News Based in Bonfol, Victorinox Watch is booming. It is linked to the cutlery firm that bears the same name in Ibach (Schwytz Canton). The company started with five employees in 1998 and today has around twenty. It manufactured 200,000 wristwatches in 1999 and 270,000 last year, in around fifty different models. It manages an inventory of 50,000 watches in component parts ready to be assembled, and maintains the stock of finished products in Ibach where purchasing, marketing and sales are organised. Victorinox employs one thousand persons, manufactures 25 million knives per year and sells its products in 108 countries.
Quartz watches manufactured in Bonfol benefit from the same distribution network as the cutlery department. Downmarket products are aimed at newsstands and cutlery shops, whereas the more expensive articles are commercialised by jewellers. According to a statement made by the CEO of the company, Mr Sébastien Muller, sales of Victorinox watches in 1999 increased by 30% and last year’s turnover stood at ten million francs.
February 28, 2001
