Swiss luxury group Richemont sheds jobs at watchmaker Montblanc

Richemont is making staff redundancies at watchmaker Montblanc Keystone-SDA

Swiss luxury goods group Richemont is restructuring its Locle-based watch brand, Montblanc, in response falling demand.

The luxury group is currently organising the transfer of 17 employees to other companies within the group and has also made six staff members redundant, the tradce union Unia Neuchâtel told AWP.

Of the 45 employees at Montblanc, a brand founded in 1997, “23 have accepted or are currently negotiating a transfer, and six have been made redundant”, said union secretary Solenn Ochsner. She added that the job cuts had been finalised at the end of September.

Richemont “is offering them positions at other group entities, including Cartier. Some – a minority – have agreed to work at the Minerva manufacture in Villeret”, based in the Bernese Jura and acquired by the Geneva-based company in 2006. According to Ochsner, the terms of employment will not be quite the same, and some staff will face longer daily commutes.

The trade union representative explained that Montblanc was suffering from the crisis facing the entire watchmaking industry, which is hitting entry-level and mid-range watches particularly hard.

At Minerva, whose historic workshops dating back to the 19th century have been transformed by Richemont into a centre of excellence, the situation “is going very well”, as the brand specialises in the very high-end market, she emphasised.

When contacted, Richemont was not immediately available for comment.

In the first quarter of its staggered 2026/27 financial year, the luxury group’s overall sales were not dampened by the crisis in the Middle East or the persistent downturn in China, surging by 17% to €6.3 billion (CHF5.9 billion), driven mainly by jewellery.

The watch brands, however, returned to growth after two years of decline, rising by 6% to €873 million.

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Translated from French, reviewed by an English Department journalist.