Audemars Piguet is extending its Royal Oak franchise beyond watches, launching a high jewellery collection, as it seeks to broaden its product range and attract more female customers. Royal Oak Joaillerie comprises 19 pieces priced from SFr48,000 ($57,720) to several million dollars. The necklaces, chokers, bracelets, cuffs and earrings use diamonds, emeralds and pink sapphires, with some stones weighing as much as five carats. The collection, presented on Friday at Paris Fashion Week, will go on a global selling tour soon afterwards. Rather than being sold through the brand’s 25 “AP Houses”, the pieces will initially be offered exclusively at private client events.
The move takes the Swiss watchmaker into a product category with different customers and growth prospects from its core business. About 70 per cent of AP’s clients are men, while jewellery purchases skew more heavily towards women. “While watchmaking is still largely a male-oriented market, jewellery is the opposite,” says Federica Levato, a partner at consultancy Bain.
The launch also comes as the two sectors are following different trajectories. Swiss watch exports fell 1.7 per cent in 2025, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, including a 12.1 per cent decline in China. Bain, meanwhile, expects jewellery sales to grow by 2-4 per cent this year.
Ilaria Resta, AP chief executive, argues that jewellery is less of a departure for AP than it might appear. The company has worked with jewellers since the 19th century, including Cartier and Tiffany & Co. The Royal Oak’s octagonal case and tapered bracelet links have been adapted into jewellery designs intended to be worn alongside the watch. The jewellery will initially be produced in small quantities and largely sold on demand.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing