International fashion brand Chanel has acquired a 20 per cent stake in the parent company of luxury Swiss watch brand F P Journe.

The investment, the value of which has not been disclosed, follows the purchase of holdings in Romain Gauthier several years ago and Bell & Ross back in 1998.

A statement by Chanel read that the purchase “is part of the desire to preserve and develop expertise and to support independent watchmakers who share the same values of creation and excellence as Chanel”.

The sale, according to parent, watchmaker Francois-Paul Journe, was made to preserve the brand given that the watch manufacturing business would not be continued by his descendants.