Tag Heuer, a star in LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s watch portfolio last 12 months, has opened a 50-square-meter boutique on Carnival Jubilee, making it the posh brand’s largest standalone store at sea.
The launch on one in all Carnival’s flagship ships, which sails a Gulf of Mexico route starting this Saturday, marks the brand’s latest expansion into the duty-free cruise channel. Jubilee’s seven-day cruise begins in Galveston, Texas, with stops in Mexico’s Riviera Maya.
The cruise retailer Starboard operates the shop and continues a partnership that has spanned over 20 years. Like Tag Hauer, Starboard was until recently controlled by LVMH, before the French luxury group sold most of its shares to Florida-based Gissy Investments to form a brand new three way partnership called Global Travel Retail Holdings.
In a press release in regards to the recent watch boutique, Starboard President and CEO Lisa Bauer spoke of “serving guests on their shopping journey at sea” and connecting them with “perfect” vacation memories.
Carrera within the highlight
Tag Heuer is planning greater than that. Last 12 months, the brand celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of its Carrera collection with the launch of the Glassbox ($6,450*) and a Five minute film Campaign starring Ryan Gosling, which has been viewed greater than 20 million times on YouTube. The brand can be expanding its range, which was designed in collaboration with Porsche.
Aboard Carnival Jubilee, Tag Heuer’s boutique is a contemporary affair and a tribute to the brand’s motorsport heritage, with daring blue and orange tones that leave a particular impression. The retail concept was created by the brand’s design and architecture team in Switzerland.
Franck Suznjevic, Tag Heuer Executive Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, said: “The momentum of Tag Heuer customers in cruise retail is enormous and together with Starboard we are committed to delivering precision, performance and savoir-faire to new cruise ships .” and existing customers at sea.”
Among the products which are more likely to attract the eye of cruise passengers are some nautical-themed timepieces. These include the Carrera Skipper ($6,750, see major image above), which is claimed to pay homage to Tag Heuer’s “return to the high seas and sailing heritage.”
Although it has a conventional chronograph look, the watch is characterised by a striking trio of colours within the two mini dials, that are surrounded by a brushed major dial in Carrera’s signature blue, a sea-inspired tone.
Other special models include the technical precision of the Tag Heuer Monaco Skeleton ($10,750), which for the primary time integrates a posh skeleton dial with daring colours in a square format; the Carrera Chronosprint x Porsche ($9,200); and Aquaracer Solargraph Collection (from $2,150).
Swiss watches on the crest of the wave
Swiss-made timepieces have been successful for Carnival, helped by Starboard’s push to launch brands from houses like Cartier and IWC
IWC
Tag Heuer was founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer within the Swiss Jura and has grown right into a network of 260 boutiques and a pair of,300 points of sale worldwide under the LVMH umbrella. The brand was led by Frédéric Arnault, the second son of the world’s richest man, multi-billionaire Bernard Arnault, before him intensified will change into CEO of your complete LVMH watch business in January. His successor at Tag Heuer was Julien Tornare.
The company continues to pursue the strategy of opening directly operated stores and is progressively taking direct control of its distribution in South Korea. Last 12 months, Tag Heuer also relocated its Fifth Avenue store in New York.
*All prices shown are for online retail, not duty free.