Group
The term, group, typically refers to a large luxury or watch products company which owns multiple brands.
Since the earliest days of Swiss watch production, brands have banded together into larger groups to improve efficiency, variety, and profitability and control competition. Today, most Swiss, German, French, and Japanese brands are controlled by a few large groups. The largest of these, Swatch Group, controls more than half of the market for high-end watches.
As of 2024, the following large watch groups exist:
- Citizen Holdings - Alpina, Arnold & Son, Bulova, Citizen, Frederique Constant
- Citychamp - Corum, Eterna, Rotary
- Fossil Group - Fossil, Zodiac
- Kering - JeanRichard, Gucci
- Sowind Group - Girard-Perregaux, Ulysse Nardin
- LVMH - Bulgari, Chaumet, Hublot, TAG Heuer, Zenith
- MELB Holding - H. Moser & Cie., Hautlence
- Richemont - A. Lange & Söhne, Baume & Mercier, Cartier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Montblanc, Officine Panerai, Piaget, Ralph Lauren, Roger Dubuis, Vacheron Constantin, Van Cleef & Arpels
- Seiko Group - Credor, Orient, Grand Seiko, Seiko
- Swatch Group - Balmain, Blancpain, Breguet, Calvin Klein, Certina, Glashütte Original, Hamilton, Harry Winston, Jaquet Droz, Léon Hatot, Longines, Mido, Omega, Rado, Swatch, Tissot, Union Glashütte
- Watchland - Franck Muller, Pierre Kunz, European Company Watch, Rodolphe, Alexis Barthelay, Martin Braun
History
Watch Groups in 1971
A 1971 article specified the size of various Swiss watch groups:
| Group | Headquarters | Capital (Million Fr.) | Founding Year | Important Brands | Production of Watches and Movements in 1970 in Millions | Number of Workers in 1970 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASUAG | Neuchâtel | 10,006 | 1931 | Various | Unknown | 16,200 | |
| Ebauches SA | Neuchâtel | 24 | 1927 | N/A | 47.1 | 10,600 | |
| SSIH | Geneva | 30 | 1930 | Omega Tissot Lanco Aetos Agon Buler Ferex Continental | 10.3 | 7,600 | |
| General Watch | Bienne | 35 | 1971 | Certina Era Eterna Mido Oris Rado Technos | Unknown | 3,500 | 60% owned by ASUAG |
| SGT | La Chaux-de-Fonds | 1968 | 45.1 | Waltham Avia Helvetia Silvana Solvil Titus Invicta Sandoz | 3.75 | 1,750 | |
| Longines-Rotary | Saint-Imier | 5.9 | 1971 | Longines Rotary | Unknown | 1,450 | Majority owned by ASUAG through Ebauches SA after November 1971 |
| SAPHIR | Zug | 8 | 1969 | Jaeger-LeCoultre Favre-Leuba | Unknown | 1,200 | |
| Girard-Perregaux | La Chaux-de-Fonds | 3.2 | 1969 | Girard-Perregaux | 0.13 | 242 | |
| Heuer-Léonidas | Bienne | 3 | 1964 | Heuer Léonidas Sportex | 0.45 | 300 | |
| Ermano Holding | Bienne | 3 | 1962 | Cortébert Ermano | 0.93 | 259 | |
| Synchron | Neuchâtel | 2.375 | 1968 | Cyma Ernest Borel Doxa | 0.23 | 200 | |
| MSR | Bienne | 4.5 | 1961 | Vulcain Revue | Unknown | Unknown | |
| HFB | Bienne | 21.15 | 1966 | Unknown | N/A | 100 % owner of Synchron, 23% of SAPHIR, convertible bonds of 14% of SGT, and 19.9% of Gruen Industries |
The article notes that "The acquisition of the Büren Watch Co. by the Hamilton Watch in February 1966, the Universal by Bulova in August 1966, and the Movado Zenith Mondia Group by the Zenith Radio Corporation in June 1970 are also considered financial concentrations. However, since they are to be regarded as American companies, they do not appear in this table. It should be mentioned that the Hamilton Watch Co. was bought by the SSIH Group in November 1971 and at the same time the Büren Watch Co. announced the cessation of its production."