Acquisition of the Swiss luxury watch brand Milus by Chow Tai Fook, the giant Hong Kong retail jewelry group, has been confirmed in a joint-statement by the companies.

The announcement came Thursday, as Milus informed its subsidiaries worldwide.

For the Chow Tai Fook Group, acquisition of Milus is “a great opportunity to compliment their portfolio of luxury products with the high-end pure Swiss watch brand,” said the joint-statement.

Milus said that “backed by its new investor,” it can “strengthen its brand positioning and its retail presence in core markets.” Its statement said the company is “honored to become a member of this remarkable group [and] will put all its efforts toward strong and successful growth.”

Milus had been owned since 2002 by Peace Mark, the international Hong Kong watchmaker and retailer, which went into provisional liquidation in September.

On Oct. 9, CTF announced it was buying many of Peace Mark assets, including hundreds of stores and two watch manufacturing facilities in China. Peace Mark two weeks earlier sold its Swiss watchmaking facilities to the Festina Group, the Spanish watchmaker. Tourneau, America’s biggest watch retailer hasn’t yet said how the Peace Mark situation might affect their 2006 joint-agreement to build dozens of Tourneau watch stores in China.

Milus was founded in 1919 in Switzerland, and entered the U.S. market in 2006. Its Swiss-made watches retail for $7,500 to $20,000.

The CTF Group is a private enterprise owned by Hong Kong billionaire tycoon Cheng Yu Tung and his family. Its annual total sales exceed US$1 billion; total assets top US$5 billion. The 80-year-old company has some 80,000 employees in its worldwide businesses.

Caption: The Milus automatic Triretrograde Seconds Skeleton Joaillerie watch.

JCK