Stirring it up at Audemars Piguet
Open Gallery
The Royal Oak Offshore Grand Complication with minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph and perpetual calendar © Audemars Piguet
Open Gallery
The Calibre 2885 which drives the Royal Oak Offshore Grand Complication © Audemars Piguet
Rationalise, review and generally shake things up would be a pretty accurate description of the situation at Audemars Piguet. New boss François-Henry Bennahmias, who was recently confirmed in the position he has held ad interim since mid-2012, intends taking the heat off at all levels, all the better to start anew in two years’ time.
Early in January, the Le Brassus-based firm sealed the destiny of François-Henry Bennahmias. The Frenchman, who joined Audemars Piguet in 1996 and became CEO of Audemars Piguet North America in 1999, has been appointed Chief Executive of the Audemars Piguet group. He had served as interim CEO since May 2012 following the departure of Philippe Merk. Ever since his arrival in La Vallée de Joux, Bennahmias has been taking some important decisions for the brand.
Quality not quantity
Over the next two years, the new CEO intends putting the brand’s house in order and concentrating efforts on quality not quantity, and this at every level from production to sales and service. All this so that the clear ideas and refocused strategy put in place today can bear fruit and enable the brand to punch hard as of 2015. François-Henry Bennahmias also intends pursuing directions opened up prior to his arrival.
First distribution: over five years, Audemars Piguet, the oldest Manufacture still owned by its founding family, has been steadily buying up its distributors and now controls 90% of its markets. The company intends stepping up the number of its mono-brand stores (of which there are currently around twenty worldwide) and at the same time will strengthen ties with its main partner-retailers. Then production, where the objective is ever-greater vertical integration (an across-the-board trend in the industry right now), hence bringing the watchmaking professions, in particular dial-making, in-house. Once again, the process is under way and a certain number of dials (two thousand in 2012) are already being produced on-site.
A sporty grand complication
For the moment, two new models in particular stood out at the SIHH. In the men’s department, Audemars Piguet showed it had chutzpah by equipping its Royal Oak Offshore, an unquestionably sporting, masculine watch, with a grand complication movement, ordinarily an expression of ultimate horological refinement. The contrast couldn’t be more pronounced! The Royal Oak Offshore Grand Complication has a 44mm case, and combines minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph and perpetual calendar complications. Audemars Piguet has been making grand complication calibres without interruption since 1882. Testifying to this was a group of fifteen historic grand complication watches, the oldest dating from 1887, which had been brought together especially for the Geneva fair. The Offshore model is, undisputedly, the continuation of these grand complications. It cleverly pairs two very distinct worlds at Audemars Piguet. On the one hand, savoir-faire confirmed by over 130 years of watchmaking tradition, and on the other a very contemporary design introduced as a sporty extension of the iconic, and more classic, Royal Oak.
Women are also in the spotlight, as François-Henry Bennahmias requested that a new Fine Jewellery watch be launched in 2013. And so it has. Requiring more than 500 hours to produce, it is inspired by the snowy landscapes of La Vallée de Joux, where temperatures plummet in winter. Tiny fragments of branches, as though snapped from the tree by winter cold, embellish the bracelet and the case.
Article published in WtheJournal.com
