Dickson Concepts (International), an international Hong Kong retailer and distributor of luxury products, completed acquisition of Bertolucci, the Swiss luxury watch brand, in January. Swiss media report that Dickson will invest about $24.8 million in it over the next two years. Bertolucci plans to develop what it calls “distinctive new watch collections based on innovative Italian styling,” which it says will reestablish Bertolucci as a leasing up-market brand.
Bertolucci will remain headquartered in Marin, Switzerland, with 15 employees. Product development and manufacturing also will stay there. It produces 10,000 watches, and annual revenues are about $13 million. The United States is a major market.

MCH Swiss Exhibition Ltd., owners of the BaselWorld watch and jewelry trade fair, have appealed to the Swiss Supreme Court to condemn a SARS order against BaselWorld 2003 from the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health. MCH filed its appeal in January after its May 2003 complaint was rejected by the Swiss Department of Home Affairs. The SFOPH order banned 400 companies and 3,000 employees from SARS-affected Asian countries from participating in BaselWorld after they were already there. However, the people weren’t restricted in movement or required to leave Switzerland. MCH contends the ban was unreasonable and led to damage claims against it in “two-digit millions” of Swiss francs.