Tiffany & Co. veteran Catherine Lacaze (pictured) has been appointed the new watches and jewelry director for Louis Vuitton, a spokesperson for the Paris-based luxury brand confirmed to JCK.

News of her appointment was first reported by WWD.

She replaces Hamdi Chatti, according to the newspaper, who is leaving Louis Vuitton after nine years serving as the brand’s vice president of jewelry and watches.

Lacaze’s varied résumé includes 20 years of luxury jewelry marketing experience, in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She comes to Louis Vuitton from Tiffany & Co., where for five years she served as the noted retailer’s vice president of North American marketing.

According to her LinkedIn profile, prior to coming to Tiffany & Co., Lacaze served as global vice president of marketing and communications, jewelry, for Harry Winston; assistant vice president of marketing for Cartier; director of marketing for De Beers LV, which was then a collaboration between De Beers and Louis Vuitton’s parent company, LVMH; and retail director for Van Cleef & Arpels. She also founded Of the Essence, a marketing consultancy. She has an MBA from HEC Paris.

At Louis Vuitton, she joins another notable Tiffany veteran, Francesca Amfitheatrof, who in April became artistic director for Louis Vuitton’s watch and jewelry division. Amfitheatrof served as Tiffany’s first female design director from 2013 to 2017, where she is credited with developing the company’s successful Tiffany T and Return to Tiffany lines.

This is the second major diamond and jewelry executive appointment LVMH has made in recent weeks. Last month, it appointed veteran beauty and cosmetics executive Stéphane Bianchi as new CEO of its watchmaking division, which comprises watch brands TAG Heuer, Hublot, and Zenith. Bianchi’s appointment is effective Nov. 1. He will also directly lead the TAG Heuer brand. He replaced industry stalwart Jean-Claude Biver, who remains the division’s nonexecutive chairman.

(Photo via: LinkedIn)

Rob Bates

JCK News Director