Richemont Sells Baume & Mercier to Italy After 38 Years
SOUTH AFRICA · LUXURY
Key Facts
—Deal closed: Richemont completed the sale of 100 percent of Baume & Mercier to Italy’s Damiani Group on July 1, 2026; the agreement was signed on January 22.
—End of an era: The Geneva maison, founded in 1830, had been in the group since 1988 — 38 years under the Rupert family’s roof.
—Why it went: Baume & Mercier anchored the entry level of luxury watches: strong volumes, thinner margins than Cartier or Van Cleef & Arpels.
—The buyer: Damiani is a family-owned Valenza jeweller founded in 1924, with brands from Salvini to the Venini glassworks — and boutique plans for its new watchmaker.
—Transition: Richemont will keep providing operational services for an interim period while Damiani integrates the maison.
—No number: Neither side disclosed a price for the transaction.
Richemont has finished handing one of Geneva’s oldest names to new owners. The sale of Baume & Mercier, the 1830-founded watchmaker, to Italy’s Damiani Group closed on July 1 — ending 38 years in Johann Rupert’s luxury empire, with no price disclosed.
A 196-year-old maison changes hands
The completion was announced by both companies. It followed the agreement signed on January 22 and the clearing of closing conditions, with Damiani taking 100 percent of the watchmaker.
Baume & Mercier’s roots reach back to 1830, when the Baume family began selling watches in the Swiss Jura. It joined the group that became Richemont in 1988, the year the Rupert family assembled its luxury holdings.
Thirty-eight years is long enough to span whole eras of watchmaking, from quartz recovery to smartwatch shock. The maison survived them all under one owner.
Richemont will keep running operational services for the brand during a transition period. After that, one of the industry’s oldest names answers to Valenza rather than Geneva.
The maison’s catalogue spans lines like Clifton and Riviera, watches that furnished a century of first serious purchases. Accessible positioning was always the point — and eventually the problem.
Why Richemont let it go
Baume & Mercier held the entry level of the luxury watch market. It sold accessible Swiss watchmaking in volumes the group’s grander houses never chase, yet volume is not what Richemont is optimising for.
The group has spent recent years concentrating on maisons with the strongest pricing power, led by Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, whose jewellery machines drive its profits. Softer entry-level demand made the choice easier.
Entry-level Swiss watchmaking has been squeezed for a decade. Smartwatches press from below, and the demand for great houses pulls from above, so the middle is where margins go to shrink.
The move follows a record year for the group and continues a long pruning that has already seen it exit online retail. Fewer, stronger houses is now the whole strategy.
What Damiani gets
The Damiani Group is one of Italian jewellery’s family dynasties, founded in Valenza in 1924 and still run by the founding family. Its stable spans Damiani, Salvini, Bliss, Calderoni, the Rocca retail chain and the storied Venini glassworks of Murano.
Baume & Mercier gives it a true Swiss watchmaker with two centuries of heritage and a strong Italian base. The group says it will grow the maison through its multi-brand distribution and selective mono-brand boutiques abroad.
Damiani has absorbed storied names before, folding in Venini’s glassworks and the Rocca retail chain. A watch maison is its boldest step up in scale and complexity.
For Italian luxury, it is a rare capture: watchmaking credibility usually costs far more than jewellery families can pay. No price was disclosed, which tells its own story about entry-level valuations.
Valenza, the buyer’s home town, is Italy’s goldsmithing capital, a district of workshops serving the world’s maisons. The deal moves a Geneva name into that ecosystem.
The Rupert angle
Richemont is controlled by South Africa’s Rupert family, so every reshaping of its portfolio echoes in Johannesburg as well as Geneva. Johann Rupert’s fortune, above 20 billion dollars on Bloomberg’s index, moves with the group’s shares.
South African investors track these moves through Remgro and Reinet as well as Richemont itself, the listed layers of the Rupert edifice. Portfolio discipline in Geneva reads as dividend security in Stellenbosch.
The message from this sale matches the one his results delivered: protect pricing power, shed dilution, let others fight for the entry level. It is the same logic that has kept Richemont among luxury’s most valuable groups through a soft cycle.
For staff and collectors, continuity is the near-term promise, with service and warranties running through the transition. Brand transitions in watchmaking are marathons measured in catalogues, not press releases.
Baume & Mercier leaves with its heritage intact and a committed owner. Luxury’s consolidation, for once, produced a tidy ending on both sides.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Richemont sell?
Richemont sold 100 percent of Baume & Mercier, the Geneva watchmaker founded in 1830, to Italy’s Damiani Group on July 1, 2026. The deal ended 38 years inside the group, and no price was disclosed.
Why did Richemont let Baume & Mercier go?
The brand sat at the entry level of luxury watchmaking, strong on volume but thinner on margin. Richemont is concentrating on houses with the highest pricing power, led by Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Who is the buyer?
The Damiani Group is a family-owned Italian jeweller from Valenza founded in 1924, whose portfolio includes Damiani, Salvini, Calderoni and the Venini glassworks. It plans to grow the watchmaker through its own boutiques and distribution.
What does this mean for the Rupert family’s group?
It sharpens the strategy that has made Johann Rupert’s Richemont one of luxury’s most valuable groups: fewer, stronger maisons — a portfolio pruned for pricing power rather than breadth.
Connected Coverage
Richemont’s run is a Rio Times thread: see the record year that couldn’t shake its China risk, Johann Rupert crossing 20 billion dollars, and Remgro’s move on Mediclinic.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
LatAm Markets: Live Signals → — real-time movers, turnover leaders and FX across Latin America.
Read More from The Rio Times