The Hayek family controls the Swiss watch group Swatch Group, founded in 1983 under Nicolas Hayek’s leadership.
Swatch Group emerged during a crisis in the Swiss watch industry. Cheap quartz watches from Japan and elsewhere had put pressure on traditional mechanical watchmakers. Nicolas Hayek helped combine the Swiss companies ASUAG and SSIH, creating a stronger group that could compete through industrial efficiency, design and the colorful Swatch watch.
The group owns brands including Omega, Longines, Tissot, Breguet and Swatch. Nicolas Hayek served as chairman and later chief executive, while his son Nick Hayek became a leading executive and chairman. The family’s influence is exercised through shares and the company’s governance rather than through ownership of one single watch brand. Swatch Group should not be confused with the Swatch brand: Swatch is one label inside the larger group.