In last December's issue of L'Orologio, joking about the rumours that the acquisition of Patek Philippe by Rolex was imminent, we hypothesised that the crowned house was also about to acquire the L'Oréal factory that stood 'physically' between the two watchmaking industries. It is of these days the surprising news that reality, as often happens, has caught up with and surpassed fiction. In fact, L'Oréal has indeed decided to close its Geneva distribution centre, the very one we mentioned. However, it will not be bought by Rolex, but by Patek Philippe, which will thus be able to add 33,000 square metres of land to its production plant. At what cost? Twelve million Swiss francs for the premises and the hiring of all forty-six employees who previously worked for the famous cosmetics company.
