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Over the last three years, the British watch retailer Watches of Switzerland has made several acquisitions, from buying five different jewelers in 2021 to paying $130 million this year for the U.S. distribution rights for the watch brand Roberto Coin. That spree was capped off this year by the acquisition of the men’s watch media platform Hodinkee in October.
According to Brian Duffy, CEO of Watches of Switzerland, all of the company’s acquisitions have been part of its ongoing international growth strategy. Hodinkee, for example, helps Watches of Switzerland target the men’s watch obsessives that are common in the American market — Hodinkee’s informative articles about watch models can funnel interested consumers directly to Watches of Switzerland’s online store.
Now, following the Hodinkee deal, Duffy hopes to capitalize on Watches of Switzerland’s additional presence in the U.S. through new stateside store openings. Watches of Switzerland currently has over 200 stores spread across the U.K., the U.S. and Europe.
“We’re expanding by investing in infrastructure,” Duffy said. “We have a new distribution center in Florida, and we’re opening a store in Jacksonville and a big store in Lenox Square [in Atlanta, Georgia]. There’s no major change to how we approach the stores, but we are investing a lot in our U.S. stores.”
Also this year, Watches of Switzerland has doubled the size of its store in Tampa and tripled the size of its store in Atlanta. Additionally, the company has continued to open brick-and-mortar stores in its home market of the U.K., including a new Rolex flagship store in London.
For the first four months of the year, Watches of Switzerland’s revenue was nearly $2 billion. The U.S. made up 45% of that revenue, marking the region’s largest piece of the pie to date. Watches of Switzerland is among the largest watch retailers in the world, alongside competitors like Bucherer. It’s also an official dealer for some of the biggest watch brands like Rolex.
Duffy said that no matter how “online” the watch customer is becoming — the influx of young collectors is shifting the market toward digital — physical retail will always have an important place in the watch market.
“Offline and online will always be complementary in watches,” he said. “Most research is done online and watches lend themselves to a good online digital presentation. But then, most people come in and buy in the store. Some people do the opposite: They research in-store and then go home and buy online. So both channels are really important for our customers.”
