Every year Swiss business magazine Bilanz publishes a list of the richest people residing in Switzerland, categorised into the industries in which the fortunes were made. The latest list was published in January 2017, based on figures for the previous year. Watchmaking features prominently on the list, albeit in small numbers given the size of the […]
The Swatch Group just announced its 2016 full year results. Despite declines across the board, chief executive Nick Hayek expects a recovery in 2017, nudging the group’s shares up in Zurich trading. Sales at the owner of brands like Omega and Longines fell 10.6% in 2016, with the watch division alone seeing a similar sales drop of 10.7%. Group profit […]
Having eased out top management earlier in the year in the wake of a 51% drop in first half profits, Richemont is now turning to its subsidiary brands. Bloomberg reported earlier today that the chief executives of Dunhill, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin and Piaget will be leaving, confirming speculation that had been brewing since last year. Swiss newspaper […]
Trade body The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS) just published its annual figures for Swiss watch exports and the decline that began in 2014 continues. Compared with 2015 exports are down 9.9% to SFr19.4 billion, about the same as 2011 levels. Hong Kong, the biggest market, was down 25.1%. Of the the ten largest […]
Just days before SIHH 2017 is due to open – the event is dominated by Richemont’s subsidiary brands like Cartier and IWC – the Swiss group got a slight respite in its third quarter results, after a dismal first half that saw profits fall by 51%, leading to drastic management changes. Sales for the third quarter that […]
First revealed by chief executive Nick Hayek in 2015, the Swatch Group’s investment in batteries is going full steam ahead, despite considerable scepticism from investors, reports Reuters. The owner of brands like Omega and Longines has long dabbled in other technologies, including solar powered plans and the Smart microcar it codeveloped with Mercedes-Benz, but watches are still […]
Once Donald Trump becomes the 45th President of the United States, he will receive a Vulcain Cricket, reports Bloomberg, continuing a practice that began with Harry Truman. The ailing Swiss watchmaker has gifted its signature alarm wristwatch to almost every U.S. President since Truman, though only Eisenhower and Johnson were ever spotted with one in public. President Barack […]
Shortly after announcing a sweeping management overhaul and slumping profits last month, Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont declared it would cut 211 jobs at two subsidiary brands, Piaget and Vacheron Constantin. The axe would fall three locations – Geneva, Côte-aux-Fées and Vallée de Joux. That brought out some 300 protestors in Geneva, and another 400 outside the town hall of Le Sentier, […]
Breitling is in the preliminary stages of selling itself to a luxury conglomerate, according to a report on Bloomberg. One of the few family-owned watch companies of significant size left, Breitling has been in the hands of the Schneider family since 1979. According to Rene Weber, an analyst at Bank Vontobel quoted in the Bloomberg story […]
In the biggest change to its management in years, Richemont has announced the retirement of its chief executive and chief financial officer, as well as eight members of its board. This represents a generational change for the Swiss luxury conglomerate, owner of brands like Cartier, IWC and Montblanc. The retirees who are in their 50s or 60s […]