Kering was founded as Pinault SA in 1963 by François Pinault as a timber-trading business in Brittany; it grew through acquisitions in retail (Le Printemps department stores, La Redoute mail-order) into the conglomerate PPR (Pinault Printemps Redoute) by the late 1990s. François-Henri Pinault (b. 1962) succeeded his father as CEO in 2005 and led a strategic refocusing on luxury through the 2000s-2010s: PPR divested its retail operations (Conforama, Fnac, Redcats) and concentrated on luxury and sport-lifestyle brands. The group was renamed Kering in 2013. The luxury portfolio is anchored by Gucci (acquired in stages 1999-2004 from LVMH after a hostile-acquisition battle), Saint Laurent (1999), Bottega Veneta (2001), and Balenciaga (2001).
The watch portfolio entered Kering through the 2011 acquisition of Girard-Perregaux, the La Chaux-de-Fonds-based independent manufacture (founded 1791, in-house since 1856) renowned for the Three Gold Bridges Tourbillon and the Laureato integrated-bracelet sports watch (1975, contemporary of the Royal Oak and Nautilus). The acquisition price was not publicly disclosed; the deal was structured as a control acquisition from the Macaluso family, who had bought GP from the Sandoz family in 1992. GP joined the Kering group structure as a Swiss-domiciled subsidiary.
"Two maisons of complete artisanal credibility and modest scale. We do not need a portfolio the size of LVMH; we need maisons of the highest quality."- Kering executive on the watch-portfolio strategy
In 2014 Kering acquired Ulysse Nardin, the Le Locle-based marine-chronometer-heritage manufacture (founded 1846), for roughly CHF 700-800 million. Ulysse Nardin had been independently owned by the Schnyder family since 1983 and had built a reputation through the 1990s-2000s for innovative complications (the Freak in 2001, with no hands or dial; the Marine Chronometer line; the Diver collection). The acquisition was structured similarly to the GP deal as a control purchase from the Schnyder family; UN joined GP under common Kering watch-division leadership.
The Kering Eyewear & Watches structural framework groups the two watch maisons with the group's jewellery brands (Boucheron, Pomellato, Qeelin) under a single hard-luxury executive layer. The operating model grants individual maison autonomy similar to Richemont's approach: separate CEOs, independent product strategies, individual manufactures, with shared infrastructure only at the corporate-services level. Cross-brand synergies are minimal in practice; GP and UN compete for similar collector audiences but with distinct technical identities (GP's Three Gold Bridges and Laureato heritage; UN's marine-chronometer and Freak innovation tradition).
The watch portfolio is the smallest of the four major luxury holding-group watch divisions: combined annual revenue of approximately CHF 200-300 million across both maisons, vs Swatch Group's ~CHF 7-8B, Richemont's ~CHF 8-10B (watches), and LVMH's ~EUR 4-5B. The strategic question through 2024 has been whether Kering will expand the watch portfolio through additional acquisitions or accept the current scale as a focused niche. Kering has not announced any near-term additional watch-brand acquisitions; the current focus is on returning GP and UN to growth after a difficult 2022-23 period in the broader luxury watch market.
Both maisons retain strong individual identities. Girard-Perregaux's 2010s strategic emphasis has been the Laureato 40th anniversary revival (2016), the modern Cat's Eye small-watch line, and the high-complication Three Gold Bridges family. Ulysse Nardin's emphasis has been the modern Diver collection, the Blast tourbillon line, and continued innovation in escapements (the Anchor escapement, the Freak X). Both maisons publish modest annual production volumes (GP ~10-15k watches/year, UN ~10-15k watches/year) at average price points in the CHF 8,000-30,000 range.