Italy’s antitrust regulator has launched two separate investigations into Swiss-based watchmaker The Swatch Group and Japan’s Citizen Watch.
The inquiries will examine whether the companies restricted competition on retail prices for watches sold in the country.
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The Italian Competition Authority has opened proceedings against Citizen Watch Italy and its parent company, Citizen Watch, as well as The Swatch Group (Italia) and its parent, The Swatch Group.
The cases concern suspected breaches of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which prohibits anti-competitive agreements.
The investigations focus on the alleged coordination of retail prices published online by authorised dealers, including jewellers and specialist watch retailers.
According to the authority, Citizen, which distributes brands such as Citizen, Bulova, Vagary, Frédérique Constant and Alpina, is suspected of directing members of its selective distribution network to adhere to specified retail prices.
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By GlobalDataThe company is also alleged to have tracked the pricing behaviour of its distributors and to have adopted “retaliatory commercial measures” against those who applied discounts or diverged from the indicated prices.
Similar concerns have been raised regarding Swatch, which sells brands including Swatch, Tissot, Mido and Hamilton.
The regulator alleges that Swatch may be imposing fixed retail prices for its selective distribution network and monitoring whether retailers follow those prices.
It also claims Swatch may retaliate against distributors that fail to comply with these pricing requirements.
The authority stated that the pricing practices of both groups might constitute resale price maintenance, which is considered a hardcore restriction under Article 4(a) of Commission Regulation.
As a result, these practices could potentially infringe Article 101 of the TFEU.
In early December 2025, officials from the Italian Competition Authority, supported by the Special Antitrust Unit of the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza), carried out inspections at the offices of Citizen Watch Italy and The Swatch Group (Italia) as part of the ongoing probes.
