Nicolas Hayek, chairman and former chief executive of the giant Swiss watch-manufacturing firm Swatch, has died. He was 82. Swatch Group said Hayek died unexpectedly of heart failure yesterday at his office in Biel, Switzerland.

"Nicolas G Hayek's greatest merit was his enormous contribution to the saving of the Swiss watch industry and the foundation and the commercial development of the Swatch Group," the company said in a statement.