PARIS — The Swatch Group and Japan’s Citizen Watch are being investigated in Italy over pricing practices.
According to the Italian Competition Authority (or AGCM), the watchmakers may be in violation of European Union regulations for imposing retail prices displayed online on authorized distributors.
The offices of the Italian branches of both watchmakers were inspected on Dec. 3 by the competition watchdog, assisted by the Special Antitrust Unit of the Italian financial police.
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Citizen, which has the watch labels Citizen, Bulova, Vagary, Frédérique Constant and Alpina under its umbrella, “may be instructing its selective distribution network to follow imposed retail prices,” the Italian authority claimed.
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The watchmaking group also “seems to be monitoring their pricing practices and adopting retaliatory commercial measures against distributors offering discounts and prices that differ from those indicated,” it added.
Representatives for Citizen did not immediately return requests for comment.
Swatch is also suspected of “[imposing] retail prices and [monitoring] its selective distribution network, adopting retaliatory commercial measures against distributors that fail to comply,” according to a statement by the competition watchdog.
A spokesperson for the Swatch Group confirmed the visits to its Italian offices, aiming to “obtain information regarding a possible noncompliant practice on price procedures of [its] brands Tissot Italy and Mido Italy” and said the group is “fully cooperating and participating in this procedure and wants to shed complete light on this potential violation” at these two brands.
This is not the first time pricing practices by luxury groups have come under fire by antitrust and competition watchdogs across the European bloc.
In October, Gucci, Loewe and Chloé were fined over 157 million euros in total for having engaged in anticompetitive pricing practices.
Rolex was slapped in 2023 with a 91.6 million euro fine by France’s competition watchdog for prohibiting its authorized distributors from selling online for more than a decade. The watchmaker’s CPO launch was used as counterargument to debunk its claim of using the measure to thwart counterfeiting.
— With contributions from Martino Carrera, Milan