Swiss Watch Exports Decline Again, Reaching 2006 Level
The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry has released Swiss watch export figures for September, 2009, and the downward trend continues. The value of Swiss watch exports fell by 26.1% to 1.1 billion francs. Overall exports are down 25.9% for the first 3 quarters of 2009. Swiss watch exports have now retreated to their 2006 level. Watches manufactured from precious metals suffered the steepest declines in value terms in September, while the downturn was less severe for bimetallic timepieces. The number of timepieces exported suffered particularly badly, falling by nearly a million units in one month. Steel and the category of other materials had a markedly negative effect on results. Since the beginning of the year, exports have registered a shortfall of 5.1 million watches.For wristwatches costing less than 200 francs (export price), the number of pieces exported fell by half in September, generating a deficit of 890,000 units. The 200-500 franc segment performed much better, register

APSC Clearwater
I know we always hear about great customer service from AP and their service centers and I just wanted to share another example. On March 2nd I sent my Plat 44mm offshore and my wife's Lady RO to APSC Clearwater for the pressure test and to activate the 3rd year warranty. They called me as soon as they received the watch and told me they would notify me by email once they were able to fully check the watches. A week later they called and sent an email notifying me that the 44mm offshore was magnetized and the Lady RO was not keeping proper time so they were going to do a full movement service and extend the warranty another 2 years on both watches. It’s nice to know that when you send your watches to AP they do a full function and timing test and not just a pressure test. Got my 44mm back Thursday of last week in time for the 3 day weekend and the Lady RO is due back next week. 1 month turnaround time for a full service and extending the warranty 2 more years (for a total of

Welcome to Club AP
It has been a long time coming. I've admired AP from afar for quite some time now and after coming close a couple times over the past year, I finally pulled the trigger. I am the proud owner for my first AP, a Royal Oak Chrono! I can't even begin to describe how beautiful this watch is. We all know the dial is mesmerizing, but the craftsmanship on the bracelet is just superb. I love how the brushed and polished parts catch the light as it almost dances on the wrist. I've attached a wrist shot below, more to come once I stop over it.Only one problem though. I've had this bad boy for about 6 hours now and I'm already figuring out which AP to buy next! Oh well, looks like it's time to hunt down a Titanium Schumi. P.S. Many thanks to MB23 for coming through in the clutch and getting me a great deal after the ADs failed to deliver.

Patek 5167a NEED ADVICE
Hi all I was offered a trade on my PP 5167a for a Daytona white dial ceramic or an AP jumbo ultra thin blue dial 15202.What should I do?Cheers all!

Side by side pics of sub vs sd43 vs dssd?
Trying to get a sense of the size difference. 40 vs 43 vs 44. How about depth? I thought the dssd was around 17mm? Not sure about sd43 or sub?