Swatch Group is to buy Harry Winston Diamond Corporation’s jewellery and watch division for about $1 billion, in a move that will help realise the Swiss watchmaker’s long-held aim of increasing its presence in the jewellery market.

Switzerland’s largest watchmaker by sales will pay $750 million for the Toronto-listed brand, as well as assuming up to $250 million in debt, making the deal Swatch’s biggest since its creation in the 1980s.

Analysts said the deal, under which the two companies will also explore the possibility of setting up a joint diamond-polishing venture, made strategic sense for Swatch, but was expensive.For Harry Winston the deal represents a strategic shift, uncoupling the group’s luxury retail operations from its upstream, mining assets. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013)