Not only passion for watches: Congratulations on the podium finish for Alpina in the Maxi Rolex Cup. It has been great to see Alpina competing in this event, a perfect opportunity to show off the new improvements and reconfirm her excellent performance.
S/Y Alpina performing well after recent refit
S/Y Alpina Hull 007 at the Maxi Cup 2016
Tuesday September 6th, we had a press event to announce the completion of the spin-out of Manufacture Modules Technologies Sàrl. from the Frederique Constant Group. The MMT team moved to new offices and workshops in Skylab, one of Geneva’s main high-tech hubs.
New offices and ateliers MMT
MMT is independent and has an Inclusive Philosophy. We realize that most watch brands are too small to invest individually in a comprehensive Technology Platform. However, when we work together with a number of brands, we have the critical mass to expand the current platform long-term. Brands can create unique products with modules and individual technology components.
At the press event, we had 80 participants in Geneva and 30 on Live Stream
Introduction by me
New CEO MMT Philippe Fraboulet
The company delivers its modules to various watch brands
The app portfolio is in process to be expanded to five apps
Check out more information: http://www.mmt.ch
Frederique Constant is main sponsor of the Peking to Paris Rally
This journalists gets it: http://www.tempusfugit.watch/2016/05/hold-your-breath-make-wish-count-to.html?m=1
Ultimately, it should be about people. No one individual builds a brand, a brand is built by a group of people working together towards a common goal. And this came up in my conversation with Yasmina. Peter and Aletta Stas wanted to be certain that in selling the company, they would not simply be leaving their team high and dry. There is no shortage of people with money out there who want to own a watch brand, so the challenge really became finding a buyer who valued the same things that they did. And in Citizen, they found the right fit. So to be clear, no redundancies, no terminations – things stay as they are. The agreement is that the Stas team will stay on for five (5) years to ensure continuity and continue the projects that are already in motion. In addition, the people behind the scenes will be staying on as well. Now I am fairly certain that the number I heard was five (5) but in fairness I was making an espresso just at that moment (it was early here at Tempus Fugit HQ), but I am fairly certain that was the figure.
The shock waves are that the days of the mighty, all-knowing, all-powerful Swiss group might be over. At a time where brands are laying off staff then spending millions on America’s Cup sponsorships and the inevitable wining, dining and gifting that go along with it to keep the retailers and press members purring, this is a completely different approach. This is a brand that put its PEOPLE above its own vanity.
News travels fast, you may have heard already, we hope to inform you personally about the acquisition of our company.
We have been approached in past to be taken over. Until last year, we never engaged in such discussions as we had idea that our children may take over in future. By now, we know that both our children do not want to work in the company, we started to have discussions with the two groups that approached us last year.
After a year of deep discussions, we felt best with one group in terms of expectations and strategy. This group required, specifically, to keep both us and the current management team in place for at least 5 years. Within this group, we will be the largest Swiss entity and we will continue to operate independently.
The group that will take over is Citizen Watch, a strategic watch industry buyer that has over 125 subsidiaries. Citizen has a reputation for innovation and letting its subsidiaries manage themselves independently. Coincidentally, this completes a circle for our company as Frederique Constant started with an order from a Japanese customer. The company has always had strong relationships with Japan and we feel good about long-term collaboration and continuity within the Citizen Group.
Today we are doing the official announcement and attached is our letter for our employees and stakeholders.
We are exited about this next chapter of our company. Thank you for your continued support and sharing this journey with us.
Best regards,
Aletta and Peter Stas