Swatch: Annual report in Swiss German
The Swatch watch group has broken ranks with the publication of its annual report. This was made available to shareholders today not in German, as is usually the case, but in Swiss German.
In the foreword, Swatch Chairman Nayla Hayek justifies the choice of language with the Group's strong identification with Switzerland and its values. "This is true Swissness, which we use to shake up our compatriots, who are sometimes inclined to a more conventional site, who are primarily concerned about their privacy and who go about their lives carefully and comfortably," Hayek writes.
The annual report, written in Swiss German, is understood as a positive provocation, it continues. They have done something that does not necessarily comply with the regulations, but which says a lot about the company. The altered cantonal emblems on the cover of the annual report are probably meant to be ironic. And the fact that Swatch calls itself the 27th canton of Switzerland is probably not meant to be taken entirely seriously. "Kei Staat, sondern e Geischteshaltig" - "Not a state, but a state of mind" is the slogan that the watchmaking group has placed next to its own cantonal coat of arms. (SDA)
Source: Annual Report Swatch 2012 (PDF)
