Swiss family controlling the world’s largest watch company, the Swatch Group. Originally created by Nicolas Hayek in 1983 as Société Suisse de Microélectronique et d’Horlogerie (SMH), the company was renamed The Swatch Group in 1998 and is headquartered in Biel, Switzerland.
Nicolas Hayek emigrated from Beirut as a young man. After receiving an education in chemistry, physics and mathematics, he started his own company, Hayek Engineering. In response to Japan’s surging market share in the watch industry during the 80s, Nicolas Hayek merged two of Switzerland’s leading timepiece manufacturers, Asuag and SSIH, to form the new company, SMH, and secured himself a majority stake in the new firm. He created the Swatch brand in 1983 and remained Chairman of the Swatch Group until his death in 2010.
Nicolas’ daughter, Nayla Hayek, replaced her father as the company’s Chairman and also serves as CEO of American jeweller, Harry Winston Inc. A renowned horse breeder, Nayla Hayek keeps 70 Arabian horses at her farm near Zurich. Nayla’s son, Marc Alexander Hayek, is a Swatch Board Member and the CEO of the luxury watchmaker, Blancpain. Nayla’s brother, Georges Nicolas Hayek, has been The Swatch Group’s CEO since 2003. The family’s net worth is estimated at over $4 billion.
Hayek family
Nicolas G. Hayek, Image courtesy of Breguet