KEYNOTE INTERVIEW
TimeVallée - Watchmaking heritage, and experience beyond
From a single store in Nanjing, China to 36 points of sales today and many more in the pipeline, TimeVallée has grown into a truly international success story. Michael Guenoun, Global CEO TimeVallée & International Distribution Director at Richemont, discussed progress and plans with Martin Moodie.
Michael Guenoun is upbeat about the accelerating global roll-out of TimeVallée, one in which travel retail plays an integral role. “Today we have 35 TimeVallée permanent stores worldwide plus one pop-up, so it’s 36 we can say,” he explains.
“When we originally designed TimeVallée, it was exclusively for the China domestic market {see panel below}. The concept supports our partners to have a proper multi-brand store with a luxury environment and quality service, as well as what we call digital touchpoints, something which is very important to the TimeVallée concept.
“These digital touchpoints allow us to interact with our end customers. The stores have many screens that you can touch and compare watches one with another. And we can send all the pictures to your phone or to your FaceTime or WeChat accounts.
“We can really capture content, pictures and information about different watches. This is all part of the customer journey experience within TimeVallée so you have a physical experience as well as a digital experience within the store. This is really the DNA of TimeVallée.”
In 2021 it was decided to expand the concept internationally – including travel retail – in order to support the luxury watch industry’s global development, and to support retailer partners in providing what Guenoun calls a “fantastic concept”.
The DNA of TimeVallée
“We wanted to welcome our end customer and to increase the awareness and desirability of the luxury watch segment,” he comments.
Crucially, too, TimeVallée sought to drive recruitment of a new, younger clientele to the luxury watch segment. “This was very important for us to create something modern and interactive, both to recruit the next generation and to perpetuate the heritage and the savoir faire of the Swiss luxury watch industry,” explains Guenoun. “This was a very important strategy for TimeVallée to promote worldwide.”
Distribution outside China has been rapid across multiple markets. “We’re in Spain, for example in partnership with El Corte Inglés, and today we are expanding in the Middle East, Europe and we will open the first TimeVallée in the US in summer 2023. We also have many confirmed projects ahead of us in the US and Europe.”
The portfolio – current and planned – represents a multi-layered tapestry both in terms of geography and scale. How tailored is the TimeVallée approach to each location? “We have a different strategy according to the maturity of the cities or of the region,” Guenoun replies.
The TimeVallée boutique at the Hainan Tourism Duty Free Shopping Complex in Sanya, China offers a dazzling display of Swiss watchmaking craftsmanship
China focus
“In China, we are aiming to expand within the third and fourth-tier cities. So, it’s an expansion strategy in order to capture this young generation. They represent a new customer in cities where you cannot yet justify opening a mono-brand store due to the level of brand awareness and maturity.
“This expansion is both in airports and downtown in those third and fourth-tier cities. We are also looking at major airports in China. We are already in the domestic terminal at Beijing Capital International Airport and we are studying domestic airport expansion as well.
TimeVallée wows at Haikou Meilan International Airport
TimeVallée x Gübelin
“We look at other emerging markets with a very similar strategy to China in terms of capturing new clientele. So, for example, we look at Vietnam and India as emerging markets to expand, to recruit, and to create TimeVallée as a strong watch destination.”
Mature luxury watch markets also play a key role, with Europe and the US to the fore. In Switzerland, TimeVallée has launched in Lucerne with jewellery Gübelin but rather than opening a new POS, is working with a partner who already had a multi-brand store. By transitioning that store, TimeVallée is enabling its new partner to create a much stronger luxury watches offer and related services without having to add a new point of distribution.
That model will be repeated elsewhere in Europe and the US, says Guenoun, where selected partners’ multi-brand stores will be transformed into TimeVallée doors.
Comfortable seating areas are dotted around the TimeVallée Lucerne flagship
Entering the hospitality sector
Any potential new partner in an emergent market interested in working with TimeVallée needs to be already invested in the luxury watches sector, Guenoun says. “We don’t actually run the operations so we are always partnering with someone who has a very established operation – in watches or fashion or cosmetics,” he points out. “It must be someone who already has a strong retail location with the ability to provide full support to run the store in terms not only of retail expertise but also of hospitality.”
Hospitality? How so? “Because part of the journey of TimeVallée is to provide a strong hospitality element,” Guenoun answers. “And for our new concept you will see that we are creating what we call a TimeVallée café, where we provide beverages in a very nice, cosy environment.
“The hospitality part is very important in that we are welcoming guests – not clients – and this will also become part of the journey for our end customers. So that they can not only discover more about the watch industry but also enjoy and learn about the world of luxury watches over a nice cup of coffee and then interact with our sales associates who can share all the story about the watch industry and of the particular pieces.”
While the partner provides the capex, premises and staff, TimeVallée brings to the table a well-proven retail concept, extensive digital expertise and content and, crucially, the relationship and coordination with the brands. TimeVallée also provides full staff training and retail expertise to its partners.
Margin discussions are a matter for the retail partner and the individual brands. “Once we have defined the brand portfolio and introduced the brand to the partner, then the partner discusses directly with the brands regarding margin and operational details,” Guenoun comments.
“What we influence is ensuring the proper and best assortment related to our knowledge of the location.”
Branded zones are decorated in an elegant yet inviting colour palette of neutral shades at the cdf Haikou Mova Mall boutique
Brand democracy
Guenoun emphasises a critical aspect of the TimeVallée concept. Though owned by Richemont, the brand offer includes many luxury houses from outside the group. “Today we are working with 30 brands,” he says. “The purpose of TimeVallée is to aggregate a very strong brand portfolio and create a very strong destination for the customer.
“Once we have identified the project, we say it has to create values for three partners – the Maison or brand, the partner, and, of course, the customer. At TimeVallée we are creating value for these three partners, and we are bringing all three together to promote the watch industry.
“Once we identify the location we see the site. The site then also influences the number of brands we can have. Then the retailer will outline their capex and rent details and identify their desired brands. We then discuss which brands could be appropriate and the retailers also sometimes have direct contact with the brands.
"The purpose of TimeVallée is to aggregate a very strong brand portfolio and create a very strong destination for the customer"
“We want to create a true destination so most of the TimeVallée stores have a large variety of brands from both independent and big groups and that’s our objective.”
The TimeVallée concept can be tailored to varying retail formats and sizes. In November 2022 MSC Cruises opened a TimeVallée boutique on its new MSC Seascape vessel. The boutique offers several high-end brands including Cartier, Baume & Mercier, Hublot, IWC, Montblanc, Panerai and Tag Heuer, while its look and feel mirrors that of land-based TimeVallée shops.
“We have three types of concept,” Guenoun points out. “We have one that we call the flagship. That is what we have just opened in Doha [with Qatar Duty Free at Hamad International Airport -Ed], very large scale with a grand façade and all the services both functionality and digital. It also has a Watchfinder pre-owned luxury watches offer.
“Then we have the reference stores, all between 250sq m and 500sq m. And we have the smaller stores as you see on the cruise ships where we have fewer brands. So we have these three types of concept that we adapt according to the location and destination.”
TimeVallée offers up to 30 luxury watch brands both within and outside the Richemont umbrella
Travel retail’s star in the ascendency
Travel retail, as evidenced by the Hamad International Airport and MSC openings, is integral to the TimeVallée strategy. “It is particularly important for us in terms of recruiting customers and increasing brand awareness while making a statement that the luxury watch industry is relevant to our consumers,” Guenoun comments.
“We have started with Doha and Beijing Capital International Airport [T3 domestic – operated by Lagardère Travel Retail -Ed]) but that is just the beginning for airports. You will see within the next two to three years that we’ll be entering many more strategic airports with flagship stores. So travel retail is critical for us.”
Not surprisingly, TimeVallée has also opened in the modern-day travel retail hotspot of Hainan, China, partnering with China Duty Free Group at Haikou Meilan International Airport and Haikou Mova Mall and with Hainan Tourism Duty Free Shopping Complex in Sanya. “And as we speak, we are in large number of discussions with the major airports in the world,” Guenoun adds.
Excitingly, TimeVallée is adding sales of certified pre-owned watches to its offer in certain locations, including Hamad International Airport. In mid-2018 the company bought Watchfinder, a leading pre-owned premium watch specialist founded in 2002.
“The category is booming,” says Guenoun, “so we are now incorporating pre-owned within TimeVallée, which is an important strategic element for us. We already have one TimeVallée in Lucerne, where we promote pre-owned watches.
A TimeVallée Chronology
The TimeVallée story began in 2015 when the first boutique opened in Nanjing, China, a partnership with renowned Hong Kong-listed jewellery retailer Chow Tai Fook and Rolex.
Until 2020 the concept was focused exclusively on China. In that year the decision was taken to expand internationally.
Michael Guenoun was appointed Global CEO of TimeVallée in April 2021 (in addition to his responsibilities as International Distribution Director for Richemont) to accelerate expansion.
The name TimeVallée is a respectful nod to watches and to the famous ‘Watch Valley’ – an area along Switzerland’s western border spanning the Swiss Jura Arc from Basel to Geneva embracing famed watchmaking areas such as the Vallée de Joux and La Chaux-De-Fonds.
“It is a symbolic name, reinforcing both the craftsmanship and the origins of watch making,” says Guenoun.
The Middle East, a rising star
The Middle East generally and Saudi Arabia specifically are key target markets. A TimeVallée will open at Jeddah Airport’s VIP Terminal in February. “We are targeting really selective customers there,” says Guenoun. “With such locations it is not about high traffic but about very strong spenders and we are developing specific services for such terminals. We’re also looking at other opportunities where we wish to capture selective high-end customers at very high-traffic airports in the world.”
Asked to sum up his ambitions for TimeVallée over coming years, Guenoun replies, “It is very important for us that the watch industry has been moving from a volume business to a value business. So it is also critical that we remain extremely selective with TimeVallée’s expansion.
“So with every single TimeVallée, we are assessing whether it is relevant and can we make sense with the value proposition and ensure very high productivity. So we are not aiming to open 200 or 300 stores because we are not in the volume business but focused on the value – this is very important.”
That selective distribution focus is very much in line with the strategy of leading luxury group brands both within and outside the Richemont Group, Guenoun emphasises. Fewer but more impactful doors is the mantra.
Guenoun admits such a free-ranging professional remit offers tremendous personal excitement. “TimeVallée is a path to discussions with the various groups and all the individual brands, and to really being able to promote a category. That is something that personally I love to do. So it’s a very interesting journey.”
"It is very important for us that the watch industry has been moving from a volume business to a value business. So it is also critical that we remain extremely selective with TimeVallée’s expansion"
- MICHAEL GUENOUN
Spotlight Series - February 2023