Takeovers and acquisitions are common occurrences in the watch industry, but mergers haven’t been so popular. How can two watch brands, with their own unique DNA, combine to become one? A difficult task indeed, but one that Olivier Müller, CEO Villemont, and Jurgen Amundsen, Founder of Amundsen Oslo, have undertaken with flair.
Their first joint project has been the creation of the Solar Navigation Limited Edition in commemoration of a Swiss expedition to Mount Everest by Mario Julen. The expedition was set-up to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the very first Swiss expedition to Everest. Mario Julen is a world-renowned mountain guide and a native of Zermatt, Switzerland. He successfully completed the expedition in seven weeks, not only reaching Mount Lhotse (8501m) and Everest (8848m), like his predecessors in 1956, but also by being the first occidental to cross the famous North / South border between Nepal and Tibet – writing it all down makes it seem easy, but it took three expeditions to achieve – one time turning back when only seven hours from the summit.
In celebration of this incredible feat, Villemont and Amundsen have created the Solar Navigator Limited Edition Mario Julen timepiece (25 pieces). The watch marries style and mechanical elements from both brands in a harmonious way that makes the merger of the two brands look effortless.




Mario Julen, explorer, the SOLAR NAVIGATOR and Mount Everest expedition route


The stainless steel Solar Navigator is equipped with an automatic movement featuring hours, minutes, seconds, date, mechanical alarm and a solar navigation system, which is a manual alternative to a GPS system. A 24-hour indication disk shows the position of the sun and shadows in relation to compass positions. "The idea for the Solar Navigator came when I was on the expedition to the North Pole.” explains Amundsen, who is, incidentally, the great grand nephew of Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), one of the greatest explorers of all time, and a keen explorer himself. “We quickly found out we couldn't use our GPS to navigate because the batteries didn't last very long, and we couldn't use a magnetic compass because magnetic North Pole is a completely different place. We used the sun and then did calcu-lations. That's when I came up with the idea to use a mechanical instrument that would do the calculations for you, one that didn't rely on batteries or technology.”
Olivier Müller may not be an explorer himself, but he is certainly taking his brand into new territory. "Last year I was looking to give Villemont a boost. One way is to invest into marketing and so I met with the bankers…they came up with the idea of putting the two companies together. Jurgen has a unique legacy with one of the greatest explorers of all time, we had the Swiss hallmark and the know-how of watchmaking.”
It seems like the perfect solution for both young brands and there is certainly plenty of room for growth thanks to the CHF 10 million raised from private investors by the private equity firm, Valley Road Capital. Plans include a regular collection based on the Solar Navigator and the creation of a manufacture horlogère (watchmaking workshop) to ensure future production. So, maybe mountains aren’t so difficult to climb after all…


Source: Europa Star February-March 2007 Magazine Issue