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Harry Winston manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates (Geneva / Switzerland) © Harry Winston
Chopard’s new buildings and land in Meyrin (Geneva / Switzerland) © Chopard
Rendering of the future Piaget manufacture extension in Plan-les Ouates (Geneva / Switzerland) © Piaget

Location, location, location!

Plan-les-Ouates, on the outskirts of Geneva, needs no introduction as the favoured location for watchmakers on intimate terms with the Poinçon de Genève (see HH Journal n°8/September 2007 and n°9/October 2007). Suffice to say that here too, this frenzy of building and extending is far from slowing down. Here are just a few examples over the past few months for the canton of Geneva.

• At end 2007, Harry Winston took possession of its new Genevan facilities, a stone’s throw from Vacheron Constantin and which is now home to all the brand’s watch production processes. "This Manufacture will enable us to increase our production capacities to meet growing global demand for our products," said Thomas O’Neill, CEO of Harry Winston, at the official inauguration.

• Last January it was Chopard’s turn to announce its acquisition of new buildings and land in Geneva and Fleurier with which to increase its production capacity and, in the brand’s own words, consolidate "vertically-integrated production covering over 40 professions." In Meyrin (GE), Chopard has bought a building covering some 3,200 sq. m. on 9,800 sq. m. of land. It now occupies a total useable area of 24,000 sq. m. on 64,000 sq. m. of land.

• A few weeks earlier, after moving into new facilities at Plan-les-Ouates (GE) as recently as 2001, Piaget was setting out its plans to extend the Manufacture to make room for new staff. Further extensions are already in the pipeline.

• Early last year, DeWitt took possession of its new premises in Vernier. With 1,500 sq. m. on two levels, the brand now has five times more production space.

• As for De Grisogono, it plans to bring its workshops under one roof in 2009, with new facilities covering 9,000 sq. m. For the brand’s fifteenth anniversary, celebrated earlier this year, the company gave a glimpse of what these future developments will be.

It’s hardly surprising then that watchmaking is easily the canton’s second most important sector of activity, expanding more than 175% since the 1980s. A survey published by the Banque Cantonale de Genève in 2007 says that the branch has grown to such an extent over recent years that it now accounts for some 20% of added value for Swiss watchmaking overall and brings in as much to the canton as banking. Given the importance of Geneva’s financial market internationally, this is a most flattering comparison. C.R.

© 2008 All rights reserved

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