Few new Swiss brands have reached significant global scale

Only one of Switzerland's 100 leading global brands was founded in the last twenty years

1

brand in the 100 founded in the last twenty years, and none in the last ten

45

brands were founded before 1900, and they earn 53% of combined revenue

-0.06

correlation between founding year and visibility score, close to none

Switzerland's leading global brands are old. Of the 100 in the 2026 edition, 45 were founded before 1900, 12 of them before 1850. The oldest are Blancpain (1735), Vacheron Constantin (1755) and Lombard Odier (1796). Excluding the 11 brands created by a merger or spin-off, the median founding year is 1897.

Show the data

Share of brands and share of revenue, by founding period. Red: share of the brands in the Swiss Lions 100. Circle: share of their combined revenue. Source: Swiss Lions 100, 2026 edition.

Founding period	Brands	Combined revenue (CHF m)	Share of revenue (%)	Brands in period
Before 1850	12	25,629	3.1	Lindt & Sprüngli; Omega; Patek Philippe; Vacheron Constantin; Jaeger-LeCoultre; Pictet; Longines; Georg Fischer; Blancpain; J. Safra Sarasin; Lombard Odier; Bucher Industries
1850 to 1899	33	417,599	50.2	Roche; Nestlé; Zurich Insurance; UBS; Audemars Piguet; Schindler; Swiss Re; Givaudan; Breitling; DKSH; Avolta; Helvetia Baloise; Swiss Life; Kuehne+Nagel; TAG Heuer; Lonza; IWC Schaffhausen; Julius Baer; Victorinox; Tissot; Bell Food Group; Sandoz; Chopard; SGS; Geberit; SIG Group; Trisa; Piaget; Bobst; Siegfried; Bühler; Dormakaba; Huber+Suhner
1900 to 1949	20	105,369	12.7	Rolex; Holcim; Tudor; Sika; Ricola; Emil Frey; Stadler; Pilatus Aircraft; Sonova; Emmi; Liebherr; Mettler-Toledo; Franke; Metrohm; Dottikon ES; Alcon; Gategroup; Kambly; Vontobel; Mikron
1950 to 1999	21	135,568	16.3	Nespresso; MSC; Endress+Hauser; Tetra Pak; Straumann; Swatch; Hublot; Glencore; Ferring; Belimo; Logitech; Läderach; Ypsomed; Partners Group; VAT Group; Tecan; Franck Muller; EFG International; Medartis; Galderma; Temenos
2000 onwards	3	6,007	0.7	Richard Mille; On; SoftwareOne
Formed by merger or spin-off	11	141,737	17.0	Novartis; ABB; Adecco; Transgourmet; Barry Callebaut; SWISS; DSM-Firmenich; Swissport; SIX Group; Clariant; Swiss Steel Group

Brands founded since 1975 earn a small share of revenue

On, founded in 2010, is the only brand in the 100 started in the last twenty years, and none was started in the last ten. The three founded since 2000, On (2010), Richard Mille (2001) and SoftwareOne (2000), together earn 0.7% of the combined revenue of the 100.

Going further back changes little. The 16 brands founded since 1975 earn 3.6% of revenue, and the largest of them, Nespresso, is part of Nestlé. Among the 20 highest-ranked brands, only Nespresso (1986) and MSC (1970) were founded after 1950. The others date from the nineteenth or early twentieth century, or were formed by mergers of older companies, as with Novartis, ABB and Adecco.

Age does not explain visibility

The visibility score measures worldwide attention from July 2025 to June 2026, through search interest and brand demand signals. Across the brands in the 100, the correlation between founding year and visibility is -0.06, which means there is almost no relationship. Three of the ten most visible brands were founded before 1900, while Logitech, Nespresso, On and Swatch were founded after 1975.

Scale matters more. The correlation between visibility and revenue (on a logarithmic scale) is 0.38. The most visible brands tend to be large, sell to consumers, or both.

Heritage is a strong part of how Swiss brands present themselves, and many of the oldest are among the most valuable. On this evidence, though, age alone does not make a brand better known around the world. Few Swiss companies founded in the last fifty years have reached global scale.