Breitling CEO Georges Kern on Celebrating 140 Years of Breitling and Expanding the Evolution of the Historical Watch Brand

A centenary Swiss brand is making waves in China—but what took so long? Longstanding Breitling leader Georges Kern answers this, and many other insights in a lengthy chat. It’s all about the right timing for Breitling CEO Georges Kern, who will soon be clocking 30 years in the horological industry. While passing through Hong Kong, he gave Robb Report Hong Kong an exclusive one-on-one chat about leading Breitling as it celebrates its 140th anniversary.

Marking “140 Years of Firsts,” Breitling unveiled not one, but three limited editions of its flagship models—the Premier, the Navitimer, and the Chronomat. Launched in Hong Kong to great fanfare to an assembly of collectors, connoisseurs, and celebrities, guest of honour, singer, and actor Raymond Lam joined hands with Kern to unveil the three novelties in Hong Kong.

But for watch enthusiasts, the cynosure of all eyes will perpetually be Kern, who, in his tenure as CEO, opened Breitling’s doors to China with a 2019 star-studded event in Beijing featuring brand ambassadors Brad Pitt, Daniel Wu, and legendary photographer Peter Lindbergh. Famed as an alpha-masculine brand for decades, Kern invited Charlize Theron to be the ambassador of a new collection and collaborated with Victoria Beckham on a special-edition Chronomat.

Read the entire feature here at Robb Report Hong Kong.

TBT: Gerrit Ruetzel: Interview and shoot with the young CEO of Hugo Boss.

 

TBT: Gerrit Tuetzel when he was in Hong Kong as the CEO of Hugo Boss.  

Now the CEO of the Americas at Bottega Veneta. 

Always a great chat for features. 

Time for a chat again Gerrit! 

Photographer: Douglas Pieterse 

Dunhill: Now for the good hues

Now for the good hues: Dunhill adds a splash of colour for the youth market
Dunhill’s latest strategy is all about empowering the designer, catering to a younger clientele and exploring territories in a changed China as if they were new, writes P. Ramakrishnan.
Photo: Andrew Vowles

Dunhill’s early noughties campaigns had many fans. Refined gentlemen, often silver-haired and with generous beards looked introspective in black and white photographs. Each image was thick with the patina of age and cultured taste.

The fine English tailoring was from a house founded in 1893 and renowned for its bespoke menswear and accessories – all very tweed and traditional, signifying the wardrobe of artists, thespians and members of the literati, not glitterati.

Enter Fabrizio Cardinali, who became chief executive of Alfred Dunhill in May 2013 and soon after appointed John Ray as creative director.

“I’m far away from a black and white, old, sad man. What do you want to be? You want to be younger, you know? You want to be colourful; you want to be beautiful; you want to be attractive,” says Cardinali.

Suddenly, the muted and sepia tones got a splash of colour. The varicose veins got some fresh blood as the ready-to-wear, accessories and all things fashionable for the gentleman of today has hues and shades not seen in decades at the old English house.

There were loose-fitting trousers, plush knits, casual corduroys, salmon pajamas, alpaca coats and blankets. Scarves were replaced by full-on, fringed blankets worn by models casually strutting down the catwalk.

“I’d say now we are a more accessible product. A man can still buy a beautiful Dunhill blazer, or beautiful Dunhill suits. The key words are value for money because it’s going to have to last for not one season, but for years. Another key phrase for you: timeless products – combining the contemporary touch. That’s what John [Ray] is doing. We still have our classics in midnight blue, but now we have breadth.”

What they also have is fresh breath. The latest campaigns show collegiate men striking a pose (under the watchful eye of Annie Leibovitz, who shot the autumn-winter 2014 campaign) without the brood, seemingly content in their muted shades of lavender and salmon, clutching bulky leather accessories.

“Everything works with a top photographer, with a great creative director, let’s say a certain level of ingredients that are going to bring the brand where the brand deserves to be,” Cardinali says.

The big question for the business head of any luxury brand would obviously be: how is business in China?

With a pause and a sip of water, Cardinali says: “Dunhill in China is doing well, but business is down [from before]. We know very well what has happened in China since November 2012. Since the new president [Xi Jinping] arrived, he stopped the business of gifting and we – all of us – have seen an impact on the business. The crazy growth that we had in the last eight, nine years was not sustainable.

“China’s annual growth of 7.5 per cent with 1.3 billion people to cater to is a strong economy for any brand. For many of us, the changes are a pain in the neck, but you know what? Many people got lazy. Those numbers were growing no matter what.”

It isn’t just Dunhill. Since the halt of excessive gift giving on the mainland, the Hurun Report says the luxury segment – watches and spirits included – has been the hardest hit. But it is also an opportune time for those key brands to innovate and improve existing business structures. In the long run, the proverbial tightening of the belt might not be such a terrible thing.

“Today businesses must have self-conception,” Cardinali says. “We need to be very focused, all of us, in delivering a business. The fact that someone is entering the store and is buying, you know, 50, 100 bags – that kind of story is over. So now we need to be careful. I have three pillars in mind: product, market and distribution.

Quality is a big deal at Alfred Dunhill. Then, distribution: we’ve got to explore territories in China as if they are new. It’s a new ballgame altogether now. “The new marketing approach, since shooting campaigns with Leibovitz for two seasons, the Dunhill look is definitely more contemporary, more colourful, something that can attract a different type of clientele compared to the past.”

That means catering to a younger buyer. “I think I would like to start selling a product or dressing a gentleman since right after college, or someone doing an MBA,” Cardinali says.

“I want to have this kind of customer because if you’re relevant for those aged 24 or 25 up to 35 or 40 and beyond, automatically you’re going to be relevant also to a more mature clientele. It does not work the other way around.”

Relevance in the “selfie age” is what major brands are looking at. With more than 20 years in the business and a CV dotted with luxury brands including Lancel, Dolce & Gabbana and Levi Strauss, Cardinali is no stranger to global branding.

That explains the changes he brought – in marketing strategy, appointments, hiring and positioning – that created Dunhill’s new age. It also helped that Ray, formerly at Gucci, agreed to end his self-imposed eight-year hiatus.

But Cardinali wants to put a misperception to rest. “John Ray was hired before me,” he says. “I found he was with the company for five months before my arrival. What I did – which I think is a game-changer – is empower John. This is something that never happened at Alfred Dunhill before me.

“I’m in charge, but I’m a businessman, not a designer. What I did was give John the conditions to create in the best way possible. I’m not going to tell him what kind of fabrics he has to use and choose. I have to create the kind of infrastructure where John and the creative people can create and deliver beautiful products.

“If you look around, it’s the right approach to be successful in this industry. When you hear a chief executive is trying to be a designer and a designer is trying to run a multinational company at the same time … apart from a few exceptional cases, it doesn’t work. Empowering the designer was key.”

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 16 April, 2015, 6:28pm
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Now for the good hues

He's the Boss: Gerrit Ruetzel: Head of Hugo Boss in Hong Kong

As one of the youngest heads of one of the oldest brands, Gerrit Ruetzel looks to the east in his ever-rising career, writes P.Ramakrishnan.

Portrait by Douglas Pieterse.


WITH HIGH-END luxury brands, instant recognition is key. One look at the multi-hue prints on a silken shirt of a man reeks of Versace. The interlocking C's are of course Chanel, and every fashionista can read the monogram print of Louis Vuitton a mile off. But Hugo Boss, with its long history of subtle sophistication, how do you stamp an imprint on the teeming masses? A sophisticated suit, with a conservative...

"No, I wouldn't call it conservative," corrects Dr Gerrit Ruetzel, 37, the newly appointed president and chief executive Asia-Pacific of Hugo Boss. "I think we're everything but conservative. When I think of the word conservative, I think of an older generation, I don't think of a young brand. We've been around for decades, but it's a modern brand. We're not the brand that your grandpa wears."

Indeed, as a series of images from their campaigns, featuring actor Ryan Reynolds and professional racer Lewis Hamilton, unfold, there's nothing octogenarian about the look from this centennial German brand.

"There are a lot of brands that can make a nice suit, but very few that give you a modern look," he says. "With Hugo, we are more fashion forward, so I wouldn't call it a classic either. We want to give our customers options, to let them know they're perfectly dressed for any occasion. We give them a sense of security that you won't stick out in a bad way; at the same time, you're in vogue, you're modern, you are safe in what you're wearing."

Easy to concur with the good doctor (Ruetzel has a PhD in International Management) as the notably young CEO moved to Hong Kong just a few months ago, after a two-year tenure in New York with the brand. Though the brand has been in Asia for years, there are some seismic ripples being made in the Asia-Pacific region.

With a grand re-opening of its signature store in Central's IFC Mall in the coming weeks, a strong presence of Asian models leading its new campaign (Japanese model/actress Devon Aoki having already modelled for them in the past, and Philip Huang appearing in the F/W 2011 campaign), as well as further inroads into China as more stores are expected to open within the next 18 months, there seems to be a heavy Asian focus in Boss' future.

But Ruetzel offers to clear up the notion of China being a new market in their economic strategy: "We've always had a presence in China, so this isn't anything new. And as for using an Asian model, we didn't think of it as a specific strategy to encroach into the region. The casting of Huang was done a long time ago; he came in, we liked his look, he became the model for the global campaign - the same images will be projected in South America, Americas, Europe - the model doesn't change according to the region."

The lifestyle of a young chief executive isn't all about jet-setting across the globe and hobnobbing with celebrities like Sienna Miller (a past brand ambassador). "The best and the worst parts of the job are the same," says Ruetzel. "I get to travel a lot. It can be quite stressful as you're in meetings around the world, but I have the happy position to combine work and pleasure. The glamorous part of the job is hosting grand events and parties, but there's a tough business side too."

The dwindling economy and its volatile share market hit luxury brands hard. But even in difficult times, there was the sweet smell of success. "We had a meeting with our license partner, Proctor and Gamble, not long ago and the fragrances from our company have been amongst the top five brands actually. The perfume business has not developed as much in China as other countries, but we see a steady growth."

Wonder if it's the heroic efforts of the Green Lantern's (actor Ryan Reynolds) new campaign that's creating a whiff in all the right circles? Ruetzel won't say, but he waxes eloquent on the current crop of faces that are creating brand awareness to a new generation.

"Working with successful, confident personalities has been a key factor," he says. "When we first dressed Philip Seymour Hoffman, we had no idea whether he would win the Oscar. We saw this man with great talent; he may not be the image of the Boss man, but we support the talent.

"There is no one prototype man that we're aiming for. It's anyone who's successful and confident."