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Switzerland: Time running out for rivals to buy parts from Swatch

By  |  October 27, 2013

Swiss regulators have reportedly permitted Swatch, the world’s largest watchmaker, to gradually decrease supplies of watch parts to its rivals, say reports.

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    Reports say the agreement between Swatch and competition regulator Weko was expected. Swatch holds a near monopoly on movements, the internal parts of a watch.

    The company plans to cut deliveries of movements to 75 percent of what was delivered in 2009-2011. The agreement was announced by Weko.

    Swatch will then cut deliveries even further to 65 percent of sales volume for 2016/2017, then 55 percent in 2018/2019.

    According to reports, such a phasing-out of supply deliveries threatens a shortage for some competitors in the watchmaking business, though a clause in the agreement allows for some cushion of the cuts to smaller rivals.

    Full content: Reuters

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