UPDATE: EU Opens Antitrust Probe Into Luxury Watch Makers

The European Commission is opening an antitrust investigation into luxury watch manufacturers for allegedly refusing to supply spare parts to independent repairers, breaching European Union competition rules, it said in a statement Friday.

In 2004, the European Confederation of Watch and Clock Repairers' Associations, or CEAHR, complained to the commission, which has antitrust powers in the EU, saying that watch manufacturers were refusing to supply spare parts, but the commission decided to reject the complaint.

However, it is now opening a probe because a European Court has annulled that decision.

"An initiation of proceedings does not imply that the Commission has conclusive proof of an infringement. It only means that the Commission will investigate the case as a matter of priority," it said in its statement.

Switzerland's Swatch Group AG (UHR.VX), the watchmaker, whose brands range from the luxury Breguet to the eponymous plastic Swatches, said it is "confident" regarding the investigation's outcome, without elaborating. A spokesman for luxury watch and jewelry maker Compagnie Financiere Richemont (CFR.VX) declined comment. France's LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (MC.FR), the world's biggest luxury retailer by revenue, wasn't immediately available for comment.

-By Alessandro Torello, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]