Capitalizing upon the current boom in luxury goods along with growing demand for ladies' timepieces, fashion designer Marc Jacobs will release his first collection of fine watches through a license with Fossil, Inc., showing his inaugural line of 9 timepieces to buyers in May.

Jacobs' fall collection of watches is vintage-inspired, reports Women's Wear Daily (WWD) , and features timepieces with diamond accents, feminine ribbon straps and petite oval faces.

“I've seen girls with vintage Cartier watches that I love,” Jacobs told WWD. “We all agreed we didn't want something modern looking. We wanted it to have a kind of old feel to it. All the girls we know wear those kinds of things.”

Jacobs' debut line of watches will be available in specialty and high-end department stores in Europe, Asia and the United States, as well as in the designer's eponymous boutiques, which will receive the watches first. Fossil vice president of luxury brands Barbara Korn told WWD that initial distribution of Jacobs' timepieces would be limited to approximately 150 doors, and that the watches will retail from $650 to $2,500. The brand will lean heavily on Jacobs' name and continue the company's focus on luxury, she said.

Borrowing the name of Jacobs' lower-end clothing line, a line of lower-priced watches will be released under the Marc by Marc Jacobs name in fall of 2006. The watches will be more widely distributed, according to WWD, though prices for the watches are yet to be determined.


Source : National Jeweler Daily News

www.nationaljeweler.com

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