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Hermes Sales Rise 15.6%, Defying Luxury Downturn as US Posts Strong Growth

A model presents creations by designer Veronique Nichanian as part of her Menswear ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2024 collection show for fashion house Hermes during Men's Fashion Week in Paris, France, June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
A model presents creations by designer Veronique Nichanian as part of her Menswear ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2024 collection show for fashion house Hermes during Men's Fashion Week in Paris, France, June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
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Hermes Sales Rise 15.6%, Defying Luxury Downturn as US Posts Strong Growth

A model presents creations by designer Veronique Nichanian as part of her Menswear ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2024 collection show for fashion house Hermes during Men's Fashion Week in Paris, France, June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
A model presents creations by designer Veronique Nichanian as part of her Menswear ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2024 collection show for fashion house Hermes during Men's Fashion Week in Paris, France, June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Third quarter sales at Birkin bag maker Hermes rose briskly, up 15.6% year-on-year, with the pace of growth slowing only slightly in a show of resilience of its wealthy clientele in spite of economic headwinds.
Sales for the three months to the end of September stood at 3.37 billion euros ($3.60 billion), a 15.6% rise at constant exchange rates, beating a Visible Alpha consensus for 14% growth, with brisk sales in all regions, particularly in the United States, said Reuters.
Analysts have lowered their estimates for the luxury sector in recent weeks, following a sales report from bellwether LVMH earlier this month showing shoppers are splurging less on high end fashion as inflation and economic uncertainty rise.
But Hermes, which caters to shoppers who can afford handbags like the coveted $10,000 plus Birkin model, has a reputation of weathering economic turbulence better than rivals.

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Jeweler's Eye-popping Watch is Love Letter to Albania

The timepiece, worth roughly $1.4 million, is set to face off against the best watches from across the world at the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix in November. ADNAN BECI / AFP
The timepiece, worth roughly $1.4 million, is set to face off against the best watches from across the world at the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix in November. ADNAN BECI / AFP
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Jeweler's Eye-popping Watch is Love Letter to Albania

The timepiece, worth roughly $1.4 million, is set to face off against the best watches from across the world at the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix in November. ADNAN BECI / AFP
The timepiece, worth roughly $1.4 million, is set to face off against the best watches from across the world at the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix in November. ADNAN BECI / AFP

Albanian jeweler Pirro Ruco labored day and night for five years to capture the essence of his country in a spectacular luxury watch.
Now the timepiece, worth roughly $1.4 million, is set to face off against the best watches from across the world at the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix in November, AFP said.
Set under a sapphire dome, the hours are marked by 12 golden folk dancers -- each in different regional dress -- set on Murano glass, the minute and hour hands adorned with eagle talons in homage to Albania's national symbol.
Ruco's rollercoaster rise mirrors that of Albania, from poverty and isolation as the most closed communist regime in Europe, to rollicking capitalism.
Along the way the jeweler overcame jealousy, the secret police and being sent into internal exile to rise to the pinnacle of his profession.
It all began for Pirro -- as he is known in his homeland -- in 1985 when he was asked to make a medal in red and gold bearing the head of Enver Hoxha, the paranoid dictator who ruled the small Balkan nation with an iron fist for more than four decades.
"That saved me," he told AFP from his workshop tucked away in an alley in the capital Tirana.
The medals were awarded to the regime's most loyal supporters and later caught the eye of Hoxha's wife.
The turn of fortune saw thousands more produced and worn by communist cadres across Albania.
"All the congressional delegates had to wear it. I made a name for myself with it," he said. It also saved him from the textile mills where he had been sent because his family had been deemed "rebellious".
'Priceless'
All this, however, was nearly derailed by an anonymous letter sent to authorities accusing Pirro of working with foreign agents.
He was questioned by intelligence agents and his workshop raided.
Down but not out, he was able to bounce back after crafting a ring bearing the image of the late husband of a member of the communist politburo and in July 1990 won a prize for a piece featuring Albania's 15th-century national hero Skanderberg.
But the very next day history intervened. The regime began to crumble and the collapse of Albania's communist rule in 1991 was followed by years of violent tumult as the country transitioned to a free-market economy.
Amid the ups and downs, Pirro stayed busy designing pieces for officials and celebrities.
During a trip to Basel in Switzerland in 2016, something new caught his eye.
"I wanted to make a watch. It was my new dream," he told AFP.
For the next five years, Pirro said he focused on "doing something special, Albanian, and at the same time completely new and never before seen in the watch industry."
The new timepiece which he calls Primordial Passion was designed in collaboration with the Swiss watchmaker Agenhor.
"I never wanted to make jewelry, but art," the jeweler said.
"Sculptures, images of the country, pieces of culture... This watch is the culmination of all that, of this love for Albania," he added.
"It is more than just a watch. It combines the rich heritage of ancient Albanian culture with the notion of chronometry."
Pirro refuses to divulge the methods used to craft the watch, but remains hopeful the painstaking details will be recognized by the judges at the Grand Prix in Geneva.
Several collectors have already contacted him about buying the timepiece, he said, though it would be difficult to part with his creation.
"I set a price because I had to. But for me, it is priceless."