LESS IS MORE
Downsize in order to upsize may sound an oxymoron, but Breitling CEO Georges Kern shows justin ng just exactly how he will do that to propel the brand to greater heights
Breitling CEO Georges Kern on
propelling the brand to greater
heights
For many who remain steadFast in their devotion to mechanical timepieces in this age of Apple Watch and Fitbit, to head the watchmaking division in the Richemont Group, whose envious portfolio consists of ethereal names like A. Lange & Söhne, Cartier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Officine Panerai, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron Constantin, is a chimera that flashes through the mind after one too many shots of whisky. For the 53-year-old Georges Kern, he had the purported dream job for four months. Then he decided he had something better in the works. The man who was once the youngest CEO within Richemont when he headed IWC resigned from the luxury behemoth and resurfaced at Breitling, weeks after private equity firm CVC Capital Partners acquired the then familyowned watch brand best known for its pilot watches for no less than US$870 million.
Kern has now helmed the CEO position at Breitling for over a year and the branding iron he holds is beginning to stamp its mark. For the unequivocal sign of the direction Kern is steering Breitling towards, the reworked emblem lays it all out in plain sight. The wings and the anchor have been dropped in favour of a simpler B. What this means is Breitling will become streamlined, unambiguous and non-overlapping in its approach.
“I had never experienced any brand which I had dealt with in the past like Breitling,” Kern opens up on the challenge awaiting him at the brand. “We have two communities: the one that likes big watches – the recent past; another who likes vintage watches like the Premier, 38mm, hand wound, without a date. I am talking about two extremes.”
With such a polarised clientele, creating a product that can appeal to both sets of consumers and become the middle ground where both can agree upon is crucial. But Kern has no desire to look into the rear-view mirror and churn out hundreds of models with little differentiations, or sometimes cannibalising each other, in order to appeal to everyone, to be as wide ranging as possible, like the brand had been doing up until his stewardship.
“We need to simplify the collection, structure and product portfolio,” Kern stresses, adding that Breitling had a staggering 620 product references when he first set foot in the office. The immediate objective is to reduce the number of references to 130, which Kern and his team have been burying themselves in and it is targeted to be achieved by next year. Under his supervision, timepieces have been grouped into clear segments: Air, Land and Sea. The other axis, he adds, is historical. Taking a closer look at Breitling’s collection for 2018 sheds more light.
For Air, the Navitimer 1 is associated with civil aviation and the 1960s and ‘70s. The Navitimer 8 is inspired by the plane instrument of the 1930s. Then there is modern aviation in the Avenger, which is connected to the Breitling Jet Team – Europe’s largest civilian aerobatic display team. On the other hand, for Sea, the Superocean Heritage first conceived in 1957 for a retro aesthetic. There is also the Superocean (sans Heritage), which is a modern interpretation of diving watches. For Land, there is the Chronomat, which is now vastly different from the Avenger in terms of looks. The revamp claims a few victims. The Professional timepieces have survived, but the Colt Skyracer has gone the way of the dodo. Breitling for Bentley is now under the purview of Land and more specifically, as part of its newlyrelaunched Premier collection. Kern describes the Premier collection as sports elegant.
The Premier saw the light of day back in the ‘40s. It was among Breitling’s first watches to have the brand name inscribed on the dial. It was the zeitgeist of its times with dials ranging from 36mm to 38mm – a rarity in modern times for men’s timepieces. The current iteration comes in the customary 42mm. Critics have pointed to it being Asian or Chinese friendly due to its dainty circumference. While Kern didn’t acknowledge that formed the basis for brushing the cobweb off the Premier, he did confide that the brand has a long