Watches of Switzerland Group to buy Roberto Coin’s US ops

Italian jewellers are clearly in fashion. Just a day after Richemont announced it’s buying Vhernier, UK-based Watches of Switzerland Group had its own big news — it’s buying Roberto Coin Inc (the American arm of the Italian brand) for $130 million.

It said it’s a “significant milestone in the group’s luxury branded jewellery strategy”. The deal was completed this week. 

The ultimate brand owner, Roberto Coin S.p.A., was founded in the Italian city of Vicenza, and designs and manufactures handcrafted jewellery with a ruby signature under the Roberto Coin brand. Its American arm is the sixth-largest jewellery brand in the US by retail value.

And that unit has exclusive perpetual rights to import and distribute the brand’s jewellery throughout the US, Canada, Caribbean and Central America.

The acquired company will continue to operate as an independent, standalone business within WOSG, while the Coin family will retain a seat on the unit’s board and Peter Webster will remain as President of Roberto Coin Inc.

There’s a clear commercial impetus behind the deal. WOSG said that the US precious jewellery market is “by far the world’s largest, and the Roberto Coin brand has developed a strong position in it, competing successfully with other top 10 industry-leading brands such as Cartier, Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari and David Yurman”.

The brand sells to major department stores, jewellery chains, and independent jewellers via more than 400 points of sale

This acquisition builds on WOSG’s “successful partnership” with Roberto Coin, which spans over a decade with the brand available in 16 WOSG showrooms in the US.

It’s an interesting purchase given that watches, rather than jewellery, make up the biggest chunk of WOSG’s sales.

But WOSG said that luxury branded jewellery is a “core pillar” of its growth strategy and “the trend within the global luxury jewellery market is towards branded jewellery which made up 27% of the market in 2024, up from 17% in 2019”.

We’re told the acquisition “builds on the group’s proven capabilities in showcasing luxury brands across both watches and jewellery and will significantly enhance our strategic positioning in the luxury branded jewellery category in the US”.

The company said it will be able to “leverage its operational and retailing expertise to drive incremental growth in the Roberto Coin Inc business, both across wholesale distribution and well as direct to consumer (DTC)” in WOSG’s retail boutiques and online.

It expects margin gains through securing product direct from Roberto Coin S.p.A. and plans to grow the high-end Roberto Coin Collection. And it sees expansion opportunities in wholesale and aims to grow that part of the business, expanding the specific US wholesale network with independent retailers but also growing the export market outside of the US.

As mentioned, that will all happen under the continued leadership of Peter Webster, who’ll be reporting to David Hurley, WOSG’s President North America and Deputy CEO.

WOSG’s own boutiques will also be key and it will increase the number of points-of-sale within the showroom portfolio while opening new monobrand boutiques and franchise stores.

And as well as investing in marketing, including digital, to drive brand awareness, it wants to develop the online proposition.

As for that purchase price, WOSG said $10 million of it is deferred for a year and contingent on the future profitability of the acquired business.

Roberto Coin Inc achieved annual revenue of $146.2 million and pre-tax profit of $30.1 million for the audited financial year ended 31 December 2022. Gross assets at that date were $87.9 million. 2023 preliminary and unaudited revenue was $138.7 million and profit before taxation $30.2 million. 

WOSG CEO Brian Duffey said of all this: “We have partnered with Roberto Coin for over a decade in the US, retailing its elegant jewellery in a number of our Mayors’ showrooms. It is a hugely popular, growing brand, occupying a strong position in the market.

“We believe there is significant opportunity to leverage our proven retail expertise in luxury branded jewellery. The luxury branded jewellery category has consistently outperformed the wider jewellery sector, and we see further strategic and operational opportunities for the business within the broader group.  We are committed to our new wholesale partners and excited to work with them and help them grow with Roberto Coin.

“Today’s strategically and financially attractive acquisition is indicative of our ambition and the momentum we are building in this exciting category. It will allow us to take one of the fastest growing jewellery brands in the US and use our retail and operational expertise to accelerate growth and further elevate the Roberto Coin proposition in North and Central America.”