Watches of Switzerland

Last updated
Watches of Switzerland
Company type Public limited company
IndustryWatches and jewellery
Founded1924
Headquarters Braunstone, England, UK
Key people
Ian Carter, (Chairman)
Brian Duffy, (CEO)
RevenueDecrease2.svg £1,537.9 million (2024) [1]
Decrease2.svg £120.0 million (2024) [1]
Decrease2.svg £59.1 million (2024) [1]
Website www.thewosgroupplc.com

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

Contents

History

Watches of Switzerland was founded in Ludgate Hill in 1924. [3] During the late 1970s Theo Paphitis, the entrepreneur, worked as a sales assistant at the Bond Street Watches of Switzerland store in London. [4]

The business was acquired by Ratners in 1988 [5] and then sold on to Asprey in 1992. [6] [7] In December 1998, Mappin & Webb managing director, Judith Pilkington, acquired Watches of Switzerland from Asprey, together with Mappin & Webb. [8] [9] [10] [11] Both companies were acquired by Baugur Group in November 2005. [10] Baugur grouped both companies with fellow British jeweller Goldsmiths under the Aurum Group. [12] [13]

Baugur became insolvent in 2010 and the group was under the control of Landsbanki before coming under the control of Apollo Global Management in 2013. [3] The group was briefly known as Aurum Holdings before re-branding itself as Watches of Switzerland Group in advance of an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in May 2019. [3]

Operations

The company operates 221 stores in the UK, US and Europe, [14] spread across the Watches of Switzerland, Mappin & Webb, Goldsmiths, Mayors and Betteridge brands. This includes 96 dedicated mono-brand boutiques in partnership with Rolex, Omega, TAG Heuer, Breitling, Tudor, Audemars Piguet, Seiko, Bulgari and Fope. [15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Annual Report 2024" (PDF). Watches of Switzerland Group. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  2. ↑ "Contact Us / Watches of Switzerland". Watches-of-switzerland.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
  3. 1 2 3 "Watches of Switzerland starts clock on London IPO plan". Evening Standard. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  4. ↑ "Enter the Dragon of balls, rubber and lingerie". This is London. 24 October 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2008.
  5. ↑ Haapalainen, Valérie; Skog, Nan (1 February 2011). "Growth Strategies of Multinational Companies: the Jewelry Industry" (PDF). p. 53. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  6. ↑ "Crown jewellers sold off for a princely pounds 250m". The Independent. 4 November 1995. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  7. ↑ Asprey Annual Report and Accounts 1993. 31 March 1993 – via Companies House.
  8. ↑ Nelson, Fraser (24 December 1998). "Piasecki in £48 million bid for Goldsmiths". The Times . p. 21.
  9. ↑ "Royal jeweller sells two chains". BBC. 24 December 1998. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  10. 1 2 "Baugur buys £30m Mappin & Webb". The Telegraph. 13 November 2005. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  11. ↑ "Royal jeweller sells two chains". BBC. 24 December 1998. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  12. ↑ "Jurek Piasecki on building up Nuval". Watchpro. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  13. ↑ "Baugur to buy Goldsmiths shares from ousted boss". The Guardian. 14 October 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  14. ↑ "Watches of Switzerland confident of sales boost amid recovery in luxury market". Evening Standard. 3 September 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  15. ↑ "Watches of Switzerland". London Stock Exchange. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
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