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Drama is unfolding in the watch world.
A Rolex subsidiary has purchased a building in Geneva that houses the flagship boutique of rival Omega, as reported by Bloomberg. The property is located on the ritzy Rue du Rhone, which ranks as the city’s priciest shopping street. Marconi Investment SA reportedly paid $133 million (120 million Swiss francs) for the site, according to a filing with Geneva’s land registry.
It is currently unclear how much rent Omega will have to pay its biggest competitor each month but experts say it’s a “sizeable” amount. The Crown will also have a say in how the building is maintained and run. It could even terminate an existing lease if certain conditions are met.
The acquisition underscores the fierce competition between horological heavyweights for both customers and prime locations. The Swatch Group, a.k.a. Switzerland’s largest privately owned watch conglomerate and Omega’s parent company, happens to be a major real estate investor. In fact, it bought a building on London’s swanky New Bond Street for $99 million (90 million francs) last month.
Despite this, Rolex remains the biggest Swiss brand with sales of $10.3 billion (9.3 billion francs) in 2022, as per Morgan Stanley estimates. Cartier is the second-largest with an estimated turnover of $3 billion (2.75 billion francs), while Omega is the third with sales of $2.8 billion (2.75 billion francs). That means the Crown has a lot more money in the bank for clever deals.
Case in point: In August, Rolex announced that it had agreed to purchase Bucherer, the international watch and jewelry retailer that owns more than 100 stores across Switzerland, the United States, England, Germany, France, Denmark, and Austria. Bucherer sells several Swatch Group brands at some of its stores, too, such as Longines, Tissot, and Omega. There may be more drama to come yet, then.
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