During the SIHH fair earlier this year we had the pleasure to meet Tim at the Audemars Piguet booth and we had the following chat.
What are the novelties that we are seeing this year at Audemars Piguet?
In 2016, we have four main themes in terms of novelties:
A minute repeater watch, Supersonnerie, which is from the prototype series we presented last year when we presented a breakthrough chiming technology which basically gives you the loudest and most beautiful sounding minute repeater in the market. Now we have it as a real series with 3 patterns. That’s one big theme.
The second theme is another beautiful innovation in the Royal Oak collection which is a double balanced wheel, open worked, so you have a Royal Oak in 41mm case open worked but it has a new patented innovation which is a double balanced wheel so you have a second balanced wheel and a balanced spring stacked on one axis. It is skeletonised so you can see the action and the beating heart of the watch.
We are bringing the yellow gold back into the Royal Oak collection. As you know the yellow gold disappeared from pretty much all the leading brands. But the trend is coming back and we are seeing a lot of customers wearing vintage pieces in yellow gold.
The fourth theme is a handful of different novelties for women: in Millenary, in Offshore but most importantly in the Royal Oak collection where we have different sizes available now also in non-set. There was a lot of demand on non-set gold or steel. We have 4 different case sizes; 33 mm, 37 mm, 39 mm, and 41mm. 37mm remains the most demanded size for women and the best seller.
Did you get the chance to walk around the fair? What caught your sight?
Yes and I saw a lot of beautiful things but our Audemars Piguet stand was the best.
ROYAL OAK CONCEPT SUPERSONNERIE
2015 saw a market slowdown, how do you forecast 2016 and what’s your strategy to sustain growth in markets like the Middle East?
Indeed, 2015 was a difficult year globally. The Swiss Franc depreciation, the Chinese market slowdown and political changes, the Russia- Ukraine issue, and the Middle East conflicts all together. That said, we are proud to say that we had a good year and even in the toughest markets we were holding up very well.
The Middle East Market is eight to ten percent of our global business, so it’s a very strong market for us. Asia and Europe make 35 to 40 percent and 20 percent America. We don’t depend on a specific region. We are super balanced. In 2015, 90 percent of our markets were growing.
We noticed that some of the luxury watches brands are producing a sort of an “ affordable line” to appeal to a new clientele and maybe a younger one. Any future plans to move in that direction too?
No, and for a primary reason. We produce between 38 and 39 thousand watches. Our capacity for the next five years is maximum 40 thousand. We cannot and don’t want to grow volume. We have no reason. For us the strategy will be to continue being at the absolute apex of watchmaking and rather driving value by selling more complications than non-complicated pieces.
What’s the split between women and men buying Audemars Piguet?
We have 70 percent men customers and 30 percent women. This is a good balance and a natural split for a brand. For women we want to offer more complicated watches. We launched last year the Millenary watch, it’s not complicated per se but it’s with a 3D and open design movement. It’s rather in that direction to develop the business.
ROYAL OAK DOUBLE BALANCE WHEEL OPENWORKED
How long have you been with Audemars Piguet and what does it mean to you?
It’s interesting, since I joined 5 years ago coming from a totally different industry. It was an incredible journey of discovery in the Haute Horlogerie world and especially with Audemars Piguet.
ROYAL OAK YELLOW GOLD
ROYAL OAK CHRONOGRAPH
And today I can tell you that after 5 years being in the industry, there is no brand like Audemars Piguet. I totally love this brand.
What watch are you wearing now?
I’m wearing a classical Royal Oak watch. It is the 15202 ST watch in the 39 mm case with the ultra flat movement. We launched this watch 4 years ago; it is the absolute redesign of the original Royal Oak from 1972. It was my first watch when I joined Audemars Piguet. If you ever need a watch that’s the watch to have!
