Last week saw two watchmaking companies announce management changes. One was less of a surprise than the other.
The Swatch Group announced changes at the top of Omega, one of the brand in its Prestige and Luxury Range. Stephen Urquhart will retire as president of Omega on June 1st, 2016. He will be succeeded by Raynald Aeschlimann who has held the position of Vice President (VP) Sales at Omega since 2001. Urquhart, who turns 70 at the end of May, will remain with the company to work on special projects and consultancy assignments.
More surprising was the news from Tudor that CEO Philippe Peverelli is leaving to take on a new role with the Rolex Group, Tudor’s parent company. He will run Roledeco, the division that looks after merchandising, including store design. His successor was not announced.
As Tudor’s CEO since 2009, Peverelli led grew Tudor’s global reach beyond China which accounted for over 90% of sales when he arrived. China now accounts for less than 60% thanks to a stronger presence in the U.S., Europe and other Asian markets. It was also under his leadership that Tudor unveiled its first in-house movement in 2015 for the Tudor North Flag.
Omega and Tudor are not the only watchmakers to have seen changes at the top in recent times. Rolex appointed Jean-Frederic Dufour as its chief executive officer last year while Cyrille Vigneron replaced Stanislas de Quercize at the top at Cartier at the start of this year.
With a number of Swiss watchmaking executives approaching the age of 70, we’re likely to see more similar announcements in the coming months and years.
Sources : Swatch Group // Le Temps