Not good news for fans of the brand... https://mobile2.24heures.ch/articles/5a1c4135ab5c375d42000001 Cheers, Al
All is not (yet) lost. Sounds like a process similar to a Chapter 11 permitting reorganisation. Keeping my fingers crossed for the brand and its employees.
Al beat me to it, read this news earlier on Horologium and was going to start a thread, but got tied up at work... https://horologium.com.au/2017/11/29/industry-news-fortis-in-bankruptcy-debt-deferral/ Not sure how relevant this is to Fortis, but previous FHS reports had shown that luxury watches at lower price points were not showing the same Q2, Q3 2017 revenue recovery observed for watches at higher price points. Shame, hope Fortis can restructure, sort things out and make a comeback.
For some reason I thought they sold a fair number of watches. But my information was based on the internets.
Bought an Indian refurb Fortis recently and its been accurate to the second ever since. Haven't had to reset it even once. I know that Indian refurbs are a crap shoot but this one appears to be a real winner. Bought another last night in fact. The first was a black dial with luminous hands , with the T Swiss Made T marking at bottom of dial to denote mild radiation. The next is identical except the dial is old ivory color with black hands and no T-----T. I find a light dial with black hands easiest to read in most lighting conditions. Neither is remotely a luxury watch though, just work a day beaters that keep time and no tears if they get busted. I like their old adverts.
Yikes! Fortis is a major brand with excellent aviation history and really nice designs - especially some of the more recent ones - but other than the Fortis cosmonaut - I can't recall a core icon to drive the brand forward. I guess their efforts to find alternate distribution and sales channels to try to generate cash flow were not successful.
Ran across a fully untouched all original vintage triple signed Fortis in working condition not long ago, I should have bid on it. Prices will only go up now.
An article that you might find of interest http://www.fortis-watches.com/upload/Jubliaeumsbuch/FORTIS-100-Years-Jubilee-Book.pdf