Léon Hatot en route for the stars








Since its take-over in 2000 by the Swatch Group, the fine jewellery brand has enjoyed its finest-ever growth and is looking towards an even more serene future.

Florence Noël

Arlette Elsa Emch is happy with her many high-powered positions within the Swatch Group. Particularly when Léon Hatot, the fine jewellery brand she presides, is posting such dazzling results. While the group is adverse to giving out figures brand by brand, it willingly puts them into words: since its takeover in 2000, Léon Hatot has recorded its "finest-ever growth," affirms its President. "Double-digit growth that ranks at the top of the table. We really are very satisfied," she adds.

This is quite a performance from a company that returned to the high-end jewellery market just eight years ago. In 2000, the Swatch Group decided to buy the small firm which disappeared with its founder in 1953. Léon Hatot was a jeweller of unquestionable talent. Born in 1883, he asserted his creative independence very early on in both jewellery and watches. At 22, the artist opened a jewellery and precious metal engraving workshop, specialising in exceptional pieces. Five years later he moved to Paris where he became the exclusive supplier to the leading jewellers of Place Vendôme and Rue de la Paix.

A forgotten brand

The City of Light was flourishing as Art Nouveau came to the fore. Léon Hatot found inspiration in the trends of the Belle Époque: the garlands, laurel branches and delicate curves of Louis XVI style would gradually become the hallmark of the young artist’s jewellery creations. Already greatly appreciated, his reputation would thrive after the First World War. In 1925, France was free and caught up in the triumph of an artistic movement dubbed Art Deco. These were the Roaring Twenties, a decade during which Léon Hatot would let his imagination run free. The wristwatch was in vogue and Léon Hatot took pleasure in enclosing miniaturised movements in tiny cases which he adorned with precious stones and other refined materials.

Women, caught up in the joys of new-found freedom, were immediately won over. For years Léon Hatot would find inspiration in these schools of thought to create sophisticated timepieces and jewellery for a demanding and always exclusive clientele. The Second World War marked a turning-point in the jeweller’s career, who would devote the rest of his life to making new watch movements.

The Léon Hatot brand fell into oblivion… until 1989 when Christie’s discovered the entire stock of the workshop inside a bank vault, locked away for safekeeping when war broke out in 1939. The celebrated auction house organised a sale of Léon Hatot watches and jewellery. Not only did every lot find a buyer within two hours, sales tripled estimates. The auction was an event for the luxury industry and an excellent reason for the Swatch Group to buy the brand with the aim of establishing itself in the very high-end jewellery segment.

Surpassing objectives

Today, alongside Breguet for traditional watches, Léon Hatot stands out as a monument of fine jewellery at the Biel group. "We drew on Léon Hatot’s history and heritage when relaunching the brand. Like the great jewellers that went on to become famous watchmakers, the Swatch Group has followed the same path, but in the opposite direction, by developing its jewellery activity and in particular Léon Hatot. Its name now brings the promise of quality," emphasises the President of Léon Hatot, who also sits on Swatch’s Executive Group Management Board and is President of CK Calvin Klein Watches & Jewelry. Arlette Elsa Emch had set herself two goals: for jewellery to reach 10% of revenues for the brands in question and for points of sale. "We have easily outperformed these objectives," she says, while continuing to emphasise the still strong potential of the Léon Hatot brand.

"Our strategy hasn’t been to inundate the market. Léon Hatot is found only in strategic cities for jewellery sales (editor’s note Paris, Ginza, Cannes, Nice, Courchevel and Dubai). We still have many things left to accomplish." Exclusive production and handcrafting mean that Léon Hatot will expand into other world cities at a steady pace, allowing the brand to gain a solid grounding in the international fine jewellery industry. ■

© 2008 All rights reserved

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