Ice swiss

Ice-Watch puts Swiss-made brand on hold

Ice-Watch has confirmed that the launch of the Swiss-made sister brand it announced at Basel is on hold until market conditions in Europe improve.

Jean-Pierre Lutgen, Ice-Watch chief executive officer and founder, confirmed Ice-Swiss, a premium line of Swiss-made watches featuring custom-cut Swarovski crystals, was on hold waiting for more favourable market conditions in the sector.

Lutgen said: “The problem with Ice-Swiss, particularly in Europe, is that business is very slow for everybody, for every brand, and we think that it’s not a good moment to introduce again a new brand on the market.”

Lutgen confirmed that he is not fixing any date to the collection’s launch but that development work will meanwhile continue to refine the designs.

Lutgen also revealed to WatchPro.com that the Ice-Swiss brand name was originally created as one of several backup plans should Swatch Group’s historical legal action against the Ice-Watch name, which Swatch felt sounded too similar to its own, prove successful. Lutgen said had the two parties not reached an agreement Ice-Watch would have become Ice-Swiss.

James Buttery

Editor of WatchPro, the WatchPro Hot 100 and The Luxury Report.

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