Swiss luxury watch brand Hublot is building a new $8 million watch factory in Nyon, Switzerland, its home location. Its old factory will be sold.

The new facility will be finished by the end of 2008, JCK was told by Jean-Claude Biver, chief executive officer of Hublot S.A.

Production will increase 50 percent, from about 20,000 watches annually to close to 30,000 pieces, says Biver. Much of that increase will be in higher-end timepieces. Hublot’s staff will almost double, from 65 to about 120 when it opens.

Biver is considering adding jewelry to Hublot’s products, for both men and women, which wouldn’t come on the market until 2009 or 2010.