Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition - December 2017

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WATCHES

SSTYLE

is zero chance that big watch

anies will stop mining the

r ideas, but I think we will

em move away from the

and 70s to dig up some of

ore interesting looks of the

the more switched-on, such as

ars Piguet, have already.

WILL HAVE A NEW ROLEX

BMARINER

ve been telling anyone who’ll

enthat “next year, there’s going to

a new Submariner ” for two years,

while it hasn’t happened yet,

as time passes my odds increase of

being right. So I’m doubling down on

this one – a new Sub to be revealed

at Baselworld 2018 in March, causing

a total frenzy among Rolex nerds. ATED

WATCHES

This was a fairly quiet year for a lot

ofthe usual purveyors of complex

watchmaking, as brands have

shied away from the investment

needed as sales dropped.

Business does seem to be picking

up, but the time taken to develop

new watches means it could be

2019 before we see much in the

way of fancy new tricks.

SOCIAL SALES

Bythe end of 2018, at least one major

brand will open up Instagram as a

regular sales platform. We’ve already

seen Omega use it to stoke interest

for a limited-edition Speedmaster, and

other lifestyle brands are wise to the

one-tap buying potential of Insta.

5

A SERIOUS SWISS SMARTWATCH

Call me cynical, but I don’t quite believe the

hype around the smart efforts by TAG Heuer,

Montblancet also far. If there is a luxury Swiss

smartwatch that can genuinely rival Apple, it

hasn’t surfaced yet. In 2018, it just might, but

don’t ask me who’s going to make it.

4

for

Five

predictions

2018

DECEMBER 2017