Among the new releases at LVMH Watch Week this year were a series of novelties from brands that casual observers might sometimes forget sit inside the LVMH portfolio. Tiffany & Co., Gerald Genta, and Daniel Roth all unveiled new pieces this week to varying degrees of fanfare. And while these boutique luxury brands are very different in shape from the likes of TAG Heuer, Zenith, and Hublot, which really form the core of the LVMH watch business, it says a lot about the power and reach of LVMH as an entity that these brands fall under their purview. All three brands are recent additions to the LVMH stable, with Gerald Genta joining upon its relaunch in 2023, TIffayny & Co. when the sale of the company to LVMH went through in 2021, and Daniel Roth in 2011, when LVMH acquired Bulgari, then caretakers of Roth’s brand (LVMH relaunched Daniel Roth as a separate entity in 2023). These three brands also seem arranged in the LVMH ecosystem to compete directly with high end independent brands, particularly Daniel Roth, a name once seen as preeminent in the world of independent watchmaking.
Let’s run through the key releases from each brand at this year’s LVMH Watch Week. Tiffany & Co. debuted the Tiffany Timer, a three register chronograph with El Primero movement that flies under the radar, perhaps, in a few ways. First and foremost, that white metal case is not steel or white gold, but solid platinum. And the indices at each hour are baguette cut diamonds, which seems like a logical choice for the renowned jewelry brand. Tiffany has a long watch history, of course. Tiffany signed dials on watches by Rolex and others always demand a premium on the pre-owned market based entirely on the provenance and respect for the Tiffany brand. But in recent years many original Tiffany designs have caught my eye as well. The East West in particular is a very interesting watch, in my opinion.
While I have no doubt that the Tiffany Timer is made to a very high standard, this does not strike me as a particularly innovative or even interesting design. It is essentially a very straightforward chronograph with a Tiffany blue dial execution, clothed in luxury (diamonds and platinum). It’s hard for me to imagine who the customer for this watch is at $55,000 – there’s obviously a lot of competition at that price point. There are, I’m sure, well heeled Tiffany collectors who are likely clients for this piece (and it is a limited edition of just 60 examples), but it doesn’t strike me as an enthusiast play in the slightest.
More successful in my view is the introduction of the Gerald Genta Geneva Time Only ‘Marrone’ and ‘Grafite’ references, follow ups to Geneva Minute Repeater released a year ago. These watches, as time only pieces, are obviously much simpler while sharing a similar aesthetic. The Gerald Genta brand is tough to wrap your arms around unless you have a deep familiarity with the designer beyond his most iconic pieces. The stated goal of the brand as it exists today in the LVMH portfolio is to explore the design language of the Genta’s later years, which were frankly much more daring than the integrated bracelet sports watches he’s most well known for. The Geneva case design has a ton of charm, coming in at 38mm with a cushion shape and a single lug on each end. The dials are heavily textured, with the ‘Grafite’ paired to a white gold case and the ‘Marrone’ in rose gold. They run on Zenith Elite movements, which some are already criticising given the CHF 25,000 starting price.
Finally, we have the Extra Plat Skeleton from Daniel Roth, the third release from the brand since regrouping under the LVMH banner. The watch is a study in extreme skeletonization and thinness, measuring just 6.9mm tall, and with every bridge of the movement skeletonized to what seems like an impossible degree. The interior angles, of which there are many, are polished by hand. Looking at images of the watch, you can imagine that the degree of difficulty here when it comes to finishing is effectively off the charts.
The Extra Plat Skeleton (retail price: CHF 85,000) is an ambitious watch and affirms that LVMH is uniquely resourced to shepherd a brand like this in a meaningful way. It’s hard not to be impressed with the craft here, but it’s also impossible to ignore that Daniel Roth’s parent corporation is controlled by one of the wealthiest families in the world and has hand picked the brand to showcase what’s possible through LVMH’s La Fabrique du Temps. There is of course nothing at all wrong LVMH providing a showcase for high craft watchmaking through the Daniel Roth brand, but it’s a very different proposition than a true independent, and I wonder if LVMH is happy to let people who don’t necessarily consume watch content on sites like ours think that this watch is the work of a single artisan, possibly named Daniel Roth, in the same way one might draw a conclusion that a watch bearing Philippe Dufour’s name is his work alone.
Zach Kazan
2026-01-22 18:00:00