Montreal-based jeweller Maison Birks is opening two locations in Canada for Richemont-founded luxury multi-brand watch retailer TimeVallée. The first TimeVallée store will open next month in Montreal, and a second will open in 2025 in Vancouver.
Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont founded the TimeVallée concept in 2014, creating an elevated retail environment housing various leading watch brands. The Montreal location for TimeVallée is scheduled to open on September 5 at Royalmount, spanning about 2,800 square feet.
Royalmount’s TimeVallée will feature seven luxury watch brands, including Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Chopard, Grand Seiko, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai and Piaget. The store’s bright interior will feature a curving gold watchband-inspired marquee, also found in other TimeVallée locations worldwide.


Royalmount will be TimeVallée’s 50th location globally, with more than 30 stores in China as well as locations in the Middle East, Japan, South Korea, India, Spain and Switzerland. The first US store recently opened at American Dream in New Jersey. Most locations are standalone with the exception of some concessions in department stores, including in two El Corte Ingles locations in Spain. TimeVallée locations are run by local partners in these markets.
Birks secured the rights to operate TimeVallée’s Canadian stores, a move that will see Birks expand its brand offerings in the highly competitive watch category. Luxury brands at TimeVallée have their own dedicated areas, offering an assortment of watches that in some cases might not be found elsewhere.


Time Valée’s second Canadian location will open in 2025 at the overhauled Oakridge Park in Vancouver, which will be home to some of the world’s top luxury brands. More details will be revealed about the Vancouver TimeVallée store, which will also carry a range of the world’s top watch brands.
“We are proud and thrilled to partner with TimeVallée to bring our knowledge of the Canadian luxury landscape to this innovative luxury watches retail concept.” said Jean-Christophe Bédos, President and CEO of Birks Group Inc. in a statement.“As the demand for high-end watches continues to grow in Canada, Maison Birks is uniquely poised to service the needs of watch enthusiasts.”
The Chateau D’Ivoire jewellery store in downtown Montreal could be most impacted by TimeVallée’s move into the Montreal market — currently six of the seven brands carried at TimeVallée at Royalmount are also listed on the website as being carried at Chateau D’Ivoire, which recently overhauled its expansive storefront on Rue de la Montagne. Royalmount will also become home to other luxury watch brands, which will create a clustering that could become a destination for watch collectors.

Birks is looking to expand its market share across jewellery categories. The retailer is also innovating by launching a new store design, which will include an intimate storefront for Birks-branded jewellery at Royalmount next to TimeVallée. The new store was designed by French luxury retail architecture firm Landmark Architecture.

Birks CEO Jean-Christophe Bedos said in an interview that the retailer is looking to add more brands in the future, in an effort to boost the retailer’s bottom line while bringing the best names in jewellery and watches to Canada. The Chaumet brand from Paris has shown strong sales numbers in Canada at Birks, prompting Birks to make plans to open two standalone storefronts for Chaumet in Canada. One is confirmed to be opening in 2025 at Oakridge Park in Vancouver, and the other will open at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto.
Birks currently operates 24 stores in Canada under the Birks brand, and the retailer also operates banners including the multi-brand Brinkhaus retail concept in Calgary, as well as standalone storefronts in Vancouver for Graff and Patek Philippe on West Georgia Street.

Last year, Birks completed a substantial renovation to its 2,288 square foot store at CF Carrefour Laval near Montreal, including adding a 257 square foot Breitling boutique in an adjacent space. The 4,186 square foot Birks store at CF Chinook Centre in Calgary was also renovated and expanded, with a Rolex shop-in-store added as well. The downtown Vancouver flagship saw a partial renovation with ongoing updates that will soon include a concession for ultra luxury watch brand Roger Dubuis, which also recently opened a store on Bloor Street in Toronto.
Last year Birks closed stores in downtown Winnipeg and Guildford Centre in Surrey, and the year before locations closed in downtown Victoria, downtown Saskatoon, and in Oshawa ON. Bedos said that Birks is evaluating its retail portfolio as it looks to the future of jewellery retail in Canada.
The move to bring TimeVallée to Canada is a positive one, introducing a proven luxury watch concept to the country that also has the backing of Richemont. Bedos said that Birks will continue to innovate and look at new ways of attracting consumers to the retailer, which has operated in Canada since its founding in Montreal in 1879.
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Birks Investing in Stores Including Relocating CF Chinook Centre Location in Calgary [Interview] (March 2023)