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Omega at the Torino Olympics 2006

Omega has a long history with the Olympic Games

Update (link added)  Biel-Bienne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Gross sales in 2009 were down 6.3 percent for the Swatch Group, which 9 February published audited figures in advance of its March annual meeting, but it gained significant market share. The group notes that the overall sales figure for the Swiss Watch Federation were down 21.3 percent. The watch segment of the group’s business had “a very convincing operating margin” which contributed to the 17.6 percent increase in operating margin for the year.

The group puts 2009 into perspective against a backdrop of an outstanding 2008, the 2009 global economic crisis and unfavourable exchange rates. But 2010, it says, is off to a good start, with January sales the highest on record for that month, and orders strong. Swatch’s Omega brand as the Vancouver Olympics timekeeper is expected to give group sales a boost.

Georges Nicolas Hayek’s role in the company appears to be strengthening: the group CEO is being proposed as a board member at the March meeting, along with another newcomer, Jean-Pierre Roth, recently retired head of the Swiss National Bank.

Background, GenevaLunch

Links to other sites: Bloomberg/Business Week, Omega as timekeeper, Swatch Group