Editor’s Note
This article explores how luxury watchmakers are incorporating Mexican national colors and cultural motifs into special editions, signaling a strategic focus on this growing market.
When watch brands go to Mexico, they often display the national colors.
Last year, at the Salón Internacional Alta Relojería in Mexico City, at least three brands — Manufacture Royale, HYT, and Maurice Lacroix — presented special series or unique pieces featuring the green, white, and red colors of the Mexican flag.
The allusions to Mexico went beyond just colors. Minase, an independent Japanese brand, presented a watch that combined the traditional Seigaiha wave motif with the Mexican emblem of an eagle with a serpent in its beak; Hublot had an edition of its Spirit of Big Bang collection with a strap made from nopal cactus fiber; Bovet offered a watch with a miniature portrait of Benito Juárez, Mexico’s first indigenous president; and Louis Moinet showcased its Fuego Nuevo model, with the Aztec Sun Stone engraved on a meteorite dial.
Here, collectors often appreciate watches that pay homage to their country.
said Carlos Alonso, founder and general director of the watch salon, better known as SIAR. Of course, Mexican enthusiasts also buy many other watches.
In fact, the country was among the world’s fastest-growing markets in 2023 and 2024, according to figures from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, a non-profit trade organization.