Swatch ECONOMIC

Target: Swatch / The Swatch Group Ltd Domain: Economic Research date: 22 October 2026 Geographical scope: Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Supply Chain & Sourcing Relationships

Direct suppliers

Swatch’s official international contact directory identifies Roltime Ltd, 7 Imber Street, Kiryat Arie, Petah Tikva, Israel, as its Israeli contact, establishing a named local commercial intermediary in the watch distribution and servicing chain.¹

Roltime Group’s current corporate materials describe an Israeli business importing, distributing and supporting international watch, jewellery and lifestyle brands.²

Roltime’s after-sales division reports handling tens of thousands of service and repair cases annually across its watch and luggage activities; the figure is group-wide and cannot be attributed exclusively to Swatch.³

Agricultural suppliers

No public evidence identified of commercial relationships between Swatch and Mehadrin, Hadiklaim, Galilee Export, Agrexco or other named Israeli agricultural exporters.

Importer-of-record structure

The documented Swatch-Roltime arrangement establishes a local distribution contact, while Swatch Group’s 2025 Annual Report distinguishes markets served by local distributors from countries with group-owned distribution subsidiaries.^{1, 4}

No public evidence identified confirming Roltime’s equity ownership, the importer named on individual customs declarations, or whether another entity acts as importer of record for particular Swatch shipments.

Seasonal sourcing

No public evidence identified of recurring December–April sourcing of Israeli agricultural goods or other seasonal Israeli-origin procurement by Swatch.

Third-party distribution

Historical Israeli commercial directories identify Swatch-branded sales outlets and independent watch retailers in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Modi’in, Eilat, Haifa and other Israeli cities; these listings establish historical distribution channels but do not independently verify current trading status.^{5, 6, 7}

The Israeli Yoter consumer-benefits programme describes Swatch Israel as an official watch-retail network and lists several mall locations, demonstrating an established local consumer-sales channel at the time represented by that listing.⁸

Israeli reporting dated 30 November 2025 identified Impress as Swatch’s local franchise operator and reported that dedicated Swatch stores at Kiryon Mall and Seven Stars Mall had closed.⁹

Commercial relationship continuity

The November 2025 report stated that the local operator planned to retain one or two dedicated boutiques alongside online activity, documenting a reported intention to continue Swatch’s Israeli sales after both 19 July 2024 and the November 2024 ICC warrants.^{9, 10}

Product Origin, Labeling & Regulatory Compliance

Product origin

Swiss federal government historical material records that Swatch emerged from Switzerland’s watchmaking industry in 1983, with the first collection launched in Zurich that year.¹¹

Swissinfo independently documents Swatch’s launch in Zurich on 1 March 1983 and its origins in the Swiss watchmaking industry.¹²

Swatch’s documented history identifies its watches as Swiss-made and traces the brand’s original manufacturing and technological development to Switzerland.^{13, 14}

Settlement-origin products

No public evidence identified that Swatch sells goods manufactured in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem or Golan Heights.

No public evidence identified that Swatch purchases Israeli agricultural products labelled as originating in Israel but manufactured or grown in occupied territory.

Labelling compliance

No public evidence identified of a customs enforcement finding, DEFRA investigation, court judgment or regulatory penalty concerning Swatch’s labelling of settlement-origin merchandise.

Corporate policy

No public evidence identified of a Swatch-specific published sourcing or origin-labelling policy addressing Israeli settlements or occupied territories.

Third-party retailers

A watch-retail directory includes historical Swatch listings in Jerusalem, but the listed city alone does not establish whether any store is located in occupied East Jerusalem.^{5, 6}

Product classification

Swatch’s commercial activity is centred on watches, and its historical product documentation identifies watches as its core manufactured products; no source reviewed establishes an agricultural-products business operated by Swatch.^{11, 12, 13}

Investment, Capital & Financial Exposure

Foreign direct investment

The Swatch Group’s 2025 Annual Report lists countries with group distribution subsidiaries, distinguishes these from markets served through local distributors, and does not identify an Israeli group-owned distribution subsidiary.⁴

Swatch’s own international directory instead identifies Roltime Ltd as the local Israeli contact.¹

No public evidence identified establishing a Swatch-owned Israeli factory, warehouse, logistics hub, data centre, research facility or commercial real-estate investment.

Acquired Israeli subsidiaries

No public evidence identified of an Israeli operating company acquired or controlled by Swatch or The Swatch Group Ltd.

Consequently, no verified Israeli acquisition date, consideration, ownership percentage, manufacturing facility, subsidiary workforce, national market position or subsidiary defence relationship was established.

Research and development

The documented history of Swatch identifies the development of the original brand within the Swiss watchmaking industry, while the group’s 2025 Annual Report identifies watchmaking, electronics and production businesses within its wider industrial organization.^{4, 14}

No public evidence identified of a Swatch-controlled Israeli research laboratory, accelerator, innovation centre or government-funded Preferred Technology Enterprise.

Parent ownership

The Swatch brand forms part of The Swatch Group Ltd, a Swiss watchmaking group whose corporate structure includes watch brands, production businesses, electronic-systems companies and distribution operations.^{4, 13}

The 2025 corporate governance disclosures report that the Hayek Pool and associated parties held 44.5% of voting rights at 31 December 2025, with the Hayek-family-related grouping controlling 43.8%.¹⁵

The same disclosures identify the Hayek family, Wat Holding AG, Hayek Holding AG and members of the Ammann family among important participants in the group’s shareholder structure.¹⁵

Controlling principals

The group’s 2025 Annual Report identifies Nayla Hayek as chair, Nick Hayek as chief executive, Marc Alexander Hayek as a director, Ernst Tanner as vice-chair, and other directors including Daniela Aeschlimann and Jean-Pierre Roth.¹⁶

Nayla Hayek’s disclosed roles include leadership of Harry Winston and family-associated Swiss holding and engineering businesses; these disclosed roles do not themselves establish an Israeli investment.¹⁶

Nick Hayek’s disclosed outside roles include CSEM and Belenos Clean Power Holding Ltd; the reviewed biography does not identify a specific Israeli investment associated with these appointments.¹⁶

No public evidence identified of material direct Israeli company investments by the Hayek family, its named family-office vehicles, or other controlling Swatch Group principals.

Financial instruments

No public evidence identified of direct Swatch Group holdings of Israeli sovereign bonds, Israel Bonds, Israel-focused investment funds, Israeli defence-industry securities or settlement-active company portfolios.

Financing the Israeli state

No public evidence identified of Swatch underwriting Israeli sovereign debt, arranging Israeli war bonds, providing lending facilities to Israeli defence companies, or underwriting Israeli military or settlement-related insurance.

Operational Presence & Market Activity

Israeli distributor

Swatch identifies Roltime Ltd in Petah Tikva as its Israeli commercial contact in its international directory.¹

Roltime’s corporate materials describe an operating Israeli distribution and after-sales organization whose portfolio includes international watch and luxury brands.^{2, 3}

Headquarters and service facilities

Roltime’s location directory identifies its headquarters and authorized watch-repair operation at 7 Imber Street, Petah Tikva, together with a separate luggage-service facility at 23 Imber Street.¹⁷

The listed Roltime facilities establish the distributor’s local physical presence, but the available sources do not establish that the buildings are owned or leased by Swatch Group.^{1, 17}

Retail footprint

An Israeli consumer-benefits listing historically described an 11-branch Swatch retail network across Israel, including shopping-centre outlets in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Herzliya, Ramat Gan, Eilat and Beersheba.⁸

Independent watch-retail directories also identify Swatch sellers in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Modi’in and other Israeli cities, although their historical listings cannot establish that every location is still open.^{5, 6}

A separate retail-directory entry identifies a Swatch-branded outlet at Azrieli Mall in Tel Aviv.¹⁸

2025 contraction

On 30 November 2025, Ynet reported that Swatch’s Israeli franchise operator had closed dedicated locations at Kiryon Mall and Seven Stars Mall and intended to operate only one or two dedicated boutiques alongside online sales.⁹

ICE independently reported the same restructuring on 30 November 2025, describing a substantial reduction in the brand’s Israeli retail footprint.¹⁰

These reports establish a reported contraction in late 2025; they do not establish that all Swatch products ceased being distributed or serviced in Israel.^{9, 10}

Wider distributor footprint

Roltime’s location directory identifies approximately 29 group locations, including Impress stores, other brand boutiques, its headquarters and service centres; this is the distributor’s wider network and cannot be treated as 29 Swatch-exclusive locations.¹⁷

The directory identifies group retail locations in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Petah Tikva, Haifa, Netanya, Modi’in, Ashdod, Beersheba and Jerusalem.¹⁷

Settlement geography

The current Roltime directory includes a TUMI boutique on Mamilla Avenue in Jerusalem, but that is a TUMI listing and provides no evidence of Swatch-specific settlement sales.¹⁷

No public evidence identified establishing a Swatch-owned or Swatch-branded shop, warehouse or production facility in a West Bank settlement or Golan Heights settlement.

No public evidence identified of a verified Swatch product transaction in an East Jerusalem settlement or Israeli settlement elsewhere in occupied territory.

Employment

Roltime confirms the existence of Israeli repair, technical, retail and service operations, but the reviewed disclosures do not provide a verified Swatch-specific employee count.^{3, 17}

No public evidence identified of an independently verified Israeli workforce figure attributable to Swatch Ltd or Swatch Group.

Tax and registration

The documented Roltime distribution operation establishes a local Israeli commercial intermediary; its exact tax registrations, customs identifiers and fiscal relationship with Swatch were not established by the reviewed sources.^{1, 2}

No public evidence identified of a confirmed Israeli tax-resident Swatch Group subsidiary or an Israeli Preferred Technology Enterprise designation.

Market positioning

Swatch’s Israeli franchise operator was reported in November 2025 as reducing dedicated physical outlets while retaining some boutique and online presence.⁹

No public evidence identified of an official Swatch Group annual-report statement designating Israel a strategic growth market, regional headquarters or major source of consolidated sales.

Government and defence customers

No public evidence identified of a verified Swatch contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, Israeli police, security services or settlement authorities.

Corporate Structure & Foundational Ties

Founding

Swatch originated in Switzerland during the reorganization of the Swiss watch industry in 1983.^{11, 19}

The documented corporate history describes the creation of SMH following the merger of the Swiss watchmaking groups ASUAG and SSIH, with the business subsequently adopting the Swatch Group name in 1998.^{19, 14}

Swissinfo independently records the launch of Swatch in Zurich on 1 March 1983.¹²

Legal domicile

Swatch Ltd is identified as a Swiss watchmaking company headquartered in Biel/Bienne.¹³

The Swatch Group’s 2025 corporate governance disclosure identifies the listed parent’s registered office in Neuchâtel and administrative headquarters in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland.¹⁵

Israeli-nexus factors

Founded in Israel: Swiss federal historical records and Swissinfo identify Swiss origins for Swatch.^{11, 12}

Headquarters in Israel: The parent company’s registered office and administrative headquarters are in Switzerland.¹⁵

Israeli tax residency or Preferred Technology Enterprise status: no public evidence identified.

Israeli beneficial ownership or control: The reviewed 2025 corporate governance disclosures identify substantial Hayek-family voting control and do not establish Israeli controlling ownership.¹⁵

Israeli operating subsidiary acquired by the group: no public evidence identified.

Israeli commercial relationship: Swatch officially identifies Roltime Ltd as its Israeli contact, and contemporary reporting documents the local franchise operation.^{1, 9}

Parent and sibling attribution

The Swatch Group’s disclosed organization contains Swiss and international watchmaking, electronics, production and retail entities; the documented Israeli relationship examined here is a local commercial distribution relationship.^{4, 13}

No public evidence identified establishing that a named sibling company or controlling Swatch Group subsidiary acquired an Israeli operating enterprise.

State ownership and institutional links

No public evidence identified of an Israeli government ownership stake, Israeli state-appointed Swatch director, Israeli critical-infrastructure designation or verified Israeli government procurement contract.

Governance

The group’s 2025 voting-rights disclosures identify concentrated Hayek-family influence through the Hayek Pool and associated holdings.¹⁵

The 2025 Annual Report identifies corporate and public-service backgrounds among directors, including Jean-Pierre Roth’s previous Swiss central-bank roles.¹⁶

No public evidence identified of a governance provision, golden share, charter restriction or state-appointed director structurally linking Swatch Group to Israeli government policy objectives.

Controlling-principal investments

The 2025 Annual Report’s board biographies identify named Swiss and international corporate appointments, but no reviewed primary record established a material personal Israeli investment attributable to a controlling Swatch principal.¹⁶

No public evidence identified of a verified personal or family-office investment by a controlling principal in an Israeli defence manufacturer, settlement company or state-financing vehicle.

Profit Repatriation & Economic Contribution

Israeli sales

Historical Israeli commercial directories establish that Swatch watches have been marketed through a network of retail outlets and authorized or third-party sellers in Israel.^{8, 5, 7}

Contemporary reporting dated 30 November 2025 described continued online sales and plans for a reduced boutique footprint following store closures.^{9, 10}

No public evidence identified disclosing Israel-specific Swatch revenue, wholesale sales, gross profit, operating profit or revenue contribution as a percentage of consolidated group turnover.

Economic activity

The documented Roltime relationship establishes an Israeli distribution and service channel for Swatch products, with associated local commercial activities undertaken by the Israeli intermediary.^{1, 2, 3}

Roltime’s published directory identifies Israeli retail, service and headquarters infrastructure, but provides no Swatch-specific breakdown of employment, rent, payroll or other local operating expenditure.¹⁷

Profit direction

Swatch’s documented corporate domicile is Swiss, while its named Israeli commercial intermediary is Roltime Ltd.^{1, 15}

No public evidence identified specifying the contractual wholesale prices, royalties, franchise fees, dividends, management charges or other payments flowing between Roltime and Swatch.

No public evidence identified quantifying any repatriation of Israeli-generated profits to Switzerland.

No public evidence identified establishing that Swatch’s global profits are repatriated into Israel through Israeli-domiciled controlling shareholders.

Tax contribution

No public evidence identified quantifying Israeli corporate income tax, VAT, import duties, municipal taxes or employer contributions attributable specifically to Swatch-branded operations.

Sector position

Roltime’s corporate materials describe a substantial Israeli watch, luxury-goods and service operation representing international brands.^{2, 3, 17}

The available evidence does not establish Swatch’s percentage of Israel’s watch market or the share of Roltime’s revenue generated by Swatch products.^{2, 17}

No public evidence identified of an Israeli government assessment designating Swatch as a nationally significant employer, critical infrastructure provider or strategic industrial supplier.

Continuity after July and November 2024

Israeli reporting dated 30 November 2025 documents the local operator’s plans to continue Swatch-branded boutique and online commerce after the ICJ advisory opinion of 19 July 2024 and the ICC arrest warrants issued in November 2024.^{9, 10}

No public evidence identified demonstrating that the continued commercial activity involved specific Israeli settlements, military procurement or another separately identified occupied-territory economic relationship.