Swatch Group Breaks Ties with Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany & Co's unremarkable watch designs failed to impress Swatch Group who eventually gave the company the boot.  In 2007, Swatch Group founded Tiffany & Co. Ltd, which was was responsible for the development, production and distribution of Tiffany & Co. branded Watches; however the resulting collections were bland and unassuming lacking a certain charm and color.  Where was the Tiffany & Co. which created exquisite jewelry designs dripping with gems and swirling with color?  Where was the Tiffany & Co. who created tender dragon fly broaches with elegant wings and tender craftsmanship? Where was the company who supplied magnificent jewelry to renowned New York Vanderbilts and Astors and whose creations are displayed in museums?   It seems Tiffany & Co. Ltd watches were left out of the creative company loop, and all that remained was a kind of apologetic collection of watches.  Tiffany & Co. can go two ways at this stage, either admitting the company is not ready for the extremely competitive and highly critical watch market and close the watch shop or revamp its collections and create unique  timepieces which actually represent Tiffany & Co. quality.

As per the original statement by Swatch Group, see below, both Swatch Group and Tiffany & Co, were highly optimistic about there vision of a long term alliance.  This partnership failed to such an extent that "Swatch Group and Tiffany Watch Co. LTD will press claims for damages against Tiffany & Co., New York, in compensation for the loss of planned long-term future business."  It seems to me, Swatch Group expected "more" from Tiffany & Co. - A "more" Tiffany & Co did not provide.  Tiffany & Co's watches are not bad watches.  They may suit the taste of some, and the watches would be quite fitting on the sales floors of less prestigious companies, but being Tiffany & Co. (established in 1837), the watches do not live up to the brand.  If their watch brand means to excel, I think they should look to Louis Vuitton,  Harry Winston, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels - companies which have made waves in the world of watches.

Original Statement at Partnership Commencement:

In December 2007 Swatch Group and Tiffany & Co. announced a strategic alliance to further the development, production and worldwide distribution of Tiffany & Co. brand watches. Under the agreement, the new watch company, known as Tiffany Watch Co. Ltd and wholly owned by Swatch Group, will design and manufacture in Switzerland a complete range of high-end luxury watches.
The enormous prestige of the Tiffany & Co. brand and the Swatch Group’s watchmaking expertise and experience in the luxury segment form a powerful platform on which to build one of the world’s top luxury watchmakers.
Tiffany Watch Co. Ltd is a Swiss company. Its products are designed and manufactured in Switzerland and distributed selectively through Swatch Group and Tiffany & Co. retail distribution networks, including monobrand Tiffany & Co. watch boutiques in certain markets outside the United States. (Source:  Swatch Group. com)

The Genius of Gerald Genta: The man and the Company.

Gerald Genta -the man- founded Gerald Genta-the company- in the the late 1980's however, his profound influence on the World of Horology was felt long before that time. Known as one of the most creative watch designers of our time, Gerald Genta is responsible for the exceptional timeless creation of the extremely sought after Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, The Nautillus for Patek Phillip, the IWC Ingenieur, the Omega Constellation & Seamaster and Bulgari Bulgari. Gerald Genta played a major role in the late 1980's by reintroducing the watch world to the magnificence of Mechanical Luxury Watches.

The Luxury Watch magazines of today are thick with glossy watches and hundred of different designs, but when Gerald Genta was working on his visionary Mechanical Watches in the late 1980's the Swiss Watch Companies had just bounced back from what seemed like an inevitable free fall into oblivion. Swiss Watchmakers can still recall the dark days of 1982 when Swiss banks lent more than $400 million to keep the industry afloat. Swiss Watchmakers needed to reclaim their industry from Japan in order to continue their watchmaking legacy. If you remember Japan had flooded the market with their cheap yet accurate quartz watches. Fast Forward to those whimsical colorful plastic Swatch Watches manufactured by SMH Ltd, the worlds largest watchmaker. I had one. It was a notebook watch. We all had one ... and the Swatch Watch got Switzerland factories back on their feet and producing again.

The focus was now back to watchmaking in Switzerland and Swiss Watch Makers were breathing a sigh of relief. They had survived. They had suffered a hard knock. In 1970 there were 1,620 Swiss Watch companies employing 89,000 people; in 1985, the number was down to 600 employing only 32,500. But the little Quartz miracles had lost the novelty and people were looking for a something different, something luxurious, mechanical and with complications.

In 1990 Gerald Genta handcrafted a Timepiece with a perpetual calender, push-button minute repeater and a skeleton tourbillon that sold for $250,000. Gerald Genta help shape the Luxury Mechanical Watch Industry with staggering complications and awe-inspiring creations.


Today Gerald Genta is owned by Bulgari Group. Its creations are galactic and so utterly different. A spectacular and slightly outrageous collection is the deliciously dizzying Octo Jewellery Collection. Entirely hand painted, jumping hours and retrograde minutes; glittering with 177 diamonds or the Gerald Genta Gefica displayed above, hand decorated as well as two rows of titanium beads along the caseband giving the watch a dangerous studded "rough around the edges look" .
Gerald Genta does not mail order bits and pieces for its complications, Gerald Genta is one of the rare watch manufactorers capable of designing and crafting complications like its pulsating Tourbillons, Minute Repeaters and the all alusive yet alluring Grande Sonneries within the confines of its workshop.
The Company ,Gerald Genta, has incorporated the energy and creativity of Gerald Genta -the
man.



By: R Van Halem