Watches, chair waltz at Lvmh and Richemont

More changes at the top in the haute horlogerie maisons. Frédéric Arnault, ceo since January of the LVMH Watches Division, announced news for Hublot and Tag Heuer. As of 1 September, after 12 years as CEO of Hublot, Ricardo Guadalupe will become honorary president of the brand. In his place comes Julien Tornare from Tag Heuer, in his second change within the group's brands in little more than six months: until December 2023 he was CEO of Zenith, in January 2024 he became CEO of Tag Heuer and from today he is CEO of Hublot. In Tag Heuer comes Antoine Pin, who had been the general manager of Bulgari Horlogerie since 2019.

Under Guadalupe's management (who, before becoming CEO of the brand, was its managing director for eight years), Hublot has proved to be one of the most dynamic brands in the sector, in the creation of watches at the forefront of materials, design and mechanisms, in building partnerships with artists (one of the most famous being with the Japanese Takashi Murakami) and in expanding the brand's audience, focusing strongly on the world of football (even in the recent European Championships Hublot was the official watch). Furthermore, in 2015, it opened a second manufacture in Nyon, Switzerland, and plans to open a new one in 2026.

These changes follow those in Richemont's brands, which just yesterday released figures for Q1 2024. General sales held the point, reaching €5.2 billion (+1% at constant exchange rates and -1% at current exchange rates on 2023), but the watch part, which came in at €911 million, performed 13% lower at constant exchange rates (-14 at current exchange rates) on last year.

Returning to the top management changes at Richemont, on 1 June there was the appointment of Nicolas Bos, until then CEO of Van Cleef and Arpels, as CEO of the entire luxury group. Then, on 2 July, there was the announcement of Louis Ferla as CEO of Cartier as of 1 September. Until now, Ferla was at Vacheron Constantin, a brand that in 2023 exceeded CHF 1 billion in turnover for the first time in its history, according to Morgan Stanley's latest report on the watch industry. He will replace Cyrille Vigneron, who left the post by his own decision (he will become the ceo of Cartier Culture & Philanthropy) after having led the maison for eight years with great success: during his management, not counting the jewellery part, Cartier became the second brand (behind Rolex) by turnover in watchmaking, with 3.1 billion Swiss francs estimated by Morgan Stanley in 2023.

At the same time, also on 2 July, Richemont announced the move of Catherine Rénier from CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre to CEO of Van Cleef and Arpels (her old position will be occupied ad interim by Philippe Hermann, the brand's current CFO). Not to be forgotten is Audemars Piguet with Ilaria Resta as new CEO from January.