Can the Swiss watch industry create complex timepieces for women?

A watch for Sylvester Stallone would not suit Audrey Hepburn, says designer Bruno Bellamich, co-founder of the Bell & Ross brand. Not because of a male or female fashion ideal, but simply because of the difference in wrist size between these two American stars.

Bellamich, however, ignores the resistance that has accompanied all fashion revolutions. Think of Coco Chanel, who used to borrow pieces from men's wardrobes and didn't like small women's watches. Of course, in Coco Chanel's day, men's watches were the size of today's women's watches.

As for Stallone, he should now settle for a smaller model. The extra-large watches that were fashionable in the 2000s are gone. The trend is no longer towards exaggerated masculinity, and even less towards its caricature.

Can a watch be sexy?

When Julien Tornare was at the head of Zenith, the famous watch brand from Neuchâtel, he said he wanted to abandon watch models aimed at men. This division has disappeared in the automobile industry, he said, and it will also disappear in the watch industry.

Today, he continues this strategy at TAG Heuer. Ricardo Guadalupe, who heads the Hublot brand, agrees. Even though we have a larger proportion of male customers, he says, we have stopped classifying watches by gender. We have different collections with different sizes, which offers a diversity of choice.

Beyond unisex watches and a more targeted specialist offering, brands now want to express the idea of ​​freedom of choice in their marketing. Cyrille Vigneron, CEO of Cartier, recalls that in the early days of watchmaking, there were no specifically feminine or masculine models, they simply became feminine or masculine depending on the person who owned them.

He believes that the era of strict separation of styles is over and that watchmakers should no longer impose their own preferences. “It is not our role to determine who will wear a particular Cartier watch,” he says. “Our role is to give people freedom of choice and to make that choice as wide as possible.”

Other representatives of primarily female brands aren’t as enthusiastic about the idea. “I really don’t have a lot of time to devote to this trend toward genderless watches,” says Antoine Pin, general manager of watches at Bulgari. Does that mean a watch can’t be sexy?

Men's collections represent a small part of the products of brands such as Chanel, Harry Winston, Dior or Chopard. Aimed mainly at a female clientele, these watchmakers do not have to worry about creating unisex models that would also suit men.

Diamonds, not complications

For many years, women's watches were made according to a rather cynical formula. They were produced like men's watches, but smaller, with a quartz movement instead of a mechanical one, and set with diamonds.

The original idea was that women didn't need any special functions or complications, with the possible exception of moon phases, which didn't tell the time. Also, women didn't like the idea of ​​winding a watch and preferred a battery, it was thought. Smaller models also offered less room for complications. Diamond decorations made up for the simplicity of the technology.

The Grand Prix de l'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), the major prize in Swiss watchmaking, is awarded in the categories of men's and women's watches, with or without additional functions. The introduction in 2013 of a prize for complicated watches for women marked a turning point.

Fairies, Flowers and Birds

But the question of what complications are desired remains open. In 2010, Van Cleef & Arpels launched a complex mechanical watch called Pont des Amoureux, with an animation depicting two lovers meeting on a bridge. It was necessary to forget that a watch complication is about precision, and to focus solely on the aesthetic value of the piece, explains Nicolas Bos, who was CEO of the brand from 2010 to 2024.

The watchmakers at Van Cleef & Arpels even invented a new category called poetic complications, paving the way for all sorts of creations where flowers bloom, birds flap their wings and fairies wave magic wands.

At the last GPHG awards ceremony, the ladies' complication watch award drew an objection from one of the jury members, Scandinavian watch connoisseur Kristian Haagen. A complication is a complication, so why do we need different complication categories for women and men? he asked.

Tiny swirls

Haagen may have been right in thinking that poetic complications could express a tacit doubt about women's ability to appreciate technology without a romantic façade. This type of technology is used purely for decorative purposes, which is questionable for any purist among watchmakers.

Yet even traditional watch complications have outlived their usefulness. In the past, the mechanism known as the tourbillon was meant to compensate for the effects of gravity on the watch mechanism and ensure accuracy. The complication known as the minute repeater, on the other hand, was created to tell the time in the dark. Today, even with cell phones that tell the exact time, the beauty of the challenge for the traditional watchmaker remains.

The tourbillon no longer has any practical value, but it remains a triumph of watchmaking art, says Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bulgari, which has incorporated miniature tourbillons into its iconic Serpenti models. Women can therefore legitimately wear this diamond in their watches.

Growing customer segment

Today, women represent a growing share of the clientele of luxury watch brands. They are guided by their own tastes and their own conception of what a women's watch should be.

According to Chrono24, a platform specializing in the online sale of luxury watches, the share of women who purchased luxury watches with a diameter of at least 40 mm increased from 21% to 35% between January 2019 and December 2023. The results of their study highlight another interesting fact: women represent 59% of the total customer base for watches in the price range between CHF 10,000 and 20,000 (CHF 9,700-19,400).

In an article by Chrono24 MagazineJournalist Elisabeth Schroeder notes that women are more open to watches with unconventional shapes, such as rectangular, square, etc. This would indicate their boldness as consumers, unlike men, who tend to prefer round watches.

Women in leadership positions in industry

But the key to making the watch industry more inclusive and less subject to stereotypes may lie elsewhere. While women today buy their own watches, they are still mostly designed and produced by men. In the world of watchmaking, only 17% of management positions are held by women, notes the Swiss Watch Industry Employers' Association (CPIH).

Marine Lemonnier-Brennan, founder of the agency 289 Consulting, nevertheless notes a change in this male-dominated world. “In recent years, we have seen women access strategic positions at Jaeger-LeCoultre, Chopard, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Hublot, TAG Heuer or Harry Winston,” she explains. “They are CEOs, product managers, creators or movement managers and they contribute to the evolution of watchmaking towards a product offering designed and intended for women.”

She cites as an example the Beauregard brand, founded in Geneva by Alexandre Beauregard in 2011, who from the outset wanted to create watches combining jewelry and complex mechanisms. Never before had an independent brand of high-end watches been created solely for women, she emphasizes.

Edited by Samuel Jaberg. Adapted from French by Terence MacNamee/gw