Swiss watch houses would mostly like to forget the 1970s, when a flood of low-priced, accurate Japanese quartz timers decimated the industry. Now, a new generation of watchmakers is taking inspiration from some of the feistier designs that emerged as the Swiss fought back. April 2, 2008
Until the 19th century, London was at the cutting edge of watch and clockmaking science. Now, new brands are reviving and exploiting the British horological tradition. December 7, 2007
Vartkess Knadjian was raised in Ethiopia, son of Emperor Haile Selassie's official watchmaker. Exiled by the Marxist coup in 1974 he joined, and later took control of, the Backes & Strauss diamond company in London. Last year, Backes and Strauss produced its first diamond-studded watch collection. December 4, 2007
Jewelry connoisseurs are again citing the country's 5,000-year-old design heritage, newly co-opted by a rising cohort of luxury jewelers besotted with traditional Indian craftsmanship and locally sourced precious stones. November 23, 2007
Some watches have never-before-seen metallurgical combinations, silicon-enhanced movements and cases made of glossy high-tech ceramic - the material, for example, that has been used as a heat shield to protect U.S. space shuttles as they re-enter the earth's atmosphere. April 12, 2007
The two luxury brands may seem to be genetic opposites, but they have something important in common: Neither can produce enough watches to meet demand. April 12, 2007
For almost its entire 118-year history, De Beers, a mining house, has relied on Africa as a source of rough stones and on London as mission control - but this will change in 2008 as it shifts its operations to Botswana. June 9, 2006
Cellini, an exclusive watch retailer in the Waldorf- Astoria Hotel here, waited nearly two years for its first Jean Dunand Grande Complication, a complex mechanical toy worth $775,000 to any number of collectors. March 30, 2006
Flash a thumbs-up anywhere in the world and you'll get a point across-but not always the one you wanted. Why simple gestures aren't that simple. January 1999
