New company to handle Guess watches

Lorna Strickland

Print Article E-Mail Article E-Mail Author

Guess watches distributor Callanen International sets up a new company dedicated to the fashion brand’s licensed portfolio

A new supplier and in-house distributor has been set up to handle the Guess timepiece brand in duty-free. Sequel, based in Switzerland, has been set up by Callanen International, which recently renewed its licence with Guess, to take over all of its operations for the Guess brand.

Guess and Guess Collection (Gc) watches are now being handled by Sequel whose headquarters are in Zug, Switzerland. Callanen International senior vice-president product and marketing Kim Anderson-Curry told RavenFox.com that setting up the new company was a demand from the Guess brand.

“As part of the new licence they wanted us to set up a new company so we could provide the dedication that the brand needs,” said Curry. “As Callanen has grown over the years we’ve acquired the licences for Marc Echo and Nautica watches among others and Guess and Gc Collection watches were growing so fast that we needed to move them to their own dedicated company to retain the licence.”

The new licence gives Sequel the rights to the Guess timepiece brand for the next 15 years. It also holds a licence for costume jewellery, with a range due to be developed shortly.

“We view this as a great opportunity to focus exclusively on the Guess and Gc Watches. We’re looking forward to continuing the brand’s exponential growth with our new global structure and the addition of the international licence for jewellery,” Sequel CEO Cindy Livingston commented. “We’re excited to enter the next phase of our business development, building on the Guess and Gc brands successful heritage.”

Callanen International launched Guess watches in 1984. The supplier claims Guess Watches is the largest licensed watch brand in the world, taking over $500m in global retail sales last year.