The largest U.S.-based luxury watch retailer has been acquired by a Swiss company.
Bucherer, a leading European retailer of fine watches and jewelry, announced that it has acquired Tourneau from an investor group led by Green Equity Investors IV, an affiliate of Leonard Green & Partners.
Founded in in 1900 and based in New York, Tourneau operates 28 retail locations across 10 states and an e-commerce website. The company is renowned for its customer service and extensive selection of new and certified pre-owned watches.
“Bucherer is a dream partner for Tourneau,” said Ira Melnitsky, CEO, Tourneau. “A Swiss company with 130 years of history in the industry, Bucherer understands fine watches like few others, making them the ideal partner for Tourneau. As our business continues to perform and grow, this is a natural next step for the company.”
Tourneau’s management will join the Bucherer team. Bucherer is based in Lucerne, Switzerland.
“With this acquisition, we will immediately introduce the Bucherer brand to millions of potential customers in one of the most important global watch and jewelry markets, said Guido Zumbühl, CEO of the Bucherer Group. “This is also a great opportunity to firmly establish the Carl F. Bucherer brand in the U.S. and introduce Bucherer Fine Jewellery into the North American market.”
The Bucherer brand has 10 stores in Germany, four stores in London, a flagship in Vienna, one location in Paris (the world’s largest watch and jewelry store), and one store in Copenhagen. It is also sold in exclusive locations in Europe, with 16 points of sale in Switzerland.