Bulgari's 1st accessories store in Japan coming soon
18 Oct '05
3 min read
The vertical integration process of the Bulgari Group continues and strengthens thanks to the acquisitions, signed in the past few days, of a 51 percent stake of the Swiss firm Prestige d'Or S.A., leader in the production of steel and precious metals watch straps for high-end watches, and of 100 percent of the Tuscan individual firm Pacini, now named Bulgari Accessori S.r.L., producing leather, reptile and custom-made fabric handbags.
Prestige d'Or S.A., founded in Switzerland in 1993 and based in Saignelégier (in the Canton of Jura) since 1999, boasts a long relationship with the Group, supplying watch straps for high-end Bulgari watch models like Bulgari-Bulgari, Ergon and the new line Assioma presented this year at the Basel Fair and now available in stores. Prestige d'Or currently has 64 employees and in 2004 registered a turnover of about 5 million Euro.
Jean Claude Probst, founder of Prestige d'Or and currently Production Manager of the company, holds the 49 percent of the shares of Prestige d'Or and will continue to head its manufacturing operations, reporting to the Watch Business Unit of the Bulgari Group.
Pacini's firm, founded in 1969 by Mario Pacini, is based in Bagno a Ripoli (Florence) in the heart of the Tuscan leather working district. The company is specialised in a wide range of activities, from the realisation of paper patterns and prototypes to materials supply, cutting, stripping, assembling and mounting for leather, precious hides and custom-made fabric handbags. The firm – now named Bulgari Accessori S.r.L. – currently has about 15 employees with the aim to increase the personnel to 50 units in the next months in order to meet the new and increased production needs.