Chanel sues watchmaker over ouster from Midtown boutique

Tourneau invited designer to open a stand at its TimeMachine location

From left: Chanel watch, Tourneau's 12 East 57th Street TimeMachine store and a Cartier watch
From left: Chanel watch, Tourneau's 12 East 57th Street TimeMachine store and a Cartier watch

Fashion designer Chanel is suing luxury watchmaker Tourneau after getting the boot from its TimeMachine store just south of Central Park.

Tourneau invited Chanel to open a stand on the ground floor of its store at 12 East 57th Street, between Fifth and Madison avenues. The booth was adjacent to Chanel’s competitor, Cartier International.

Cartier CEO Stanislas de Quercize, enraged by Chanel’s proximity, told Tourneau to get rid of the designer or forfeit its business, according to court papers cited by the New York Post.

Chanel was eventually forced to close up shop, and claimed the move hurt the company’s reputation and its holiday sales figures. Accordingly, it sued Tourneau.

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“Faced with commercial setbacks, Cartier determined that it would lose sales to Chanel if the Chanel Boutique were to operate nearby and preferred leveraging its economic strength to foreclose this competition rather than trying to win that competition in the marketplace,” the suit said.

Chanel watches are no longer being sold at the TimeMachine location or at Tourneau’s satellite store, a Chanel spokesperson told the Post.

Neither Cartier nor Tourneau immediately returned the Post’s messages for comment. [NYP]Julie Strickland