With its strategy complete, the firm has taken to the skies to publicise its brand
Established in 1996, Parmigiani Fleurier could well be one of Switzerland's best kept secrets. Pioneering the use of new materials and manufacturing production techniques, the company has been quietly producing high-quality watches for a select but growing clientele, establishing itself as the watchmaker for those in the know. But now the brand is ready to come out into the open.
'Our strategy has been to build up the manufacture before we built up the brand,' said Christian Bardier, Parmigiani's marketing manager in Hong Kong. 'Today, the manufacture is ready.'
He said the company's factory employed 250 people and that production was 'totally verticalised'. The company makes about 2,000 watches a year, but that is set to double, reaching 4,000 to 5,000 in the next two to three years. Mr Bardier said he expected the brand's watches would be available in more than 200 outlets worldwide by the end of that time. But he stressed that the expansion would be kept in check.
'We want to remain exclusive,' Mr Bardier said. 'Parmigiani was a confidential brand; now it is exclusive.'
At present, the brand was '100 per cent independent', he said, adding that maintaining that independence was one of the company's key aims.
