🕰️ Kern of the Dead
Universal Genève is back, but did anyone ask for it?
Universal Genève is back from the dead, exhumed last month by Georges Kern, the Breitling chief who has the distinct honour of being Switzerland’s most reliable necromancer of dormant watch brands. Next on his resurrection list is Gallet, another corpse with a respectable pre-war CV, soon to be wheeled out for collectors who want the mystique of a forgotten name without the inconvenience of researching whether it actually made anything interesting. The Geneva watch fairs in April were, as ever, a séance with champagne.
Reviving brands rather than building them is not a quirk of an industry that loves its own past. It is the industry. Swiss watch exports rose from 6.8B CHF in 1990 to 26.7B CHF in 2023, while the average exported piece climbed from 224 CHF to 1,582 CHF. That sevenfold jump in unit price has nothing to do with alpine alchemy and everything to do with a discovery made first in Parisian fashion houses and then copy-pasted onto wrists: a brand carrying a 19th-century founding date is worth roughly a hundred times the same case, dial and movement badged with something invented in 2008.
Credit, such as it is, belongs to Bernard Arnault. In 1984 he bought the Boussac textile group, and buried inside was Christian Dior, somewhere between coma and embalming. He took the dress brand, levered it into LVMH, and from there into a personal fortune that has at various points made him the richest man on earth. Every watch executive who has since « rescued » a defunct manufacture has been working from a manual whose first chapter Arnault wrote in a Boussac boardroom in the Mitterrand years. There is something defensible in all this. Hayek’s 1999 deal that pulled Breguet and Nouvelle Lémania out of Investcorp’s filing cabinets preserved more genuine watchmaking than a thousand « disruptive » startups could manage in a century, and Richemont’s purchase of Lange & Söhne the same year resurrected a Saxon firm the Soviets had liquidated in 1948. Heritage, when it points at something real, is not a lie.
But Universal Genève in 2026 is essentially a logo and a typeface, licensed to a marketing operation that will put the badge on pieces its original employees would not recognise. The exception that confirms the rule is Richard Mille, founded 2001, which built a luxury brand the unfashionable way: by being genuinely strange and selling watches at six figures to tennis players. The deeper trick of this trade goes beyond the obvious sale of nostalgia. Two generations of buyers have been quietly trained to confuse a name on a dial with a continuous tradition, when what they are actually purchasing is a private equity exit dressed in waistcoat and pocket square. The watches are often excellent. The story is almost always borrowed from a graveyard.
M. Hantale 🧀
- 🇺🇸 Conflict. The World Bank warns that an escalation between Washington and Tehran could bring global growth down to 1.3% this year and push inflation up to 4.5%, with rising interest rates and an increased risk of food insecurity for poor countries.
- 🇾🇪 Conflict. The Houthis are blocking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait route and attacking tankers off Yemen, forcing shipowners to bypass the Suez Canal and putting upward pressure on oil prices.
- 🇪🇺 Climate. Waves of wildfires in Spain, France and Italy: spring drought and parched soils are prompting several governments to declare a state of national emergency in the face of fires of exceptional scale.
- 🇬🇧 Politics. Andy Burnham appointed Prime Minister by King Charles III, 7th Premier in 10 years, promises a 10-year plan to reduce the cost of living and recentralise water, energy, housing and transport.
Economy & Finance
- 🇩🇪 Growth. Consumer sentiment in Germany remains very low: the GfK/NIM index falls 0.3 points to -29.6 pts in August, weighed down by the end of the fuel discount, rising prices and weaker income expectations.
- 🇨🇭 Trade. The United States is imposing a 12.5% tariff on Swiss products entering their market, a temporary 150-day measure that has come into effect, replacing the previous 10% rate.
- 🇨🇭 Trade. Swiss exports surged by 8.8% in the second quarter to 73.23bn CHF, driven by a 21.5% increase in sales to the United States and a trade surplus rising to 13.93bn CHF.
- 🇨🇭 Trade. Watch exports rebounded in June to CHF2.4B (+11.2% vs 2025), 1.3M pieces sold.
- 🇺🇸 Trade. Donald Trump threatens to open an investigation under Section 301 and impose « substantial » tariffs on the EU in response to European fines, including €890m imposed on Google.
- 🇪🇺 Rates. The ECB pauses its increase and leaves the deposit rate at 2.25%, but a rise in September is being considered if new forecasts show a resurgence in inflation.
- 🇺🇸 Rates. The 10-year Treasury yield surges to 4.7%, its highest since January 2025, driven by Brent above $100 per barrel and jobless claims falling to 187K.
- 🇫🇷 Deficit. France’s 10-year yield briefly breached 4% for the first time since 2009, increasing the cost of refinancing a record debt of €3.5tn (117% of GDP) and raising concerns about an interest charge potentially reaching €100bn in the long term.
- 🇺🇸 Commodities. Oil retreats after two days of pause in fighting between the United States and Iran, with investors hoping for an imminent return of supply that had pushed prices above $100/b last week.
- 🇦🇪 Commodities. Abu Dhabi approves a $6.2bn gas project on the Umm Shaif offshore field to add 600M scf/d of production by 2030 and support its LNG exporter ambitions.
- 🇪🇺 Currencies. The ECB has presented 10 proposals for a complete set of €5, €10, €20, €50, €100 and €200 banknotes and is launching a public consultation until 21 September to choose the new designs, the first since 2002.
- 🇪🇺 Regulation. The EU adopts a 21st package of sanctions against Russia including the maintenance of an oil price cap at $44 per barrel for one year in order to reduce its energy revenues.
- 🇩🇪 Employment. The announced closure of the SFS factory in Flawil by the end of 2027 will eliminate 110 jobs, a direct sign that the German automotive crisis is weighing on Swiss industrial employment.
Switzerland
- 🇨🇭 Diplomacy. 34 firefighters from French-speaking Switzerland departed Geneva to reinforce rescue efforts in Bordeaux against fires in the Gironde, transported in 11 vehicles and placed under the command of the GSIS.
- 🇨🇭 Defence. The Swiss army is reassessing the importance of disused bunkers due to geopolitical tension and Armasuisse has launched a call for tenders for a study on their reactivation as secure storage sites for ammunition and equipment.
- 🇨🇭 Health. Switzerland increases its aid to the DRC with an additional CHF1.6M for the WHO, bringing the total since the beginning of the crisis to CHF4.6M to strengthen the coordination of emergency medical teams.
- 🇨🇭 Solidarity. The UNHCR will remain in Geneva and move to the Wilson Palace with no specific date following the elimination of approximately 5,000 posts, a move which should reduce its rental costs by 50%.
- 🇨🇭 Energy. The war against Iran and the low level of the Rhine are driving up fuel prices in Switzerland: petrol pump prices have risen by approximately 6% (SP95 at ~1.92 francs) and heating oil has jumped from 109 to 148 CHF/100L (+36%).
- 🇨🇭 Mobility. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary, Bertrand Piccard announces his intention to repeat the feat with a hydrogen-powered aircraft, asserting that Solar Impulse has paved the way for sustainable aviation.
- 🇨🇭 Mobility. The sale of alcohol in Swiss railway stations will remain authorised until 10pm, unlike Germany which is banning consumption in its 5,400 stations from 15/10/2026.
- 🇨🇭 Climate. Resorts such as Adelboden‑Lenk plan to use their snow cannons and pipe networks to spray and combat forest fires, with the Leiterli reservoir holding up to 60M litres of water.
- 🇨🇭 Climate. The white stork population has been rising for 25 years: 1,300 breeding pairs recorded in 2026, compared with 175 in 2000.
- 🇨🇭 Science. Researchers from ETH Zurich demonstrate, via a high-resolution 3D model, that rifts on Venus stretching 10,000 km formed recently, evidence that the planet is geologically active with potentially active volcanoes.
- 🇨🇭 Science. Excavations at Vindonissa (Windisch) have uncovered the first Roman palisade of the camp, dated to the early years of Tiberius’s reign (14‑37 AD), and traced over approximately 70m to the south of the future castrum.
- 🇨🇭 Culture. The Neuchâtel Observatory, the MIH, the Château des Monts and the MahN are inaugurating « From Stars to Atoms », an exhibition that traces the measurement of time from the observation of stars to atomic clocks, open since 21 June.
Elsewhere in the World
- 🇮🇹 Politics. Under Meloni unemployment falls to 5%, but many employees earn €1.5k–€1.6k per month and consider their salaries insufficient in the face of rising cost of living.
- 🇹🇷 Politics. Fatma Kaplan Hürriyet, the mayor of Izmit, was arrested during a search with her husband as part of investigations into public contracts; 30 other people are being sought for forming a criminal organisation, corruption and rigging of public tenders.
- 🇺🇸 Justice. Donald Trump assures that Benjamin Netanyahu « will not be arrested » during his visit to New York in September, in response to Mayor Zohran Mamdani who had raised the possibility of an arrest linked to the ICC arrest warrant issued on 21/11/2024 for war crimes.
- 🇺🇸 Conflict. The war with Iran has cost approximately $37.5bn so far, and the Pentagon is requesting an additional $87bn from Congress, of which $67bn is for operations in the Middle East.
- 🇬🇷 Defence. The Greek government approves €4.2bn in defence programmes, including over €3bn for the « Achilles Shield », an air defence and anti-missile system inspired by the Israeli Iron Dome.
- 🇩🇪 Security. The suspect in the CSD Berlin attack has been killed by law enforcement during an operation in Spandau, the Bundesanwaltschaft has taken over the investigation after a vehicle ploughed into the crowd, leaving 1 dead and 29 injured.
- 🇧🇷 Diplomacy. Brazil recalls its ambassador to Buenos Aires and summons the Argentine ambassador after President Javier Milei called Lula a « thief » and attacked the judiciary at a pro-Flávio Bolsonaro rally, triggering the worst diplomatic incident between neighbours in decades.
- 🇻🇪 Diplomacy. Marco Rubio announces that steps towards a democratic transition in Venezuela will begin in early August, with Washington steering talks between the interim government of Delcy Rodríguez and representatives of the Assembly elected in 2015.
- 🇸🇾 Diplomacy. António Guterres is making the first visit by a UN Secretary-General to Syria in over 15 years, travelling to Damascus for a « solidarity visit » and meeting transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa.
- 🇫🇷 Disasters. Approximately 65 members of the Touring Club Switzerland were evacuated around Cap-Ferret due to forest fires. No injuries reported and the TCS is assisting with rehousing or reimbursing interrupted stays.
- 🇨🇦 Catastrophes. In one week 361 new fires were reported, bringing the number of active wildfires in Canada to nearly 1,000, one of the most intense seasons in its history with 3M hectares already ravaged and 5,000 firefighters mobilised.
- 🇨🇱 Disasters. An exceptional storm has caused at least 10 deaths, 4 missing persons and 17 injured in northern Chile. A state of disaster was declared after 100k people were isolated and 2.4k left homeless.
- 🇨🇳 Disasters. A flash flood in Shuangshimen, in southern Gansu, has killed 10 people, injured 23 and rescued 174 people after torrential rains trapped campers.
- 🇨🇩 Health. The Ebola epidemic in the DRC has recorded 1,000 new cases in ten days, bringing the total to 3,075 cases and 1,354 deaths, concentrated mainly in Ituri.
- 🇨🇭 Pharma. Zurich-based biotech Immitra Bio closes a pre-seed of €2.6M (CHF 2.4M) intended to scale its in vivo genetic platform, with €162k in non-dilutive funding.
- 🇨🇭 Banking. Julius Bär achieves a record half-year profit of 673m CHF, more than double the 295m CHF from last year thanks to higher revenues and the absence of exceptional charges.
- 🇨🇭 Banking. Vontobel signs a solid half-year: net profit up 87% to 216m CHF and revenues up 24%, whilst the cost-to-income ratio improves to 67.9% thanks to a 100m CHF savings programme.
- 🇨🇭 Food and beverage. Nestlé publishes organic revenue growth of 3.7% for Q2 (vs 3.6% expected) and raises its 2024 forecast to 3–4% organic growth.
- 🇮🇹 Food and beverage. Nestlé Purina is investing 520 million CHF in an integrated premium wet food factory in Mantua, operational by 2029 to strengthen European production.
- 🇨🇭 Watchmaking. Swatch’s sales rise by 8.5% to 3.12bn CHF in the first half, but operating profit falls to 52m CHF and remains far from the expected 120m CHF, penalised by currency effects.
- 🇨🇭 M&A. Calida sells its American brand Cosabella to New York-based fund Crown Brands Group, with the amount remaining confidential following an acquisition in 2022 at $80M. Cosabella achieved CHF4.3M in revenue in H1, down 36.6%.
- 🇨🇭 M&A. Nestlé divests 50% of its Waters business (Perrier, San Pellegrino) to Platinum Equity for €3bn in cash, creating the joint venture Peranel valued at €4.9bn.
SMI Index
| Name | Price | Mkt Cap | 7d Chg | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roche | 360.00 | 286.84B | ▲ +7.0% | ▲ +11.6% |
| Novartis | 126.90 | 241.20B | ▲ +3.1% | ▲ +20.5% |
| Nestlé | 80.67 | 207.50B | ▼ -5.9% | ▲ +9.8% |
| ABB | 80.00 | 145.18B | ▲ +0.9% | ▲ +32.6% |
| UBS | 42.31 | 138.68B | ▲ +0.6% | ▲ +14.5% |
| Zurich Insurance | 623.00 | 93.06B | ▲ +0.5% | ▲ +9.7% |
| Holcim | 74.02 | 40.94B | ▼ -0.9% | ▼ -3.0% |
| Swiss Re | 134.50 | 39.67B | ▼ -0.6% | ▲ +9.9% |
| Lonza | 548.00 | 38.27B | ▼ -3.0% | ▲ +3.4% |
| Swisscom | 622.50 | 32.25B | ▼ -1.2% | ▲ +11.7% |
| Givaudan | 3,196.00 | 29.50B | ▼ -6.0% | ▲ +5.7% |
| Alcon | 55.74 | 27.18B | ▼ -1.8% | ▼ -11.8% |
| Swiss Life | 945.00 | 26.41B | ▲ +0.2% | ▲ +5.8% |
| Sika | 155.85 | 25.00B | ▲ +0.3% | ▼ -2.1% |
| SGS | 93.38 | 18.47B | ▼ -1.3% | ▲ +4.3% |
| Partners Group | 677.00 | 17.46B | ▲ +0.0% | ▼ -30.7% |
| Geberit | 514.00 | 16.95B | ▼ -1.0% | ▼ -14.5% |
| Straumann | 96.12 | 15.33B | ▼ -3.1% | ▲ +3.1% |
| Julius Bär | 70.56 | 14.52B | ▼ -4.3% | ▲ +11.9% |
| Logitech | 85.96 | 12.34B | ▲ +4.1% | ▲ +8.2% |
📅 Data as of 2026-07-27 08:49
Forex CHF
| Pair | Rate | 7d Chg | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/CHF | 0.93 | ▲ +0.46% | ▼ -0.18% |
| USD/CHF | 0.81 | ▲ +0.51% | ▲ +2.80% |
| GBP/CHF | 1.09 | ▼ -0.05% | ▲ +1.90% |
📅 Data as of 2026-07-27 08:49
The Toll Booth and the Cargo
Gold fell 22% between 28 February and 8 July, the window running from the American and Israeli strikes on Iran to the collapse of the Versailles truce. A safe haven that retreats during the war it is meant to hedge raises a better question than whether it works: who made money on gold in those five months? Not the people who owned it.
There are two ways to earn a living from a road. Own the cargo and hope it is worth more on arrival. Or hold the barrier and charge for passage. The first income depends on the level of prices, the second on the volume of traffic. Gold holders had taken the first bet. After a 65% rise in 2025, bullion was the only line still showing a profit when equities fell, so they sold what had gone up to cover what had gone down. The metal served as liquidity, not shelter.
The refineries of Ticino, the Italian-speaking canton on Switzerland’s southern border, hold the barrier. No position on the price: they take in metal, melt it to standard, have it certified by sworn assayers whose sign-off has no equivalent abroad, and hand it back. Revenue follows tonnage. In the first half of 2025, 476 tonnes worth CHF39B went to the United States and doubled the Swiss trade surplus with America, which stood at CHF24B without the metal. Panic moves gold. So does euphoria. Both pay the toll.
In the summer of 2025, US customs reclassified 1kg bars under a code carrying the 39% Swiss tariff, the steepest imposed on any Western country, then called it a misunderstanding and restored the exemption. Bern, the federal capital, took the other route, the one that runs file by file: a framework at 15% in November, a $200B investment pledge, an effective rate down to roughly 10% by February. Three tariffs in twelve months. The signage kept changing. The traffic kept moving.
Inflation at 0.6% in May. The policy rate held at 0% in March and again in June by the SNB, the Swiss central bank, which repeats that it stands ready to act against excessive strength in the franc. Against that, American inflation at 4.2% year on year and a Federal Reserve that chose not to move. Predictability is the second thing the country sells, priced on the same principle: no view on the destination, a fee for the crossing. The haven of those five months was a readable jurisdiction.
The alternative is to stand with the cargo. French households hold 4,026 tonnes of gold, against 2,437 at their own central bank. Considerable savings, immobile, hostage to a price that tracks tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. That is the condition of any position: it absorbs what it cannot control. Brussels regulates flows, Washington taxes them by surprise, Bern lets them through and bills for the passage. Holding the barrier enriches nobody overnight. It pays on every crossing.