WatchPro has been tracking the growth of TimeVallée’s network of showrooms initially in Mainland China before openings across the rest of Asia, the Middle East and Continental Europe.
This year, the upmarket multibrand concept has its first two flags in the map of North America: one in Montreal, the other in New Jersey, just South of New York City.
Every TimeVallée store offers watches from several Richemont brands — usually Cartier, IWC, Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget, A. Lange & Söhne, Buccellati, Baume & Mercier, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron Constantin — but also rival watch and jewellery makers can also be presented including , Bulgari, Carl. F. Bucherer, Chanel, Chaumet, Chopard, Corum, Franck Muller, Girard Perregaux, Gucci, Hermès, Hublot, Oris, Parmigiani, TAG Heuer, Titoni and Zenith.
Richemont is keen to downplay its ownership of the TimeVallée business; preferring to stress that its stores are operated using a variety of models, but almost always with partners.
“Currently, we have 51 stores in 14 countries and we have 27 different partners and operators,” Emmanuel Perrin, CEO ad interim of TimeVallée, told WatchPro at the opening of its first showroom in the United States, within the American Dream shopping mall in New Jersey.
Strategically, Richemont is looking to improve the way its watches and jewellery are sold in parts of the world that it believes are under-developed or poorly-served.
For any location, there are a number of choices to plug gaps and elevate client experiences.
Richemont’s brands could open their own “internal” boutiques, selling directly to consumers. This is most often the choice for prime locations in global cities like Madison Avenue in New York, Bond Street in London, Rue du Rhone in Geneva or Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles.
Option two is to work with a retail partner on branded stores on a joint venture or franchise basis. Paul Sheeran in Dublin has a number of Richemont brands presented in this way; Ernest Jones has opened IWC and Jaeger-LeCoultre stores in Leeds; Burdeen has branded boutiques in Chicago and LV Luxury has a parade of Richemont watch brand stores in a Las Vegas casino resort hotel.
Multibrand partners including Watches of Switzerland in the UK and USA, Bucherer across Europe and the United States, CD Peacock in Chicago and Zadok Jewelers in Houston, have branded spaces for Richemont watchmakers in many of their stores, but are pressured and nudged towards opening boutiques.
TimeVallée is a fourth option that Richemont first used to cover white spots and take greater control in complex emerging markets like China and is now being rolled out as a way to ensure high end experiences for clients.
Retail partners are persuaded to go the TimeVallée route because, even through they are giving up some sovereignty over their retail presence, they get the benefit of being part of a worldwide chain, the support of Richemont’s marketing machine and a guarantee that the look and feel of each showroom will be world class.
Mr Perrin says there are going to be additional TimeVallée showrooms opening in the United States, although he would not be pinned down on specific locations or timings.
“In the United States, we have three projects in the pipeline. What I can tell you is that they are West of New Jersey, and there’s a higher chance that it’ll be South of New Jersey rather than North,” he teases.