LVMH’s Tag Heuer Opens Largest Boutique At Sea On Carnival Jubilee

10.04.2024 - 08:01 / forbes.com

Tag Heuer, a star performer in the watches portfolio of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton last year, has opened a 550-square-foot boutique on Carnival Jubilee, marking the biggest standalone store for the luxury brand at sea.

The launch on one of Carnival’s flagship vessels—plying a Gulf of Mexico route from this Saturday—is the latest in the brand’s expansion in the duty-free cruise channel. Jubilee’s seven-day cruise starts at Galveston, Texas with stops along Mexico’s Riviera Maya.

Cruise retailer Starboard is the operator of the store and continues a partnership that spans more than 20 years. Like Tag Hauer, Starboard was, until recently, also controlled by LVMH before the French luxury group sold most of its stake to Florida-based Gissy Investments, to form a new joint-venture company called Global Travel Retail Holdings.

In a statement about the new watch boutique, Starboard’s president and CEO Lisa Bauer talked of “nurturing guests on their shopping journey at sea” and connecting them with “perfect” vacation mementos.

Tag Heuer plans to do more than that. Last year, the brand celebrated the 60th anniversary of its Carrera collection with the launch of the Glassbox ($6,450*) and a five-minute-movie campaign starring Ryan Gosling that’s had more than 20 million views on YouTube. The brand is also expanding its range designed in partnership with Porsche.

Onboard Carnival Jubilee, Tag Heuer’s boutique is a modern affair, paying homage to the brand’s motor-sport heritage with bold blue and orange hues that make a distinct impression. The retail concept was created in-house by the brand’s design and architecture team in Switzerland.

Franck Suznjevic, Tag Heuer’s executive vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, said: “There is huge momentum with Tag Heuer clientele in cruise retail and, together with Starboard, we are committed to delivering precision, performance, and savoir-faire for new and existing customers at sea.”

Among the products that are expected to grab the attention of cruise passengers are some nautical-themed timepieces. They include the Carrera Skipper ($6,750, see main image above), said to be a tribute to Tag Heuer’s “return to the high seas and sailing heritage.”

Though it has a traditional chronograph look, the watch stands out thanks to an eye-catching trio of colors in the two mini dials surrounded by a brushed main dial in Carrera’s signature blue, a tone inspired by the sea.

Other special models include the technical precision of the Tag Heuer Monaco Skeleton ($10,750), integrating, for the first time, a complex skeleton dial with bold colors in a square format; the Carrera Chronosprint x Porsche ($9,200); and Aquaracer Solargraph collection (from $2,150).

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