Swatch Group adds Jaquet-Droz to its luxury sector

Switzerland's largest watchmaking concern, the Swatch Group, has purchased another luxury watch manufacturer - Montres Jaquet-Droz, based near Lausanne.

Switzerland’s largest watchmaking concern, the Swatch Group, has purchased another luxury watch manufacturer – Montres Jaquet-Droz, based near Lausanne.

A statement from the group’s headquarters in Biel gave no details of the purchase price but said that all the company’s employees would be maintained.

“This acquisition fits very well in the luxury segment of the Swatch Group and enhances the brands already there,” said Swatch Group spokeswoman, Beatrice Howald.

Montres Jaquet-Droz will join the Blancpain and Breguet brands in the group’s luxury sector.

Apart from luxury watches, Jaquet Droz makes highly complex mechanical automata – mechanical devices in imitation of human beings.

Jaquet-Droz, whose products are sold mainly in the Far East, was formerly in the hands of a venture capital company in the Cayman Islands and private minority Swiss investors.

The company takes its name from Swiss watchmaking pioneer Pierre Jaquet-Droz who was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1721.

swissinfo with agencies