By Anthony DeMarco, Contributor The Swatch Group revealed some of what it plans for the Harry Winston luxury jewelry and watch brand, which it recently acquired. It includes regional and market expansion and that the first signs of this will be noticeable by the end of the year, the Swiss conglomerate said during its earnings report for the first half of the year. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Anthony DeMarco, Contributor
The world-renowned Harry Winston luxury brand is now under new ownership. The Swatch Group Ltd. said late Tuesday that it has successfully completed the acquisition of the jewelry and timepiece retailer. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Anthony DeMarco, Contributor
Harry Winston Diamond Corp. said Thursday that it has received regulatory approval to complete the sale of its luxury diamond jewelry and timepiece division, Harry Winston, Inc., to the Swatch Group. The Toronto-based company said it expects the transaction to close on or around March 26. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Thieves have outwitted armed guards, alarm systems and even airport security over the years, making off with diamonds and other jewelry worth millions. In Brussels, thieves cut through an airport fence, drove to a Swiss-bound plane and snatched an estimated $50 million in diamonds late Monday.
Here are some other spectacular heists in recent memory:
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2005: Thieves threaten the guards and hijack an armored car from Dutch carrier KLM‘s cargo ramp at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, making off with millions in diamonds and jewelry. Subsequent media reports put the value of the loot at up to $100 million. “It was a secured area of the airport, so it’s a big question how those people could get there,” an airline spokesman said at the time.
2003: Robbers tape over security cameras, disable the alarm system and break into the high-security underground vaults of the Diamond Center in Antwerp, the world capital of diamond-cutting, getting away with an estimated $100 million in goods. After prying open 123 of the 160 vaults, the thieves stood ankle-deep in a pile of diamonds, gold, jewelry, stocks, bonds, cash and lockboxes, police said. The bounty was so abundant they had to leave a lot behind.
2008: While Christmas shoppers stroll outside the posh Harry Winston jewelry shop near Paris‘ famed Champs-Elysees, armed thieves — some dressed as women and wearing wigs — enter the store and steal gems and jeweled watches worth up to $85 million, according to French police.
2009: Two elegantly dressed men rob the Graff Diamond Store in London‘s posh Mayfair district and carry away necklaces, watches, rings and bracelets worth more than >40 million ($62 million at today’s exchange rate), according to Scotland Yard.
1994: Machine-gun-toting thieves steal $45 million in gems from the Carlton Hotel in Cannes on the French Riviera.
2004: Twelve pieces of jewelry worth about $31.5 million, including the 125-carat “Comtesse de Vendome” diamond necklace, are stolen from a store in Tokyo’s Ginza district.
2007: 120,000 karats in diamonds, worth $28 million, are stolen from safe-deposit boxes in an ABN Amro bank in Antwerp, Belgium, according to police.
2008: Masked thieves drill a tunnel into jeweler Damiani’s showroom in Milan, Italy, making off …read more
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By Elizabeth Doerr, Contributor
The Berlin Film Festival – known in Germany as the Berlinale – is currently taking place in the Teutonic capital city. On Saturday evening the festival’s premier film, Les Misérables, was shown. It has not yet gone into general release in Germany. The festival welcomed the film’s high-profile stars, including Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, to the red carpet. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
All the bits fit to print here, in our daily news roundup.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
By Anthony DeMarco, Contributor The Swatch Group has acquired the famed Harry Winston luxury diamond jewelry and timepiece retail business for $750 million plus their assumption of up to $250 million of pro forma net debt. When this transaction is completed the company, Harry Winston Diamond Corp., will be solely in the diamond mining and distribution business.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Swatch Group (UHR.VX) said Monday it had agreed to buy U.S. watch-and-accessory company HW Holdings Inc., owner of the Harry Winston brand, for $1 billion, in an acquisition that strengthens its presence in the U.S. market and helps it expand into jewelry.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox Business Headlines
Switzerland‘s biggest watch maker, Swatch Group AG, says it has agreed to pay about $1 billion to acquire Canada’s Harry Winston watch and jewelry brand.
The Biel, Switzerland-based company says it will pay $750 million to acquire the brand from Toronto-based Harry Winston Diamond Corp. and will also assume as much as $250 million in debt.
The acquisition includes the Harry Winston production company in Geneva and more than 500 employees globally.
Swatch Group‘s chairwoman, Nayla Hayek, said in a statement Monday that the addition of a jewelry-watch brand “brilliantly complements the prestige segment” of Swatch’s portfolio, helping it compete against luxury watch makers.
Harry Winston Diamond Corp.’s chairman, Robert Gannicott, said that his company would change its name to Dominion Diamond Corporation.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
