Watch brands that went belly up...

[malarky_hk]

Does anyone know of any high-end/independent brands that went bust? Or have you ever purchase a watch from a brand that subsequently went bust?

If so, what did you do about maintenance and service?

I would think this especially problematic since some of independents have their own in-house movements which would make it difficult to have serviced by any other watch maker due to lack of knowledge and access to replacement parts.

I've been keen on some of the pieces by H.Moser and have been recently doing some due diligence on the brand and manufacture. Came across an article in Watch time: http://www.watchtime.com/featured/re...profitability/

After reading it and knowing that it was on the brink of shutting down, it really gave me pause about acquiring something from this brand.

[capote]

Minerva recently. Richmont bought the company and now Montblanc use their high end movements.

[77T]

Very seldom does a Swiss watchmaker simply disappear. More often another firm buys the operation along with the brand. In those cases the parts are kept available as a condition of the purchase.

For example, Richemont owns a portfolio of brands which are managed independently of one another. These include brands like Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget, IWC, Baume & Mercier, Vacheron Constantin, Officine Panerai, A. Lange & Söhne and Montblanc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk