La Montre Hermès Gallops to Growth With Latest Launch

PARIS — The times, they are a-changin’ at La Montre Hermès. Since Laurent Dordet took over as head of the watch division of Hermès in 2015, he has streamlined its retail network, revamped its product lines and overhauled its supply chain, reducing production lead times from six months to 15 days. During that time, the French luxury group switched from exhibiting at the Baselworld fair in Basel, Switzerland, to the rival Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva, cementing its reputation as a Swiss watchmaker that has gradually integrated its production with the acquisition of several of its suppliers. It has also kept pace with a rapidly evolving retail landscape, trimming its wholesale business to focus on its own retail network, which now accounts for more than 75 percent of sales, and more recently, launching third-party online sales through a partnership with Net-a-porter. The efforts have paid off: Against a backdrop of slowing growth for the Swiss watch industry as a whole, Hermès appears to be gaining market share. Its watch sales rose 14.2 percent at constant exchange rates to 139 million euros in the first nine months of 2019, versus an increase of 8.4 percent during the same period last year. This compares

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