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Watches of Switzerland
Watches of Switzerland is a British retailer of watches. The company headquarters is in Braunstone, England.[2] It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. HistoryWatches of Switzerland was founded in Ludgate Hill in 1924.[3] During the late 1970s Theo Paphitis, the entrepreneur, worked as a sales assistant at the Bond Street Watches of Switzerland store in London.[4] The business was acquired by Ratners in 1988[5] and then sold on to Asprey in 1992.[6][7] In December 1998, Mappin & Webb managing director, Judith Pilkington, acquired Watches of Switzerland from Asprey, together with Mappin & Webb.[8][9][10][11] Both companies were acquired by Baugur Group in November 2005.[10] Baugur grouped both companies with fellow British jeweller Goldsmiths under the Aurum Group.[12][13] Baugur became insolvent in 2010 and the group was under the control of Landsbanki before coming under the control of Apollo Global Management in 2013.[3] The group was briefly known as Aurum Holdings before re-branding itself as Watches of Switzerland Group in advance of an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in May 2019.[3] OperationsThe company operates 221 stores in the UK, US and Europe,[14] spread across the Watches of Switzerland, Mappin & Webb, Goldsmiths, Mayors and Betteridge brands. This includes 96 dedicated mono-brand boutiques in partnership with Rolex, Omega, TAG Heuer, Breitling, Tudor, Audemars Piguet, Seiko, Bulgari and Fope.[15] References
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