Richemont’s CEO reshuffle signals a new future for the luxury group
Russell SheldrakeWe’re not normally the publication to report on movements inside watch brands. This tends to be rather dry and inconsequential news that does little to excite us, however, when there is an entire shift change at the top of one of the big groups that rules the watchmaking world, even we have to sit up and take notice. Richemont has triggered a reshuffle remise of a flailing British government cabinet, but done with far more care and measure.
Let’s start with Cartier, the jewel in Richemont’s crown. Cartier’s long-standing CEO, Cyrille Vigneron, is stepping aside to be replaced by Louis Ferla, who currently holds the same role at Vacheron Constantin. Vigneron’s nine years at the top of Cartier have seen incredible expansion of the company’s high-end watchmaking, with updates to the Privé collection being one of the most hotly anticipated yearly.
It’s also seen Cartier take the number two spot on the table of Swiss brands, directly under the permanent number one Rolex. This is possibly the most highly coveted one in the industry, and maintaining it now falls to Ferla. To help Ferla into the role, Vigneron will be taking on the position of Chairman of Cartier Culture & Philanthropy come September 1st.
Ferla joined the Richemont group in 2001 as the Area Sales Manager for Alfred Dunhill in Hong Kong, and now finds himself shortly taking the helm of the brand’s most prestigious and successful watch brand. He took over control of Vacheron Constantin in 2017, and has overseen its ascendancy in the league tables as well as in the eye of the average consumer.
A master of métiers d’arts and with an incredibly rich history to pull from, VC has been on a tear recently when it comes to producing some of the most breathtaking examples of horology. Whether it be ultra-complicated pocket watches or collaborating with the premier museums in the world to bring real-life artworks to our wrists. So it’s easy to see that Ferla is a man cut out for the demanding role of running Cartier.
However, the reshuffle isn’t limited to these two historic houses. The ever-talented CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre, Catherine Rénier, is stepping into the role of CEO at Van Cleef & Arpels where she is replacing Nicolas Bos. Rénier enters VCA as it continues a run of breathtaking creativity, as its automatons dazzle every year and the brand continues to make a case for highly decorated timepieces of all shapes and sizes.
As for Bos, he has been elevated to Richemont CEO, replacing incumbent Jérôme Lambert who will remain on the board and as COO. Bos’ remit will be broader than Lambert’s, as top Richemont brands (including Cartier and VCA, as it happens) did not report to him – while the re-established CEO role will see all Richemont brands report to Bos. Amidst this reshuffle, Richemont founder Johann Rupert remains Chairman.
While there has been no communication over who will take on the role of CEO at Vacheron Constantin, the space left by Rénier at Jaeger-LeCoultre will be temporarily filled by the brand’s CFO Philippe Hermann. These moves open the door to all kinds of wonderful speculation by those of us who care about these shifts. What of these CEO’s previous strategies are we going to see carried over to their new companies? Will there be a continuation or deviation from the current strategies, and how will the market react to having these new faces running the show? All of these questions will be answered in time: we just have to sit back and wait.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Russell and the Time+Tide Team
Watch meme of the week: angels and demons
View this post on Instagram
More often than not, the devil tends to win these sorts of fights…
Wrist shot of the week: diamonds in Sydney
View this post on Instagram
Mitch, the manager of our Melbourne Discovery Studio, popped into Piaget when he was in Sydney for our Studio Pop-Up last week – and has become irrevocably smitten with the brand. This Limelight Gala particularly took his fancy – and why shouldn’t it? Anyone should be able to wear a blingy cocktail watch.
Time+Tide Shop pick of the week: Baltic MR Roulette
Baltic has just introduced the first significant update to its popular MR, introducing four MR Roulette models that replace the model’s Breguet numerals for a more Art Deco style. If this dial looks somewhat familiar, your memory serves you right – A Collected Man collaborated with Baltic on a blue-dialled variant a couple of years ago. As a follow-up, the new MR Roulettes are available in four dial colours: sunburst blue and black or grained salmon and silver. It retains all the important things that made the MR such a hit in the first place: a 36mm diameter, off-centre small seconds indicator and a Hangzhou CAL5000a micro-rotor automatic movement under the hood.
Discover and pre-order the Baltic MR Roulette collection in the Time+Tide Shop, either online or in our Melbourne Discovery Studio. Price: A$1,025 (on strap), A$1,200 (on bracelet)
Our favourite Time+Tide coverage of the week
IWC reveals a new partnership with Lewis Hamilton, working with him & Brad Pitt on their Formula 1 film
View this post on Instagram
Formula 1 and watches are a match made in heaven – which is a topic we’ve explored at length here at Time+Tide. If you’re an F1 fan, then no doubt you’re familiar with seeing IWC on the side of Mercedes’ cars as well as on the wrists of their drivers and celebrities in and around the F1 paddock. Now, IWC has revealed that they’re partnering with Lewis Hamilton on his much-anticipated (and as of yet unnamed) F1 film, which stars Brad Pitt and is actually being filmed at real F1 races, including the British Grand Prix this weekend. Jamie has the scoop here.
Atelier Wen and Andrew rendezvous in Paris with a special Perception watch
In the first of two Time+Tide Tribe videos we dropped this week, Andrew and Atelier Wen founder Robin Tallendier meet up to talk about the inspiration and ethos behind this enterprising Chinese-made watch brand, as well as reveal a “Fake Made in China” Atelier Wen Perception that was made in Switzerland during Geneva Watch Week. Find out more about this perception-challenging watch here.
Battle testing the Khaki Field Expedition with Hamilton in Arizona
From the genteel streets of Paris to the American desert: in our second Tribe vid for this week, Zach puts the new Hamilton Khaki Field Expedition through its paces – across land, sea and air – during a recent press trip to Arizona. This video was uploaded to our main YouTube channel to give people a taste of what to expect from Time+Tide Tribe: to see more content like this, please subscribe to our new Time+Tide Tribe YouTube channel where content like this and much more will live moving forward.