Draft:Delaneau

Delaneau SA Also spelled DeLaneau (originally Delano) is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer.

History
The company was founded in 1949 in Biel, Switzerland by Rolf Tschudin and Yolanda Tschudin with Albert Kneuss as financial backer. Kneuss sold his part of the business 5 years later. From 1954 Rolf and his heirs from controlled 100% of the business until it was sold to Philippe Thévenaz and Cristina Wendt-Thévenaz in the fall of 1997. In 2004, Delaneau introduced the first tourbillon watch for women, created with the help of Christophe Claret. The company added a "jumping hours" watch to its collection in 2007. Following the 2008 financial crisis, luxury watch sales declined globally and Delaneau announced in November 2011 that David Gouten had been appointed the new CEO to lead the company in a new direction. Gouten had previously worked at Harry Winston, in the role of Vice President of Sales for 10 years.

New leadership
After being given the role of creative director in the spring of 2009, Brigitte Morina took over responsibility for the entire company's watchmaking. Her first initiative was to focus only on unique handmade watches that could only be obtained by special order, as well as a permanent assortment of 50 unique watches per year. The following year Delaneau received an award from the GPHG, Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, an independent award jury in the watch industry. Delaneau won the "Best ladies' Watch" category with the Delaneau Rondo Translucent Champagne model. The following year, Delaneau makes a limited collection in the same style, the collection was called Rondo Translucent and consisted of unique watches, no two watches are exactly the same. The price started at 55,000CHF, which in 2014 corresponded to around 60,000USD.

Store and press coverage
Delaneau opened its flagship store in 2010 located in Geneva, Switzerland. The store closed following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In 2014 Delaneau also had a pop up store at Harrods in London, that presented the visitors with 22 unique handmade watches. Delaneau received most press coverage during the years 2011 to 2016. In 2011, Luxurious magazine wrote an article on the company. The Jewellery Editor website wrote a number of articles about Delaneau and its watch models during these years.

Sale of the company
The company has been dormant since a bankruptcy petition was filed and approved in Switzerland in 2019. The company was later sold to Monaco-based Luna Management.

Delaneau has an official website although it has not been updated since 2019.