1999

• Patek Philippe presents the luxury ladies' watch Twenty~4®.
• Sinn presents the first model of the Finanzplatzuhr (broker's watch).
• Vodafone acquires Mannesmann, kicking off a bidding war for LMH, which includes A. Lange & Söhne, IWC, and Jaeger-LeCoultre. Richemont beats PPR and LVMH, purchasing the company, including Audemars Piguet's shares, for a record CHF 2.8 billion on July 21. This brings the companies together with Cartier, Montblanc, Panerai, and Piaget, and reunites Jaeger-LeCoultre with Vacheron Constantin.
• The French luxury goods manufacturerLouis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) takes over Chaumet but is rebuffed when bidding for LMH. They quickly turn to TAG Heuer, and add Ebel and Zenith before the end of the year.
• Breguet, together with the Nouvelle Lemania, is bought by the Swatch Group on September 14.
• On 14 November a rattrapante wristwatch, brought onto the market by Patek Philippe in 1922, is auctioned at the auction house Antiquorium for US$ 1,918,387. This has been so far the highest price ever reached for a wristwatch in an auction.

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