With over 30 years of history Festina Group is consolidated internationally as a prestigious watch-making corporation. The group’s central head office is in Barcelona. The group includes the following brands: Festina, Lotus, Lotus Style, Jaguar, Candino and Calypso brands.

Festina Group owns a high specification production settled in Herbetswil (Switzerland) and another one specialised in gold watches located in Cordoba (Spain). As a result the Group is involved in every part of the production process: design, manufacturing, assembly, selling and after sales service. Today, the Group has seven subsidiaries (France, Germany, Italy, Benelux, Switzerland, Czech Republic – Poland and Chile), is present in over 90 countries on the five continents and sells 5 million watches a year.

The Festina Group has been built on two main pillars which have consolidated the business Know-how and international recognition: innovation and quality.

Festina Group has always been seeker at the forefront in technology and design and has offered unique and exclusive high quality timepieces, such as the moon phase watch and titanium watches.

During its evolution, Festina Group has been always concentrated in the research of latest technologies and designs. On this way, Festina Group has achieved objectives as popularize the chronograph in Europe with affordable prices and at the same time has offered unique and exclusive high quality timepieces, such as the moon phase watch and titanium watches. The keys to success for the ‘Festina Group’ are the experience gained and the knowledge provided by the different brands. The brand stands for technological innovation, excellent value for money and special attention to the after-sales service, element of vital importance in the watch-making. Furthermore an extraordinary world-wide distribution system, guarantees the growth of the Group in the future.

All of this added to quality control, innovation, professionalism and customized care have turned into the corporate assets that the present policy allows to face new challenges. With a successful achieving over experience these last eight years the Festina Group has become the leader in its sector in key markets such as Spain and France.

Festina Group has demonstrated during a lot of years its interest on the sport’s world, by sponsoring international competitions and first line professional athletes. In a few years, the results obtained have been exceptional. The essence of each brand is shown through all the professional athletes sponsored by the brands of the group. FESTINA has achieved its first sportive success thanks to the professional cycling, where Festina has won a lot of international competitions with its homonym team, nowadays, it continues with an institutional presence on this sport as the Official Timekeeper of the Tour de France, the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de Romandie. It is also official timekeeper for FC Zurich team and for ice-hockey SCB team. It also sponsors the Marathon of Hamburg, the Marathon of Berlin, cycling race of Vattenfall and the 24 hours of Munich. CANDINO  has  been  official  timekeeper  of  various  European  and  world sport  events  such  as  Nordic  Ski  World Championship in Obertsdorf, Davidof f Swiss Indoors in Basel, the BNP Paribas Masters of Paris Bercy and the Swiss Tennis.

Timeline

• 1980: The group starts operating in Spain with the Lotus Brand.
• 1984: The Festina watch Brand – founded in Switzerland in 1902 – is acquired.
• 1985: Lotus launches its first lunar phase watch, affordable for every pocket and becoming a huge success in terms of sales.
• 1989: Jaguar Brand is acquired.
• 1993: Expansion of the group with the opening of a subsidiary in France.
• 1994: Opening of a subsidiary in Italy. Festina becomes the Official Timer of the Tour de France.
• 1995: Festina successfully launches a watch made from titanium, a new non allergic material, light and resistant.
• 1996: The brand starts to sell in the United States and the Switzerland subsidiary is opened. Launch of the Mecaquartz with automatic movement in combination with quartz. Creation of Calypso-Young Watch – a young, carefree range at an affordable price.
• 1998: Festina becomes official timekeeper for different international cycling events.
• 1999: Festina launches its own gold collection under the name “Festina Oro”.
• 2000: Creation of a production unit in Cordoba for the manufacture of cases and bracelets for gold watches.
• 2002: FESTINA 100 YEARS. Presentation of the “Century Edition”: To mark the celebration of Festina’s 100th anniversary the brand launches a special collection that combines the traditional watch making with complications (automatics with power reserve) and the actual quartz technology. Festina continues believing in the combination of tradition and modernity. Purchase of Holding Candino, a Swiss watch-making company.
• 2003: Launch of Lotus 2gether in Spain. It is an exceptional collection that combines a woman’s watch and a jewel; this was the previous step before launching the new brand called Lotus Style. Candino becomes the official partner of the Trimaran Banque Covefi (Stève Ravussin) and official timekeeper of some outstanding European Tennis Tournaments. Sponsor of Formula GT-FIA: “Force One Festina”.
• 2004: Lotus starts as official co-sponsor of the Fortuna Honda 250cc motorcycling team. Launch of Lotus in France, Germany and Czech Republic. Launch of Lotus Style in Spain, steel jewels brand.
• 2005: Launch of Lotus in Italy, and Lotus Style in France, Italy and Germany. Candino becomes the official chronograph of World Nordic Skiing Championship in Oberstdorf.
• 2006: Opening of a subsidiary in Belgium. Lotus co-sponsor of the Fortuna Aprilia team, world 250cc motorcycling champion with pilot Jorge Lorenzo.
• 2007: Lotus as official co-sponsor of the Fortuna-Aprilia, is world 250cc motorcycling bi-champion with pilot Jorge Lorenzo for the second time. Launch of the Lotus Code collection.
• 2008: 70th anniversary of Jaguar brand, founded by Swiss entrepreneur Peter Haas. Consolidation of the Group in Latin America with the opening of a subsidiary in Mexico. Launch of the collections for women Festina Milano and Lotus Lady Cool. International launch of the Lotus Code collection that favours the brand positioning on this field. Lotus is present, for the first time, on the 3 categories of the MotoGP Championship.
• 2014: The brand celebrates its twenty-first anniversary as the Official Timekeeper of the Tour de France. Further, the brand appoints veteran cycling champion Richard Virenque as Festina Brand Ambassador. He will latest campaign for a collection of Festina chronographs dedicated to cycling
• 2016: The Festina Group introduces the actor Gerard Butler as the new brand ambassador for the famous Festina watch brand.

Official Website: http://www.festinagroup.com/