Geneva Watch Group, which makes the Freestyle sports watch line, filed for bankruptcy with plans to sell the company.
According to the filing in New York's bankruptcy court, assets total $41 million and liabilities, $98 million.
Founded in 1974, Geneva Watch, also known as Advance Watch Co., also operates Gametime, which provides team sports logo watches for the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and major universities. Much of its business consists of making licensed watches for Kenneth Cole, Sperry Top-Sider, Tommy Bahama, Ted Baker London and Zoo York. It formerly held the watch licenses for Speedo and C9 by Champion.
The company has already lined up a $15 million lead bid for its assets from an affiliate of China's Time Watch Investments Ltd., according to Jeffrey Gregg, Geneva's chief restructuring officer.
In an affidavit, Gregg said the company's sales peaked at $221 million in 2012, but began declining in 2013 due to the loss of licensed agreements with Betsey Johnson and Dolce & Gabbana.
Revenue continued to decline in 2014 and it also began to incur significant operating losses in 2014 and 2015 due to operational challenges, weakness in the domestic watch market, failed new product launches, and the failure to align overhead costs. Challenges transition to a new ERP system, losses stemming from the discovery of financial recordkeeping errors in 2014, also weighed in results.
Most recently, Geneva Watch’s liquidity was impacted by insolvency proceedings entered against Binda Italy, its Italian parent, as well as the initiation of liquidation proceedings by AWC Far East, its Hong Kong-based affiliate, in June 2015.
Gregg did note that he obtainedc commitments from representatives of the major brands that the company licenses as well as many of its significant retailers “to continue stocking company products notwithstanding recent delays in shipping new inventory.”
