The brands are now owned in full by Sowind Group SA, which owns their Swiss watch manufactures.
, a charismatic CEO with a long history in the watch industry, who also worked on the Apple Watch. He took over at Ulysse Nardin in August of 2017 and a year later was appointed to also run Girard-Perregaux. Both manufactures have plenty to work with in terms of innovations, history and savoir faire, but have failed to gain the kind of traction that Kering’s ultra-successful revamps of Balenciaga and Gucci have seen.
“The Group has supported the two Houses in their development, strengthened their positioning and ensured they have adequate resources to finance their growth,” said Kering in a press statement. “It has confidence in the management in place to successfully pursue the work undertaken.” Jean-François Palus, Kering’s group managing director, added, “The extensive work carried out by the Group in recent years at Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin has laid the foundations for sustainable growth. Kering has demonstrated its ability to secure the conditions for the long-term development of entities leaving the Group, in the interest of their employees, partners, customers and local communities.
It may be that these brands will thrive outside of a conglomerate like Kering, which is used to the fast-paced world of fashion where trends, capsules, collaborations and numerous collections must be churned out within a year’s time.