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Νέα από τον κόσμο της Ωρολογοποιίας => Επικαιρότητα => Μήνυμα ξεκίνησε από: Alexandros00 στις Μάρτιος 04, 2023, 16:45:25 μμ
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Breitling CEO Georges Kern likes to compare the brand’s luxury watches to a Porsche 911 – old but cool and evolving; ‘different but still modern’ – and says sustainability and technology are key
Since leaving Richemont, where he ran IWC Schaffhausen, Kern has effectively executed a ‘360-degree turnaround’ at Breitling, with the company now struggling to keep up with demand
Luxury watch brand Breitling is struggling to keep up with demand.
We sat down with Georges Kern, the Swiss watchmaker’s CEO, to find out why that is the case. In recent years, Breitling has undergone a transformation and turned into what Kern calls “a generalistic manufacturer”. The luxury CEO shares his strategies for the company’s growth, emphasis on sustainability and his thoughts on technology’s role in the analogue watch industry.
What has been your proudest moment with Breitling so far?
When I took over the brand five years ago, I was taking risks by leaving Richemont. But 18 months in, we saw it was really picking up. We had very strong double-digit growth, which is quite unusual for our industry. Suddenly you have production problems, you don’t ship enough products, the market is screaming and asking for products. This is a different type of problem but a nice problem to have.
What led to this substantial growth?
We changed everything – we had a 360-degree turnaround of the brand and we did a kind of pirouette. Even though we’re still very close to our DNA we changed many things. That was obviously a great moment, because you never know if your strategy or your ideas will work.
We decided really to become a generalistic manufacturer. We offer everything from [the equivalent of] SUVs to convertibles: we cover the whole width of the watch market. We are one of the only watch companies that can do this because we have a history in all these segments.
What are the biggest risks and challenges you have faced?
We wanted to have a growth strategy, but we’re private equity-owned and they tend to cut costs. I always said: this is not a cost-cutting company, this is a major growth story company, because we have such a great back catalogue, heritage and history. We have something you can build on to grow the company.
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Georges Kern, CEO of Swiss luxury watchmaker Breitling, spoke to STYLE. Photo: Handout
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Q&A | Why Breitling is blazing a sustainable trail like no other: the luxury watch brand’s CEO Georges Kern reveals the lengths the company goes to, from lab-grown diamonds to its controversial packaging
Breitling CEO Georges Kern likes to compare the brand’s luxury watches to a Porsche 911 – old but cool and evolving; ‘different but still modern’ – and says sustainability and technology are key
Since leaving Richemont, where he ran IWC Schaffhausen, Kern has effectively executed a ‘360-degree turnaround’ at Breitling, with the company now struggling to keep up with demand
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Luxury watch brand Breitling is struggling to keep up with demand.
We sat down with Georges Kern, the Swiss watchmaker’s CEO, to find out why that is the case. In recent years, Breitling has undergone a transformation and turned into what Kern calls “a generalistic manufacturer”. The luxury CEO shares his strategies for the company’s growth, emphasis on sustainability and his thoughts on technology’s role in the analogue watch industry.
Georges Kern, CEO of Swiss luxury watchmaker Breitling. Photo: Thomas Buchwalder
Georges Kern, CEO of Swiss luxury watchmaker Breitling. Photo: Thomas Buchwalder
What has been your proudest moment with Breitling so far?
When I took over the brand five years ago, I was taking risks by leaving Richemont. But 18 months in, we saw it was really picking up. We had very strong double-digit growth, which is quite unusual for our industry. Suddenly you have production problems, you don’t ship enough products, the market is screaming and asking for products. This is a different type of problem but a nice problem to have.
What led to this substantial growth?
We changed everything – we had a 360-degree turnaround of the brand and we did a kind of pirouette. Even though we’re still very close to our DNA we changed many things. That was obviously a great moment, because you never know if your strategy or your ideas will work.
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Breitling Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 (from left to right: white, black, anthracite, blue, green dial). Photo: Breitling
Breitling Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 (from left to right: white, black, anthracite, blue, green dial). Photo: Breitling
We decided really to become a generalistic manufacturer. We offer everything from [the equivalent of] SUVs to convertibles: we cover the whole width of the watch market. We are one of the only watch companies that can do this because we have a history in all these segments.
... we have such a great back catalogue, heritage and history. We have something you can build on to grow the company
Georges Kern, CEO of Breitling
What are the biggest risks and challenges you have faced?
We wanted to have a growth strategy, but we’re private equity-owned and they tend to cut costs. I always said: this is not a cost-cutting company, this is a major growth story company, because we have such a great back catalogue, heritage and history. We have something you can build on to grow the company.
How do you keep Breitling’s heritage alive?
Today we are one of the most compact brands in the industry. When you walk in, you see the product, you see the advertising, you see the operation and you understand what the brand stands for. We have a clear style – we call it “modern retro”. We want to have these anchors in the past, in a cool way.
It’s like the Porsche 911. It’s a design which is 30 to 40 years old but it has been evolving and it looks cool, different but still modern. This is exactly what we’re going for. The designs we took from our back catalogue have history – we’ve modernised them in a way, so you have some classic elements but with a modern touch.
How important is sustainability and what is Breitling doing to address it?
Today you cannot run a company without a proper ESG policy. First of all, your investors would not invest in the company. Second, consumers expect it. Of course, we can’t change the world, we’re too small. But our strategy is that we have to do the maximum we can in our sphere of influence.
We’ve launched the Origins watch, with gold coming from certified mines in Colombia where we check the community, the education, they even turn down the light at night for the animals. And we work with lab-grown diamonds because we want to be sure about the sourcing.
The luxury industry is an occasion industry and you have the ceremony of packaging. But we’re selling watches, we’re not selling boxes. So we changed our policy and we have totally recyclable packaging made out of recycled PET bottles. We won a prize for this – it took us years to develop.
When we presented that to the retailers they said people wouldn’t want that, they’d want the wooden box. So we offered the consumer a choice. If somebody wants the old packaging they can order it but we will still ask them to compensate for the CO2. Guess how many people asked for the old packaging? Below one per cent.
What role does technology play in this?
The analogue watch industry is the ultimate anti-metaverse industry – 50 per cent of the watch industry doesn’t even have e-commerce.
We are humans and humans also like to identify with things they understand. The analogue watch industry is booming. It’s growing because we want tangible, emotional products with history. People aren’t collecting iPhones, people are collecting analogue watches because you have an emotional attachment. It’s a totally different objective. It’s not about knowing the time, you can find out the time anywhere.
That said, we can use technology to communicate, to give transparency, to make it modern. So you sell a very old product but in a modern way. This is what we’re trying to do. We were the first watch company launching the blockchain, where it’s about authenticity and traceability. But ultimately, it’s about the supply chain. Consumers should know where their stuff is coming from.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230304/5c983e634e28ab2bde47f8cae707db18.jpg)
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