Hermès Amplifies Industrial Commitment with Investment in Watch Production

The French luxury group Hermès continues to invest in its métiers, despite the crossroads that luxury is going through worldwide, with the expansion of its watchmaking plant in Le Noirmont, Switzerland. The works will be completed in 2028 and the aim is to strengthen production capacity.

The plant will occupy 118,403 square foot and will employ 100 new employees. It is a plant that originally housed the production of Joseph Erard, a company acquired by the French giant in 2013. In 2012, it bought Natéber, a manufacturer based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Since 2017, the activity of the two companies has been concentrated at the Le Noirmont plant.

Hermès also controls the production of leather straps through the Brügg plant and Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, also dedicated to fine watchmaking. In this way, the group controls its entire value chain, it explains in a statement. The building will be made of locally sourced materials, will have solar panels, a rainwater recovery system and a green roof.

Hermès controls the Brügg plant and Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, which combine their activities at the Swiss plant

Watchmaking is not the only sector in which the group is investing. Following its strategy of preserving and protecting artisanal savoir-faire, the luxury company began construction a few weeks ago on its new French manufacture in Couzeix (Haute-Vienne), dedicated to its table arts collections. The space is scheduled to open in 2027 and house three hundred employees, including 230 craftsmen. As it has done with the watchmakers, Hermès integrated as a subsidiary the Beyrand Manufacture in 2017, a historic workshop specializing in printing, based in Saint-Just-le-Martel.

Hermès opened its 27th leather goods workshop in Colombelles (Normandy), a space that will generate 260 new jobs and is part of the group’s sustainable growth strategy.

In parallel, the group reinforced its leather goods capacity with the construction of a new factory in Isle-d’Espagnac, in Charente, scheduled to open this year, with a surface area of 59,201.5 square foot and 260 craftsmen working there. Also in the textile segment, Hermès consolidated its industrial muscle with the expansion of its Pierre-Bénite factory, south of Lyon, inaugurated in July 2023.

Hermès remains on the sidelines of the luxury goods crisis, even though it is performing below analysts’ forecasts. The group closed the first quarter of the year with an 8.5% increase in sales. In Europe, sales rose by 13.3%, in America by 13.3% and in Asia by 4.1%.