The Swatch Group has announced it intends to create between 500 and 700 new positions at its watchmaking factories in the Jura region.

Switzerland’s largest watch company smashed all its records last year, turning a profit of more than a billion francs.

That was a jump of over 40 percent on 2009 results.

Facing what it calls “extraordinary demand,” the Swatch Group announced last November that it was building a new production plant near the French-Swiss border in the canton of Jura.

Hiring should begin by the end of 2012, Swatch says.