STATE OF PLAY

Buyers of watches are in for a rough time this year, although the investment angle looks set to stay. Enthusiasts can look forward to the easing of constrained supply - maybe. We break down the complex situation, with the help of a variety of trade sources, helpfully distilled into one story

While the times are certainly challenging – they almost always are, by some measure or other – the business of keeping time has hardly shifted from the lofty position it held last year. Specialist and business press are no longer held hostage by the hype cycle, but that appears to be the most significant impact of the global cost of living crisis. Well, hindsight will likely reveal other matters. At present, it seems that there are few developing issues impacting watchmaking. With no major elections on the way, and no policy shifts on the horizon, continuity appears to be the order of the day. For our part, we have decided to sum up our thoughts on the year-that-was in a more compact format than we did last year. This means that this article makes space for both the state-of-the-trade, and our annual look at the dark horses of watchmaking, in that order.