The luxury watch market - France

Luxury watchmaking is a category that groups together watches from top-quality manufactures, whose manufacture has required precise watchmaking work not only on mechanical movements, but also on the elaboration and finishing of watch cases, as well as on elements such as dials and hands. The high-end watchmaking segment exploded in France with the rise of luxury brands in the 1990s, driven in particular by the development of mass tourism in Asia since the 2000s. The 2008 crisis put an end to this boom, but the industry has been recovering since 2010. The French luxury watch market will be worth nearly 1.8 billion euros by 2022. Traditionally dominated by large historical companies, the market has seen the arrival of new competitors, first in the 1990s, then more recently . Initially, the big fashion brands, but also small artisanal players, are making their mark on this market. Secondly, the development of connected watches has altered the balance in the luxury watch market: Apple, for example, has managed to sell more Apple Watches than all Swiss watch brands combined since 2019! E-commerce and the trend towards second-hand watches are key elements in understanding the luxury watch market. However, even though there are many brands in the luxury watch segment in France, four major groups compete in this market. Among these players, the convergence between luxury and watchmaking is undeniable:

Swatch Group: brands Breguet, Omega, Blancpain, Longines, Tissot, Tiffany & co, Balmain, Calvin Klein LVMH Group: TAG Heuer, Christian Dior, Zenith, de Beers, Hublot, Fred brands Richemont Group: MontBlanc, CBI, Vacheron Constantin, Piaget, Panerai, Van Cleef & Arpels brands Rolex: Rolex and Tudor brands