Introduction

The Swatch group is a Swiss corporation that manages and markets a wide range of brands in the watch industry. It was founded in 1983 by Nicolas Hayek, who also founded the Swatch brand itself.

1.1 million watches produced per year

With the exception of a few countries, Switzerland is the watchmaking capital of the world. In fact, Swiss watches make up 75% of all Swiss exports and generate an annual turnover of over CHF 20 billion (US$ 21.4 billion).

Swiss watchmaking began in the 1500s when a goldsmith named Peter Henlein invented a way to cut gears from metal instead of wood. This allowed for greater efficiency and accuracy in timepieces as well as making them lighter and thinner than previous models.

Since then, some 500 million watches have been produced each year by over 2,000 different companies working within this industry!

29 watch brands, one jewelry brand

The Swatch Group owns 29 watch brands, one jewelry brand, and over 13,000 retail points of sale in over 130 countries.

The company was founded by Nicolas Hayek in 1983 and comprises the following product lines:

• Watches - Breguet, Blancpain, Omega, Tissot, Longines and Rado (all within the LVMH group), Certina (Swiss watch producer) as well as Mido watch brand produced by Compagnie Financière Richemont SA or "Richemont" (which is based on the merger of Compagnie Financière de Paris SA - PFWIH)
• Jewelry - Swarovski fashion jewelry brand

132 production sites in Switzerland and abroad

The company has 132 production sites in Switzerland and abroad. Swiss locations include Biel, Grenchen, Neuchatel, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle and Lengnau.

The Swatch Group is also active at the international level with subsidiaries in Germany (Swatch Deutschland), France (Swatch France), Italy (Swatch Italia) and China (Swatch China). Additionally, it has a network of over 170 stores worldwide that sell its products from around the world under one roof: Swatch City in Lucerne; Swatch Store Paris; Swatch Store Rome; Swatch Store Milano; Swatch Store Tokyo; and most recently: SWATCH STORE Berlin!

It is big.

The Swatch Group is the world's largest watchmaker. To give you some context, they had a market share of $7.2 billion in 2017. It has a strong presence in Europe and the United States, as well as large markets in Asia and China. The group had sales of CHF 5 billion (USD $5.4 billion)in 2017 and employs 2,600 people across its locations in Biel-Bienne (Switzerland), La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland), Beijing (China), Mumbai (India) and Tokyo (Japan).

The company was founded by Nicolas Hayek on July 11th 1983 under the name Société Suisse pour L'Industrie Horlogère SA or SSIH for short.[1] By September 1985 it had become known as Swatch Group AG after acquiring 51% ownership from Omega Watch Co SA[2]. On October 2nd 1990 they became listed on both the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol "SWG" followed by an IPO consisting mainly of common stock but also some preferred shares.[3]