e recently interviewed a broad selection of managers, active in a variety of segments, to help us identify the major trends within the watch industry.

Our Q&A with Coralie Charriol – Charriol.

Europa Star: What are your strategic priorities for 2023?

Coralie Charriol: The Swiss watch and luxury jewellery sector remains incredibly competitive, but I think being one of the only female leaders in this space gives me an edge to differentiate Charriol, through both product and strategy. Our design team continues to innovate and amaze with new interpretations of our signature cable – I’m especially proud of our new St-Tropez Navigator collection. As we enter our 40th year, expect plenty of new watch and jewellery collections to introduce the maison to the next generation of consumers in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. Our customer touch points are multiplying as we extend our distribution network into every corner of the globe and roll out our latest boutique concept, which recently launched at our Middle East flagship store at the Dubai Mall. All said, we are well positioned to enter a prosperous new decade for Charriol. 

Coralie Charriol

Which new products or lines will be your main focus this year?

Our 2023 product focus is a mix of technical innovation with classic motifs. For watches, we expanded the St-Tropez universe with the Navigator Collection, three lines that offer a sportier iteration in new materials, new colours and new mechanics. The St Tropez Surf, the St-Tropez Cruise and the St-Tropez GMT mark many “firsts” for Charriol: automatic calibres, GMT movements and quick-release interchangeable bracelets. The collection was inspired by my annual surf trips with girlfriends to Montauk, Malibu, Hawaii and Costa Rica. I wanted to create watches that were durable enough to be worn while surfing, but still sexy enough to follow you after hours for sunset drinks and beyond. And my husband loved the designs so much that we expanded into Men’s – a first for the St-Tropez. He’s not the only one; we collaborated with renowned watch collector and GPHG jury member Shary Rahman to create the “Charriol x @time_mechanic”, a limited-edition St-Tropez GMT 41mm with a matte black bezel and unique khaki/green/orange colour scheme on a pro FKM diver strap. We’ve had a lot of interest and I’m sure these will go fast. 

Charriol Navigator collection St-Tropez™ Surf Automatic

The emergence of the secondary market represents a major new development. Are you taking any steps to build a presence in preowned?

As an executive who is committed to developing sustainably-led initiatives, it’s thrilling to see the emergence of the resale market. Many vintage watches come back to our manufacturer in Switzerland for repair and after-sales service. We keep a close eye on Charriol listings on platforms like Chrono24 and The RealReal to see what Charriol timepieces appear, and crucially, what vintage and archival trends are gaining traction. If there is a very special piece, we buy it ourselves for our own archive – a growing collection of the maison’s most important timepieces. Potentially that could one day grow into our own archival offering of the best certified refurbished Charriol watches from the past 40 years, but for the time being my focus is to ensure that our newest products offer exceptional quality and timeless design, so that our 2023 models can have their own second and third lives on the resale market in the years to come.