A Dick Move - The Transfer Window Opens at Richemont

Yes, gentle reader, it's going to get a bit "blue"...

Per the Urban Dictionary:

Dick move

When a person goes out of their way to do something that barely improves their life but greatly inconveniences those around them for no other reason than to be a dick

by Pinkman84 July 13, 2015

Word reached the Northshore offices of Tempus Fugit late yesterday afternoon that the shot-callers at Richemont once again had a bad case of the fidgets. And as someone far smarter, better informed and (if we're being honest about it), better liked than yours truly (G. Pons) puts it, the latest game of musical chairs is on. And it seems that this time the axe is falling on someone who did what they were asked to do, and now has gotten her ticket punched as a thank-you.

Chabi Nouri, if the reports from Ms. Tweed, Bilan, Le Temps, and other sources are to be believed, has been relieved of her position at Piaget. The reasoning given that sales at Piaget have been slumping (which is not exactly "new" news), and per Ms. Tweed -

"Several industry sources blamed Chabi, saying she had focused too much on high jewelry, the Middle East and Asia and neglected Piaget’s core watch customers in other regions." 

Shamelessly borrowed from the World-Wide Infoweb

Now let's jump in the "Wayback Machine" to those thrilling days of...just over four years ago, when Ms. Chabi was appointed CEO and her predecessor had this to say about high jewelry watches -

https://www.ft.com/content/4ebad466-f82b-11e6-bd4e-68d53499ed71

(As the Financial Times has some pretty sticky policies about quoting their articles, I urge you to read the article linked above).

To paraphrase, Philippe Léopold-Metzger essentially said that Piaget had probably neglected jewelry watches too much, and that this would be part of Ms. Nouri's mandate. Even more ironic when you consider that the young man warming up on the touchline and getting ready to take off his tracksuit and go into the match is coming from... you guessed it - a JEWELRY company. So, it seems that if the "industry insiders" are to be believed, she did what she was asked to do and is now moving to be a “strategic adviser” to Richemont CEO Jerome Lambert, which I suspect is not unlike a duck making the move to l'Orange. And pretty ironic that someone else with (what I am assuming) is pretty much a jewelry background) is being brought in to run the watch brand that was "too" jewelry focused? What the actual f___k?!?

There are, of course, other rumblings about what the real reasons for her departure are. And it does not help that other rumors are starting to swirl about the future of Richemont's other female watch brand CEO. Let's just say it does not do Richemont's and Rupert's claim that they wanted to break the "sapphire crystal" ceiling much good.

Here's the thing, and it's something that the big dogs at Richemont seem to be having a tough time getting their heads around, it takes time to turn things around. As that other great commentator on the watch business, Barry Hearn once opined -

"You can't take a baby and turn it into a teenager overnight, things take time."

And this is the part that I find particularly curious, and almost perverse - there is at least 1(if not 2) layer/s of supervisory management that separates each of the Richemont CEOs from Rupert and ultimately the board.  So if these CEOs are failing so dramatically, what does that say about the guy who is supposed to be managing them?  We shall wait and we shall see.

The Transfer Window Opens - At Parmigiani

Watch Town is a funny place. Parmigiani has bid its current CEO, Davide Traxler, arrivederci and in a shrewd move did so while the majority of Watch Town's members of the press have been preoccupied with LVMH's dog and pony show. So before he barely had a chance to sling his hook and take it on the arches, his replacement had, in fact, already been installed. So in the same breath, congratulations to Guido Terreni, until very (VERY) recently a very senior executive in Bulgari's watch division.

News broke in pretty much every branch of the press, except... the watch press, that Mr. Traxler would be pursuing "other professional opportunities" and curious to relate? His replacement had already been vetted, approved by the board of directors and appointed.   

Watch Gods, you do move in mysterious ways...

Now it is also interesting to relate that more than one press outlet portrayed Parmigiani as "struggling". And that is a hard one to quantify as Parmigiani is an independent company owned by what is, essentially, a family trust. What remains unsaid is whether Parmigiani is:

A.  In better shape than when Traxler took on his role as CEO.

B. In worse shape than when Traxler took on his role as CEO.

C. No better, and no worse than when Traxler took on his role as CEO.

But as that other great commentator on the watch business, Darryl Dawkins once opined -

“When everything is said and done there is nothing left to do or say.” 

So we wish Davide Traxler the best of success moving forward, and wish Mr. Terreni Godspeed in his new role.

The Transfer Window Opens - And the Sapphire Crystal Ceiling is Broken Again

At Audemars Piguet. 

So curious to relate, Tempus Fugit has been in "business" for over ten years. And even more curious to relate, for over ten years, twice each year, I have reached out to AP requesting press releases, etc.

And, for all that time, I have yet to be added to the press group, so I had to pick this info. up somewhere else.

News indirectly reached the North Shore offices of Tempus Fugit that Audemars Piguet has made (in all fairness) a somewhat unusual pick to head their North American offices. Ginny Wright has been named CEO of Audemars Piguet North America. 

[+] GETTY IMAGES FOR RALPH LAUREN POLO RED RUSH

Ms. Wright comes to AP with a very solid resume, most recently as president of Kiehl’s Since 1851.  

She has held various senior positions with Ralph Lauren Fragrances and  retail marketing for Lancôme.

As I said, somewhat unusual, but maybe a very good one for a few reasons:

1. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - the watch business is by and large a sausage-fest. It is fantastic to see more women moving into more senior roles. As odd as this will sound to several of my male colleagues in the Fourth and Fifth Estate, being male (and more than infrequently white and European) are not necessarily predictive of any ability to actually run a watch brand or it's subsidiary office.

2.  Elite watch brands are, truthfully, more than a wee bit myopic. The tendency is to presume that only "watch people" can run a watch brand - particularly one as esoteric as Audemars Piguet. And the short tenure of the most recent incumbent, Patrick Ottomani who came over from Berluti after more than a decade there could be used to make that argument. But then again, I have a different take.

And here is where we turn to Moneyball. I've said it before, and I will say it again - Watch Town suffers from a true misunderstanding as to where talent comes from, or to quote Peter Brand (as played by Jonah Hill) in the film adaptation of the book:

Peter Brand:
There is an epidemic failure within the game to understand what is really happening. And this leads people who run Major League Baseball teams to misjudge their players and mismanage their teams. I apologize.

Billy Beane:
Go on.

Peter Brand:
Okay. People who run ball clubs, they think in terms of buying players. Your goal shouldn't be to buy players, your goal should be to buy wins. And in order to buy wins, you need to buy runs. You're trying to replace Johnny Damon. The Boston Red Sox see Johnny Damon and they see a star who's worth seven and half million dollars a year. When I see Johnny Damon, what I see is... is... an imperfect understanding of where runs come from. The guy's got a great glove. He's a decent leadoff hitter. He can steal bases. But is he worth the seven and half million dollars a year that the Boston Red Sox are paying him? No. No. Baseball thinking is medieval. They are asking all the wrong questions. And if I say it to anybody, I'm-I'm ostracized. I'm-I'm-I'm a leper. So that's why I'm-I'm cagey about this with you. That's why I... I respect you, Mr. Beane, and if you want full disclosure, I think it's a good thing that you got Damon off your payroll. I think it opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities.

Or maybe more plainly put by Michael Lewis in his book Moneyball, which the film was based upon:

“The inability to envision a certain kind of person doing a certain kind of thing because you've never seen someone who looks like him do it before is not just a vice. It's a luxury. What begins as a failure of the imagination ends as a market inefficiency: when you rule out an entire class of people from doing a job simply by their appearance, you are less likely to find the best person for the job.” 
― Michael Lewis, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

The thing is, the watch business is more than a bit jacked-up at the moment. And it should be painfully clear that a resume with shit-tons of watch brand experience is no substitute for an actual ability and talent for what the job that running a major brand in a large market ACTUALLY requires. So my gut is telling me that maybe this is going to prove to be a fairly shrewd choice, and my hope is that it will encourage other shot callers in Watch Town to start looking OUTSIDE of the watch box.

The Transfer Window Opens...

At ochs und junior.

Let's hop in the "WABAC" machine and hurtle back in time... to November 29th, 2019 -

Shamelessly borrowed from the worldwide infoweb

November 29th, 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 (oj@ochsundjunior.swiss) 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

Then fast forward less than 120 days -

March 16th, 2020
After managing the affairs of ochs und junior for the last three months, we are pleased to announce that Marc Bernhardt has permanently joined ochs und junior as new managing director. His appointment coincides with our imminent move to the new premises in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

And then just this past Friday -

November 27th, 2020
Marc Bernhardt, director of ochs und junior since the beginning of the year has resigned from his post, effective November 30, 2020, to pursue other professional challenges. Marc was instrumental in facilitating the transition and move from Lucerne to La Chaux-de-Fonds. The Board would like to sincerely thank him for his work and dedication during this important period and wishes him all the best in his future career and professional activities.
We would also like to announce that we are pleased to welcome three new people to our ochs und junior team: Christian Gafner, Design / Design consultant, Violaine Baudouin, Marketing, and master watchmaker Masaki Kanazawa, who works for us on a part-time basis on Ludwig Oechslin’s special ochs und junior projects.
We wish all of our new colleagues a successful start and look forward to our collaboration.

Last but not least: We are intensively working on two new watch launches, coming soon this December. We will keep you informed on our website, Instagram and Facebook.

With kindest regards.
The board and team of ochs und junior

Okay, a lot of news there, but it left almost as many unanswered questions. First and foremost, it's not lost on this guy (and I am assuming some of you readers) that Mr. Bernhardt's departure is for all intents and purposes a year to the day that Beat Weinmann departed. One thing indeed may have absolutely nothing to do with the other, but it is curious nonetheless.  

So the question now becomes - who will steer the ship? 

Beat Weinmann moved on to Chronoswiss, where it seems he has adapted the idea of creating a personal relationship with the buyer - never a bad idea.  And there he is "under the wing" of Patrik Hoffmann who has the role of "Mentor" to (I assume) the ownership and one would assume not holding the warmest and fuzziest feelings for his former employer - Ulysse Nardin.

In listening to a podcast with Marc Bernhardt from earlier this year, he did actually say a lot of things that gave me some hope for the direction that ochs und junior might take.  One key thing he mentioned was increasing the turnover.  He said it much more politely than I would (and certainly more politely than I have previously). It does not take a world class economist to read and understand a balance sheet. But it does take a willingness to adjust to realities. And the one thing that I heard Mr. Bernhardt mention was the need to make ochs und junior more "knowable", more discoverable. And on that score he is right. Because with more awareness will come more sales, and with more sales will come more turnover. More turnover - well I think you get the idea.

Now whether or not he might have turned things in a more cashflow positive direction, we will never know.  And as of this writing, there was not any indication from the ochs und junior website as to who would replace him, or if he would be replaced at all. 

What had been clear previously (per the website) was that although ochs und junior was primarily owned by Ludwig Oechslin and family, it was financially backed by Ulysse Nardin. It is clear that this is what precipitated the move southward. But it is not clear what precipitated the departure of Beat Weinmann or later of Marc Bernhardt. And as with so many things, in the final analysis, it probably doesn't really matter. 

And that is what makes the curious case of ochs und junior even more curious. Because while there is discussion about new models and enthusiasm for a path forward, it remains a bit fuzzy as to what the future will fully hold.

So watch this space, and I will do my best to report.

Talk Like An Insider - Part the Second

I have, in previous posts, shared some of the rich idiomatic language unique to the watch business. But I also realize that like any language, it can vary by region or specialization.

And today I thought it might be useful to share with you some of what a colleague has referred to as Henki-Speak.

You might want to turn the lights down and have young, impressionable children leave the room as some of the language is going to get a little blue...

1. The Big Dipper - generally refers to one or two outlets who respond to most press releases with a rate card. The response is invariable couched in regret that the "Team" is just so busy that they don't have time to cover your watch, but one sure-fire way to get coverage would be to "take advantage of" their special "sponsored" or "partner" content. This is a pretty way to discuss payola that leaves enough grey area that some brands will still allow the influential outlet to "dip their hands" into their wallet. Hence - The Big Dipper.

2. To Go Deep South - When a retailer immediately offers 30% off a watch before you can even start to negotiate.

3. To Go All War and Peace - When someone writing about watches insists on taking 5,000 or so words to write about something that really only needed 250. Based on the somewhat verbose prose of one Mr. Tolstoy. As it applies to digital watch journalism, less is sometimes more.

4. Pralines and dick - Typically referring to a big swinging dick in the industry who perpetually treats pretty much everyone like shit, yet somehow still hangs onto his crown. Not to be sexist, but almost exclusively males. Originates with Wayne's World. "If he were an ice cream flavor, he'd be pralines and dick."

5. A Wimpy - When a retailer, brand, or client continues to delay paying while at the same time requesting more products and or services. Based on the character J. Wellington Wimpy from Popeye, who probably could have taught modern day hustlers a lesson or two on street survival. Famous for the proposition - "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Shamelessly borrowed from the World-Wide Info-Web

6. To Go All Mojo Nixon - For those unfamiliar, Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper were popular for a hot minute back in the 80s, famous for sensitive ballads like "Where the Hell's My Money?", a song about playing a sold out concert and having the club owner try to avoid paying. This is a situation near and dear for many of us who, on occasion, have made the mistake of not insisting on a cash retainer before delivering any work. Which can lead us to react this way to a Wimpy -

Courtesy of Meme on Me

7. Janky - Originates in the Steel City (that's Pittsburgh to you). Essentially meaning of inferior quality, construction, or worth.

8. The Transfer Window Opens - Essentially someone either lost their job, or got a new one. A slight parody of the Transfer Window in European Football (or soccer). Not unlike the trade deadline in American (US) sports like baseball, it is the only time during the season where a team can trade or "transfer" a player that they are no longer so enamored with. Although there is no official transfer deadline in Watch Town, the addition and / or subtraction of executives tends to follow a shared time frame.

9. Buy the Widow a Drink - buying yourself and your colleagues a round of champagne due to your / their success. Based on Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, the famous widow who grew Veuve Clicquot into something truly dynamic. I use this phrase typically when I have succeeded when it seemed highly likely that I would not.

10. My friend - I still maintain this means just the opposite when directed at you by a brand representative. To quote Anthony Bourdain -
"But if you use the word pal - or worse, the phrase my friend - in my kitchen, it'll make people paranoid. My friend famously means "asshole" in the worst and most sincere sense of the word."

The Transfer Window Opens

BaselWorld is the biggest watch event of the year.  Despite bumps along the road and its recent, very dramatic contraction in the number of participating brands, visitors and number of operating days, it is still the top of the heap.

The last three years have been particularly dicey, with even the dedicated sycophants wringing their hands, bemoaning how unfair things were in terms of pricing, etc.  This was particularly humorous for those of us who travel coach, depend on the free lunch in the press room to stretch our meal budget, and use vacation days from our day jobs to attend.  Listening to someone who is wearing shoes that cost more than my mortgage payment moan about how expensive the fair has gotten and how tone deaf the fair management has become is hard to do with a straight face.

So if I am honest, today's announcement regarding the long-serving Managing Director, Sylvie Ritter's resignation was not unexpected.
But again, if I am honest, the brands have been complicit in the rise and fall of the BaselWorld fair.  And this is absolutely understandable.  When times are good, it is normal that you spend money a bit more freely, and you don't worry about tomorrow as much as maybe you should.  Brand owners and managers saying that the fair got too greedy, didn't pay attention their customers (the watch brands), oversold space (not unlike the brands who over produce), and showed no loyalty (like the brands who refuse to honestly trade with their retail partners and instead dump stock in the grey and light grey market) were out of touch.  But I suspect that a lot of these recent contrarians are not necessarily converts to the new economic realities.  Rather they are "trendetarians".  From our friends at the Urban Dictionary:

Trendetarian

A person that cuts a certain food out of their diet because of a trend

Jessica became a trendetarian because her favourite magazine told her gluten is bad.

by rk.rust March 20, 2018

So long as they can afford it, they will participate.  Breitling and some others played a very good bluff this past year, but in the end it was just that, a bluff.

Some simple facts -

BaselWorld has always been crazy expensive for most of us to attend.  The main difference is that for some of us it something we really want to attend and really want to participate in.  

So may I make a sincere proposal to both the fair and the brands -

To the fair - maybe reach some sort of negotiated deal with hotels in the area for press.  Not to give rooms away, but rather to offer a discount for members of the press.  You could have the greatest watch in the world, but if the media doesn't cover it, what's the point?

Also, please continue to offer the same great benefits of the press room.  It is REALLY appreciated!

To the brands - start treating all the press and all of your retail partners a bit more equally.  Just as you may feel hard done by when you get a take it or leave it attitude from the fair organizers, the press and your retail partners often feel the same way ; )

Despite the expense, time away from home, and loss of vacation time I personally love going to BaselWorld.  After 11 fairs (3 as a brand rep, and 8 as a member of the press), I still enjoy it.  

And for both the brands and the fair organizers, maybe consider the fair like this - it can be chicken salad, or chicken shit.  I personally prefer chicken salad ; )

The Transfer Window

May open again.  

While you might read it somewhere else first, we'd prefer that when we put it out, we put it out correctly and accurately - so stay tuned!  As soon as we have confirmation, we'll pass it along.

To Be Confirmed - The Transfer Window May Open

Big news for a fairly well-known brand.  In the spirit of journalism over speculation, I am waiting for confirmation from either a second source or the brand in question.  As soon as I have it, you'll have the story.  

Stay tuned!