MONTH IN REVIEW Updated at
www.jewelleryfocus.co.uk HALLMARKING
Hallmarking falls sharply in December amid weak full-year results
TRADING UPDATE
UK jewellery and watch sales help Richemont return
to growth Richemont has reported a 5% increase in total sales in the third quarter (Q3) of its financial year, boosted by strong jewellery and watch sales in the UK. The Swiss luxury goods group -
owner of jewellery and watch brands such as Cartier, A. Lange & Sohne, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin - said sales had increased across Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas for the period ending 31 December 2016. In Europe, total sales increased 3%
The total number of hallmarked items nose-dived in December by 15.7%, a decrease of 145,007 pieces when compared with December 2015. Figures released by the four UK
assay offices - compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office - found there was a total of 781,200 articles hallmarked during the month, down from the 926,207 items recorded in the previous December. The high-value category of
gold recorded the sharpest fall in hallmarking, down 20.7% from 436,453 items to 346,060. Both 9-carat and 18-carat reported large falls of 22.8% and 18.6%, respectively. The number of silver and platinum
pieces hallmarked fell 11.5% and 11.2% respectively, while palladium was the only precious metal not to record a decline as the number of hallmarked items grew 16%. The assay offices also released
hallmarking data for the entirety 2016, which saw a 7.1% decrease in hallmarked pieces from 10,495,355 in 2015 to 9,748,033 in 2016 - 747,322 fewer pieces. Gold particularly suffered
throughout the year as the number of 9-carat pieces hallmarked fell 6% and 18-carat items fell 3.8%.
12 JEWELLERY FOCUS
during the period. This was in contrast to the 17% decline in sales registered in the first six months of the year. The company said this improvement
was primarily driven by “robust local sales and tourist purchases” in the United Kingdom as well as strong jewellery sales across the region. Richemont recorded 10% growth
in sales in the Asia Pacific region due to strong performances in China and Korea, and an 8% increase in the Americas region, supported by jewellery sales and the reopening of its Cartier Mansion in New York. Overall, retail sales grew by 12%
- compared with the 5% decline in the first six months of the year - underpinned by solid jewellery sales, positive watch sales and the reopening of two Cartier stores in New York and Tokyo.
STAT OF THE MONTH
Total provisional diamond sales for the De Beers Group of Companies in the first of 10 annual sales cycles. Up from £433m recorded in the same period last year.
£573m As of 1 January, the Swiss-Made label
now requires 60% of the components in a watch to be of Swiss origin. A statement from the company,
which claims its timepieces are over 95% Swiss, said it was responding with “derision” to the new rules. It said the new label is “too lenient, providing no guarantee, creating confusion and encouraging abuses of the system.” Edouard Meylan, CEO, said: “Our
Swiss Mad Watch sends a clear message to the Swiss watchmaking industry, the authorities and watch enthusiasts: the Swiss Made label is meaningless. “Worse than this, it gives credibility
to the worst abuses in our industry. Our response to this lax and insufficient label is derision.” The watch, which is being sold for
1,081,291 Swiss Francs (£880,000), is created from real Swiss cheese as a base material and features a Swiss cowhide strap and a red dial that subtly represents the Swiss flag. H Moser & Cie has also decided to
remove the Swiss Made label from all new watches created from 2017 onwards.
February 2017 |
jewelleryfocus.co.uk
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2 STATEMENT
H Moser & Cie creates £880,000 watch made from
cheese H Moser & Cie has created a new watch made from Swiss cheese in opposition to new rules governing the label ‘Swiss-Made’. The ‘Swiss Mad Watch’ - which
the company describes as “symbolic, irreverent, and 100% Swiss” - has been created as a satirical comment on the revised legislation that timepieces are required to meet to receive the Swiss- Made label.
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