On the difficulties of waking a sleeping beauty: the case of Léon Hatot

GUEST COLUMN

By Pierre-Yves Donzé, professor at Osaka University

November 2024

In an industry that values history and heritage, there is great temptation to revive old names, as recent examples have shown. The Europa Star archives are an important source of information for anyone seeking to understand the challenges inherent to these relaunches and the (sometimes insurmountable) difficulties they face. The Léon Hatot brand is a case in point, discussed here prior to a new book on the subject, to be released next year.

On the difficulties of waking a sleeping beauty: the case of Léon Hatot

GUEST COLUMN

Français

By Pierre-Yves Donzé, professor at Osaka University

November 2024

On the difficulties of waking a sleeping beauty: the case of Léon Hatot

ince the 1980s when Blancpain made its comeback, entrepreneurs have been reviving old names in the hope of meeting with similarly enduring success – which is extremely hard to come by. Countless brands fail to find their market and disappear as quickly as they reappeared, as Pierre-Yves Donzé and Harry Guhl explain in their study, Luxury Brand Management and Brand Revival, to be published by Bloomsbury in 2025.

Europa Star’s archives are a wealth of information when considering the challenges and (often insurmountable) difficulties a brand relaunch implies. This article takes the example of Léon Hatot, covered in greater detail in the aforementioned volume.

Léon Hatot was a French watchmaker in the first half of the twentieth century. Born in 1883, he learned his trade at the watchmaking school in Besançon, where in 1905 he opened a small workshop that specialised in watch case engraving. Shortly after, in 1911, Hatot bought Bredillard in Paris, a manufacturer of artistic clocks and watches. The business flourished between the two world wars, selling its own production in addition to supplying the city’s most renowned jewellers.

Meanwhile, in Besançon, Hatot was engaged in research into automatic winding systems for watches and electrically powered clocks. On his death in 1953, the company continued under the Léon Hatot name but, faced with major financial difficulties, was forced to sell its patents to other firms. Back issues of Europa Star cite Hatot as one of a number of small French watchmakers that were struggling to survive during the 1970s and 1980s.

: ©Archives Europa Star 1982

: ©Archives Europa Star 1986

When Swatch Group acquired the brand in 1999, it did so chiefly for its jewellery expertise. The group’s portfolio was lacking a specialist in gem-set watches and Léon Hatot was to fill that gap. A company was founded and Arlette-Elsa Emch appointed as its director.

: ©Archives Europa Star 1999

: ©Archives Europa Star 1999

: ©Archives Europa Star 2001

Emch had joined Swatch Group in 1992 as head of communication prior to her nomination, in 1997, as president of CK Watch. She convinced Swatch Group to develop jewellery collections for its various brands and in 2000 took the reins of Dress Your Body (DYB), a company created for that purpose.

: ©Archives Europa Star 2001

: ©Archives Europa Star 2008

Her vision was for Léon Hatot to become an “entirely and extremely feminine” watch and jewellery brand. In 2004 Swatch Group declared that Léon Hatot was “the only high-end jewellery brand to be exclusively dedicated to women.”

: ©Archives Europa Star 2004

: ©Archives Europa Star 2004

: ©Archives Europa Star 2005

The objective was for the brand to launch gem-set watches inspired by the Art Deco style and to build an archive from the 5,000 drawings acquired during a sale at Christie’s. In Emch’s words, “these sketches and drawings testify to the values of an era when these creations glorified femininity.” A first series of watches and jewellery was presented to the public in 2004.

Over the next few years, Léon Hatot developed both artistic high-end jewellery, intended to establish its reputation, and gem-set watches in larger production runs. Its target market was the exclusive luxury segment, with entry-level pieces from CHF 5,900 and an average price of CHF 15,000.

Despite breaking into the Chinese market in 2007, success eluded the company which responded with substantial price cuts and a new collection aimed at a much wider audience. This new direction, illustrated by models such as the Heartbreaker and La Garçonne, sent out a new message that broke with the original Art Deco inspiration.

Despite this repositioning, sales failed to pick up and Léon Hatot was mothballed in 2009. In the meantime, Swatch Group had pursued other opportunities in the luxury jewellery watch segment and in 2007 signed a deal with Tiffany & Co. to produce branded watches under licence – an agreement that was terminated in 2011 as a result of disputes between the two partners. Two years later, in 2013, Swatch Group acquired Harry Winston. The Léon Hatot brand is still owned by the group but is no longer active.

Why did this attempt to revive the Léon Hatot name fail? The Swiss press blamed the global financial crisis and its negative effect on jewellery sales, yet the crisis had a very limited impact on the Swatch Group overall. And other jewellery brands, such as Piaget, resisted.

The crisis goes only part way towards explaining this failure; two other factors played a major role. Firstly, the difficulty of launching new brands in the very conservative jewellery market and, secondly, weaknesses in brand strategy and an inconsistent brand identity.