The Swatch Group

Last updated

The Swatch Group Ltd
Company type Public company
ISIN CH0012255151  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Industry
Predecessor ASUAG and SSIH
Founded1983;41 years ago (1983)
Headquarters,
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products Watches, Jewelry, Electronic systems
RevenueIncrease2.svg CHF  7.31 billion [1]  (2021)
Increase2.svg CHF 1.02 billion [1]  (2021)
Increase2.svg CHF 774 million [1]  (2021)
Total assets Increase2.svg CHF 13.68 billion [1]  (2021)
Total equity Increase2.svg CHF 11.61 billion [1]  (2021)
Number of employees
31,444 [1]  (2021)
Subsidiaries
Website swatchgroup.com

The Swatch Group Ltd is a Swiss manufacturer of watches and jewellery. The company was founded in 1983 by the merger of ASUAG and SSIH to move to manufacturing quartz-crystal watches to resolve the quartz crisis threatening the traditional Swiss watchmaking industry. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

The Swatch Group is the largest watch company in the world and employs about 31,000 people in 50 countries. [5] The group owns the Swatch product line and other luxury brands, including Blancpain, Breguet, Certina, ETA, Glashütte Original, Hamilton, Harry Winston, Longines, Mido, Omega, Rado, and Tissot. [6] [7]

History

SSIH

SSIH (Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère), originated in 1930 with the merger of the Omega and Tissot companies. Swiss watch quality was high, but new technology, such as the Hamilton Electric watch introduced in 1957 and the Bulova Accutron tuning fork watch in 1961, presaged increasing technological competition.

In the late 1970s, SSIH became insolvent due in part to a recession and in part to heavy competition from inexpensive Asian-made quartz crystal watches. These difficulties occurred even though it had become Switzerland's largest, and the world's third largest, producer of watches. Its creditor banks assumed control in 1981.

ASUAG

ASUAG (Allgemeine Gesellschaft der Schweizerischen Uhrenindustrie), formed in 1931, was the world's largest producer of watch movements and the parts thereof (balance wheels, balance springs, assortments, watch stones ("jewels")). ASUAG had also integrated an array of watch brands in 1972 into a sub-holding company, General Watch Co. ASUAG failed similarly in 1982.

The Swatch Group

ASUAG/SSIH was formed in 1983 from the two financially troubled predecessor companies, ASUAG and SSIH. [8] [9] Taken private in 1985 by then-CEO Nicolas Hayek, with the understanding of the Swiss banks and the financial assistance of a group of Swiss private investors (in particular Stephan Schmidheiny and Esther Grether), it was renamed SMH (Société de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie) in 1986, and ultimately Swatch Group Ltd in 1998. [8]

The "swatch" brand of watch was launched in 1983, by the ETA SA CEO Ernst Thomke and his engineers. The quartz watch was redesigned for manufacturing efficiency and fewer parts, and the styling and design were updated.

Brands

Blancpain wristwatch Blancpain-img 0319.jpg
Blancpain wristwatch
Breguet No. 1705 tourbillon wristwatch Breguet MG 2576.jpg
Breguet No. 1705 tourbillon wristwatch
Panomatic Lunar watch by Glashutte Original Glasshuette MG 2613.jpg
Panomatic Lunar watch by Glashütte Original

Over the years, the Swatch Group acquired various luxury watchmaking companies, including Blancpain S. A. (founded 1735, bought by Swatch in 1992), [10] Breguet S. A. (founded 1775, bought in 1999), [11] and Glashütte Original (Germany, bought in 2000). The company continued to produce watches under these names. [12]

HW Holding Inc., owner of Harry Winston, Inc., an American jewellery and luxury watch company, was acquired on 26 March 2013 for 711 million Swiss francs. [13] Nayla Hayek became the CEO. The company bought the world's biggest flawless blue diamond, The Winston Blue, on 15 May 2014. [14]

The following list includes the brands owned by the Swatch Group: [6] [7]

Watch manufacturing

ETA movement

Swatch subsidiary ETA SA, which is based in Grenchen, Switzerland, furnishes many OEM brands, such as LVMH (which markets TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith watch lines) and Richemont (which markets amongst others, A. Lange & Söhne, Baume & Mercier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Officine Panerai, Piaget, Roger Dubuis, Vacheron Constantin). [15]

Electronic systems

The Swatch Group Electronic System includes:

Swatch Internet Time

In 1998, Swatch invented "Swatch Internet Time", intended as a global time system, which divides the day into 1000 "beats" in a single worldwide time zone. [17]

In October 2004, Swatch introduced its first smart watch, the Paparazzi, based on Microsoft Corporation's SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology.)

Watchmaking school

The Swatch Group started offering their first class in the Nicolas G. Hayek Watchmaking School in Miami, Florida, in September 2005. There are other watchmaking schools in Glashütte, Germany; Pforzheim, Germany; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Shanghai, China.

Sponsorship

Sport and event timing

Swiss Timing, under brands such as Omega, Longines, and Tissot, provide timing services for sporting events such as Formula One, Olympic Games, Tour de France, and equestrian events. [18] In 2018 it was announced that The Swatch Group would hold its own watch fair in Zurich, during Baselworld 2019. [19]

Ventures

In 1994, Swatch entered into a joint venture with Germany's Daimler AG to produce the Smart car, but they later withdrew from this project. [20]

Swatch subsidiary Belenos Clean Power AG entered into a joint venture with the Paul Scherrer Institut in May 2008 to develop a hydrogen fuel cell for a fuel cell powered car. [21] Swatch began test drives of the car in Switzerland in 2012. However, the Swatch Group abandoned the project for a fuel-cell-powered car in June 2015, to concentrate instead on a new type of battery with high storage capacity. [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tissot</span> Swiss watch manufacturer

TissotSA is a luxury Swiss watch brand owned by the Swatch Group. The company was founded in Le Locle, Switzerland by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son, Charles-Émile Tissot, in 1853.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omega SA</span> Swiss watchmaker

Omega SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Founded by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, the company formerly operated as La Generale Watch Co. until incorporating the name Omega in 1903, becoming Louis Brandt et Frère-Omega Watch & Co. In 1984, the company officially changed its name to Omega SA and opened its museum in Biel/Bienne to the public. Omega is a subsidiary of The Swatch Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swatch</span> Swiss watchmaker

Swatch is a Swiss watchmaker founded in 1983 by Ernst Thomke, Elmar Mock, and Jacques Müller. It is a subsidiary of The Swatch Group. The Swatch product line was developed as a response to the "quartz crisis" of the 1970s and 1980s, in which inexpensive, battery-powered, quartz-regulated watches were competing against more established European watchmakers, focused on artisanal craftsmanship producing mostly mechanical watches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ETA SA</span> Swiss watch company

ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse designs and manufactures quartz watches and both hand-wound and automatic-winding mechanical ébauches and movements. Commonly referred to as ETA, the company is headquartered in Grenchen, Switzerland, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Swatch Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamilton Watch Company</span> Swiss watch manufacturer

The Hamilton Watch Company is a Swiss manufacturer of wristwatches based in Bienne, Switzerland. Founded in 1892 as an American firm, the Hamilton Watch Company ended American manufacture in 1969. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the Hamilton Watch Company eventually became integrated into the Swatch Group, the world's largest watch manufacturing and marketing conglomerate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longines</span> Swiss watchmaker

Compagnie des Montres Longines, Francillon S.A., or simply Longines, is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832, the company has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group and its predecessors since 1983. Its winged hourglass logo, registered in 1889, is the oldest unchanged active trademark registered with WIPO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Automatic quartz</span> Type of watch movement

Automatic quartz is a collective term describing watch movements that combine a self-winding rotor mechanism to generate electricity with a piezoelectric quartz crystal as its timing element. Such movements aim to provide the advantages of quartz without the inconvenience and environmental impact of batteries. Several manufacturers employ this technique.

Blancpain SA is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, headquartered in Paudex/Le Brassus, Switzerland. It designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells prestige and luxury mechanical watches. Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Switzerland in 1735, Blancpain is the oldest registered watch brand in the world. Blancpain has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group since 1992, and is regarded as a top-tier watch brand.

Manufacture d'horlogerie is a French language term of horology that has also been adopted in the English language as a loanword. In horology, the term is usually encountered in its abbreviated form manufacture. This term is used when describing a wrist watch movement or watchworks fabricator which makes all or most of the parts required for its products in its own production facilities, as opposed to simply assembling watches using parts purchased from other firms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quartz crisis</span> 1970s–80s watchmaking industry upheaval

The quartz crisis (Swiss) or quartz revolution was the upheaval in the watchmaking industry caused by the advent of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s, that largely replaced mechanical watches around the world. It caused a significant decline of the Swiss watchmaking industry, which chose to remain focused on traditional mechanical watches, while the majority of the world's watch production shifted to Japanese companies such as Seiko, Citizen and Casio which embraced the new electronic technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Certina</span> Swiss watch manufacturer

Certina S.A. is a Swiss watch brand,a part of the Swatch Group, founded in Grenchen in 1888 by Adolf and Alfred Kurth. All Certina watches bear the "Swiss Made" seal of origin.

Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère (SSIH) is a former group of Swiss watchmakers comprising the brands Omega, Tissot and Lemania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allgemeine Gesellschaft der Schweizerischen Uhrenindustrie</span>

Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG was the former biggest Swiss Watch Industry Group that had been created with the assistance of the Swiss Government and the Swiss Banks, as an answer to the crisis caused by the Great Depression, in 1931.

General Watch Co. (GWC) was the watch companies holding of ASUAG.

Ernst Thomke is a Swiss physician and watchmaker. Training first as a mechanic, he later acquired the Swiss federal maturity degree and pursued academic studies whilst in employment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Claude Biver</span> Luxembourg-born Swiss businessman, executive and cheesemaker

Jean-Claude Biver is a Luxembourg-born Swiss businessman, executive and cheesemaker. He previously served as the chief executive officer (CEO) of TAG Heuer. From 2014 until 2018, he was the president of LVMH's watchmaking division until his retirement after 43 years in the industry.

Langendorf Watch Company was a Swiss watchmaker known for its fine craftsmanship and great attention to detail. Around 1890, it was probably the largest producer of watches in the world. The company produced watches in Langendorf, Switzerland for exactly a century, from 1873 to 1973.

Nayla Hayek is a Swiss heiress, businesswoman and horse breeder. She is the chair of The Swatch Group and CEO of its subsidiary, the jeweler Harry Winston.

Lemania was a Swiss watch manufacturer and manufacturer of watch movements.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Annual Report 2021" (PDF). Swatch Group. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  2. Thompson, Joe (10 October 2017). "Four Revolutions: Part 1: A Concise History Of The Quartz Revolution". Hodkinkee. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  3. "The Quartz Crisis and Recovery of Swiss Watches | Relation between Timepieces and Society". The Seiko Museum. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  4. "The Quartz Crisis". Crown & Caliber Blog. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  5. "Who Owns What: A Guide to the Watch Groups". Watchtime. 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Brands & Companies". swatchgroup.com. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  7. 1 2 Adams, Ariel. "The Few Big Companies That Own Most Of The Major Luxury Watch Brands". Forbes. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  8. 1 2 "History of The Swatch Group SA – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  9. Avery, Gayle C. (13 January 2004). Understanding Leadership: Paradigms and Cases. Sage. ISBN   9781446266199.
  10. Levine, Joshua. "Time Is Money". Forbes. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  11. Studer, Margaret. "Swatch Agrees to Acquire Breguet From Investcorp". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  12. "Swatch Group Factory Tour". Bloomberg.com. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  13. Lorenceau, René. "Financial reports and development". The Swatch Group. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  14. "Harry Winston Renames World's Largest Flawless Vivid Blue Diamond, 'The Winston Blue'". Forbes. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  15. "Swatch fire seen affecting other watch makers" Reuters G+M Dec 30 2013
  16. Company profile Benelos Clean Power
  17. Consalvo, Mia (2005). Internet Research Annual. Peter Lang. ISBN   9780820468419.
  18. René Lorenceau. "Swiss Timing". Swatch Group. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  19. Goulard, Brice (20 December 2018). "Swatch Group To Hold its Own Watch Fair In Zurich, During Baselworld 2019". Monochrome Watches. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  20. Lewin, p 132
  21. "Joint-Venture between Belenos Clean Power AG and the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI". The Swatch Group. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  22. Galli, Hans. "Swatch gibt Wasserstoffauto auf, Freiburger Groupe E uebernimmt". Der Bund. Retrieved 3 July 2015.

Further reading