Baselworld is going on very well this year. We expect more than 100,000 visitors, 3,000 journalists from 70 countries and the Markets are confident. This confidence comes from watch customers willing to buy at all levels of price. So the increasing demand brings watch Brands to review their production facilities and the supply chain. And here, the stress starts as the risk will be to lack of components. Swatch, Richemont and LVMH dominates the market and the race for components availability makes companies to purchase small swiss businesses to supply their demands. War has started. It all started with a simple yet striking announcement made by Nicolas Hayek, CEO of the Swatch Group by the end of 2009: “We no longer intend to produce or deliver to third-party watchmakers“ This sentence sounded like a big bomb. In deed, only a few watch brands do everything in-house. Most of the brands…

• 14 March 2012