Rolex CEO Patrick Heiniger resigns

Sales of the luxury industry will decline 4 percent in 2009, as revenue growth from emerging markets slows, Melanie Flouquet, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co., estimated yesterday.Him stepping down at this time does seem slightly odd given that the watch industry is in for a tough time.Normally, I don’t like to copy/paste a blog post, but this message is most interesting to post as-is:Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) — Rolex Group, the Swiss watchmaker, said Chief Executive Officer Patrick Heiniger resigned forìpersonal reasons after 16 years in the post. Heiniger will leave Rolex at the end of the year, the Geneva-based company said in a statement late yesterday. Separately, Rolex today denied a Agefi report that the company may have lost 1 billion Swiss francs ($900 million) invested with Bernard Madoff, the U.S. money manager charged with fraud. Heiniger, who replaced his father Andre in 1992, leaves as the financial crisis ends a boom for the watch*** industry that led to the fastest growth in two decades last year.