Swatch and Harry Winston Closes Deal

The most famous luxurious brand Harry Winston is now owned by the Swatch Group Ltd. Reports has stated that it has successfully completed the purchase of the timepiece division and luxury jewelry division. In January, it was initially announced that Harry Winston was to be sold to Swatch for $1 billion. This agreement would only mean that Swatch, the largest watch maker in Switzerland, will have added products to their luxury portfolio bearing the Harry Winston brand of loose diamonds for sale and wholesale diamonds. Harry Winston, then, would be able to put more stock into the mining side of its diamond business.

Harry Winston is a known supplier of rough diamonds in the market worldwide and would now take a shift. Regardless of the change in name, Swatch continues to label their purchased diamonds with the Harry Winston brand, instead of switching to Dominion Diamond Corporation.

Whats the Deal?

Part of the deal is that Swatch will assume all the activities under the owner of the brand, the New York-based HW Holdings Inc., which also includes a production company located in Geneva. The company has 535 employees. Also, about $250 million of debt will be handled by Swatch. What the deal does not include are the mining activities of Harry Winston. For Swatch, they will still be supplied with diamonds by Dominion regardless of the change in company name. There are also plans that both companies will join hands together for a diamond polishing business to make sure they have a secure access to source of diamonds.

About Harry Winston

Founded by its namesake, the Harry Winston Corporation was created in 1932. He was one of the most prestigious jewelers worldwide and the first one to have lent his creations to an actress attending an Oscar event in 1944. Said to have been donated by Harry Winston, the Hope Diamond is now home to the Washington Museum.

Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend, the hit song by Marilyn Monroe had immortalized the brand. Harry Winston is famous for engagement rings, brooches, and luxurious timepieces. Two dozen branches are managed by the business.

This luxury retail business is based in U.S but was bought by a diamond mining group in Canada, the Aber Corp. back in 2006 and was turned into the Harry Winston Diamond Corporation, which has divisions in luxurious jewels and watches and diamond mining. You can view their diamond clarity chart and other detailed information by going to the website.

Swatch Group Ltd.

Swatch is a Swiss company based in Biel, Switzerland and is already known as a major supplier of timepieces and internal mechanisms of watches and is also known as a leading consumer of polished diamonds. Employing many watchmakers from Switzerland in 1983, Nicolas Hayek founded the company.

The acquisition made sense because this means that the jewelry segment of Swatch will be pushed to the top, which is actually where they are weak at. Still, after all of this, Harry Winston or Dominion Diamond Corp. will foster relations with Swatch, and stand as their diamond supplier so they can continue to make luxurious timepieces awaited in the market.