Opens in new windowIn 2024, the value of Swiss watch exports slipped after two years of record sales in 2022 and 2023. Brands battled the lingering effects of inflation across key markets, a sustained deterioration in Chinese demand and a challenging geopolitical climate amid conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Volumes also continued to slide: Despite a bump from Swatch and Omega’s MoonSwatch (estimated to shift around 1.5 million units a year), the number of Swiss watches exported each year has roughly halved since 2015.
There were signs of life, though. The US continued to grow and consolidate its position as the industry’s engine room, as did Japan, Korea and India.
For luxury watchmakers, the challenge is to increase desirability and market share in a shrinking market.
Benjamin Comar was appointed chief executive of Richemont-owned watch and jewellery brand Piaget in 2021 after stints at Cartier, Repossi and Chanel. Comar has positioned the 150-year-old Genevan company around what he calls “extrelegance” — products that marry extravagance and elegance.
In February 2024, Piaget reintroduced one of its most iconic designs, the Polo 79 grooved gold sports watch that crystallised the jet-set glamour associated with the brand in the late 1970s. Under its then-leader Yves Piaget (great-grandson of the company’s founder), the brand fostered a community of illustrious A-listers including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren and Andy Warhol — a “Piaget Society” which Comar hopes to recreate today.
The relaunched Polo 79 won the Iconic Watch Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in November. The same month, the company announced a new collection inspired by another 1970s design: a dress watch with a stepped, TV-shaped case known for its association to Andy Warhol.
Comar outlines his vision for reactivating Piaget’s heritage and evolving its business to power growth in a challenging market.
BoF: Piaget just celebrated its 150th anniversary. How did you activate this milestone and what results did you observe?
Benjamin Comar: It’s been a year of reinstating the brand’s real DNA and codes. This has created momentum and the results have been great.
We’ve staged a touring exhibition of vintage pieces, which showed the continuity of creation at Piaget. We also revisited some of the great watches with the update of the Polo 79, the Andy Warhol collection and Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon.
BoF: In its most recent report, Richemont’s watch division reported sales down 17 percent year on year. What factors are driving this downturn?
BC: In business terms, it’s been a complicated year, especially in China, which is suffering. This is the same for the watch industry in general. But [at Piaget] we’ve compensated for this with [growth in] other markets.
BoF: Do you expect this downturn to continue in 2025?
BC: I’m an optimist. My gut feeling is that it will get better. You have to work to get out of the situation as fast as possible with products that seduce people. We’re in a moment of reconnecting with our true client base, so I have high hopes.
BoF: Can the industry bounce back without China?
BC: Yes, because over-exposure to China is behind us now.
BoF: The story towards the end of 2024 was of brands resorting to furlough schemes and cancelling orders, and retailers selling back inventory to manufacturers. Is that your experience?
BC: We are less exposed to returns because we have much more [direct-to-consumer (DTC)] retail than most watch brands. So we don’t have the same phenomena.
BoF: Where do you see the most potential for the industry to grow?
BC: I’d say Southeast Asia, Korea. The Middle East will continue to do well. And obviously the US, which I think can still grow a lot more. For Europe, let’s stay cautious. We have high hopes in India, which is starting to grow.
BoF: The Swiss franc remains strong. How will this shape the industry in 2025?
BC: From what I read, it’s expected to weaken. But when a product is 100 percent made in Switzerland, and when the percentage of manpower in the value of a watch is high, obviously your costs increase [when the Swiss franc is strong].
BoF: Prices of luxury Swiss watches have soared since the pandemic. It’s been reported that consumers are suffering from pricing fatigue. Have you witnessed this?
BC: The valuation of the Swiss franc has not been easy for everyone [in watchmaking], but even if your costs increase, you have to respect your customers.
BoF: Richemont has invested heavily in retail and DTC distribution in recent years. How successful has this transition been? How will this strategy shape the next five years?
BC: We are majority retail, but I like the balance we have between direct-to-consumer and partnerships with retailers. It helps you take the temperature. In your own retail, you can showcase your world and in our case that we’re a multi-faceted brand with watches, jewellery, high jewellery, and products for men and women. So it’s true that retail is the natural way and you get to know your customers through it. But our partners introduce us to people that we don’t know. We try and work with them to offer the same level of experience for customers so that the difference between the two is getting thinner and thinner.
BoF: Experiences are often labelled as a threat to hard luxury as customers increase spend on travel and leisure. How is Piaget responding to increased demand for experiences?
BC: Experience and personal service are of course part of a luxury purchase. For us, we try and make people understand what the craftsmanship in our work is about. We do a lot of workshops in-store about stone selection, stone-setting, gold and drawing. Sometimes, when you put products in advertising, we can lose the value of what’s behind them. We want to reinstate that. We also do workshop visits and give freedom to our local markets to create experiences that gather people together and create good, honest moments.
BoF: Changes in regulation mean that by the end of the decade, large Swiss companies will be obliged to adhere to the EU’s new sustainability reporting rules. How will this shape your decision-making over the next three to five years, and how are you preparing for this now?
BC: We’re following the sustainability laws and I think it’s very important we have to do that. For us, it’s a [Richemont] group thing and not a brand-by-brand thing and so we work with the group on this. A lot of improvement has been made and there’s more to be done.
BoF: How should the industry adapt to the behaviours and interests of Gen-Z?
BC: I don’t really like this adapt thing. Looking forward and tradition aren’t against each other. I don’t make segmentation about age or regions. Each time I’ve done that over the past 30 years, I’ve been wrong. Younger generations are more educated on luxury and they are more motivated by emotion than older generations were. I believe you simply have to be true to your DNA. Some will like it, some won’t.
BoF: Younger generations are turning to certified pre-owned to find better price-to-value ratios, particularly as secondary market values decline. What plans do you have in this space?
BC: I have no formal plans, but it’s something we’re looking at. We’re certainly very proud of what Piaget did in the past. If we do [resale], we’ll do it the right way. Prices of Piaget watches were lower to start with [than some brands, such as Rolex and Patek Philippe], so we are happy with what’s happening [with Piaget watch prices] on the second-hand market, which is helped by the release of the Polo 79 and the Andy Warhol products. The second-hand of tomorrow will be strong, and prices will go up again.
BoF: In 2024, a large number of new brands entered the market. Do these micro-brands pose a challenge to establishment players?
BC: A market with no newcomers and no innovation is a dying market. So these brands are a sign of a healthy market. And they push the big brands to be creative and not sit back in their armchairs. Globally they give the market visibility, and we’re better when we’re together.
BoF: Cutting through the noise to reach potential customers remains difficult. How vital is it now to work with collaborators, such as the Andy Warhol Foundation in your case, to amplify your position?
BC: I wouldn’t say “vital.” It’s not a full-time strategy. If you do it, it has to be very adapted to your story. For us, the Andy Warhol watch was an officialisation of a name we’ve always known.
BoF: Looking ahead to 2025, what are the industry’s biggest threats and how will it counter them?
BC: The threat is to do short-term things and be too influenced by fashion, and to do too much. For hard luxury, the basics are transmissibility, long-term products, value creation and desire.
BoF: And what would you say is the watch industry’s outlook?
BC: The watch industry has cycles. So I think it will come back. In any case, there’s a dichotomy between East and West and most of [the decline] is in the Chinese market. And we don’t know what’s going to happen there. But already we see that high-ticket items continue to do well in China. It won’t be an endless downtrend.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
This article first appeared in The State of Fashion: Luxury, an in-depth report on the global luxury industry, co-published by BoF and McKinsey & Company.
