's Watch and Jewelry segment realized an operating margin of 15.4% of net sales, compared with 18.8% in the first half of 2008. According to Bloomberg, this performance beat analyst estimates. The Group predicts that sales for the second half of 2009 will equal those for the same period in 2008. Swatch Group gets a significant portion of sales

Alpina Goes Vintage with the Seastrong Diver Heritage
The popularity of ‘heritage’ models from established watch manufactures is still going strong this year at Baselworld 2016, and Alpina has joined the fray with a strong entry. In 1967 Alpina produced an EPSA Super Compressor cased diver called the Alpina 10. This was one of many Super Compressor divers made during that era, and the Alpina 10 is a rare and desirable model for collectors these days. Now nearly 50 years later, Alpina has launched the Seastrong Diver Heritage, and modern interpretation of that classic Alpina 10. Much like Longines did with the Legend Diver, Alpina has taken their vintage classic and given it a modern update.The Seastrong Diver Heritage is a sleek and understated diver. The stainless steel case is 42mm wide and 12.3mm thick and will have a sapphire BOX crystal, with a water resistance of 30 bar or 1000ft. This makes it much larger than the original, but as wrist shots show, it fits very nicely, and wears a bit smaller than expected.The caseback

Staying true to yourself
Sorry wrong thread.

A fun game ... send in your submissions
Select one watch from each category https://.patek/en/collection/mens-watchesand post a screen shot here.. I'll start

Rolex AD service quote - how old is vintage?
Hi All.Hoping you could help me out with a question about servicing. I have a 2004 GMT Master II Pepsi in pretty good shape. Went to an AD in the UK today as I would like to get it serviced, it�s never had one, and running fast. I was quite shocked by the basic cost of the service. She quoted me ?780. I queried this as I had done some research and thought the cost was ?505. She told me ?505 is the cost for watches less than 10 years old, and that anything over 10 years is considered �vintage? and has a higher cost.I was wondering if it�s correct that >10 years is considered vintage, I had thought it would need to be older than that. And is the mark up for vintage really that high? It�s about 50% more.I didn�t send the watch as I wanted to double check this. Many thanks for any info.Jon