 Around
this time, in 1995, Jaquet had begun a joint project with Eric Loth in founding the La Chaux-de-Fonds-based The British Masters with its innovative pair of brands,
Graham and Arnold & Son. Loth helped Jaquet to see that things could not continue as they were-especially because this situation was also affecting Loth's brands
in trying to get a foot in the door of the luxury segment. Thus, Jaquet searched out a group of investors. This group took over a minority shareholding position
in the company in 2001, headed up by Wenger, very experienced in investment banking and a man who had previously been employed by banks such as UBS.
An automatic lathe hard at work.
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The
first thing Wenger did was bring an expert structure to the firm, making it suitable for working professionally within the industry. Along with Wenger, the number
of employees was upped from sixty to 150, making Jaquet S.A. more than twice as large as it had previously been. Where the company had formerly had more of an artisanal
feel to it, with a crafty edge, there was now real strategy and professional structure in evidence.
“Today
we are something industrial, a true partner for the luxury wristwatch segment,” Wenger adds.
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