The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money
New code of practice
François-Henry Bennahmias, Audemars Piguet’s CEO, tells Tracey Llewellyn about a year of change, the multifaceted Code 11.59 collection and AP’s unique approach to educating, marketing and selling
Twenty-five years after leaving fashion for the world of watchmaking, François-Henry Bennahmias is chief executive of Audemars Piguet, the only legacy watchmaker to remain independent at its ancestral home in the Swiss Vallée de Joux.
The world is changing and the way people shop is changing with it. As a result, we are challenging our partners to think less traditionally – for example, our new Sloane Street boutique is a joint venture with retailer Arije. We are choosing to work more directly with end consumers as we want to know our clients and how they act, and that is impossible if there is a middleman. There is no right or wrong way, but this is our way.
We’ve recently opened AP House in London [130 New Bond Street]. It is not a club, it is open to anyone who wants to know about the brand. The vibe is easy and we don’t expect everyone who comes in to buy; although funnily enough, the experience at the other locations [this is the sixth AP House] has been that people tend to spend on average two-and-a-half-times more than they do in a traditional boutique.
Social media is necessary in the modern world. But it is a tool, not an end. If someone has 1.2 million followers, big deal. Do I want to sell 10,000 watches on Instagram? Absolutely not, but I do want to facilitate sales with quality feeds. Most of our buyers are not even on social media. I’m not – you’ll see my name on there, but I do not interact.
When we launched the Code 11.59 collection [‘Code’ stands for ‘Challenge Own Dare Evolve’] at January’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), it was judged on social media before it was ever seen in the metal. But we were prepared for the reactions. Two months before the official unveiling, we organised an AP convention in Oman. We knew it would be a tough launch, so we hired ex-Navy SEALs to prep us. We put everyone in stress situations and had the SEALs shouting questions about the watch. We are all so used to an easy experience with the Royal Oak, we needed to be ready to handle any negativity.
‘ The watch name came from the way today’s generation speaks in code – words are changed, invented, shortened’
SIHH was tough but, to be honest, the people who came after us were mostly from the watch industry with a few thousand Instagram followers. There was a small industry buzz for a few days and then it was gone. Because we were ready, we gave no response. We let it go. It was news for three days and then, after two weeks, it was done. News today dies as quickly as it blows up.
We never introduced a new model name so quickly – by the end of the first week, for better or worse, everyone knew the Code 11.59 was by Audemars Piguet. We launched it in our museum the day before SIHH started. We had clients from 17 countries there and we showed the entire collection to a great reception. The following day, the bashing started but we held our nerve. By Tuesday, clients started to defend us. A lot of people aged 15 to 23 contacted us, saying they wanted one. We have doubled production for 2020 from 2,000 watches to 4,000.
The name came from the way today’s generation speaks in code – words are changed, invented, shortened. 11.59 comes from the last minute before a new day, before a new experience – it could be a wedding, a birth, a new job. For us, it represents Audemars Piguet taking back the territory of classical watches that we surrendered to other companies in the 1970s; although, when you think about it, Audemars Piguet has actually made classical watches for longer than it hasn’t. When I took over as CEO, it was a requirement that at some point we would have to go back to that world.
We’re still learning from Code 11.59 about how we should launch things in the future. It took us to a whole new level of understanding what needs to be done. In the end, it took seven years to complete the project, which was too long. The movements were ready for a 2017 launch, but we did not want to introduce them in the Royal Oak because Code 11.59 needed to be original in every way. Today, we’re working on 12 new calibres and the speed is completely different. Going forward we cannot allow ourselves to spend so much time developing something – the world is going too fast for that.” Code 11.59 from £26,200; audemarspiguet.com