2011: The Year in Review Quiz, Part II
This week it's time for Part II of our 2011 Year in Review Quiz. Have you been taking notes? Celebrate the end of 2011 with this little quiz, where we present 12 questions about news stories from the past year. As always, the answers appear at the end. And remember, your term papers are due next week. Good luck!   1. Who flew with the Breitling Jet Team without using an airplane?A. Ian GroomB. Yves RossyC. Hannes ArchD. Markus Feyerbend 2. Which watch won the Aiguille d'Or Grand Prix award?A. De Bethune DB28B. Urwerk UR-110C. Zenith Christophe ColombD. TAG Heuer Mikrotimer 3. Which brand will supply watches to Oracle Racing as it defends the America’s Cup?A. CorumB. HublotC. TAG HeuerD. Audemars Piguet 4. Which company was the first to open its watch store on Facebook?A. Bell & RossB. HublotC. Jacob & Co.D. Suunto 5. Which watch company created a unique pen with Visconti?A. Greubel ForseyB. Bell & RossC. Ulysse NardinD. DeWitt 6

Is META Watch Pursuing A Patent On All Analog/Digital Dial Smartwatches?
META Watch was co-founded by Bill Geiser, who earned his watch industry stripes while working at Fossil. Whatever you might say about Fossil products, what you need to know is that it is run by some extremely smart and professional people out of its Dallas, Texas, headquarters. Geiser went on to be one of the earliest proponents of modern smart watches. According to him, he has been wearing a Bluetooth connected watch for about five years now �C perhaps the only one wearing one for so long. Today, Bill Geiser is the CEO of META Watch that recently released the Frank Nuovo-designed M1 smartwatch collection (hands-on here, with interview). Frank Nuovo is a former head of design at Nokia and designed the M1 collection �C which I thought was actually pretty interesting.Anyhow, even though META is putting considerable resources behind the M1 smartwatch collection, it is only the start of what Bill feels are a series of major evolutionary steps for the smartwatch industry. META doesn't just wa

My First Grail Watch: Eric Loth
Welcome back to an original watches-dealer feature, "My First Grail Watch." In this series, we ask prominent people in the watch industry about the first timepiece that they lusted after. Today, we're speaking with Eric Loth, the founder of Graham SA, about?the grails that elude him to this day.watches-dealer (ABTW): Who are you, and what is your relationship to the watch industry?Eric Loth (EL): I'm the founder of Graham SA. I grew up in le Locle and did my engineering studies in the region. La Chaux-de-Fonds, next to Le Locle, is now the home of Graham. The Watch valley is an area I know pretty well. And this is in this region that my passion for mechanics and precision also was born.ABTW: When did your fascination with watches start?EL: I started my working life at Rado. At that time, the brand was widely recognized for its creativity and avant-garde. Advanced and different materials were used such as sapphire and cemented carbide. It made me curious and fuelled my passion and fasci

Bell & Ross Instrument Gets Fancy New Skin With The BR01-94 Pro Titanium
Well hello there Bell & Ross! I see you have a little new card up your sleeve this year. I didn't really think you'd get too many buyers for your exorbitantly expensive uber-tourbillon watch with unnecessary features like a "trust indicator." I trust you enough alreadyYou really just wanted to do a design study and get people excited about future designs. Now you've taken the new fanged case design, updated number fonts,more moderns hands, and presented us with something new. It is even in titanium to make that 46mm case feel down right light on your wrist. While the dimensions stay more or less the same, the overall look of the case is much more detailed and sophisticated than previous generation BR01 watches.The new Bell & Ross BR01-94 Pro Titanium takes the Bell & Ross Instrument icon and extends it even further. They have played around with the more modern look for a while now, but I really think they have it with this one. Although the case is square, there is a octago

Grey Dealers Margins
I was wondering if anyone has any information around grey market/second hand dealers margins what they are and why they are comprised this way?I am based in London and the majority of sellers are looking between 25-30% mark-up from the price they'll purchase a watch at to what they will list the watch for sale at.This seems quite high to me especially with watches which are still under Rolex warranty. I think bar checking authenticity and taking a few photos it seems odd require such a large mark up.I know each dealers will have overheads; staff, premises, employees etc but sometimes I wonder why they don't just list the watch at a lower price (tha most of the market) and take the instant profit rather than sit on them for a while to achieve these margins.Any dealers who could shed some light on this?