So I would love to say that I am surprised, but let's face it, I saw this coming since last April. I'll give you the press release in its unvarnished form, and we'll discuss -
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2017
In addition, Fernando Sanchez has been appointed as Managing Director of Alpina Frederique Constant USA Inc.
Citizen Watch America and Alpina Frederique Constant USA will continue to be operated as separate companies. Jeffrey Cohen's new role will leverage his expertise with 35 years of industry-leading experience across the brands; with each brand continuing to build on their powerful individual DNA and identities. Cohen's leadership will enable an internal knowledge share and further strengthen functional expertise and facilitate best practices.
2017 will be an important year for Alpina Frederique Constant USA; with this integration into the Citizen Watch America organization, the Frederique Constant and Alpina Watches brands will greatly benefit from the sales distribution, marketing power and operational capabilities of the Citizen Group.
That is all a nice way of saying that the new owners are not going to wait any longer for the sales team at FC/Alpina North America to get it together. As Frederique Constant had deployed a few loyalists to sunny Florida over the past years it's reasonable to assume that they will be heading back, or looking for alternative employer/visa sponsors. Let's just hope that if anyone bought a house they will be able to sell it quickly.
This was going to happen, no two ways about it. No doubt some hoped it would be later, but when a brand is acquired by another, it is generally a matter of time before people either made redundant or flat-out replaced. Five years is a long time, and I personally had my doubts if in five months we'd be seeing the same org chart, let alone five years. So God's speed and let's see what BaselWorld brings.
NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2017
In addition, Fernando Sanchez has been appointed as Managing Director of Alpina Frederique Constant USA Inc.
Citizen Watch America and Alpina Frederique Constant USA will continue to be operated as separate companies. Jeffrey Cohen's new role will leverage his expertise with 35 years of industry-leading experience across the brands; with each brand continuing to build on their powerful individual DNA and identities. Cohen's leadership will enable an internal knowledge share and further strengthen functional expertise and facilitate best practices.
2017 will be an important year for Alpina Frederique Constant USA; with this integration into the Citizen Watch America organization, the Frederique Constant and Alpina Watches brands will greatly benefit from the sales distribution, marketing power and operational capabilities of the Citizen Group.
That is all a nice way of saying that the new owners are not going to wait any longer for the sales team at FC/Alpina North America to get it together. As Frederique Constant had deployed a few loyalists to sunny Florida over the past years it's reasonable to assume that they will be heading back, or looking for alternative employer/visa sponsors. Let's just hope that if anyone bought a house they will be able to sell it quickly.
This was going to happen, no two ways about it. No doubt some hoped it would be later, but when a brand is acquired by another, it is generally a matter of time before people either made redundant or flat-out replaced. Five years is a long time, and I personally had my doubts if in five months we'd be seeing the same org chart, let alone five years. So God's speed and let's see what BaselWorld brings.
This totally saddens me! I know those great people over there. We worked together to build the brand.
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