Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Hublot close their plants

After the decision by Rolex, on Tuesday, March 17th, it was to be expected that other watchmakers would soon follow suit and close their factories as well. Now it’s official: Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Hublot are also shutting down production in order to protect their workforce from SARS-CoV-2.

To better understand what these measures mean, we should consider that the Swiss government has declared a state of emergency, restricted freedom of movement and closed all non-essential stores, but the production facilities of the luxury watch industry were not affected by those measures, so theoretically production there could have continued.

Hublot goes the furthest. Production in Nyon, near Geneva, will be shut down indefinitely until the situation improves. This also takes into consideration the many cross-border commuters from France, which has been particularly hard hit, and their daily struggle with the reintroduced border controls.

At Patek Philippe, the closure of their production facilities and head office will initially apply until March 27th, although the door has been left open for a most likely necessary extension of that initial period.

Audemars Piguet announced on Twitter the closure of all production facilities and some offices and the partial closure of boutiques outside Switzerland, where this has not already been ordered by the respective governments. The closures should, at least initially, stay in effect until the end of March.

The measures taken by the Swiss government to close non-essential shops are, for now, in place until April 19, at which point we will have to monitor what the government, and the watch industry, will do next.