Cartier Turns to More Discreet Watches to Assuage Guilt: Retail

Cartier, the jeweler whose customers have included the tsar of Russia and actress Elizabeth Taylor, says it’s pulling ahead of luxury rivals with watches that match the tenor of the times for less ostentatious displays of wealth.

Cartier is gaining “a lot” of market share, in part because the economic slowdown is steering consumers toward more discreet timepieces such as the brand’s best-selling Ballon Bleu collection, Chief Executive Officer Bernard Fornas said in an interview in Geneva. He declined to estimate how much share the Paris-based unit of Cie. Financiere Richemont SA may capture.