Watch brand Corum back in Swiss hands
The watch brand, founded in 1955 by René Bannwart, has been bought by one of its former executives from its Chinese owners.
The current owner, Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group, has sold the company via a buy-out to Haso Mehmedovic, Corum said in a press release. Mehmedovic, the new CEO and chairman of the board, started out as a watchmaker before rising through the ranks to become international sales director.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
The transaction led by Mehmedovic also includes a group of experienced Swiss investors. “All industrial and commercial assets — including patents, intellectual property, and archives — will remain in Swiss hands and align with a clear strategic direction,” stated the press release.
Anniversary
The current year will be devoted to strengthening the collections, the statement said. A full global relaunch is planned for mid-2026, with a renewed emphasis on the brand’s core identity and celebrated heritage. Founded just 70 years ago, the watch brand has changed owners many times since 2000.
More
Swiss watchmakers feel pinch amid luxury slump
Since 2013, Corum has belonged to the Hong Kong-based Citychamp Watch & Jewellery group. The latter has agreed to sell off this flagship watchmaker, whose activity has been considerably reduced in recent years.
Adapted from French by DeepL/ac
How we work
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. A journalist then briefly reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
Did you find this explanation helpful? Please fill out the short survey below to help us understand your needs.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
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.