Luxury Brands That Are Breaching Out To Sell Watches

The watch industry is currently experiencing unprecedented growth. Brought on by increased global wealth, watchmakers have been struggling to keep up with a sharp uptick in demand, which has led to an incredibly lucrative luxury watch market.

Whether they’re analog or digital, new or pre-owned, function-filled men’s watches, or elegant timepieces for women, the rise in demand for the classic wristwatch has caused several luxury brands to attempt to perfect the art of horology.

Although there are plenty of established luxury watch brands available today, their limited production runs have created a significant gap in the watch market, evidenced by the astronomical growth of pre-owned watch sales over the last few years.

Buying, selling, and refurbishing watches is now a multi-billion dollar industry, with pre-owned sales alone hitting a high of much as $18 billion by 2020. Noticing the imbalance between supply and demand, luxury brands have taken the opportunity to introduce high-end watches to their product line-ups.

Fashion companies, in particular, have had more success than most other big brands, raking in sizable profits from their timepiece experiments. Below you will find some brief insight into these global brands, including their first forays into watchmaking, the fruits of that labor, and the latest watches to hit the luxury market.

Chanel

In terms of clockwork origins, Chanel is one of the first fashion houses to have expanded into watchmaking. Aptly named the Premiere, Chanel’s first collection was released in 1987, well before the majority of comparable luxury brands.

Throughout the 90s and early 2000s, Chanel released a variety of watches, all of which were launched to both critical and commercial success. This success was mainly due to Chanel’s groundbreaking use of ceramic materials, which give its watches less ambient heat buildup.

The French company’s latest watch, the J12 Caliber, is the first automatic watch of its size. A self-winding mechanism allows the watch to operate in perpetuity, provided that the wearer produces enough kinetic energy for the watch to function. 

Photo by Amin Hasani on Unsplash 

Dior

Dior, like Chanel, is one of the first fashion brands to have forayed into the world of watchmaking. Starting in 1968, Dior launched a series of women’s watches that would eventually lead to Dior becoming a premium watchmaking brand.

Dior’s journey to success was met with multiple challenges, one of the most significant being the bankruptcy of its parent company, the Wilmot Group, in 1981. The bankruptcy allowed current chairman, Bernard Arnault, to secure the company for an astonishingly low price, said to be the symbolic equivalent of one franc.

Nowadays, Dior’s wealth of experience has allowed it to create some truly unique watch designs. The company’s latest design, known as the Gem Dior collection, is a mesmerizing combination of precious metals; marketed as the ideal gift for a romantic partner.

Gucci

From handbags to home decoration, Gucci’s high-end fashion can be found all over the world. With almost 500 official stores, it is one of Italy’s largest fashion houses, represented in dozens of countries worldwide.

In order to achieve its goal of becoming a reputable watchmaker, Gucci began its research on a viable design for a product well before the turn of the century. By 1997, Gucci released the G watch – a gold and diamond collection of iconic products.

A mere four years after its first watch hit the market, Gucci released its first mechanical watch in 2001, marking the first time that the company became known as a skilled Swiss watchmaker. Gucci watches are now considered collector’s items, investments that have proven their weight in gold over time.

Photo by Alvin Mahmudov on Unsplash 

Founded back in 1854, Louis Vuitton is well-known for its fragrances and luggage products. Louis Vuitton watches, however, are a relatively recent addition to what has become a somewhat diverse portfolio. 

The luxury goods maker took two years to develop its first-ever timepiece. The watch, named the Tambour, was released in 2002, marking Louis Vuitton as one of the pioneers of high fashion, luxury watchmaking.

Since then, the French fashion brand has gone on to produce an ever-expanding collection of premier watches. Its latest watch, named the Tambour Horizon, was released in January 2022. Innovative yet contemporary, the Horizon has all the functionality of a smartwatch, combined with the classic styling of an analog timepiece.

Prada

While its collection of watches is nowhere near as extensive as other high-end fashion portfolios, Prada has exclusivity on its side. For example, there are no Prada watches for women currently available from the company itself. 

Pre-owned Prada watches are similar to older Gucci watches insofar as both have significant value as collector’s items. Women’s watches are particularly sought-after, as Prada currently only has a flagship men’s watch available; the Submersible Luna Rossa.

The Luna Rossa is an automatic mechanical watch with no digital elements. Along with Panerai’s new limited edition Luminor Chrono, the Luna Rossa is one of only two watches officially sold by Prada today.

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