Q&A‘Breitling 2.0’—CEO Georges Kern On The Brand’s New Focus

As one of the premier names in fine watchmaking, Breitling has always enjoyed a terrific fan-following. This year though, several fans of the brand were taken by surprise when the Swiss watch manufacturers unveiled their latest offerings. Simpler designs and the absence of the winged ‘B’ in several pieces didn’t seem very ‘Breitling’ to many. However, the brand is actually reverting to the glorious days when they were more dynamic in terms of appeal, through their vast and varied associations with film stars and sports personalities, and in several other fields. In recent years, the brand has somehow become synonymous only with aviation and pilot’s watches, and that’s something they’re trying to move away from. It’s not that aviation is not a part of their heritage. They are proud of that aspect of their legacy, and it will always be a part of the brand, but the idea now is to go beyond.

Breitling, Refreshed

In an effort to go beyond, the brand has streamlined its product pillars into ‘air’, ‘sea’, ‘land’, and ‘professional’, and all collections going forward will fall into one of these. ‘Air’ is clearly about aviation and comprises the Navitimer 1, the new Navitimer 8 and the Avenger lines. ‘Sea’ is primarily the diver’s series, including Superocean and Superocean Heritage. And on the other hand, ‘land’ is to do with their more elegant watches, such as those from the Chronomat line and the latest Premier collection. The ‘professional’ watches are more of the special editions with extreme features.

“While many think that Navitimer is our number one collection, the reality is that our Superocean watches sell more than any other series we have to offer,” stated CEO Georges Kern at an event the brand hosted in Dubai on December 12, to introduce us to the new vision for the brand. “And we wish to reach out to people who appreciate the diversity we present with our products.” That doesn’t go to say that the brand will lose its essential DNA, which has also done well for them in recent years. “We are actually staying true to what the brand is about and that’s a more modern-retro look than a vintage look,” explained Kern. There will be vintage-inspired watches, but vintage is not all that the brand is about.

The Spirit Of Inclusion

The latest collections reflecting diversity in appeal is just one layer of the inclusion the brand is now going for. “We don’t believe in being exclusive,” declares Kern. “We want to welcome different interests and we wish to be inclusive. Hence, we don’t associate with sports such as Formula One, which is only for a select few. Instead, Breitling is proud to associate with sports such as cycling and surfing, which anyone can enjoy.” And to represent the spirit of inclusion, the brand is all about squads now than individual ambassadors. Even the faces from Hollywood that now represent the brand come in the form of a squad—including actors Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, and Adam Driver.

The brand also aspires to give back to society and the environment with new initiatives, such as the one with sustainable clothing company, Outerknown, and Ocean Conservancy, whom Breitling supports in their fight against the pollution of oceans and beaches. As a part of the initiative, Breitling has also launched a Superocean Heritage Outerknown edition, with straps and packaging designed and produced by Breitling and Outerknown, using only environment-friendly, sustainable, and recycled materials.

As in the case of the Outerknown special edition, Breitling is also streamlining its other existing partnerships, such as the longstanding collaboration with luxury British automobile brand, Bentley. “The Bentley special editions will now also be a part of our main collections, such as the Bentley edition of the new Breitling Premier watch,” announced Kern. “Breitling For Bentley will no longer be a standalone collection.” This may be disappointing for many, but there certainly are merits to this decision.

It’s all a part of the brand’s endeavour to present a more focused, more streamlined offering, without losing its essence. Georges Kern told us a little more about this. Here are excerpts from our conversation.

Talk about your vision for the brand, and how that has changed or evolved through your last year or so with Breitling.

First of all, we are extremely happy that the brand has such a wide and powerful history, which has been forgotten to some extent. But the brand has been inventing with the chronograph, it has been associated with actors, with sports people, with sports events…Above everything else, the brand has been doing much more than just pilot’s watches. So what we’re trying to do now is revamp our collection with clear segments—air, land and sea. And going from the 1930s to modern times in these different lines. We want to be a cool and informal alternative to the more traditional brands. We want to reach out to a younger customer base, which is digitally savvy, and it’s why we’ve been pushing a lot of the online activity—both in terms of social media, and online, and I think the style of our brand… You see this boutique is really modern-retro. It’s welcoming. We want to be inclusive. You see it in our advertising. You see it in the way we do our boutiques. You see it throughout the brand—in the modern-retro, this industrial look in the boutiques, the advertising of the products, trying to be really inclusive, choosing sports that people actually practice. And being associated with the people we are now associated with makes us very different as a package.

You’ve been in the industry for a long time, including a prominent stint with IWC. How have your past experiences informed your perspective and work on this brand?

There are two elements. First of all, you have an experience of the industry. You have made many mistakes, which I hope I’m not going to repeat. But then the market totally changed. If I look at what’s happened in the last 25 years, the two biggest phenomena have been the China phenomenon and the digital watches phenomenon. These were the biggest disrupting elements of the industry, which we have to deal with. Actually, these bring opportunities, especially in China and the fact that there is a demand for products that are more traditional in the digital context. So I’m trying not to make the same mistakes as I may have made in the past. Also, I try to respect and acknowledge the changes in our industry.

What are the biggest trends you expect will emerge from SIHH and Baselworld 2019?

I think there will be many green dials. Because we’ve launched three green dial watches in recent months. So obviously many others will do green dials as well. No, but jokes aside, I think the company’s become more and more professional. We are embracing the transformation, but there’s no easy industry any more. And to be honest, I don’t look too much at the competition. We have to do our stuff, and when you have an objective, you look at your objective and you go straight towards it, without meandering too far left or right from your path towards it. What you see at Breitling is all our own development and our own ideas and it’s all very unique.

And what can you talk about in terms of smaller dials, more traditional watchmaking? You think that’ll continue? Or do you think brands will go back to crazy complications?

You always have a place for niche players in high complications, etc. But there are 300 million Chinese people buying in a certain price category by 2020. They will not buy high-complication watches; they’ll buy ‘normal watches’. And they need to identify with the brands, they need to feel comfortable with the storytelling, etc. And that’s important; not the 0.0001 percent of the market.

What do you expect from Baselworld, now that Swatch Group and other brands have left? And you’re also a member of FHH (the Federation of Haute Horlogerie) now. What does that mean?

The FHH is different. It’s more of a cultural organisation, to raise awareness and educate people about craftsmanship, watchmaking, etc. So we’re very happy to be a part of it. Then, as you know, we’ll be a part of Baselworld 2019, and we’ll take it from there. The new management team at Basel has to come up with a new fair concept, reflecting the needs of today, which is more digital and includes more collectors, a more experiential event maybe. Nobody needs a fair to sell watches anymore, really. And you see this in many other sectors—the car industry or tech for instance. In Germany, there was this huge event, a big technology fair called CeBIT, which just shut down, because the exhibiting companies said they didn’t need it anymore. The world is changing. About 20 to 25 years ago, when there was no mobility, when there was no digital communication, fairs were necessary, but now they’re not necessary anymore, especially not with the setup as it currently is.

Does the FHH mean that Breitling is planning to move to SIHH?

This is not the question. The question really for us is whether or not we even need a fair.

You spoke about how the brand promotes and encourages inclusion, rather than being exclusive. Wouldn’t embracing the smartwatch be more inclusive?

No, we won’t be doing that. I don’t think it’s even close to what we’re doing. And it’s funny. People always ask me the question. I am so not a fan of smartwatches. Fine, we are in the same industry. But it’s like… Take for instance the beverage industry. You have Coca-Cola and you have a Château Lafite Bordeaux wine. They’re both in the beverage industry, but would you compare the two? No, you wouldn’t. And then people say that you wear only one watch at a time. But that’s not the point. You don’t drink Coca-Cola or Château Lafite every day, from morning till night. You drink water, other soft drinks, or fruit juices—depending on the time of the day, the occasion, and your requirement. In the same way, your wrist can wear different watches for different occasions. We are in the same market, but we are like the Château Lafite, and I’m not a fan of Coca-Cola.​

What is your favourite Breitling watch?

I don’t have any favourites. They’re all like babies of mine. I can tell you what I wear. I wear the Navitimer 8 a lot—the one with the B01 movement. Right now I’m wearing a Premier.

What are the most essential complications for a watch, according to you?

I think what’s really important for the future is that you have a power reserve, and you eventually have a second time zone, a big date perhaps. You need some basics. Take for instance the standard offerings now in cars… Today, everybody has an airbag, four-wheel drive, everyone has a radio in their cars. These are standard features I think. So in watches, I think power reserve, big date and second time zone, are a couple of things that you will need as standard features in a watch.