How Charriol Plans To Grow In India Through Its Helios Partnership

Waiting for the perfect wave and waiting for the perfect moment to launch a watch collection may seem worlds apart. For Coralie Charriol, they are surprisingly similar. The CEO of Swiss watch and jewellery atelier Charriol is an avid surfer who took up the sport later in life, becoming so obsessed that every family holiday soon revolved around finding the next surf break. Today, she sees the business much the same way she sees the ocean: a constant exercise in timing, patience and knowing when to ride the right wave.

"I'm on my surfboard and I'm waiting for the wave. It's like asking what's the right time to launch a watch or what's the right time to enter a market. Then all of a sudden I see it and think, okay, this is the wave, let's get on it," smiles Coralie. One of those waves is India. Two years after Charriol entered the country through its partnership with Helios, Coralie believes the Swiss brand is arriving at exactly the right moment. As India's luxury watch market expands beyond established status symbols and consumers increasingly seek individuality, Charriol's distinctive identity built around its signature stainless-steel cable design and a philosophy of "Live Different’ may be more relevant than ever.

"We're here at the right time," she says. Founded in 1983 by Philippe Charriol after a successful career at Cartier, the independent family-owned brand has always taken a different route from traditional Swiss watchmakers. Under Coralie's leadership, that spirit of individuality is being amplified for a new generation of consumers, particularly women, and for emerging luxury markets such as India.

The cable remains the defining element of Charriol's DNA. Inspired by the stainless-steel cables used in Swiss mountain transport systems, the material undergoes a painstaking 27-step artisanal process in Switzerland before finding its way onto watches and jewellery. "It was his really genius move. He made it very iconic Charriol because of this stainless-steel cable material. His identity was there, the DNA of the brand was there."

That distinctive design language helped Charriol carve out a niche in luxury watchmaking. More importantly, Philippe Charriol understood early on that the cable could transcend watchmaking and become jewellery. Long before the luxury industry embraced lifestyle branding, Charriol launched watches and jewellery simultaneously, targeting both men and women. "He was very avant-garde. He launched watches and jewellery at the same time and focused on men and women simultaneously. He also believed in women as self-purchasers. It's a philosophy I continue to champion today. I want women to be able to come in, trust themselves and pick a watch and buy it themselves and enjoy what they worked hard for to purchase."

A Woman Leading Change

Coralie's path to the CEO's office was anything but conventional. Joining the company in 2000, she immersed herself in nearly every aspect of the business from communications and sales to product development. "I did PR, communications, sales, and travelled around the world. I learned what customers wanted in different markets and brought that information back to the design team."

Her exposure to global consumers gradually shaped the collections that define Charriol today. Following Philippe Charriol's passing in 2019, she assumed leadership of the company and began a significant restructuring and relaunch of the brand. "Everything that you see now in the collection has been from me. I've been able to restructure and relaunch the brand and open in India two years ago. That was a big achievement for me and the brand."

Her approach is encapsulated in a simple yet powerful brand philosophy: Live Different. "My father's slogan was L'Art de Vivre la Différence the art of living the difference. I shortened it and made it more punchy: Live Different. We encourage people to be unique, stand out from the crowd, don't be a follower, but go with your own style and have your own voice."

The Rise of the Female Watch Collector

One of the most striking aspects of Coralie's leadership is her unwavering focus on women in watchmaking. As the industry increasingly courts female collectors, Charriol finds itself in a unique position. Unlike many brands now rushing to create dedicated women's collections, Charriol has spent four decades speaking directly to female consumers.

"All of a sudden, the big brands that were very focused on male products are saying, 'Oh wait, the women. We should do something for them. Well, Charriol has been doing something for them for 40 years," she says with a laugh.  She believes women represent one of the industry's most important growth opportunities not just as buyers but as enthusiasts and collectors. "Women are incredible buyers," she says. "And we don't buy just one watch. We buy multiple watches." Yet she also acknowledges that education remains crucial. "A lot of women don't know the difference between quartz and automatic. We have a bit of education to do."

To address this, Charriol hosts mother-daughter watchmaking masterclasses where participants disassemble and reassemble movements while learning the vocabulary of horology. "When somebody gives you a watch, instead of saying, 'Oh, it's pretty,' you can say, 'I like the bezel' or 'It's a skeleton movement.' Suddenly you're in a different conversation."

Swiss-Made, French at Heart

Although Charriol is unmistakably Swiss in its manufacturing standards, the brand's personality feels distinctly French. "All our watches are Swiss-made. The cable is 100% made in Switzerland. It's our secret sauce," says Coralie. At the same time, the maison embraces a lifestyle-oriented approach rarely seen in traditional Swiss watchmaking. "The overall feeling of Charriol is really French with Swiss-made," she explains. "It's independent yet international. It's fun. It's luxury. And it is meant to bring you joy."

That philosophy is perhaps best embodied by the Saint-Tropez collection, inspired by the famed resort town in southern France. Combining jewellery aesthetics with practical timekeeping, it remains one of the brand's most recognisable creations more than four decades after its debut. "Saint-Tropez is about casual luxury, being barefoot, joie de vivre. My father loved it," says Coralie. 

Riding the Indian Wave

India represents one of Charriol's most promising growth markets. The brand entered the country two years ago through a partnership with Helios, at a time when India's appetite for luxury watches is accelerating rapidly. While established Swiss brands continue to expand their footprint, Coralie believes there is room for a different proposition.

"We have a lot of work to do, but we have a great partner," she says. "I'm very happy working with Helios. They are really supportive." For Coralie, however, the real opportunity lies in India's evolving consumer mindset. "Yes, there are fashion followers and brand-conscious consumers. But I feel there's enough people in India to be unique and say, 'You know what? I'm not going to follow the crowd. I want a more unique product that talks to my style."

That perspective aligns closely with Charriol's own positioning. Rather than competing directly with mainstream luxury brands, the maison is targeting consumers who value individuality and personal expression. "I think we're here at the right time," she says. Having first visited India at the age of 15, Coralie has witnessed the country's transformation firsthand. "I think the Indian people are overall very happy people. They like to celebrate life. It's a very rich culture, and I think it's exciting for such a rich culture to also be open to discovering watches." Her description of India could easily double as a description of Charriol itself: colourful, expressive and unapologetically different. "Colorful, happy, don't take yourself too seriously. I think it's mirrored in Charriol as a brand as well,” concludes Coralie.