Fossil expands Swiss Made watch production

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Published
Apr 18, 2013

The U.S. Texas based group Fossil is using the launch of its Swiss Fossil line watches to give Swiss Made expertise a larger role in its product lines.
Thus, the Burberry watch catalog developed by Fossil will now also offer a Burberry Swiss Made watch. The Swiss Fossil launch will serve as the basis for similar projects in 2013 and 2014 for both the group's own brands (Fossil, Skagen and Michele) and for its portfolio of brands under license.

“By gradually extending our Fossil Swiss-made production for private and licensed brands, we continue our existing long-term commitment in Switzerland,” said Martin Frey, Fossil Group Europe managing director. “At the moment, our turnover share with Swiss Made is small, but we see great growth potential for our brands in the medium price range. We have the know-how, the brands and the sales channels in order to develop these markets. To realize this potential, we now want to extend the necessary capacities and build an appropriate vertical integration.”

Fossil currently manufactures and exports 400,000 Swiss made watches. Production was started in 2002 when Fossil acquired Montres Antima, a company that grouped together three Biel watch companies specialized in design, prototypes and assembly. Fossil also owns its own movement production through STP Swiss Technology Production. And at the beginning of 2013, the U.S. group started construction on a new production plant at Glovelier, which is scheduled to grow from 30 to 100 employees by 2015.

Fossil operates in 130 countries through 23 subsidiaries and 60 independent distributors. The company has a total of about 400 own stores, plus corners in department stores and accessories stores. Last year the group earned 2.17 billion euros ($2.85 billion) in sales, an increase of 37.9%.