Watches of Switzerland

Last updated
Watches of Switzerland
Company type Public limited company
IndustryJewelry
Founded1924
Headquarters Braunstone, England, UK
Key people
Dennis Millard, (chairman)
Brian Duffy, (CEO)
RevenueIncrease2.svg £1,542.8 million (2023) [1]
Increase2.svg £178.6 million (2023) [1]
Increase2.svg £121.8 million (2023) [1]
Website www.watches-of-switzerland.co.uk Retail
www.thewosgroupplc.com Corporate

Watches of Switzerland is a British retailer of Swiss watches, with 16 stores in the United Kingdom. [2] The company headquarters is in Braunstone, England. [3] It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

Brompton Road Watches of Switzerland store in London. Watches of Switzerland, Brompton Road, London, June 2016 01.jpg
Brompton Road Watches of Switzerland store in London.

Watches of Switzerland was founded in Ludgate Hill in 1924. [4] During the late 1970s Theo Paphitis, the entrepreneur, worked as a sales assistant at the Bond Street Watches of Switzerland store in London. [5]

The business was acquired by Ratners in 1988 [6] but then sold on to Asprey in the early 1990s. [7] The company was the subject of a management buyout from Asprey in 1998. [8] [9] It was then acquired, along with Mappin & Webb, by Baugur Group in November 2005. [8] It was then bought by Landsbanki in 2009 before coming under the control of Apollo Global Management in 2013. [4] The company was briefly known as Aurum Holdings before re-branding itself as Watches of Switzerland in advance of an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in May 2019. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Annual Report 2023" (PDF). Watches of Switzerland Group. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  2. "Our Showrooms". Watches-of-switzerland.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
  3. "Contact Us / Watches of Switzerland". Watches-of-switzerland.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
  4. 1 2 3 "Watches of Switzerland starts clock on London IPO plan". Evening Standard. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  5. "Enter the Dragon of balls, rubber and lingerie". This is London. 24 October 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2008.
  6. Haapalainen, Valérie; Skog, Nan (1 February 2011). "Growth Strategies of Multinational Companies: the Jewelry Industry" (PDF). p. 53. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  7. "Crown jewellers sold off for a princely pounds 250m". The Independent. 4 November 1995. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Baugur buys £30m Mappin & Webb". The Telegraph. 13 November 2005. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  9. "Royal jeweller sells two chains". BBC. 24 December 1998. Retrieved 2 September 2019.