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It’s an annus horribilis for watches. Swiss exports are down, tariffs are up in the key US market, gold prices are breaking record highs and inflation is pricing out aspirational buyers. Tough times, however, drive innovation.
In 2025, brands cut back on gimmicky one-offs to focus on lasting impact. The Vogue Business innovation audit shows a wave of fresh collaborations across sports and the arts, designed to build cultural capital and reach consumers beyond the collector echo chamber. The result is a reshuffle at the top, with both the usual suspects and fresh challengers leading through original, long-horizon strategies. Interestingly, the most aggressive innovators are often those under the greatest commercial pressure, using new levers to regain momentum. Market leaders — Rolex and Patek Philippe — by contrast, have stuck to proven strategies, prioritizing production increases to meet seemingly inexhaustible demand.
Innovation’s 2025 class
The Vogue Business Watch Index assesses brand innovation across two main pillars: experiences for clients and stakeholders, as well as services for existing and prospective shoppers.
Experiences range from augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) features on brand websites and social media, such as virtual try-on, gamified experiences, collaborations across different media, including film and TV, to connectivity products and NFTs. The services analyzed include virtual consultations and video shopping, traceability, third-party or direct resale services, and the acceptance of cryptocurrency. Research was conducted through an audit of different brands’ long-term and point-in-time activations over the past year, with individual metrics weighted to consumer importance.
The biggest climber was Panerai, rising from 18th place to 10th, thanks to its successful sponsorship of the Italian Luna Rossa sailing team, a competitor in the well-attended America’s Cup. IWC claimed the top spot as this year’s leading innovator, jumping five places with the launch of a line of watches linked to Brad Pitt’s highly anticipated F1 movie. Other strong performers include Jaeger-LeCoultre (up five positions to number eighth), Chopard (up three positions to fourth) and Zenith (up three positions to 16th). Cartier, already in the top five, climbed two spots to secure second place, while Breitling — last year’s leader — now sits third, although the brand just announced a major sponsorship program in the US.
Audemars Piguet saw the biggest decline in the innovation ranking, slipping five places to seventh, despite the high-profile celebrations of its 150th anniversary. Other brands have also shown some softening. Rolex and Patek Philippe both dropped two positions to 17th and 18th, respectively, while Longines held steady at 20th, among the 20 brands analyzed.
The next move in sports sponsorships
While watchmakers continue to innovate with movements and functions, much of this progress remains, as Oliver R. Müller, founder of Swiss watch consultancy LuxeConsult, describes it, “a non-disruptive game of small steps”. Müller is referring to Rolex’s latest Land-Dweller, unveiled at this year’s Watches Wonders fair. Often, it’s not the technical innovations themselves, but the services and communications surrounding these launches that capture audience attention.
For an industry still seen as elitist and pressured to attract new enthusiasts to boost sales, it’s no surprise that media and communications see the greatest investment from watchmakers, fueling increasingly inventive storytelling and brand activations. Services, by contrast, have remained largely unchanged.
IWC’s ascent is the result of a two-pronged strategy: broadening its female appeal, including via Gisele Bündchen’s longtime ambassadorship and her buzzy appearance at last year’s Watches Wonders fair, and capitalizing on its longstanding ties to Formula One.
After years of sponsoring the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, IWC has taken its association with the sport to the next level. By combining its motorsport heritage with Hollywood storytelling, for the first time in watch history, IWC has launched a collection directly inspired by and featured in Joseph Kosinski’s F1 movie. IWC backed the production through sponsorship, which documents the life of fictional driver Sonny Hayes, played by Pitt, who, like all other characters in the movie, wears an IWC timepiece. Among the standout pieces is the Ingenieur Automatic, featuring a patterned green dial personally requested by Pitt to match his character’s look, and the Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41, worn on-screen by Damson Idris.
While it’s too soon to measure the impact on sales, the collaboration has already succeeded in pushing IWC’s messaging beyond its usual circle of watch enthusiasts. Notably, the brand is now positioning the Ingenieur Automatic as a women’s watch — echoing Chanel’s strategy when it cast Pitt in a campaign for its flagship No. 5 fragrance.
Innovative sports sponsorship has also been the focus at Breitling. Last year, the Swiss watchmaker and the American National Football League (NFL) announced a partnership that granted Breitling licensing rights for all 32 NFL teams. That collaboration has since taken a step further, with Breitling being named the league’s official timepiece partner.
To mark the announcement, Breitling unveiled two NFL Team Edition collections: the Chronomat Automatic GMT NFL and the Endurance Pro NFL, designed in each team’s colors and logos.
The multi-year agreement represents a truly global luxury watch partnership, spanning not only US games but also the 2025 NFL International Games in São Paulo, London, Berlin and Madrid. In the States, the brand has a presence at key NFL moments, including Super Bowl XL and the NFL Honors, while in 2026, it will present custom watches to select award winners. This marks the first time a heritage Swiss brand has branched out from golf, tennis or F1, instead tapping into America’s most-watched sport.
Breitling is also releasing a collection of women’s watches, unveiling aspects of the brand’s legacy with female figures that were previously little known.
Harnessing partnerships for cultural capital
Watchmakers have long displayed their timepieces in cultural institutions or their own boutiques to engage new audiences. This year, however, two maisons have elevated this well-worn but effective strategy, delivering projects with greater ambition and cultural resonance.
“Cartier”, a blockbuster exhibition at London’s V&A Museum, offered a rare look at the maison’s distinctive style in one of London’s most-visited cultural institutions.
Among the highlights is the Santos of 1904, considered the first modern men’s wristwatch. It marked a turning point in watchmaking by shifting from pocket to wristwatch at a time when wristwatches were perceived as too “feminine”. Another standout is the 1914 Mystery Clock, whose hands appear to float in mid-air and so-called because Louis Cartier is said to have never revealed its secret even to his own sales staff. Presenting these pieces in the context of such a major exhibition, supported by photographs and film excerpts of celebrities wearing them, heightens their cultural significance and strengthens Cartier’s communications strategy.
Vacheron Constantin has also continued to draw on its longstanding partnership with museums to highlight its horological artistry. On September 16th, the brand unveiled La Quête du Temps, an ambitious project marking the maison’s 270th anniversary with two key creations. The first, a monumental automaton clock, was displayed at the Louvre as part of the “Mécaniques d’Art” exhibition. The second, the Métiers d’Art Tribute to The Quest of Time wristwatch, a limited-edition of only 20 pieces that mirrors the clock’s aesthetic and mechanical complexity.
Vacheron Constantin’s partnership with the Louvre began in 2019, though the relationship dates back to 2016, when the museum invited the brand to restore an 18th century astronomical clock, La Création du Monde. This meticulous three-year project is now exhibited alongside the new Quest of Time piece.
Case study: IWC perfects product placement
Product placement in movies is hardly new, but IWC has set a new benchmark for the practice, turning what was once a subtle brand cameo into an explicit, comprehensive collaboration — and it did so with one of the year’s most-anticipated sports films. As official partner of the Apple Original F1 film, IWC was embedded into the fictional world of the movie’s racing team, APX GP.
The Swiss watchmaker’s logo appeared prominently on the front wing and halo of the team’s cars, as well as on the drivers’ race suits, helmets, gloves and crew uniforms, giving IWC an on-screen presence that feels authentic to the sport. Watches from IWC’s Pilot’s collection served as the team’s official timepieces.
To coincide with the film’s release, IWC unveiled several of the on-screen models as fully realized watches. Chief among them are the Ingenieur Automatic 40 and the Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41. The brand even collaborated with cast members on their specifications and hosted themed experiences at motoring events such as the Goodwood Members’ Meeting, where cars featured in the film appeared alongside IWC installations and watches.
By openly backing the film, collaborating with its actors and creating live crossover experiences, IWC embedded itself into the cultural moment. The approach lent the brand prime screen time, as well as an entry point into the global Formula One conversation.
Q&A: Georges Kern
CEO | Breitling
This year, Breitling launched a women’s watch and signed a partnership with the NFL. Are these signs of a reset at Breitling, or are the projects a continuation of what has been done before?
Firstly, we wanted to establish and occupy a global partnership in sports, just as other watch brands have done with golf or tennis. With the NFL, we have now achieved exactly that by becoming the league’s first luxury watch partner. NFL is the most quintessentially American sport imaginable; it is part of American culture across generations. It’s about team spirit, strength, tactics, strategy, values that align with our own.
Secondly, we’ve grown our female clientele in the last seven to eight years from less than 1% to about 14% by offering a distinctive range of watches. Breitling has always created timepieces for women. Back in the 1940s, Willy Breitling’s Premier line transformed the chronograph from a precision tool into a stylish statement, even designing one of the first chronographs specifically for women.
The launch of Lady Premier rounds out Breitling’s women’s collection, ranging from sporty performance to this refined elegance.
Breitling was the first brand to introduce lab-grown diamonds. A few years on, how do you assess this switch? Was it the right decision and what has been the clients’ reaction?
We’re delivering on our commitment to establish traceability for products containing artisanal, small-scale gold or lab-grown diamonds, and thus bear the Breitling Origins Label. Traceability along the value chain is an important aspect of how we are adding value to our products by building on their inherent beauty and craftsmanship. In just one year after the launch of the Origins Label, that share has increased from a third to a half, keeping pace with our public target to achieve full traceability by the end of March 2026. At the same time, they are catalyzing growth in the female segment, where these materials are mostly prevalent.
The past year has been challenging for luxury. How does one measure success in times of crisis?
In my 30 years in this industry, I have experienced many crises, and there will be more in the future. This one may feel more intense because it is both prolonged and multi-factorial, but we will overcome it.
You cannot control external factors. Instead, you have to focus on what you can influence: creating better products with superior movements, delivering them through more beautiful boutiques, and providing a richer experience for clients.
Ultimately, success in a crisis is about being stronger than your competitors within your segment and gaining market share. That is where all our attention is directed.
Key takeaways:
- Reinventing classic strategies for bigger gains. IWC climbed to first place in the innovation ranking by sponsoring the high-profile F1 film, reinventing traditional product placement and embedding itself in a cultural moment that delivered unprecedented media exposure.
- Sports sponsorships still work. Sport’s universal appeal and natural link to timekeeping have long made it a key industry partner, but brands must venture into new disciplines to gain extra momentum. Panerai’s partnership with the Luna Rossa sailing team and Breitling’s breakthrough NFL partnership each generated attention and expanded reach beyond the usual watch-sport association.
- Cultural collaborations continue to resonate. Partnerships with museums and cultural institutions elevate a brand’s status and connect it with discerning audiences. When deep and long-lasting, sponsorships can create real impact, like the Cartier and Vacheron Constantin exhibitions at the V&A and Louvre, respectively.
