This week, luxurious model Chanel introduced it bought a 25% stake in impartial watchmaker MB&F.
Identified for eccentric, playful watch designs that may attain as excessive as tons of of 1000’s per timepiece — also known as wrist machines — MB&F reportedly generated top-line income of $53 million in 2023.
MB&F founder, and business veteran (from Jaeger-LeCoultre and Harry Winston), will retain 60% possession of the corporate (down from 80%), and his accomplice Serge Kriknoff, head of R&D and manufacturing (will retain a 15% share).
Chanel is privately owned by Alain and Gérard Wertheimer and is thought for its mainstream ceramic J12 watch assortment. Much less identified, is that Chanel has a historical past of shopping for minority stakes in watchmaking manufacturers. Chanel bought a minority stake in Bell & Ross in 1998, Romain Gauthier in 2011, FP Journe in 2018 (20%), and now MB&F in 2024 (25%).
Chanel began its Swiss watchmaking division in 1993 after buying the G&F Châtelain manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland, with which it had labored since 1987. Chanel at present works with Renaud et Papi and Romain Gauthier for its higher-end watch manufacturing, although the funding in MB&F doesn’t look like a logistical play.
“Along with permitting us to pursue our impartial path, freed from any stress on progress, the funding by Chanel will strengthen our operations by offering entry when wanted to their wider ecosystem and community of specialised suppliers,” Buesser stated.
Büsser and Kniknoff will proceed to run the corporate, with the prevailing crew staying in place.
