Richemont Jewelry Sales Rise 16% in Q4

Reported by Vogue.

Jewelry is doing what jewelry does best right now: making everyone else look slow. Richemont — the Swiss conglomerate behind Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Buccellati — posted full-year sales of €22.4 billion for fiscal 2026, an 11% year-on-year increase, with a net cash position of €8.5 billion. But the real headline is Q4: jewelry sales surged 16%, blowing past analyst expectations of 11% and edging out the prior quarter's already-strong 14% growth, according to Vogue. Specialist watchmakers (Vacheron Constantin, Piaget) grew a more modest 2%, while the "Other" category — which includes fashion houses Chloé and Alaïa — rose 7% despite broader category headwinds.

The numbers land in the middle of what Jefferies analyst James Grzinic called "the strong demand backdrop for branded luxury jewelry." He's not wrong: LVMH's watches and jewelry division was up 7% in Q1, Kering's jewelry climbed 22%, and Hermès jewelry rose nearly 10%. Richemont is outpacing all of them. Bernstein analyst Luca Solca noted Richemont's jewelry maisons are now beating LVMH's fashion and leather goods division by 18 percentage points — up from 17 points the same quarter last year, a gap that keeps widening even as some analysts speculated that a fashion creativity resurgence might pull spending away from fine jewelry. It hasn't.

China, the Americas, and the Art of Staying Relevant

Geographically, Japan led Q4 growth at +28%, followed by the Americas at +18% and Asia-Pacific at +14%. Europe grew 5%. The Middle East and Africa dipped 3% — a knock-on effect of ongoing regional instability — but Richemont chair Johann Rupert was characteristically unbothered: "We just lay low, try to be conservative, and have a clean balance sheet." CEO Nicolas Bos pointed to China as a particular bright spot, pushing back against the narrative that rising local competitors like jeweler Laopu are cannibalizing international brands. His read: Chinese consumers aren't choosing local over global — they're chasing novelty. Buccellati, he noted, is thriving in mainland China precisely because it reads as new. "It's really up to us to make sure that we continue to offer renewal and creativity."

On the Alaïa question — the house has been operating without a named creative director since Pieter Mulier's departure — Bos offered a measured non-answer, praising Mulier's graceful exit and noting the studio is performing well in the interim. No timeline. No announcement. Just patience. Meanwhile, Citi managing director Thomas Chauvet projects 2027 sales up 7% to €23.9 billion, with EBIT facing modest pressure from ongoing costs.

When the rest of luxury is hedging, fine jewelry keeps compounding — and Richemont's results make clear that creativity, not just heritage, is what's keeping the supercycle alive.

Read the original at Vogue.