By Lauren Ohnesorge – Senior Staff Writer, Triangle Business Journal

A company that makes luxury watches with prices that soar above $100,000 is planning to bring more than 100 jobs to Raleigh.

Swiss brand Audemars Piguet on Tuesday announced plans to invest $22 million and create 105 jobs at a new service center at Raleigh Iron Works, the new Grubb Ventures and Jamestown development along Atlantic Avenue. The plan is to put the company’s North American Service Center in more than 60,000 square feet of office space.

The company, based in Le Brassus, Switzerland, manufactures watches and clocks. It rivals Rolex but focuses on innovation and exclusivity – it produces far fewer watches than Rolex each year.

Audemars Piguet employs almost 3,000 people across the globe. In a statement, CEO Francois-Henry Bennahmias said that “quality of life, schools, health care, culture and safe communities were the major considerations for our teams” when choosing Raleigh.

According to the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, it’s the largest new-to-market office lease of the year in the city.

Kyle Touchstone, director of Raleigh Economic Development, said it’s a big win – and a competitive one, as the company looked at multiple locations on the East Coast.

His team started working with the company, known as AP, in May.

“When you’re competing for a global luxury brand, of course there’s pressure,” he said. “We don’t ever take a project for granted, but we were able to host the company several times in the Raleigh market, and every time we had the company in we were showcasing not only real estate but also the talent and the expertise that lives here.”

Officials from Audemars Piguet toured several sites in the region, including offices in Cary and Holly Springs. But Touchstone said Iron Works had the company excited instantly.

Touchstone said Audemars Piguet also put a premium on quality of life – which meant the nearby amenities were critical in securing the project. Raleigh Iron Works includes several retail amenities plus a pipeline of restaurants and breweries planned for the area, which is across from Dock 1053.

“There will be some individuals relocating with the company for this operation … so that’s always an added layer, when someone has to pick up their family to move,” Touchstone said.

A big sweetener for the firm was also Raleigh-Durham International Airport and its growing slate of international flights – particularly the nonstop to Frankfurt planned to begin next summer, Touchstone said.

Touchstone said the fact that it’s an office win is big as the real estate market as struggled all year. “In a time where there’s such uncertainty in the office market, when a user is going to take 60,000 square feet of office space, that’s a significant win,” he said.

Michael Haley, executive director of Wake County Economic Development, said AP executives and consulting staff visited the region several times to get a “sense and a feel to the community.”

“In talking with the company over the last several months, to me I think it’s a couple of things. I think obviously talent is going to be the top item for companies as they’re considering an area … but I also think there is a quality of place and a quality of life that we enjoy here in Wake County and the region that was important to them,” Haley said.

The firm is getting training incentives from the state. Local incentives could come in 2024, according to Haley.

The preceding article originally appeared on December 19, 2023 at the Triangle Business Journal’s website and is made available here for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the U.S. Copyright Law.