PARIS — Kicking off 2025 for luxury watchmaking, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton landed in New York on Tuesday for the sixth edition of its LVMH Watch Week.
This is the second time the U.S. is hosting the January watch reveal for LVMH-owned brands, with Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co. and clockmaker L’Épée 1839 joining Bulgari, Daniel Roth, Gerald Genta, Hublot, Tag Heuer and Zenith for the occasion.
Brought on by the devastating Los Angeles fires, the twinned choice of New York and Paris for the displaced showcase embodied the “link between two essential regions for our houses and for the group,” said Frédéric Arnault, chief executive officer of LVMH Watches.
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“Organizing the Watch Week in the U.S. for the second year running [is] reminding the major importance of this market that remains at the heart of our strategy and the profound attachment we have to our American clients and partners,” he continued.
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Plus, the now nine-strong roster “demonstrates the importance of an event that has taken a true place in the watchmaking calendar,” according to the branch executive.
There is none for whom the U.S. market is more important than Tiffany & Co., as the American jeweler made its debut in the showcase — and marked a new chapter in its watchmaking — on home soil.
It’s a moment four years in the making, said president and CEO Anthony Ledru. “Patience, coherence and innovation are the driving force behind these new collections that aren’t so new,” he continued. “When you look at them, I think you instantly known where they’re coming from if you know Tiffany & Co.”
Showcased on the 10th floor of The Landmark, the five new timepieces opening the year include a Carat 128 watch with a 34-carat aquamarine as a dial crystal and watches that are part of the Jean Schlumberger-designed Twenty-Four Stone and Bird on the Rock collections.
The “one brand approach” rooted in its expansive jewelry history is about telling a coherent, legible story that runs from the first timepieces in 1837 to today for clients old and new, said Nicolas Beau, vice president of Tiffany & Co. Horlogerie.
While the price point for these new timepieces is 2.5 times higher than its jewelry average — and higher by a similar factor to now-retired previous watch collections — this was driven by the increasing number of gem-set or complicated watches.
“We are elevating the price points but it’s more thinking in terms of designs and offer than just moving for the sake of being at a certain level,” Ledru said.
Prices continue to start around $5,000 for a silver watch from the HardWear line but increasingly reach in the six-figure territory with the introduction of, say, a model featuring a tourbillon complication or the Carat 128 Aquamarine Watch featuring a 34-carat faceted aquamarine as a dial sapphire.
Watchmaking, initially a “very small percentage of the business,” has been growing double-digit since the 2021 acquisition by LVMH, a rate Ledru expects to sustain over the next four to five years.
While cautious, the executive said there was “greater confidence” now that the U.S. election period was over. “We can hope for a better, stronger year in the Americas,” Ledru said. “We are heavily dependent on what’s happening in the U.S. historically – despite growing fast internationally — and it’s still and will remain a sizable piece of our business.”
Key to an acceleration of the business globally will be the roll out of the Tiffany & Co. watch studio in a selection of flagships slated for renovation in the next five years. Among them will be the ones in South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif., Sanlitun in Beijing, Milan’s Via Montenapoleone and Ginza, Tokyo.
Meanwhile, Louis Vuitton’s first participation in LVMH Watch Week is about showing its high watchmaking chops to one of its biggest collector bases. After wiping the slate clean in 2023 and the 2024 relaunch of the Escale model, the year is shaping up to be “the biggest [one] in terms of repositioning,” said director of watches Jean Arnault.
Taking pride of place in the 10-strong lineup is the Tambour Taiko Spin Time, which revisits the Tambour family with a thinner case, reworked lugs and a new in-house self-winding mechanical movement. Among the standouts is the Antipodes variation, giving the time in two timezones, one in each hemisphere.
But don’t expect to hear about a bigger number of watches, as “Vuitton is not a brand that needs to have a watchmaking offer that expands exponentially,” said Arnault, who intends for the brand to keep to its current levels, favoring new releases by decreasing production on previous models.
“For me, the main message that I would like people to remember [is that] a Vuitton watch is not a product under license, it’s really an artisanal piece through-and-through,” he added.
Meanwhile, for the independent watchmakers incubated by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the novelties imagined by master watchmakers Enrico Barbasini and Michel Navas highlighted each brand’s forte.
The two-hand Daniel Roth Extra Plat Souscription is about “absolute classicism and continuing all details of the watch without being ostentatious.” Conversely, the Gentissima Oursin Fire Opal nods to design pushed to its most exuberant, tapping into a 4,000-strong font of sketches left behind by the late Gérald Genta.
Doubling down on house icons is also the driving idea at Bulgari. With the lunar Year of the Snake days away, highlighting the Serpenti line feels timely but “the snake is not tactical, it’s the core of the brand,” said CEO Jean-Christophe Babin.
But the important part of the Serpenti Seduttori collection is less its design than the new in-house Lady Solotempo BVS100 Automatic movement it launches.
It is a reaffirmation that Bulgari is “not only a jeweler but a true, serious, ambitious watchmaker,” said the CEO, as evidenced by a series of records achieved with the Octo line and a regular production of chiming watches, a highly challenging complication.
All of these have contributed to momentum for Bulgari’s watchmaking that it is keen to capitalize on, also leveraging being “a truly feminine brand in a market where the feminine segment has been somehow neglected by the main pure players,” for Babin.
In the U.S., the Roman house “really has a card to play to become a very strong outsider,” while its sales in China may benefit from government stimuli — “if we are desirable and creative enough to capture part of this extra spending made locally,” he cautioned.
With anniversaries and new partnerships aplenty, other LVMH watchmakers were likewise keen to highlight key design families.
The first participation of L’Épée 1839 was less about novelty than about reinforcing the brand’s presence with its American clientele, as the U.S. has long been a strong market for the brand, said CEO Arnaud Nicolas.
That said, it is sure to garner plenty of attention with the “Watch Box,” a storing and displaying case that turns the watch it contains into a part of this kinetic art piece.
With the U.S. still “an extremely dynamic market for Zenith, even in these contrasted times,” CEO Benoît de Clerck remained confident both in the territory and for the year ahead as the brand enters its 160th year.
“Since 2022, we have entered a stronger position with solid growth that leveled off in 2024,” he said. It will allow the brand to consolidate further and “grow responsibly” this year — and the next 160.
Zenith premiered the Defy Skyline Chronograph Skeleton, featuring an El Primero 3600 movement in a bold skeletonized design, and the gem-set Chronomaster Sport Rainbow chronograph.
Throughout this anniversary year, it plans to strengthen its U.S. distribution network, with plans geared toward “fostering a deeper relationship with American watch enthusiasts and providing them with an immersive experience” in Zenith.
Putting pedal to the metal is Tag Heuer, who returned as official timekeeper for Formula 1 on Jan. 1 as part of LVMH’s 10-year global partnership deal inked in October.
“This reconnection with this iconic partnership offers an exceptional platform to showcase our expertise in precision timing while embracing the spirit of performance and innovation,” said CEO Antoine Pin.
In pole position is the Tag Heuer Formula 1 Chronograph collection, which spans four pieces with a new case design and details reflecting the aerodynamic lines of the cars, including an Oracle Red Bull Racing special edition.
The ongoing partnership with the F1 racing team — and launches such as last year’s collaboration with Kith introduced during the Miami Grand Prix weekend — “underscore our commitment to strengthening our presence in the U.S.,” one of the brand’s most dynamic markets, Pin said.
For Hublot, the star of the week is sure to be the Big Bang MECA-10.
As the Big Bang collection turns 20 this year, the watchmaker “wants to deliver the message that we are committed to pushing the boundaries of watchmaking through our unique approach of combining traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology and innovation,” said Hublot CEO Julien Tornare.
Describing the U.S. market as “extremely important” and the Americas overall as key to the brand, he found “the enthusiasm and appreciation [for the brand] in this region is very encouraging.” A slew of region-exclusive pieces and the reopening of its boutique on Fifth Avenue in New York are slated for later in the year.
Despite the “varied performances in the global watchmaking industry,” Tornare remained optimistic. “The recent Swiss watch export figures indicate a dynamic market, and we are prepared to navigate these challenging times with resilience,” he said.