Smart spending: Why old is still gold when it comes to vintage timepieces

New watches may have been hamstrung by the rise of the digital watch, but prices of vintage pieces are shooting up even today

When the first Apple iWatch was launched, there was speculation all round on whether it would make a dent in the high-priced Swiss watch industry that prizes itself on being an exclusive club that dictates official production standards, increases prices every year and guards its technologies closely. Initially the big watchmakers said smartwatches would actually help their cause by getting millennials to upgrade to mechanical watches. Later that turned to a note of caution when 2016 saw Swiss watch exports drop by almost a million units to 6.9 million watches – almost the same as 2012 levels, according to the