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Bucherer buys UK's Watch Gallery, will change its name
Swiss premium watch and jewellery distributor Bucherer, which operates "the world's largest watch and jewellery store" in Paris, has bought UK luxury watch retailer The Watch Gallery.
Bucherer bought the British retailer, with a staff of 150, from independent watch specialist group DM London for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition provides Lucerne-based Bucherer with a prestige showcase in London through The Watch Gallery's six stores, all of them strategically placed in locations like the Westfield shopping centre, Hanover Street inteh West End and Covent Garden.
A spokesperson for the Swiss group confirmed to FashionNetwork that the Watch Gallery stores will be newly labelled Bucherer.
"The acquisition strengthens our position as Europe's leading high-end watch and jewellery retailer, and increases our presence in a prestigious world city," said Guido Zumbühl, CEO of the Bucherer group, in a press release, adding that the operation will help "bolster our company's growth in the UK."
The Watch Gallery was created in 1985 and distributes brands such as Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Bremont and Hublot. In 2012 it was bought by DM London, and now operates six stores in the UK capital. Among them, the city's largest Rolex store in the One Hyde Park complex and the watch concession inside Selfridges department store. The group is also present on several websites, and has its own transactional site.
As for Bucherer, it was founded in 1888 by Carl-Friedrich Bucherer. It employs a staff of 1,600 and operates 29 stores (16 in Switzerland, 10 in Germany, and one each in Vienna, Paris and Copenhagen), selling the world's leading brands and Bucherer's own.
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