Davidoff Cool Water, from 1988 to today

A man, the ocean and the bottles of Deep

In Enrique Badulescu's advertising image for Cool Water Deep, a man is seen emerging from the depth of the ocean toward the light. WWD, which covered the presentation of Deep, wrote that the Cool Water man was no longer fighting against the force and rush of the ocean. Deep, a later version of Cool Water, was launched by Lancaster Group, a European cosmetics and fragrance company, in the spring of 2004, in Europe from March 31.

The fragrance was created by Nathalie Lorson of Firmenich, a fragrance company, and its bottle, in glass and brushed metal, was designed by Thierry de Baschmakoff. The trade publication Moodie Davitt Report wrote that the original version revolved around a very physical confrontation between man and the ocean. Deep, it added, focuses more on serenity, maturity, calm and control. Hugues de la Chevasnerie of Davidoff described the Deep campaign as showing "a man in tune with the ocean, as opposed to fighting it."

A different designer is credited with the bottles of the Cool Water series as a whole: according to ZDF, the German designer Peter Schmidt. ZDF adds that he also made bottles for Jil Sander, Hugo Boss and the classic 4711 Kölnisch Wasser cologne. He died in the summer of 2025, at 87, as ZDF and Design Week reported.

From a cigar merchant in Geneva to the American market, and the numbers

The original version dates from 1988, a men's fragrance that carries the name of Zino Davidoff, a cigar merchant in Geneva. His family settled in the city in 1911, and his father, Henri, opened a tobacco shop there. The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland says that from 1940 Zino made his name as the world's specialist in cigars.

The step toward an international brand came in 1970, when Zino Davidoff joined forces with the Oettinger group of Basel, led by Ernst Schneider. Oettinger Davidoff says Schneider then began to establish Davidoff as an international brand. Cool Water itself was brought to market by Lancaster Group. In 1991, the Christian Science Monitor reported, Lancaster was preparing to enter the United States with Cool Water as its first product.

By 2004, Lancaster executives said, Cool Water had generated sales of $1.75 billion since its launch. Hugues de la Chevasnerie, then Davidoff's international marketing vice president, added that it still ranked among the top ten men's fragrances worldwide, according to Moodie Davitt Report. Coty, the company that now makes Davidoff fragrances, said in 2018 that Cool Water remained among the top ten international men's fragrances and was a best-seller in Germany, the UK, the US and Italy. In a 2025 statement, Coty says that demand surged so much that fragrance counters introduced waiting lists for shoppers. Sales, it adds, broke records in Germany, the UK and the US.

A perfumer who began in political science

Cool Water was created by Pierre Bourdon, who studied political science and graduated from the Paris Institute of Political Studies, according to the perfume house Frédéric Malle. He then retrained at Roure Bertrand Dupont, a fragrance school in Grasse, in southern France. He was the only student of Edmond Roudnitska, a celebrated perfumer.

In 1981 Bourdon created Kouros, a fragrance for Yves Saint Laurent that Per Fumum, a foundation devoted to perfumers' heritage, calls a hit. Cool Water came after it, at Takasago, a Japanese fragrance company founded in Kyoto in 1920. Bourdon was head perfumer at its creation center in Paris, and Cool Water was born there. Premium Beauty News lists Cool Water among the blockbusters of the era of Bourdon and Michel Almairac, the two perfumers who set up that center.

The molecule behind the "new freshness"

The term "new freshness" names a fresh and clean style of fragrance built on a synthetic molecule, one made in a laboratory. The molecule is dihydromyrcenol, DHMOL for short, created by the company IFF, International Flavors & Fragrances. Sylvaine Delacourte, founder of Delacourte Paris, describes it as an extremely fresh molecule. She writes that it was used massively in Drakkar Noir, a fragrance by Guy Laroche from 1982.

Cool Water followed in 1988, and perfume writers such as Delacourte and the perfume house Carrément Belle call it the leader of the new freshness. A 2025 statement from Coty calls it a manifesto for the movement. Delacourte writes that it offered "a scent of clean laundry dried in the open air, tenacious and musky."

According to the brand, Bourdon combined the dihydromyrcenol molecule with lavender in 1988 to create a refreshing new fougère, a family of masculine "barbershop" fragrances. Delacourte describes the classic fougère as built on lavender, geranium and tonka. Coty describes the composition as minimalist, with bold overdoses of some ingredients, and says it broke conventions. The perfume listings cite mint, geranium, cedar, oakmoss, coriander and musk for Cool Water. The sources place them differently, so it is not possible to say in what order they are perceived.

Pristine Seas, Intense and Reborn

In 2012 Coty announced an agreement with the National Geographic Society on March 1. Under it, Cool Water became linked with Pristine Seas, a National Geographic program that explores and protects ocean areas that are still untouched. The agreement began with an expedition to the Pitcairn Islands. In the announcement, Michele Scannavini, president of Coty Prestige, described Cool Water as a fragrance that opened the field of ocean-inspired scents.

In 2014, for the third consecutive year, Cool Water renewed its agreement with the National Geographic Society. The "Love the Ocean" campaign stated that each bottle sold helps protect 10,000 square meters of ocean. TRBusiness added that an exclusive 200 ml edition of Cool Water for men would be revealed to celebrate the success of the Pristine Seas missions.

Coty presented Cool Water Intense in 2019, in a version for men and one for women, with a campaign starring the model Christian Hogue. Cool Water Reborn, a renewal of the line, followed in 2022. Coty's 2023 announcement cites Reborn as an example of the success of its work with Davidoff in rejuvenating the scent. It says the launch recaptured "the essence of the line's early days."

A renewed license and a film

Today Coty makes Davidoff fragrances under a license from Davidoff, the owner of the name. The license was renewed in May 2023, taking the relationship between the two companies beyond twenty years. Moodie Davitt Report writes that the renewed agreement lets Coty update Cool Water, a line the publication calls Davidoff's hero.

In April 2025, Coty and the company 180 Global presented a film titled "Pierre Bourdon, Gentleman Perfumer." It was directed by 180 Global's Luxe unit in collaboration with Coty. According to Coty's announcement, in the film Bourdon reflects for the first time on the behind-the-scenes story of how Cool Water was created.