This morning, LVMH followed through on its recent statement that it was on the acquisition trail and announced that it had bought Hublot, an upmarket Swiss watchmaker with 2007 sales of nearly $150M, and a particularly strong presence in China and India.

The acquisition of Hublot brings it into LVMH’s existing watch portfolio of TAG Heuer, Dior Montres, and Louis Vuitton watches.

Hublot was founded by Carlo Crocco in 1980. The Geneva-headquartered company has a selective distribution network limited to 300 stores worldwide and LVMH said Hublot was expected to have “very significant increase in revenue” in 2008. — (Via Reuters)

The deal also suggests that watches are replacing bags as the most competitive area in the global luxury marketplace. We can expect more watchmaker acquisitions in the months to come.

With determination, and unusually gritty vocabulary, Cartier announces its plan to extend its “muscle and structure” into the Middle East.

“Our big challenge today is to continue to develop our visibility and to maintain our excellent standards of customer service. Cartier wishes to be as close to its customers as possible. This implies we need to open more and bigger boutiques. After these outlets are established, we need trained staff. We therefore need to invest in new retail stores as well as on getting the best available and best-trained personnel for our stores.” — (Via Emirates Business)

The repositioning of Samsonite - from a dependable suitcase vendor - to multibrand luxury powerhouse has been astonishingly fast. President and CEO Marcello Bottoli has created a new positioning based on adapting strategies from Procter & Gamble, and Louis Vuitton, and by attracting a showcase of talent such as Alexander McQueen, and Viktor & Rolf.

The brand has gone from near bankruptcy to sales worth $1B in just 7 years. With the tagline “life’s a journey” it clearly has Louis Vuitton in its immediate sights, but there is an energy at the brand, and a sense of ambition, that suggests that it’s happy to go head-to-head with almost anyone…

As well as building on a hugely successful expansion into footwear and a move into the women’s handbag market – “which once would have been considered outrageous,” laughs Bottoli – the current transformation will involve a big push into eyewear, men’s and women’s fashion accessories, timepieces, mobile phones, stationery and various hush-hush projects. — (Via CNBC)

Today Swiss analysts and watchmakers offered confident projections for on-going success in 2008…

Watchmakers are set for further growth in 2008 as strong demand in Asia and the Middle East offsets economic gloom in the US and Europe… Swiss watch exports as a whole grew 16.2 percent to 15.96 billion Swiss francs, with particularly strong demand from Hong Kong.

Bank Vontobel analysts expect watch sales to grow 10 percent in 2008, with the Olympic Games in Beijing giving a particular spur as Omega is one of the official sponsors.

– (Via Agence France Presse)

At a time when the luxury watch business is booming, one of the most interesting strategies has found future promise in practices from the past.

A watchmaker Max Büsser, profiles in early January in the IHT, has rewritten the business model, returning to the origins of the luxury watch business as executed by Breguet 200 years ago; pre-selling and asking for down-payments from retailers to complete the work.

And perhaps equally importantly he has redeployed a strategy that he used while at Harry Winston for celebrating the brand and the designer.

As head of Harry Winston Rare Timepieces… Büsser gave credit where it was due, by putting both the name of the brand and that of the watchmaker alongside the dial and movement. This was something of a breakthrough in the watch world, where companies prefer to highlight the brand name and downplay the designers behind their products.

To Büsser, bringing the design talent out of the backroom and into the spotlight is simply good business. “All these people are usually unsung heroes working for other brands,” he said recently while in Singapore for the introduction of HM2. “For them and for me it’s a win-win situation, because it’s the first time that their names appear somewhere, so they’re going to give it their best.”

It seems like a good strategy all around, including a nice move against counterfeting.

– (Via IHT)

Meanwhile, also from the watch category, it’s worth remembering that a best-in-class marketing initiative across the entire luxury industry can be found in the Rolex Mentor And Protégé Arts Initiative. In a marketing environment where sponsoring new talent sometimes feels opportunistic and short-term, Rolex has demonstrated over 6 years an absolute commitment to its role as a talent incubator.