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Movado designs, makes, and sells watches and jewelry under many brand names.
Movado Group sells watches. That's the core of it. The company owns its own brands — most importantly Movado, the museum-dial watch with the single dot at 12 o'clock — and it also licenses other people's brands to make watches under their names. Movado's own brands include Movado, Concord, Ebel, and Olivia Burton. Its licensed brands include Coach, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, and Calvin Klein. So think of it as a watch company that both builds its own labels and rents famous fashion names to slap on its watches. Customers are regular people shopping at department stores, jewelers, and online, plus its own Movado outlet stores and website.
Here's how the money works. The licensed-brand business is the biggest chunk of sales — roughly half or more of revenue in recent years — and it's basically a volume game: lots of watches sold at moderate prices through department stores and discount channels. The Movado brand itself sits higher up, sold through jewelers and Movado's own stores, and carries better margins. The company also runs a small retail segment through its outlet stores. The catch is that watches are a discretionary purchase. When shoppers feel pinched, they delay buying a new watch, and Movado feels it fast. Sales have been soft lately, with revenue declining and the company leaning on cost cuts to protect profit.
Movado started in 1881 in Switzerland, and the museum-dial design from 1947 is what made it famous. Today the business is run from Paramus, New Jersey, which matters because it's really a marketing and brand-management company more than a manufacturer — most watches are made in Switzerland or Asia and shipped worldwide. The company pays a dividend and has bought back stock over the years, returning cash to shareholders rather than making big acquisitions. The big question for a curious reader: can a mid-priced watch company stay relevant when smartwatches own the wrist and luxury watchmakers own the prestige? That's the whole bet.
Saved answer · last researched 11 Oct 2026