Story Highlight
– Jean-Christophe Babin champions emerging watch brands at Geneva Watch Days.
– New brands risk-taking may disrupt established luxury watchmakers.
– Over 35% of GPHG awards went to Geneva Watch Days brands.
– Top Swiss watch brands show little change from 2019-2025.
– Industry needs newcomers to avoid stagnation and drive innovation.
Full Story
Jean-Christophe Babin, currently serving as president of Geneva Watch Days, has a distinguished background in the luxury watch industry, having held leadership positions at TAG Heuer, Bulgari, and LVMH Watches. His role at Geneva Watch Days allows him to spotlight emerging independent brands and smaller companies that are making their mark on the global stage.
Babin’s dual perspective—gained from years within a large luxury conglomerate and now as an advocate for innovative newcomers—leads him to believe that the established giants in the market may face challenges from brands that have been founded relatively recently.
He argues that the industry, traditionally dominated by long-established firms with rich legacies, is beginning to rewarding those willing to take risks. “Since the inception of Geneva Watch Days in 2020, more than 35% of the awards from the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève have been won by brands participating in our event. This clearly indicates that these brands are delivering truly innovative work, even if many remain under the radar,” Babin remarked in an interview with WatchPro.
Babin elaborates on the contrasting approaches of established and new brands: “Established brands naturally evolve more cautiously because they already have iconic collections to protect. Younger brands have much greater freedom to experiment because they aren’t constrained by decades of history.”
Despite these new opportunities for growth, data from LuxeConsult and Morgan Stanley Research show little turnover in the upper echelons of Swiss watchmaking, with the top 20 brands remaining largely unchanged from 2019 to 2025. One notable exception is Richard Mille, which launched in 2001 and is projected to be the sixth largest Swiss watchmaker by 2025. Hublot, founded in 1980, nearly reached the top ten in the last few years, although it has seen a decline recently.
While the rankings among the top 20 brands by turnover remain stable, there are newer players making headway further down the list. Franck Muller, starting in 1991, ranks 22nd; Frederique Constant, which debuted in 1992, maintains the 35th spot; F.P. Journe, founded in 1999, comes in at 36th; and Jacob & Co., which produced its first Swiss watches in 2007, is at 27th.
Babin refrains from predicting a sudden surge for any current emerging brands akin to Richard Mille, yet he envisions a potential shift in the industry over the long term. “I wouldn’t be surprised at all, if you look 50 years ahead, a number of today’s emerging brands could easily become part of the industry’s top five or top 10,” he speculated.
While he respects the slow progression of the industry’s major players, Babin believes that innovation from new entrants will continue to shape the market landscape. “Every industry evolves. Today’s leaders were often yesterday’s outsiders. Some established names disappear, while others reinvent themselves,” he noted.
The need for fresh ideas is further echoed by Jean-Frédéric Dufour, CEO of Rolex, who acknowledged the invaluable contributions of up-and-coming brands during a discussion at Dubai Watch Week. “We need young people; they are pushing us. They are challenging the institutional brands. It is good to see newcomers. An industry without newcomers is a dying industry,” he pointed out.
Dufour also highlighted the difficulties faced by traditional firms, stating, “Our industry carries so much tradition that it can be difficult to find a way out of your own tradition. It comes back to education and to the people you hire. You need teams capable of bringing something new, not just tradition.”
