Nick Hayek

Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek has front-loaded shipments to the US, is targeting American shoppers as they travel abroad and has raised its prices as it grapples with a new 39 percent US tariff on Swiss-made products.

The Swiss watchmaker reported a net loss of $327 million in the first half of 2020 and saw sales drop 46.1 percent.

Green shoots of recovery emerge in China after more than 780 million people endured some level of quarantine for two months. But how long will it take for pre-pandemic levels of spending to return?

As the Swiss watch industry rebounds from the longest slump since the quartz crisis, wholesalers are no longer holding back on orders to stock up again, Nick Hayek said.

A rebound in Swiss watch sales exonerates Swatch Group CEO who refused to cut his skilled work force when profits were declining.

Revenue will rise 7 percent to 10 percent in local currencies, Nick Hayek said in an interview. The CEO’s forecast was off last year, however: he had predicted a 5 percent increase, but sales slumped 11 percent.

Swatch Group has signed a contract with Chinese car maker Geely, allowing it to use an innovative battery developed by the watchmaker's research firm Belenos.

Growth in Swiss watch sales may have dipped but industry the 'is and remains healthy,' Swatch chief executive officer Nick Hayek said in an interview with the French language newspaper LeTemps.

Swatch Group AG plans to introduce three smartwatches this year, as the Swiss company jostles with Apple Inc. and TAG Heuer in the market for wearable devices that do more than tell time.

Bits and Bytes is a weekly roundup of the most important news in the fast evolving fashion-tech space.