Van Cleef and Arpels Archives

There’s an idea that doesn’t get enough attention in jewellery. It explains more about who wins commercially in this industry than almost anything else. It’s called a product franchise, not a brand, not a collection, but a single design that keeps generating revenue year after year.

The word is borrowed from business, where a franchise is a system that replicates value reliably. Applied to a product, it means the same thing: a design idea that keeps producing returns long after the initial launch investment has been made.

A CEO that I once had the pleasure of working for and who shall remain anonymous, always referenced the Nike Air Force 1 as the ultimate example of a product franchise. Launched in the early 1980’s the Air Force 1 has been in continuous production ever since – and I believe it’s the only shoe in Nike’s history that has never been officially retired. Estimated annual sales are close to $1 billion, based almost entirely on the strength of the original design.

What makes it the clearest example across any consumer category is that it hits every point on the franchise tick list simultaneously. The identity is fixed. Cultural adaptions are used to drive demand, think new colourways, Travis Scott collaborations & limited-edition drops. Each update creates a new reason to buy again without ever altering the base identity of the product and consistently creating relevance to refresh the Air Force 1 franchise.

Jewellery’s Blockbuster Franchises

In the jewellery world we have The Love bracelet. The Charm bracelet. The Alhambra. These aren’t just iconic pieces. They’re machines. Revenue systems that compound over time because the product itself creates the conditions for the next purchase. That’s a fundamentally different thing from having a bestseller, and the distinction matters enormously if you’re running a jewellery brand.

The biggest unit-volume franchise in jewellery is Pandora’s charm bracelet. Nearly three quarters of a $5 billion business is in one product concept! Analyst estimates suggest charm bracelets account for around 70-72% of sales. That’s an extraordinary level of dependency and a key driver behind Pandora’s commercial success.

The quandary must be regularly discussed within their strategic departments and boardroom, as to how future proof the business: Diversify too fast and you dilute the franchise that built the business or stay the course, staying concentrated and be over exposed to a core idea that may lose cultural relevance.

The two most iconic jewellery franchises are Cartier’s Love Bracelet and Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra. According to Richemont’s FY2026 Annual Results, the Jewellery Maisons division, driven by Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, delivered combined sales of €16.5 billion, up 14% at constant exchange rates. Richemont does not break down sales by individual franchise, but it is estimated that the Love and Alhambra franchises represent a highly significant share of their respective Maisons’ commercial volume.

The Richemont franchise playbook is remarkably consistent and shares an underlying logic: the icon is the constant, never touch the motif, rotate the materials, change the scale, extend the categories, create seasonal variations & build cultural relevance. The customer who already owns a piece already has a reason to want the next one. The franchise stays fresh without ever becoming something different.

Cartier’s most significant recent update was last year’s introduction of Love Unlimited a modern iteration which features tactile, flexible bands of gold which are simpler to slip on and off the skin.

The Engagement Ring Franchise

The engagement ring is probably the most powerful product franchise in any consumer industry. It is a single product idea that has generated billions in annual revenue without ever needing a redesign. But De Beers built it in 1947 and didn’t own it. The value flowed to every retailer that ever sold a solitaire. In almost every other industry, the company that creates the franchise captures it. In bridal, the creator gave it away to the entire market.

That makes it a vulnerable foundation to everyone in the bridal category. Headwinds affecting the sector currently include lab-grown diamonds disrupting the value equation, declining marriage rates in key western markets and younger consumers questioning the ritual of marriage itself.

Why most brands never build one

First, the reason to come back must live inside the product. What that means in practice is that something about the product’s design creates an inherent pull back to the brand, without the brand having to manufacture a reason externally. The charm bracelet has empty space on it the day you buy it. The Love bracelet needs another person to put it on. The Alhambra comes in a new stone every season without ever changing its shape. The product gives the customer their own reason to return. That’s what makes it different from a transaction. A transaction is complete the moment the customer walks out of the store. A franchise product is never quite complete.

Second, it takes time. A lot more time than most businesses are prepared to give. The Love bracelet wasn’t iconic in its first decade. The Alhambra wasn’t being copied straight away. Culture cements a franchises status; brands don’t get to declare it at launch. That sits badly with quarterly targets, which is exactly why so few brands manage to build one.

Third, the product has to mean something and that meaning has to be transferable. The Love bracelet survives not because it’s beautiful but because it can be given. The charm bracelet survives because it tells a story. Beautiful products sell. Products that mean something keep selling. That’s the difference, and it’s a bigger gap than most product teams realise.

What this means for brand strategy

For jewellery brands without an established franchise, the question is not “what should our hero product be?” It is “what is the mechanism by which our customer returns?”

Map your current bestsellers and ask: does the customer who bought this have a structural reason to buy again? Is there a symbolic occasion that recurs? Is there a design system with empty space in it? Is there a motif that can be extended or seasonally rotated without losing its identity? If the answer to all of those is no, the product may sell — but it takes more to be a blockbuster franchise.

For more read The Week That Clarified Everything: Jewellery Is the Main Event

Jewellers are getting creative when it comes to the price of gold, and the results are exciting new designs

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Every year in April Geneva becomes the centre of the watch universe as the industry descends on the city. Brands unveil their newest launches, while the press, retailers and collectors fly in from every place imaginable. Watches & Wonders 2026 did not disappoint.

It was hard to pick highlights, but these are the seven watches I can’t stop thinking about.

7. Piaget Swinging Pebbles necklace watch

Piaget Swinging Pebbles (5) — Piaget Swinging Pebbles – CREDIT: Piaget

Piaget is a brand that blurs the lines between jewellery and watches. The Swinging Pebbles necklace watch from their 2026 collection is a stunning example of their duality. There are three different pendant watches to choose from. Each one is crafted from stone – golden tiger’s eye, grass-green verdite, and pietersite, a rare storm-patterned stone with shifting blues, golds and browns that looks almost alive in different light.

Each stone is hollowed out to hold a tiny Piaget Manufacture movement and then resealed back into a pebble. There are no visible joins, no interruption to the surface. The watch hangs from a hand-twisted gold chain like a sautoir. It’s a piece of jewellery first and a watch second. That’s the Piaget philosophy going back to 1969, and they’ve never executed it more beautifully.

6. Vacheron Constantin Overseas Ultra-Thin

Vacheron Constantin unveiled the new watch at Watches and Wonders 2026 — Vacheron Constantin Overseas

The Vacheron Overseas has always been one of our favourites. We’ve already seen a tourbillon, as worn by our Summer cover star Aidan Turner. However Vacheron Constantin have done the impossible this year and made the thinnest Overseas ever produced. This is watch that has historically been associated with sport and substance and has always been a bit chunky, now it’s reimagined as something almost impossibly slender. The integrated bracelet, the clean dial, the brand’s signature Maltese cross have all been refined. Photographs don’t do it justice, it has to be seen in the metal. Vacheron’s quiet confidence at its best.

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5. Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune

One of the most extraordinary watches at this year’s fair, and probably one of the most unlikely to be on a best of list. But we can’t stop thinking about it. Van Cleef & Arpels spent four years developing the movement for the Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune. It’s a 42mm white gold watch with an aventurine glass dial in which the sun and moon move across a 24-hour sky cycle, paired with a precise moon phase complication that mirrors the actual 29.5-day lunar cycle. At the push of a button, the dial animates and reveals the current lunar phase. It’s technically extraordinary and deliberately beautiful. It’s dreamy. The kind of watch that you’d never think to buy but when you see it, it instantly captivates you.

4. Rolex Oyster Perpetual Jubilee dial

How were Rolex going to celebrate 100 years of their Oyster case? In 1926 the idea of a waterproof case was impossible, yet Hans Wilsdorf, Rolex’s founder achieved it, and with it he created a legend. To celebrate Rolex have brought back the Jubilee motif which was first seen in the 1970s. Now it’s been rendered in ten contrasting colours across the entire dial. Each colour is applied individually, one layer at a time over a period of 8 hours for each colour. Rolex’s quiet understatement has been thrown under the bus This is a celebration piece. At $6,750 it’s the most accessible watch on this list. It will also be one of the most difficult watches to lay your hands on.

Read more: Rolex brings back the Jubilee dial

3. Bvlgari Octo Finissimo 37mm

Bvlgari’s watch director Fabrizio Buonamassa has spent a decade since launching his Bvlgari Octo Finissimo breaking world records for thinness. The thinnest automatic, thinnest tourbillon, thinnest minute repeater. For 2026, Bvlgari he did something else, he made it smaller.

The new 37mm version required an entirely new movement, developed over three years. The BVF 100 micro-rotor calibre, achieving 20% more power reserve in roughly 20% less volume. The result is a watch that actually fits better on the wrist than the original. Not only that, it actually looks better too, sleeker lines, better ergonomics to the wrist.

Everything that makes the Octo Finissimo great – the Roman-inspired octagonal geometry, the stepped bezel, and the architectural lines. They all work slightly better in 37mm.

It’s available in sandblasted titanium from $16,600 and polished titanium, but for something punchier, the 18K yellow gold version was genuinely hard not to make our number one. For collectors, the standout piece is probably the minute repeater version — at 37mm, it remains the world’s thinnest minute repeater ever made. Bvlgari almost started again from scratch, but the new 37mm has perfected the Finissimo.

2. Cartier Santos-Dumont with obsidian dial and gold mesh bracelet

Cartier Santos Dumont at Watches and Wonders 2026 – CREDIT: Cartier

The Santos-Dumont is arguably the world’s first wristwatch. Louis Cartier designed it for his friend the pilot Alberto Santos-Dumont in 1904 so he could check the time while flying his plane. In 2026, Cartier have tweaked it slightly to make it a little bit more desirable. In my opinion it’s always been missing a gold bracelet. They’ve created a flexible gold mesh bracelet inspired by their own 1920s archive work, and an obsidian dial sourced from Mexico, cut to just 0.3mm thick. The volcanic stone is full of tiny trapped air bubbles that create iridescent reflections, no two dials look identical. Yellow gold case, gold mesh bracelet, dark obsidian dial. We couldn’t stop talking about it, any other year it would be the watch of the show.

The Patek Philippe Nautilus 5610 for the model's 50th anniversary — The Patek Philippe Nautilus 5610 for the model’s 50th anniversary

1. Patek Philippe Nautilus 50th anniversary

Fifty years since Gérald Genta sketched the Nautilus on a restaurant napkin in five minutes, Patek Philippe marked the occasion with four limited-edition pieces. They’re all in white gold or platinum, no steel, and no complications. Just the watch, in its original perfect design. The standout is the Ref. 5810/1G, a 41mm white gold Jumbo with a sunburst blue dial and a 22K gold mini-rotor engraved with “50 1976–2026.” But then there’s the desk clock. Patek surprised everyone, who expected a desk clock? The Nautilus for your table rather than your wrist. It’s limited to just 100 pieces. Patek rarely surprise. This year they did and, for me, it was the highlight of the fair.

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