The 100 percent Swiss-owned company, Altus Uhren Holding AG, will be taking over long-established watchmaking company Glycine Watch SA on April 1, 2011. The new CEO will be Stephan Lack.
The owner of Glycine, Katherina Brechbühler, has decided to hand the company over to a new owner and to alter her career path. The new owner will be the company Altus Uhren Holding AG, based in Muri near Berne. This company is entirely Swiss-owned.
Stephan Lack (48), Chairman of the Board of Directors and majority shareholder of Altus Uhren Holding AG, will be taking over as CEO of Glycine Watch SA on 1 June 2011. Stephan Lack comes from Berne and is an economist and marketing specialist with an indepth knowledge of the watchmaking industry. He lived in Asia for nearly ten years, where he successfully built up the distribution of well-known Swiss watch brands in China, Southeast Asia and Japan. Stephan Lack has a great deal of experience in product development and brand management which Glycine will be able to benefit from.
"Glycine is a fine, authentic brand with a high level of expertise and a large following of fans and collectors," said Stephan Lack. "We believe in the importance of continuity with regard to brand development and see great opportunities in the careful expansion of international distribution."
Both Katherina Brechbühler and her father Hans Brechbühler, who passed away last summer, have shaped the development of Glycine over the last 20 years with Katharina responsible for some distinctive watch creations. She will remain with Glycine at the request of the new management, focusing particularly on the creative side. "I am delighted that we have been able to find an independent Swiss successor in Stephan Lack and Altus Uhren Holding AG ? this company will undoubtedly strengthen Glycine's future development," said Katherina Brechbühler.
Glycine Watch SA was founded in Biel in 1914 and is regarded as a pioneer in the field of pilot and world time watches. The company has been represented at every Basel watch fair since it was established in 1938 and will also be at the Baselworld in 2011. Stephan Lack and Katherina Brechbühler will be attending the fair.
