Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin Have New Owners

It would seem that Patrick Pruniaux has managed to round up some banks to back the somewhat drawn out management buyout of the two brands from parent company Kering.

For the original (in French) please direct yourself to the link below -

https://www.letemps.ch/economie/ulysse-nardin-girardperregaux-retrouvent-independance

See also some coverage from Reuters -

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/luxury-goods-group-kering-sell-girard-perregaux-ulysse-nardin-divisions-2022-01-24/

We'll be back later today with some commentary, so stay tuned!

Watches and Wondering - Waiting for Godot

With the dearth of new releases out there, and the notable silence from the fair's organizers, it is seeming less and less likely that 2022 (at least March/April) will see the return of large scale, in-person watch fairs in Geneva.

Credit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0276613/

On the one hand, it appears that the latest COVID surge has peaked in several countries. But reaching the peak does not put us back to a safe infection level... at least not yet. Geneva is one of the strictest cantons in Switzerland in terms of health and safety policy, and for all of the foreign buyers and press that hope to come to attend a show there are quite a few hoops that they will have to jump through - I say this having travelled in September and November. And that's just to get into Switzerland. I will also make clear that I agree with Switzerland's stance. Which I guess means that Novak Djocovic won't be making any personal appearances at the Hublot booth in the near future.

China and Hong Kong represent the largest block of customers for Richemont and most likely LVMH and Kering. For those folks, getting to Switzerland is one thing. Coming back home? Well, that's quite the other. Lengthy quarantine requirements have marked a significant drop in travel both from and to this region. So with all of that being said, I don't expect that a lot of these folks will be opting to attend. And let's not even get started with the US, where (for better or worse) public health and safety has become more of a political issue than, well, a health and safety issue. Unless the Swiss government opts to drop the vaccination requirements for entry at the Zurich, Basel, and Geneva airports, a large swath of folks from North America will be staying home. 

That leaves the Middle East, Africa, South America and parts of Europe. This is not to say that these are not important markets or customers, but it is to say that they do not, unfortunately, represent the same percentage of turnover for the brands.

And lastly, there are the organizers of the show itself. Watches and Wonders, along with its predecessor the SIHH, went to great lengths to create an atmosphere of not only exclusivity, but exclusion in the past. And while it might be "the only game in town", I give Watches and Wonders about as much consideration as I do NOMOS
Glashütte, which is to say I don't consider it at all.

The Transfer Window Opens - Sometimes They Come Back...

Word reached the North Shore offices of Tempus Fugit this AM that not unlike the Ghost of Christmas Past, Antonio Calce has been appointed the CEO of Greubel Forsey.

You may remember Mr. Calce from his stint at Corum which spun into: "Corum/Eterna, The Twin Towers", then a brief coffee break at Girard-Perregaux: "Twin Towers Two: Electric Boogaloo". 

Mr. Calce has been given oversight of the Greubel Forsey brand, but not been given the keys to the Complitime Executive washroom. Complitime is Greubel Forsey's sister company for external movement production.

Ghost in the Machine

Or what could have been with JEANRICHARD.
As much as I'd like to provide you, gentle reader, with an active link to an actual website, it would appear that the Sleeping Beauty that is JEANRICHARD might, in fact, have slipped away in the night. Or at least sometime in 2016 as that is the last update from their official Facebook page.

This is a shame, a waste and a tragedy. And no, I'm not being melodramatic. JEANRICHARD circa 2013 had real potential, and was starting to move the needle. And with a little more discipline, a little less cockiness, and a few less bone-headed celebrity partnerships they might still be here among the living. My hope is that JEANRICHARD is waiting on a daybed somewhere, surrounded by 7 dwarves awaiting Prince Charming to come along and rescue it. Because hand to God, truth to power - Patrick Pruniaux, this is not only a brand worth saving, it is one that could actually help pull Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin out of their collective funks. But only if you're ready to either give it a kiss and wake it up, or sell it to someone ready, willing and able to do something with it.

I absolutely believed in JR, so much so that this one was mine for a year or so -

Apologies for the photo quality, this is back when I was taking photos with a Kodak disposable camera and picking up the prints at the Photomat -

Shamelessly borrowed from the past...

So here's hoping that the big swinging dicks in La Chaux-de-Fonds can find a Prince Charming most Rikki-Tik. Here's a summer re-heat on the topic -

What If? JEANRICHARD

Would you buy this watch?  I know I sure would, and for approximately 21 months, most of the watch world would have too.

Courtesy of JEANRICHARD

My personal obsession with both Girard-Perregaux and in this particular case, JEANRICHARD, borders on the unhealthy.  In 2013 JEANRICHARD reemerged from a long, somewhat drunken slumber, born again in the form of a modular casing system that not only allowed for a consistent look across three different families (Terrascope, Aquascope and Aeroscope), it also allowed for easier production and manufacture owing to a standard "chassis".

I was excited.  Hell, most of the watch world was excited.  The timing of the release was, seemingly, cursed as Tudor returned to the US market the very same year.  But curious to relate?  JEAN RICHARD had a very successful debut as GP had decided to come back to BaselWorld, and that first year they enjoyed a fair bit of success.  But post BaselWorld, their marketing and PR folks (both in-house, and the US PR firm that they hired) started making some decidedly dubious choices about how to promote the brand.  They literally walked a "high wire" with Nik Wallenda, rugby players, a Master Chef winner (Luca Manfe), and then grasped for the brass ring with their partnership with Arsenal.  In a PR/publicity sense their eyes were bigger than their wallets.  What started out as a very sound, very rational product offering ran off the rails, and in less than 2 years' time, jumped the shark.  

Shamelessly borrowed from the worldwide infoweb

I got an early peek at the new collection in January of 2013, later that year we all got to see everything at BaselWorld.  And that was a curious experience for myself and several other journalists covering the story.  In that first year, it was challenging for JEANRICHARD to get the big dogs to pay attention.  Many of the established outlets poo-poo'd them.  For myself and others covering it, we thought it was something interesting, something cool that had very real potential.  And for us it was great because we had access to review product, we got asked to lunch when the US brand manager was in town, emails actually got answered.  

And then there was a shift.  Suddenly the bigger outlets were starting to cover them, and those of us "early adopters" were, essentially, jettisoned from the press list, forced to read the news on other outlets.  But this went further.  Because what had started out as a charming campaign, referring to actual watches, then shifted to a focus on partners, co-branded watches, and the amount of SKUs multiplied at the rate of the cooties in that movie Contagion.

The inevitable happened, in order to make sales numbers, sales managers started looking the other way as the prices were slashed.  It didn't help that the shot-callers were selling directly to trans-shippers and grey market outlets.  You couldn't find a JEANRICHARD at full price, because they were all deeply discounted.  Keep in mind, this all happened in approximately a 2 year period.  From hero to zero.  Their first year back at BaselWorld, they had an equal sized hall to GP.  Year 2, that was halved.  Year 3, there was one room that looked as if the junk drawer of a watch repair shop had exploded, with a very harried PR person nearly in tears trying to present watches in a setting that was not dissimilar to a Walmart following the Thanksgiving Day sale.

Brand managers left for pastures greener, retail partners opted to cut bait, and JEANRICHARD was put into a "Sleeping Beauty", where it slumbers still.  Their last Facebook post was in February, THREE YEARS AGO, and there is no other apparent "proof of life".

But, and it's a big but -

there is one guy out there with the talent, experience, and let's just call it like it is - COMMON SENSE to bring JEANRICHARD back from its deep sleep.   The core collection of three families is good.  People wanted it, they will want it again.  But it will take someone who can park their ego at the door.  A sort of "elite commando" team of watch dogs who can roll up their sleeves, and focus on making and selling watches, not on photo opportunities, friends of the brand and velvet ropes.  It can be done, but it will take some outside of the watch-box thinking. 

Focus on watches, communicate consistently and evenly, punch your weight.

Kering, if you're reading this, I know the guy to take this on, and I won't even charge you a finder's fee.

The Transfer Window has Opened...

At ochs und junior -

And it would seem that Thursday/Friday was a pretty squirrely day in Lucerne, with Beat Weinmann announcing that he (as CEO) and four other employees (i.e. pretty much everyone connected to the brand itself) had dropped their papers and would stop working for ochs und junior (and therefore Ulysse Nardin and Kering) effective immediately.  

Now while I realize a lot of regular readers have probably already digested this news as it was not-so-subtly leaked on social media, essentially the message was:
We quit, and we're Audi 5000!

And then either as a reaction to, or an attempted preemptive strike, the shot callers at UN (read the folks who actually pay the bills at ochs und junior) dropped their own version -

News

29. November 2019
Beat Weinmann, ochs und junior’s longtime CEO, has decided to leave the company. The Board of Directors would like to thank him for his strong contribution over the years and wish him much success in his new endeavors. Along with Kurt König and Ludwig Oechslin, Beat co-founded ochs und junior in 2006. He has been instrumental in elevating this company to where it is today. His dedication, commitment and expertise will be missed. Beat’s successor and the company’s new organization and products will be announced shortly. In the interim, Marc Bernhardt will act as a consultant for the company in order to ensure the continuity of operations and services. We would like to thank all of our customers, partners, and friends for their ongoing support.

-The Board of Directors

Now while there was a time when I knew Beat a bit and it would have been fair to call us friendly, that was some years ago and I have not been following ochs und junior or covering them for quite some time. So I think I can 

objectively posit some possible theories as to what may (or may not have) happened. 

It is worth noting that to a large extent, ochs und junior is as much Beat Weinmann's baby as it is Dr. Oechslin's.  To my understanding, they have a longstanding friendship and as far as I know they have worked in close tandem not only on this, but on the first MIH watch, with a connection going back to Mr. Weinmann's days selling watches at Embassy in Lucerne. Some have compared it almost to a marriage of sorts, so it is fair to say that this is not an insignificant event.

1.  Ownership - as in there might have been a desire on the part of Mr. Weinmann to receive some equity or portion of ownership of the brand.  Maybe even a possible purchase of the brand was mooted, and not pursued any further.  This is not as crazy as it might seem, brands of all sizes are bought and sold every day and it is not inconceivable that potential investors were sought out, and a proposal was put together.  As far as can be understood from the now updated ochs und junior web page, both Oechslins appear to be staying put with Kornelia Imesch Oechslin remaining in her position as President and member of the Board of Directors and one would assume Ludwig Oechslin remaining as the creative driver.  

2.  Slow and limited growth - It is important to note that I am in no way trying to imply that ochs und junior was under performing as a small macro/micro brand.  If the well-wishes and "say it ain't so" messages on social media are any indication, ochs und junior has a dedicated fan base.  But it is also important to put numbers into perspective in terms of sales, and to put sales into context in terms of operating expenses. Keep in mind that ochs und junior had 3 - 5 full time members of staff.  It is not unreasonable to assume that when you take that number, plus the rent on the storefront/studio in Lucerne, marketing expenses (yes, there undoubtably were some of these) material expenses for the watches themselves, Dr. Oechslin might have been getting paid a little bit, the President, and then those pesky investors wanting some return on their investment?  

That's a lot of mouths to feed.  

3.  Thanks!  We'll take it from here -  As has happened at another brand recently, the shot callers from the parent company may believe that if a handful of people can do something, why not replace the handful and do it yourself?  

4.  Winding Down - Stranger things have happened.  It is possible that UN feels that they have pumped enough money in, and they are going to wind down the company and welcome Dr. Oechslin back into the fold, or fully absorb ochs und junior into the larger format of Ulysse Nardin.  One other thing to consider,  Dr. Oechslin is 67 years old if Wikipedia is anything to go by.  The watch industry is full of people who keep going on well past retirement age. But then again, not everyone wants to go on forever.

5.  Lured Away -  One other possibility, and this is absolutely an "out there" notion - perhaps Mr. Weinmann was lured away by another brand and will launch a new venture with the team coming with him.  

Yeah, like I said, "out there"

The thing is, in situations like this it is often very, very difficult to know what the true reasons for a separation like this are.  And sometimes a resignation is motivated by rather fractious circumstances.  Moreover?  Sometimes a resignation is not exactly willing.  And truth be told?  It really doesn't matter at this point.

What does seem fairly clear is that one way or another, this has probably been in the offing for some time, and it seems that things finally came to a head.  It's not every day that an entire company (no matter how big or small) walks out en masse.  A boss leaves and others trickle out over the next few days?  Sure. Everyone on the same day at the same time?  Not so usual.

What can we be sure of?

For better or worse, Beat Weinmann was in many ways more responsible for the success of ochs und junior than anyone else.  It was a charming, unique little brand that blazed its own trail.  I use the past tense here, because even if ochs und junior continues onward, it will be a very different brand than it was.  I suspect the space in Lucerne will be closed, the espresso machine sold, the production shifted to UN, and apart from one person as yet to be named who will lead the whole thing, it is likely that marketing, communication and sales will shift to UN, and an effort to break into retail with a specialist retailer.

And keep in mind one other possibility -

We just might see Mr. Weinmann pop up again with a new brand.  Or maybe he will return to the world of bicycles, or even try something completely new. New chapters can be scary, but also exhilarating.  

So good luck and God's speed.

Tempus Fugit

What Jeff Ma Could Teach the Watch Industry

In fairness, a lot of what will be referencing Jeff Ma's conversation with Dave Chang on Mr. Chang's podcast - The Dave Chang Show.

There were some very interesting notions that I thought might be worth a view through the lens of the watch world. For those of you unfamiliar, and I was certainly one of them, Jeff Ma is a graduate of MIT, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but is best known for his research and application of analytics in gambling (casinos, etc.) and now advises business leaders and a few professional sports teams on how to better understand analytics and think more clearly about how they run the day to day of their business.

A few ideas that they discussed:

Unconscious Bias - 
This is a notion that I have dipped into when thinking about what Bill James, Billy Beane and others have called out as foolish behavior.  What Mr. Ma went into detail about was the notion that we often think in terms of narratives rather than analytic realities.  And more often than not, the narrative is, in fact, false.  Essentially, what it boils down to is a pre-existing belief about how something should be, and how our unconscious bias will prevent us from looking at things as they really are.  Now as someone who spends the majority of his waking life working for a non-profit, social justing seeking organization, I know that unconscious bias is a very familiar term used when we try to understand societal inequities. But what Mr. Ma underscores is that unconscious bias will impact pretty much everything we do - which includes business.  

So how does that apply to the watch business?
Well, my fellow members of the Fourth and Fifth Estates can confirm that more often than not, a watch brand will hire a PR firm from the same pool of 2 firms that they always hire from.  Now the interesting thing is that they will typically work with Firm A for 2 years, not renew the contract and go with Firm B for 2 years, only to come back and work with Firm A again.  In other words?  Firm C who can actually provide solid analytical data that proves their firm could be as (if not more) effective will never be considered.  The same is true with brand leaders.  All too often, the same faces keep appearing in the same roles, merely changing jerseys like a professional footballer.  The unconscious bias prevents the hiring committees from making an informed hiring decision, because they are more comfortable hiring someone who fits the pre-conceived mold of what they are looking for, rather than the best person for the job.  Ever wonder why so many brand managers in the US are, more often than not, European expats?  

Misaligned Incentives -
Brand CEOs, and brand managers are most typically focused not on "winning" or having the most successful brand in terms of quantifiable data results.  More often than not, the greater concern is that of keeping their job, remaining employed.  While there are some true alternative thinkers and practitioners out there, that willingness to try something different is going to be stifled by the misaligned incentives they are operating under.  Is it better to make fewer watches, spend less money on red carpet PR events, sell what you have and not dump the majority of your product into the grey market?  YES.  But the misaligned incentives of the big-time watch world enforce a different mentality.  Winning is no longer having a successful respected brand, it is churning as many units out the door as possible, regardless of whether or not they are legitimate sales, or the red-headed step children of the grey market.  When a group of people in a brand are operating mostly from a position of self-preservation?  Well, I think you can see how that is going to turn out.

Omission Bias -
Essentially favoring inaction over action when we fear that the action might lead to further or worse harm.  Mr. Ma shares the story of when his mother suffered a stroke, and the doctor offered two options:
1.  Do nothing, the odds were only 22% that she would  survive beyond 60 days. 
2.  Operate, remove the blood clot and pro-actively relieve pressure on the brain, which might help the brain recover more quickly.  Now obviously brain surgery is nothing to be taken lightly, but the decision to operate had a higher probability of success, if it was successful.

And it is interesting to me to consider this, because in many ways the medical realities of suffering a stroke are not that dissimilar to the watch industry as a whole right now.  Think about how the stroke metaphor applies to the industry.  The industry, as a whole, is chasing option 1 - Inaction.  The fear of really rolling up their sleeves and understanding just how things are going to work is terrifying.  What if it's a mistake?  What if you get it wrong?  What if you don't get your bonus?  Essentially, the industry is playing not to lose, rather than playing to win.  Because the foolish hope that is being clung onto, is if they wait it out, and whistle past the graveyard, things will go back to the way they once were.  But what we are now understanding with the rupture of the grey market balloon?  Things were never that great to begin with.

Why the Watch World Needs Stefano Macaluso

Regular readers will know that Girard-Perregaux has long been a personal favorite.  But not unlike the awkward kid with a crush on the head cheer-leader, that love was not always reciprocated ; )

I visited the GP HQ on one occasion some years ago and it left a lasting impression.  And if ghosts do exist, and I mean that in the absolutely most positive way, the ghost of Luigi Macaluso most definitely frequented the halls of the buildings in La-chaux-de-fonds.  If a corporate office could be said to be a romantic place?  Well GP was the watch fan's equivalent of Paris in Spring.

Curious to relate, I only recently met (at least face to face) another key person from Girard-Perregaux, Stefano Macaluso, this past March when he participated in the Henki Time podcast.  What was striking to me in that conversation was that although he was no longer with Girard-Perregaux (at least insofar as the daily operations although I believe that his family still holds a stake in the brand), was what I can only call a romantic notion about Girard-Perregaux.  And thank God for that.

In an age where watch brands are, in effect, losing their collective shit about what to do next, throwing money at influencers, slashing their advertising budgets with traditional media and dumping their over production wholesale into the grey market, here was a quiet, contemplative man speaking thoughtfully about the family business.  Other watch executives leave (or get asked to leave) a position and they take off on booze and drugged fueled jags.  Mr. Macaluso?  He grabs his bicycle and his sketch book and travels the world, documenting his impressions, and sharing them via instagram and facebook.  Many of us locked in our jobs had the opportunity to travel vicariously through him this past summer.  I guess my point here is that he is something outside of the mold of what is typical in the watch business.  

Whether it is a G-Shock you were given as a 10 year old, or your father's watch that you inherited when he passed on, watches do more than measure the time of our days, they mark the times of our lives.  And it is hard not to be romantic about that.

Now I am 51, no longer a young man by any stretch of the imagination, but I still feel those stirrings in that place where my heart (alleged by some not to exist) resides when it comes to some things, and Girard-Perregaux is one of them.  In all honesty?  We don't need more celebrity ambassadors, more watches made from "unobtainium", more limited-edition-partner watches with "watch news" (excuse me while I die laughing) outlets.  We need more artists, more poets, more dreamers.  The watch world needs people like Stefano Macaluso to remind us of the value of beauty, of thinking, of listening and of dreaming.

For now, something simple from GP to inspire.  Not too much, not too little, but to quote that other great commentator on watches, Goldilocks:

"This one is just right."

Courtesy of Girard-Perregaux

What If? JEANRICHARD

Would you buy this watch?  I know I sure would, and for approximately 21 months, most of the watch world would have too.

Courtesy of JEANRICHARD

My personal obsession with both Girard-Perregaux and in this particular case, JEANRICHARD, borders on the unhealthy.  In 2013 JEANRICHARD reemerged from a long, somewhat drunken slumber, born again in the form of a modular casing system that not only allowed for a consistent look across three different families (Terrascope, Aquascope and Aeroscope), it also allowed for easier production and manufacture owing to a standard "chassis".

I was excited.  Hell, most of the watch world was excited.  The timing of the release was, seemingly, cursed as Tudor returned to the US market the very same year.  But curious to relate?  JEAN RICHARD had a very successful debut as GP had decided to come back to BaselWorld, and that first year they enjoyed a fair bit of success.  But post BaselWorld, their marketing and PR folks (both in-house, and the US PR firm that they hired) started making some decidedly dubious choices about how to promote the brand.  They literally walked a "high wire" with Nik Wallenda, rugby players, a Master Chef winner (Luca Manfe), and then grasped for the brass ring with their partnership with Arsenal.  In a PR/publicity sense their eyes were bigger than their wallets.  What started out as a very sound, very rational product offering ran off the rails, and in less than 2 years' time, jumped the shark.  

Shamelessly borrowed from the worldwide infoweb

I got an early peek at the new collection in January of 2013, later that year we all got to see everything at BaselWorld.  And that was a curious experience for myself and several other journalists covering the story.  In that first year, it was challenging for JEANRICHARD to get the big dogs to pay attention.  Many of the established outlets poo-poo'd them.  For myself and others covering it, we thought it was something interesting, something cool that had very real potential.  And for us it was great because we had access to review product, we got asked to lunch when the US brand manager was in town, emails actually got answered.  

And then there was a shift.  Suddenly the bigger outlets were starting to cover them, and those of us "early adopters" were, essentially, jettisoned from the press list, forced to read the news on other outlets.  But this went further.  Because what had started out as a charming campaign, referring to actual watches, then shifted to a focus on partners, co-branded watches, and the amount of SKUs multiplied at the rate of the cooties in that movie Contagion.

The inevitable happened, in order to make sales numbers, sales managers started looking the other way as the prices were slashed.  It didn't help that the shot-callers were selling directly to trans-shippers and grey market outlets.  You couldn't find a JEANRICHARD at full price, because they were all deeply discounted.  Keep in mind, this all happened in approximately a 2 year period.  From hero to zero.  Their first year back at BaselWorld, they had an equal sized hall to GP.  Year 2, that was halved.  Year 3, there was one room that looked as if the junk drawer of a watch repair shop had exploded, with a very harried PR person nearly in tears trying to present watches in a setting that was not dissimilar to a Walmart following the Thanksgiving Day sale.

Brand managers left for pastures greener, retail partners opted to cut bait, and JEANRICHARD was put into a "Sleeping Beauty", where it slumbers still.  Their last Facebook post was in February, THREE YEARS AGO, and there is no other apparent "proof of life".

But, and it's a big but -

there is one guy out there with the talent, experience, and let's just call it like it is - COMMON SENSE to bring JEANRICHARD back from its deep sleep.   The core collection of three families is good.  People wanted it, they will want it again.  But it will take someone who can park their ego at the door.  A sort of "elite commando" team of watch dogs who can roll up their sleeves, and focus on making and selling watches, not on photo opportunities, friends of the brand and velvet ropes.  It can be done, but it will take some outside of the watch-box thinking. 

Focus on watches, communicate consistently and evenly, punch your weight.

Kering, if you're reading this, I know the guy to take this on, and I won't even charge you a finder's fee.

The Vintage 1945 XXL Large Date and Moon Phases

From Girard-Perregaux -

Courtesy of Girard-Perregaux

CASE

Material: 

Steel

Diameter: 

36,10 x 35,25 mm

Height: 

11,74 mm

Case-back: 

Sapphire crystal

Dial: 

Polycristalline

Water resistance: 

3 ATM

STRAP

Size: 

24,00 / 19,00 mm

Material: 

Alligator

Blue

Buckle: 

Folding

Buckle material: 

Steel

CALIBRE

Number: 

GP03300-0105

Type: 

Self-winding mechanical movement

Diameter: 

25,60 mm (11 1/2’’’)

Height: 

4,90 mm

Frequency: 

28,800 Vib/h – (4 Hz)

Number of components: 

282

Jewels: 

32

Oscillating weight: 

Steel

Finishes: 

Côtes de Genève, circular graining and bevelling 

Power reserve: 

Min. 46 hours

FUNCTIONS

Hours, minutes, small seconds, date, moon phases indicator.

Heroes of Communication - Bell & Ross The Americas

Curious to relate, I have never met the two big dogs behind Bell & Ross.  That is not a complaint in any way, shape or form.  Just a curious observation.  Curious because, to be honest, I hold Bell & Ross in a very high regard.  And a great deal of that is down to the dynamic duo handling Bell & Ross communications, PR (and a whole lot more!) for the Americas - Georgia Solomon and Alexandra Castro.  Consider for a moment that Bell & Ross is not the behemoth that is SWATCH group, LVMH, Richemont, Kering or even the monster independents that are Rolex and Patek.  This is not to say that they are tiny either, but rather that they are a brand that has learned to punch above their weight.  And I am perhaps old-fashioned, but as the guy who had to do the "messaging" for DOXA, I know how challenging it can be to do so in a sea of noise, when every writer, influencer and would be "instafamous" person has their hand in your pocket.  

Ms. Solomon and Ms. Castro always take the time to communicate.  I live under no delusion that Tempus Fugit Media is any bigger or more important than it is.  It is a niche outlet with a niche readership.  But the team at Bell & Ross Americas has always gone way above and beyond to accommodate and assist me.  It is a positive relationship because they are positive, highly professional people.  

Because it's Easy to Run 2 Brands!

As I sit and write this morning, I am reflecting on a conversation I had with Wendy last night.  Over the course of the past week, three brands repeated classic mistakes that they (and others) have made before, and yet continue to make them because they convince themselves that somehow, this time will be different!

The announcement has seeped out to Salem's Witchcraft Heights and finally over to Tempus Fugit HQ - 
the shot-callers at Kering have decided that the current head of Ulysse Nardin should now also take over Girard-Perregaux.  Now this is not really news.  And in fairness, I have held off on comment.  But the more people that I spoke with, the more I thought about it, the more I have come to believe that we are seeing the same sort of reactive (i.e. not proactive) thinking that (particularly) the Swiss industry has been stumbling around with for the recent past.

I am now firmly to the point where I don't know if these "double CEOs" are the result of careful decision making, or knee-jerk reaction.  It also sheds some very serious light on the real health of the watch industry.  If everything is as rosy as the export numbers would have us believe, then Kering wouldn't feel the need to bootstrap their executive functions in the watch industry.

But I've also noticed another shift, the business now is becoming less and less about the "personalities" running the brands.  On the one hand, this is good because it focuses us back more firmly on the viability of the product itself.  

On the other hand?  It lays bare the industry's refusal to evolve.  It is clear that many of the structures, decision making paradigms and, yes, attitudes are straight from the late 70s.  And we all know where that led us.

But back to the man of the hour, courtesy of Kering's announcement -

Kering has appointed Patrick Pruniaux, current Chief Executive Officer of Ulysse Nardin, as the new CEO of Girard-Perregaux. From today, he will manage the Group’s Swiss luxury watchmaking Maisons, within the Watches & Jewelry Activities. Patrick Pruniaux will report, as previously, to Albert Bensoussan, Chief Executive Officer of the Watches & Jewelry Activities of Kering.

 

Today’s luxury watchmaking sector is known for its accelerating product cycles, the increasingly global nature of its customers and the transformation of their expectations, both in terms of e-commerce and digital interactions. Patrick Pruniaux’s role will be to devise a coherent strategy for accelerating the development of the two Maisons in international markets, while at the same time maintaining their unique characteristics, their ability to innovate, and the excellence of their know-how.

 

Patrick Pruniaux has spent more than 20 years in the FMCG and Luxury industries, and in the watchmaking sector in particular. He spent nine years at TAG Heuer and several years at Apple, where he worked on the launch of the Apple watch before becoming MD of Apple in the UK and Ireland.

 

 

Albert Bensoussan, Chief Executive Officer of the Watches & Jewelry Activities of Kering, said: “I am delighted to give Patrick Pruniaux the mission of increasing the awareness and accelerating the growth of the Kering Group’s two iconic Swiss watchmaking Maisons. The dynamism he has shown over the past year as head of Ulysse Nardin convinced me that he was the best person to develop these two brands, and to capitalize on their respective identities, heritages and technological know-how.”

It is clear that Mr. Pruniaux didn't just fall off the turnip truck, and it is also evident that with his experience at Apple, he is prepared to "think different" (sorry, couldn't resist).  And if GP and UN continue to fester, in fairness?  I wouldn't hang the blame on him.  
We are (at least some of us) starting to realize that even during the last massive downturn, we were living in a gilded age.  Ultimately the brands will have to figure out what made them tick, and see if the magic can be recaptured.  But for the brands that were so dependent upon a cult of personality to drive them (and I say this with respect, not disdain), they will have to discover ways to make their watches attractive to actual customers without the help of celebrity CEOs and watch makers.  For UN the dynamic duo of  Ludwig Oechslin and Rolf Schnyder have left the building, and for GP the last connection to the romantic past of the family Macaluso is now living the life of a romantic poet/traveler/rally car driver.  

So some new magic will need to be found, because as that other great commentator on the watch industry, Slim Charles, would remind us:

 

Fall of the House of Macaluso

Word has trickled out over the past few days that the last remaining active family connection to to the man that pretty much willed Girard Perregaux back from the dead, has had his last day, and is moving on.  Per various social media postings, it appears that Stefano Macaluso has opted to leave the party.

For many of us, the sight of Antonio Calce's rapidly disappearing backside was a sign that things might improve.  And me personally?  I had hoped that maybe, just maybe Mr. Macaluso the younger would step forward to take a more active role.  And if I am completely honest?  I don't know that he would have necessarily done any better than the fellow who recently received his walking papers from his superiors at Kering HQ.  GP is a company that has made its bones mostly on sentiment, passion, emotion - the sort of things that can't really be explained or accounted for in a ledger.

I can only draw one conclusion.  Girard-Perregaux seems to be cursed.  There is no other way to look at it.  It is not a money issue, because there have been several rounds of cash coming in.  It is not for want of creativity, because they have plenty of that.  It is not for want of technical know-how, because it is clear that they have that in abundance.  And in some ways it is not for passion, because there have been some passionate people (at least with Mr. Sofisti, and the Macaluso family).  But sometimes, you can have everything going for you, and God, the Universe, your financial backers, fate itself decides that it just isn't going to be your year, or your decade.

But in my opinion, curses are meant to be lifted.  If the Cubs can win the World Series, if LeBron James can carry an entire city (Hell, an entire state) on his back and bring a championship that nobody ever felt or dreamed they would live to see? 

So what's next for GP?  I am not having daily phone exchanges with the Pinaults.  But at least insofar as their watch divisions go, maybe we should be, because they (or at least the people they are entrusting these watch making entities to) are making some monumentally bad decisions.  To the extent that I have to go back to the idea of a curse.  But maybe they could try something simple:

1.  Identify someone with experience who is not simply looking for their next CEO pay-grade job.  Find someone who gets it.

2.  Stop all of the bullshit.  GP IS NOT Patek.  Sorry, but it's time to put on the big boy pants and start facing realities.  Start making collections that have decent design, decent technical detail, and that will actually be purchased by actual customers.  Stop trying to solve all of your problems with a ridiculously expensive, esoteric watch that may win an award presented once a year by a panel of "experts", experts who are never going to buy one of your watches, but who will certainly be there for you so long as the "bar is open".

3.  Punch your weight.  There is an emerging middle place where GP could not only exist, but thrive.  But that will only happen if calmer heads start to prevail.

And most important?  For the love of God and all that's holy - get f'ing passionate about what you are doing!  This is a brand that people love, but GP has become about as exciting as a greyhound bus trip from Cleveland to Pittsburgh.  Why?  Because if the people running the thing aren't passionate about the watches they make and sell, why in f's sake should we be?

It's hard not to be romantic about watches, it's harder still to watch a good brand continue to trip over itself like a drunken octopus.