The top 10 Luxury Watch and Jewelry Brands in China are out – and there’s a new(and perhaps surprising) number one.

The COMPASS China Luxury Index uses a combination of brand generated content and user generated content across multiple platforms; WeChat, Douyin, XiaoHongShu, and Weibo to see which brands have effectively stimulated interest in the Chinese market through the quarter (against the previous quarter).

The full list consists of 42 brands that are primarily Watch and/or Jewelry makers – as such brands such as Gucci and CHANEL are omitted (see our Fashion index for these brands).
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What did we learn:

💎 When I first started working with watches brands, I remember being told by many MDs and CEOs that one of the biggest peculiarities of the Chinese market is that it is perhaps one of the only markets where ROLEX doesn’t own the top spot. Longines Watch Co. Francillon Ltd. is considered the top brand. This was true for the past 3 quarters (for watches) but now the brand can claim the top spot for all watches AND jewelry.

💎 From the top ten it seems to be the watch brands that have done a better job at stimulating the market – OMEGASA rose three places to capture the fourth spot, and Panerai up an impressive 8 spots in at 8

💎 Some other power house brands that appear lower onour list have remained relatively stable, Rolex at 12 down from 11, VanCleef & Arpels holding steady at 13.

💎 The biggest risers? Panerai claimed the third highest riser spot. The other two? Tasaki and Pomellato – interesting to see smaller jewelers rising, and a rise inAsian brands such as Tasaki (as well as Qeelin rising two places) perhaps show a more localized approach.
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💎 The biggest fallers? TAGHeuer has fallen the most, perhaps related to some ofthe troubles regarding celebrities in the past months, with Piaget and Chopard also falling down our ranking significantly.
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Why was Q3 especially important? QiXi festival, the Chinese version of Valentine’s day, fell in the middle of the quarter, and stands as one of the key marketing activation periods for brands. It could beargued it is one of the most important to win for brands in China.
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Moving into Q4 we should expect to see Tiffany& Co. come back strong with its recent historicalrelease of its Blue Book in Shanghai, but will it be enough to trump Longines?Watch this space.

If you have any questions regarding the rest of our rankings, please reach out directly.