This jewellery brand develops a large number of new jewellery styles every year. Watches are a small part of that range, usually one or two styles a year. But those styles are chosen with the same care as the jewellery, because they sit in the same collection, the same displays and the same campaigns.
The approach the brand settled on is simple, and it’s one we see work again and again with jewellery clients: the watch doesn’t try to carry everything. It carries one thing.
Why a jewellery brand adds watches at all
For this brand, the answer is its customers. The people who buy its bracelets, necklaces and rings are the same people who wear a watch every day, and a watch is simply one more accessory in the same jewellery box. Offering a watch lets the brand sell to customers it already has, in a category they already buy, instead of sending them to another brand for the one accessory the collection doesn’t cover.
Where watches fit in a jewellery brand’s year
The brand plans its year around jewellery. Each season has a lead theme, whether a material, a form or a type of piece, and most of the development effort goes there. Watches don’t have their own calendar. They are chosen to complete that year’s collection.
That changes the question the brand asks. It isn’t “what watch should we make?” It’s “which watch belongs with what we are already launching?”
Starting from the season’s lead jewellery
Each year’s watches start with the jewellery. The brand looks at the materials and lead pieces of the new collection and chooses the watch styles to match.
In a collection built around shell, for example, the watch carried that material onto the dial, tying it directly to the jewellery it launched with. Worn together, the pieces read as one set rather than as a watch plus some jewellery.
Why one element is enough
It’s tempting to bring every element of a jewellery collection into the watch: the material, the colour, the motif, the finish. In practice, that tends to make the watch look busy, and it rarely makes the connection any clearer.
This brand picks one element and lets it do the work, such as a shell dial. One thing customers already recognise from the jewellery is enough to make the watch look like it belongs to the collection. Everything else on the watch stays clean and easy to wear.
To be honest, this is how most of our jewellery clients approach watches. They aren’t looking for a watch that repeats the whole collection. They’re looking for the one element that makes the collection feel complete.
How the yearly cycle works
Because the watches follow the jewellery, the design direction changes every year. Each year the brand brings a new brief, combining that year’s fashion trends with the popular elements of its own jewellery, and we design new watch models to that brief. New models launch twice a year: a summer launch in the first half of the year, and a Christmas-season launch in the second half.
Keeping it to one or two styles a year keeps watches manageable for a brand whose main business is jewellery, and it still gives each new collection a watch that completes it.
The outcome
Watches have become a regular part of the brand’s collection, with new models in both its summer and Christmas launches. Each season’s watches look different from the last, because each one grows from a different jewellery theme and that year’s trends. They all follow the same logic, though, which is why they sit comfortably in the range.
Related reading: Custom Watches for Jewelry Brands: Adding Timepieces to Your Collection
Questions brands ask about projects like this
How many watch styles should a jewellery brand add each year?
For many jewellery brands, one or two watch styles a year is enough. Watches work best as a way to complete that year’s jewellery collection rather than as a separate line, so a small number of well-chosen styles keeps the category manageable. The styles can change each year to follow the season’s lead jewellery theme.
How do you make a watch look like part of a jewellery collection?
Choose one signature element from the collection and carry it into the watch, such as a shell dial for a collection built around shell. One recognisable element is usually enough to connect the watch to the jewellery. Adding every element of the collection tends to make the watch look busy, not more connected.
Should a jewellery brand’s watches change every year?
They can, if the brand’s jewellery changes every year. Building each year’s watches from the season’s lead material or form keeps them in step with the collection. A consistent approach, with one signature element and everything else kept clean, keeps them recognisable as the brand’s own watches over time.
Related reading: Should Your Brand Launch a Watch Collection?
If your brand plans its year around a jewellery collection, a watch can be the piece that completes it. We’d be glad to look at your next collection with you and talk through which single element might carry into a watch. Start a conversation →