The Swiss watch industry has cut more jobs as the global financial crisis begins to have an increasing impact.
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Zenith has slashed 70 jobs out of 250, following 24 job losses in January. The brand has since 1999 belonged to the French luxury group LVMH.
Metalor, which specialises in precious metals, is to cut 50 out of its current 457 jobs in its division that supplies the watchmaking industry.
Both companies are based in canton Neuchâtel, often termed the cradle of Swiss watchmaking.
Another watch company, Franck Muller of Geneva, cut almost a half of its workforce last week, shedding 200 jobs out of 428 because of the lack of demand in the luxury sector.
Hublot, also in the LVMH group, said on Tuesday it saw stable to slightly negative sales in 2009. It posted sales of about SFr250 million ($232.4 million).
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A glimpse inside the workshop of one of the most famous Swiss watchmakers, Audemars Piguet. Timepieces are developed and assembled not far from the French border in Le Brassus and since 1986 at a subsidiary in nearby Le Locle. All photos Thomas Kern, swissinfo.
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