Grovana of Switzerland – History

Grovana is a firm that has made a name for itself in the Swiss watch making industry through innovation and flexibility.Up till the 1970s it made mechanical watches that were always state of the art.

New building wing of GROVANA Watch Ltd. at headquarters

For decades the Swiss watch industry has been renowned all over the world for the quality and accuracy of its products. Grovana began to move into new markets as early as the 1970s. This led to a collection being presented that met the requirements of the different markets and made the Grovana brand name successful. Thanks to this flexibility Grovana weathered the crises in the Swiss watch industry very well, a time when many companies were forced out of business. Grovana was one of the first Swiss watch manufacturers to start making analog quartz watches. This technological know-how enabled Grovana to open up new markets.

As early as 1982 80 % of Grovana’s output consisted of analog quartz watches. Grovana has carefully targeted the further expansion called for new investments. Appropriate measures had to be taken in the form of constant increases in production to satisfy the demand for Grovana watches on the world market. That is why the manufacturing and administrative divisions in Tenniken were extended in 1986. At the same time the decision was taken to assemble Grovana watches in the canton of Ticino.

View of assembly line

Today 50 % of Grovana watches are made in southern Switzerland. Work is currently in progress on a further capacity increase. In recent years Grovana has achieved annual sales increases of between 5% and 15%. This is attributable to two factors: firstly, the further extension of existing markets and, secondly, the political changes in Central and Eastern Europe. Grovana has been able to open up significant new markets in the Baltic states, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. Today Grovana exports to more than 80 countries and presents its collection every year at numerous European and overseas trade fairs.

In future the company’s supreme objective will still be to produce high-quality, technically excellent Swiss watches. An attractive collection of Swiss Made watches is to be made available to the worldwide clientele, enabling Grovana to meet the different requirements of the local markets.

A new building wing came into service in January 2000. The work preparation process can be optimised as a result of the extension. The entire components warehouse was brought together in this new building and at the same time new forwarding unit was put into operation. This means all work process connected with watch manufacture are now more optimally organized.

Special attention was also paid to the repair service. New, clearly laidout warehouse facilities make it possible to quickly assemble spare parts for our agents. This means Grovana can continue to guarantee that our spare parts can be despatched to the agents within 48 hours.

The Grovana company will continue to make further substantial investments in the existing buildings over the next two years. Operations should be up to the latest standards by about 2002.

Grovana is convinced that in this way we will be able to enter the next millennium confidently. This business policy will further strengthen the sales markets and also bring much pleasure to the owner of Grovana watches in future.

Grovana of Switzerland – The company

• Grovana was founded in 1924

• The Grovana factory is located in Tenniken which is in the northwestern part of Switzerland – close to Basel

• The company is privately owned and thus independent

• Grovana is in the hands of the Bitterli family since over 25 years

• Total staff is 30 persons of which 20 are working in the production facilities and 10 in the administration

Grovana of Switzerland – Why to choose Grovana

• Grovana is one of the leading watch manufacturers in Switzerland

• Grovana has an outstanding price/quality ratio  

• The collection offers a big variety of ladies and gents bracelet watches in stainless steel, classical watches with leather straps, jewellery watches, diver, sports and chrono watches, two-year international guarantee and top after-sales service