Maufacturers manfacturer-An Italian fashion tradition

Implications: Italian fashion houses association with Timex is a win-win for customers.  Here's why.

Analysis: I may be missing the point of the article entirely, but I believe Timex's plan is to use movements manufactured in its subsidiary company's for the watches for branded, high end fashion, watches.

Anyone familiar with traditional Timex watch technology knows that their mass merchandised movements can't be serviced.  With the exception of the replacement of batteries, broken Timex watches can't be adjusted or repaired.  Worn out movements aren't fixed, but simply replaced at 3rd party service centers.  Something that fashion houses and their customers would find unacceptable.

In contrast, Timex now operates factories that produce higher quality quartz movements typical of those sold in better Swiss and Japanese time pieces.  These movements can be manufactured under license for any of the fashion brands without reference to the group ownership.
This is entirely consistent with Italian fashion manufacturing tradition which has frequently relied on the 'manufacturer's manufacturer to fabricate components and assemble material for their branded fashion products.

Timex Group brings a high degree of management skill to the process; having developed systems to control the manufacturer of millions of watch units a year.  Fashion houses get a reliable partner to supply components and assemble watches that are perceived more as jewelry in nature than high quality time pieces such as Rolex, IWC, or Breguette. A win-win for Timex, fashion brands and customers alike.