Time is Money: The 26 Richest Swiss Watch Barons


AUDEMARS FAMILY
SF800 – 900 million
Audemars family members are co-owners of Audemars Piguet. Jasmine Audemars is the chairman of the board of the company.

Jasmine Audemars
Jasmine Audemars

JÖRG BUCHERER
SF800 – 900 million
Jörg Bucherer is the owner and chairman of the Bucherer Group, best known for the chain of European watch and jewelry stores. The Carl F. Bucherer watch brand is a subsidiary of the company.

Joerg Bucherer
Jörg Bucherer

 

SCHNEIDER FAMILY
SF700 – 800 million
Ernest Schneider purchased the Breitling watch company in 1979 and the family has presided over it ever since. Schneider’s son, Théodore, is the current owner and CEO.

Theodore Schneider
Theodore Schneider

THOMAS STRAUMANN
SF700 – 800 million
Straumann is a minority shareholder in the Schaffhausen-based H. Moser & Cie. He also has investments in the medical and hospitality industries.

BOTTINELLI FAMILY
SF400 – 500 million
Pierangelo Bottinelli serves on the board of directors of Audemars Piguet and is the second-largest shareholder in the company after the Audemars family.

CARLO CROCCO
SF300 – 400 million
Crocco founded Hublot in 1980, but since its sale to LVMH in 2008 he has left the watch world and now devotes his time (and fortune) to philanthropic causes, including an orphanage near Monte San Giorgio on the Swiss-Italian border.

Carlo Crocco
Carlo Crocco

 

JEAN-PIERRE SLAVIC
SF300 – 400 million
Slavic is the former owner of Boninchi SA, which has been the primary supplier of crowns to Rolex since 1919. Slavic sold the firm to Rolex in 2001.

SCHNYDER FAMILY
SF300 – 400 million
When Rolf Schnyder, owner of Ulysse Nardin, died in 2011, his widow, Chai, became the company’s chairwoman. Rolf Schnyder purchased Ulysse Nardin in 1983. (Click here to read more about Rolf Schnyder.)

BERNHEIM AND WEIL FAMILIES
SF200 – 300 million
Raymond Weil founded his eponymous watch company in 1976. The brand is now headed by his son-in-law, Olivier Bernheim, the current CEO. Today three generations of the family are involved in the company, including Raymond Weil’s grandsons, Elie and Pierre, who have also founded their own brand, 88 Rue du Rhone.

Olivier Bernheim
Olivier Bernheim

ERIC GUERLAIN
SF200 – 300 million
Guerlain holds roughly 10 percent of Christian Dior SA and is vice chairman of the board of directors. Dior is a subsidiary of LVMH. Guerlain has been on the board of directors since 1994.

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