Then Economics Minister Kurt Furgler, left, accepts the 10 millionth Swatch watch in September 1985. Looking on are Pierre Arnold, centre, and Nicolas Hayek.
Keystone
Nicolas Hayek and singer Samantha Fox at a party in 1987
RDB
Nicolas Hayek as a torch-bearer at the 1996 Olympic Games
RDB
Hayek while shooting a crossbow with model Cindy Crawford in 1996
RDB
Hayek and Martina Hingis at a just-for-fun tennis tournament. His gift to Hingis: an Omega Dynamic pilot's watch
Keystone
Nicolas Hayek test drives a Smart City Coupe in 1998
Keystone
The French Embassy in Bern made Hayek an officer of the French Légion d'Honneur in 2003
Keystone
Hayek and Australian actress Nicole Kidman at the opening ceremony of the new Geneva Omega store in 2006
Keystone
Hayek posing as a James Bond-style bad guy for the launch of the Swatch 007 Villain Collection
Keystone
Tennis player Anna Kournikova and Nicolas Hayek in 2001
RDB
Nicolas G. Hayek, right, talking to his son Nick Hayek at a news conference in Biel in 2002. It was then that he announced that he would step back as president of the company and leave the job to his son
RDB
Celebrating the life of Switzerland's best known watch entrepreneur.
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The patriarch of the Swiss watch industry, Nicolas G. Hayek, passed away on June 28, 2010, at the age of 82. He was the founder and most recently the chairman of the Swatch Group, and was often cited as the saviour of the Swiss watchmaking industry. (Pictures: RDB and Keystone)
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Time stops for Swatch founder
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Hayek was the founder and most recently the chairman of the Swatch Group, the number one manufacturer of finished watches in the world. He was often cited as the saviour of the Swiss watchmaking industry. Hayek died “completely unexpectedly while working for his beloved Swatch Group”, the company announced on Monday evening. Considered one of…
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I remember seeing him the first time. It was in Biel when it was announced that the two dying watch groups ASUAG and SSIH were going to merge and he would try to rescue them. Both then, it was the early 1980s, had brands that were household names – Omega and Tissot. He saved them…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.