News Last January, management at the firm Schwarz Etienne, located in La Chaux-de-Fonds, was strengthened by the arrival of a new director in the person of Mauro Egermini.
Enjoying immense respect in the watch industry, the latter rose through the ranks of the Richemont group before spending twelve years with the LVMH watch division as General Manager of Dior watches. The launch of Louis Vuitton Tambour models, as well as the rapid rise to prominence of the Dior watch line, are among his achievements.
Founded in 1902 by Arthur Schwarz and his wife Olga Etienne, the company Schwarz Etienne was inherited in 1940 by the couple’s sons, following the death of Paul Arthur. Until 2002, it was passed down through the family. The next year, Raffaello Radicchi, an entrepreneur from La Chaux-de-Fonds and an enthusiast of fine watchmaking, acquired the business. Keen to return the brand to its former standing and having made his reputation during the boom years of luxury watchmaking, he set about its rejuvenation with the same passion and ambition as its founders.
In 2013, Schwarz Etienne acquired a majority holding in the production companies of the Radicchi Horlogerie group, with which it had collaborated for a number of years. This new situation strengthened the brand’s position as an independent watchmaker. The manufacture managed and controlled the entire development and production process, including logistics, quality control, pre-assembly, complete assemblies and casing-up. The machining of components, surface treatments and decoration meanwhile were assured by firms working in close collaboration with the manufacture.
Proximity to its affiliate companies concentrated in the Neuchâtel mountains allowed Schwarz Etienne to forge close ties with trusted partners, guaranteeing impeccable manufacturing quality and finished products of the very highest calibre. Following the launch in 2013 of three new in-house movements (automatic, hand-wound and tourbillon), today the manufacture is experiencing a new resurgence in growth.
March 19, 2014