[A Brief History of Luxury] Valmont, the time magician in the service of beauty

Specializing in anti-aging and luxury treatments as well as beauty rituals, the Valmont group is celebrating 40 years of innovation this year. A trusted partner of medical aesthetics establishments around the world, the company combines the exceptional purity of glacier water with the unique expertise of Swiss cellular cosmetics.

From a Swiss clinic to spas and luxury hotels

The name Valmont comes from the combination of the words valley and mountain. Nothing could be more normal for a group that originated in Switzerland. Located ten minutes by car from Montreux, the town of Valmont is home to a clinic offering a breathtaking view of Lake Geneva.

Before becoming a leading establishment in neurological and orthopaedic rehabilitation, this private clinic founded in 1905 by Doctor Henri Auguste Widmer, a doctor open to the most innovative practices and a great art lover, was in the 1980s the first Swiss clinic for cosmetic surgery, recognized for its expertise in genetic and cellular cosmetics.

It was here that, in 1985, during a game of bridge, the director of the Valmont clinic met Nadja Avalle, a renowned chemist. Co-founder, in 1952, of Laboratoires Biologiques Arval, which specialized in the research and development of luxury cosmetics, she was behind the formulations for La Prairie. The head of the clinic and Nadja had the idea of developing a range of treatments together.

In the late 1980s, Didier Guillon, son of the creator of Mustela baby milk, was working for the holding company of the family business, the Expanscience group. The conglomerate wanted to diversify and was looking for potential cosmetic brands to buy. Valmont was identified and Didier Guillon was tasked with assessing its potential on site. As he explained in an interview with the newspaper Le Temps, “So I was sent to Switzerland. I had never been there before. It was a beautiful day, I arrived on the shores of Lake Geneva, and I fell in love with the region! So I advised the group to buy the brand and to entrust me with its management. They said ‘bank on it’.”

In 1991, the Valmont brand was bought by the Expanscience group and its management entrusted to Didier Guillon, who aimed to create cosmetics capable of optimizing the benefits of the treatments provided.

The beginnings were lonely, with the managing director himself handling the packages for delivery. While the quality of his products was beginning to win over more and more people, it was his idea of focusing on ultra-selective distribution, in the manner of the watchmaker Patek Philippe, that would make the difference. By initially focusing on luxury department stores such as Le Bon Marché in Paris, the brand laid the foundations for its distribution, before opening its own shops.

In 1996, Didier Guillon bought the brand and the formulas but not the production facilities. He preferred to use three Swiss laboratories: Arval, CRB and a company based in German-speaking Switzerland.

In a visionary move, the brand launched its own spas in 2003. Barcelona, Hong Kong and Verbier were the first locations.

Since then, Valmont has become the exclusive partner for treatments at the Meurice hotel, the Airelles in Versailles Grand-Contrôle and the Château de la Messardière in Saint-Tropez.