Luxury timepieces are back. They’re highly collectible, exceptionally crafted…and costlier than ever.Note the watch on your left. Introduced in January at Geneva’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, the Openworked Extra-Thin Royal Oak Tourbillon in stainless steel from Audemars Piguet embodies several prevailing trends in the luxury watch market. First and foremost? Heritage. The Royal Oak turns 40 this year, and Audemars is sparing no expense in feting it. Across the watch business, rare is the debut that does not evoke a past glory—one sign of how important the notion of tradition is to the category. Next, consider its skeletonized tourbillon movement. The combination of watchmaking’s most conspicuous feature and a see-through display speaks to the rise of the collector class, whose members helped Swiss watch exports reach 19.3 billion francs ($20.9 billion)
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