TAG Heuer

The price of Swiss watches has continued to rise, leaving watchmakers battling to bolster their value propositions amid a downturn in luxury spending.

Scarcity, innovation and the right investors have allowed Vanguart, Biver and more build top-end watchmaking businesses from scratch.

The LVMH-owned brand plans to spend nearly 20 percent of sales on marketing this year, new CEO Antoine Pin says, doubling down on partnerships in the fast-expanding world of F1 racing in an effort to keep up growth in a sluggish watch market.

The event was the first time the group’s watch brands had come together publicly since LVMH Watches chief executive Frédéric Arnault announced plans to streamline the division’s operations in November last year.

Sponsoring the top-class Formula 1 motor racing competition will help the group’s Louis Vuitton and TAG Heuer brands withstand the luxury downturn, writes Bloomberg’s Andrea Felsted.

Brands including LVMH’s Fred, TAG Heuer and Prada, whose lab-grown diamond supplier Snow speaks for the first time, have all unveiled products with man-made stones as they look to technology for new creative possibilities.

Higher-than-expected export figures fuelled hopes that the industry can avoid a downturn. At LVMH’s Watch Week gathering Miami, the chief executives of Bulgari, TAG Heuer, and Hublot and Zenith spoke to The Business of Fashion about adapting their strategies for an uncertain market.

Capitalising on sport’s soaring commercial and cultural relevance is becoming a primary focus for fashion brands. Winning sports-marketing strategies today hinge on building long-term, collaborative partnerships with athletes and organisations that resonate with a brand’s target consumers, as experts in BoF’s latest case study explain.

The LVMH watchmaker has ‘reached milestones in brand transformation,’ said chief executive Frédéric Arnault in an exclusive interview with BoF.

Synthetic stones now make up 10 percent of the diamond market, highlighting the ways in which new materials are rewriting the rules of what is considered luxury.