Watch brand Piaget to open more stores this year

By Silke Koltrowitz

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss watch brand Piaget, owned by luxury goods group Richemont, will continue to open stores this year, notably in the Middle East and China, its chief executive told Reuters on Friday.

"We’ll open more stores this year. We’ll reopen a flagship store in Beverly Hills and also have projects in the Middle East and China," Chabi Nouri said in an interview during the Watches & Wonders virtual industry event taking place this week.

Known for its ultra-thin watches, Piaget has 130 stores exclusively dedicated to the brand and also 300 external points of sales at retail partners.

Richemont, which also owns Cartier, said in January that strong Chinese demand helped sales rise 5% in the final quarter of 2020.

Nouri said e-commerce was growing strongly for Piaget, which also makes jewellery and diamond- or gem-studded timepieces, but it needed a combination of all three channels - own stores, retail partners and online sales - for its distribution.

She said the COVID-19 pandemic had caused the brand to review the ways it connects with its customers and partners, but hadn't prompted it to adjust its product offering.

For Watches & Wonders, Piaget's novelties included a Limelight Gala Precious Rainbow gold watch set with sapphires in the colours of the rainbow sold for 99,000 Swiss francs ($106,922.99).

($1 = 0.9259 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Toby Chopra)