Dickson Concepts (International), an international Hong Kong retailer and distributor of luxury products, has completed its acquisition of Bertolucci, the Swiss luxury watch brand, says a late January announcement by the watch company. Dickson’s intent to buy Bertolucci was reported by JCK Online in December.

“With the strong financial backing” of its new owner, Bertolucci plans to “develop and introduce distinctive new watch collections based on innovative Italian styling and thereby reestablish Bertolucci as a leasing up-market watch brand,” said the company statement. According to Swiss media reports, Dickson plans to invest 30 million Swiss francs ($24.8 million) in the brand in the two next years to develop it.

Bertolucci will remain headquartered in Marin, Neuchatel, Switzerland, and all product development and manufacturing will continue to be done there.

It is the second time since 2001 that Bertolucci has been bought. The private European investment consortium which bought it then was unable to meet its pledge of expanding Bertolucci’s global presence and doubling its annual production (still 10,000 watches per year), and resold it to Dickson.

The watch brand has been doing about $13 million (15 million Swiss francs) annually.

The United States is one of its biggest markets. Its watches retail for $1,250 to $100,000. Its lines include Vir (flagship collection), Serena (winner of the Public Grand Prix in 1998), and Uomo, a men’s watch.

The history of Bertolucci goes back to 1911 and its predecessor, the Mimo Watch company, bought in 1946 by Marcel Michelotti. His daughter married Remo Bertolucci, Bertolucci collection.

JCK