In addition to the massive investments that various brands and groups have announced industry-wide for the coming years, the Richemont Group is setting aside an additional 100 million Swiss francs to set up a new campus for watchmaker training in Geneva.

The project, called the “Campus Genevois de Haute Horlogerie”, will create a 30,000 square-metre facility in Meyrin and create 400 new jobs between now and its completion in 2020.

In keeping with the Richemont Group philosophy, the four brands who will share the campus—Roger Dubuis, the watchmaking workshop of Van Cleef & Arpels, production workshops of Vacheron Constantin and Manufacture Stern, Genève 1898—will have their own independent premises, but the heart of the new facility will be a “Learning and Apprenticeship Centre” that will accommodate 45 students. The objective is to promote interaction and exchange and above all the transfer of knowledge—from the basic concepts of watchmaking to the preservation of traditional craftsmanship.

The campus will also incorporate a research centre for watchmaking, which will be focussed on research and development in new technologies to maintain the pace of innovation within the Richemont Group, which will invest some 60 million Swiss francs in training and research over the next ten years.